Evers creates new Wisconsin office to reach carbon-free goal

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order Friday creating a new office to help his administration achieve his goal of 100% carbon-free electricity in Wisconsin by 2050 after Republicans killed the proposal in the state budget.

The governor issued an executive order creating the Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy within the state Department of Administration. The order requires the office to work with other state agencies and utilities to achieve the goal of ensuring all electricity used within the state is generated from sources that don't emit carbon dioxide as coal and natural gas do.

Evers, a Democrat, stressed during a news conference to tout the order that the goal is not a mandate and utilities are already moving toward carbon-free electricity generation.

"For far too long, clean energy has not been a priority in this state and we're going to change that," Evers said.

Evers included provisions in the state budget that would have created the energy office and established the 100% carbon-free goal but Republicans on the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee stripped the language from the final spending plan.

The executive order allows Evers to get around the GOP. Aides for the finance committee's co-chairs, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling, didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the executive order. Neither did aides for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.

Annemarie Newman, a spokeswoman for Alliant Energy, said 18% of that utility's current electricity generation is achieved through carbon-free methods. The utility's internal goals call for reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 40% by 2030 and by 80% by 2050.

A spokesman for We Energies said he would research the...