By Ta’Leah Van Sistine, community reporter/editor
While Congressional discussions continue about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, local environmental advocates say the time is now to pass this legislation, which includes a number of environmental efforts.
“I am very frustrated with the lack of movement we are seeing in Congress,” said Molly Larson, the education intern for UW-Eau Claire’s Student Office of Sustainability. “It’s especially frustrating because the Build Back Better agenda is pretty popular among the general public.”
According to a recent study, 66% of Americans support the Build Back Better plan, which includes the infrastructure bill.
That bill calls for investing in electric buses and cleaning up Superfund and brownfield sites. The overall Build Back Better agenda includes investing in clean energy standards and tax credits for electric vehicles.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for aggressive climate legislation,” said Kate Beaton, the movement organizing director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization that advocates for progressive policies on local, state and national levels. “I see (the Build Back Better agenda) as a real historic opportunity that we may not see … ever again.”
Bike march supported action
Beaton planned a Sept. 29 bike march to encourage Third District Cong. Ron Kind, a Democrat, to support the entire Build Back Better agenda. Some 30 people — including UW-EC students and faculty, community members and local political leaders — took part in the event.
Participants biked from the UW-EC heating plant to Xcel Energy’s Solar*Connect Community solar garden, as a way of symbolizing their support for transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.
Beaton said the university’s heating plant was chosen as the march’s starting location because it is a “visible power plant.” Although the plant has switched from burning coal to natural gas, it is still burning a fossil fuel.
Five people spoke at the solar garden, including Larson, Beaton, State Rep. Jodi Emerson, City Council member Andrew Werthmann and Greg Johnson, the co-owner of Solar Forma Design.
What was said. . .
Larson talked about the proposed Civilian Climate Corps, a part of the Build Back Better plan that would recruit young people for jobs in sustainability, such as wetland restoration, reforestation and urban development. She said she also discussed the importance of closing gaps in racial and gender equity, so that sustainable changes benefit all.
Events like the bike march are important, Larson said, because they help elected officials learn how they can best represent their constituents.
“(The bike march) showed (Kind) that people care about these issues, and these are things that we want and things that will directly benefit people in his district,” Larson said.
Johnson spoke about job creation within the renewable energy sector in the Chippewa Valley and said that Solar Forma currently has 10-15% of the capacity that the business wants for employees.
Johnson was born and raised in Eau Claire. He said that Solar Forma, as a renewable energy product developer and manufacturer, is something “very meaningful” to be involved with.
Beaton said Kind was emailed video and photos from the bike march event, but she had not heard back from him.
She said she is “certain” there will be more events similar to the bike march in the near future while the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better agenda continue to be discussed in Washington.
Note: Thanks to Kate Beaton for providing the home page photo and the large photo on this page.