Reducing Carbon Emissions While Addressing Environmental Concerns in Wisconsin
Matthew Magill
On December 12, 2015, 195 nations capped the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) with the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty designed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.[1] The treaty seeks to limit global temperature increases below 2°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, with a subsidiary goal of limiting temperatures 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.[2] In order to comply with the international framework, countries submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are revisited on five-year cycles to “accelerate[] action” to “revisit and strengthen” targets.[3]
The United States, the second largest global greenhouse gas emitter and an original signing party to the 2015 agreement, has withdrawn, rejoined, and subsequently withdrawn from the agreement.[4] After the first Trump Administration withdrew from the agreement in 2020, the Biden Administration rejoined in 2021.[5] The Biden Administration additionally signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act[6] and the Inflation Reduction Act[7] into law, providing states with significant tax incentives for investments in renewable energy projects.[8] The second Trump Administration has since signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.[9] On his first day in office, President Trump also ordered all agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act . . . or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”[10]
Even prior to the Trump Administration’s most recent climate actions, the United States was not on target to reach its goal of reducing emissions at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.[11] All the while, world leaders have stressed the need to limit global temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century to avoid the most severe climate change impacts.[12]
A necessary requirement to reaching the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement is reaching net zero emissions.[13] Net zero emissions are achieved when all emissions released by human activities are equal to carbon actively removed from the atmosphere. This can be accomplished with carbon capture technology such as direct air capture and storage (DACS).[14] In order to achieve net zero emissions, carbon emissions must be “reduced as close to zero as possible.”[15]
Large-scale investment in solar generation could be instrumental in reducing global emissions to net zero.[16] With the Trump Administration withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement in addition to purportedly freezing funding for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, states like Wisconsin will be needed to fill the void to approve clean energy projects in order to reach the Paris Climate Agreement’s ambitious targets.
An October 2022 report from Evolved Energy Research, Clean Wisconsin, and Renew Wisconsin provided a roadmap for Wisconsin to reach net zero emission by 2050, with solar playing a pivotal role.[17] Two major solar energy projects came online in Wisconsin in 2024, including the state’s first utility-scale 200-megawatt Paris Solar Park in Kenosha County, in addition to a 200-megawatt solar project by Alliant Energy in Grant County.[18] Two more solar projects are projected to come online in 2025.[19]
Notably, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin also unanimously approved the largest solar energy project in the state’s history in December 2024.[20] The Vista Sands Solar Project is projected to offset over 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in its first year of operation, significantly curbing Wisconsin’s emissions and revealing the potential role for states in reaching net zero emissions.[21]
However, the Vista Sands Solar Project also exposes the environmental challenges that must be addressed in relying on solar to reach the Paris Climate Agreement’s targets. According to the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA), which was adopted to facilitate the administration of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), state agencies shall consider the environmental impacts of any major state action which significantly affects the quality of the human environment.[22] Following public comment, the agency must determine if an environmental impact statement (EIS) concerning the environmental effects of the project is required.[23] The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources determined that the Vista Sands Solar Project required an EIS, citing inter alia, effects on “threatened or endangered species.”[24]
In their final EIS, the agencies acknowledged that the project as currently proposed could place the Greater prairie-chicken, a native grouse species on Wisconsin’s threatened species list, at further risk.[25] The EIS noted that Greater prairie-chickens are especially sensitive to large-scale solar projects because the threatened species requires large open landscapes for ranging throughout their annual life cycles and because breeding is inhibited when they display avoidance behaviors to project infrastructure. [26] Such structures include transmission lines, fences, and access roads necessary to build the Vista Sands Solar Project.[27]
Like NEPA, WEPA does not mandate particular results, but merely prohibits uninformed decisions.[28] The statute is procedural in nature, and “require[s] that agencies consider and evaluate the environmental consequences of alternatives available to them.”[29] In weighing its alternatives, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources considered a no action alternative in addition to identifying other possible sites to build the project, among other substitutes.[30]
Recommendations to mitigate the adverse environmental consequences were additionally included in the final EIS, including burying transmission lines, consideration of different fencing and array options, and grouping the project’s infrastructure in areas already heavily fragmenting the Greater prairie-chicken population.[31] These recommendations were formulated after receiving and considering over 400 comments from interested parties.[32]
Environmental protection and net zero emissions do not need to be mutually exclusive. The United States’ urgent need to address climate change through the construction of large-scale energy projects can be pursued while simultaneously addressing environmental concerns through meaningful mitigation efforts which respect public comments received. The world is not on target to reach net zero emissions or the Paris Climate Agreement goals.[33] With recent Administration actions limiting the federal government’s role, the need for state involvement in approving large-scale clean energy projects will be imperative. Wisconsin’s Vista Sands Solar Project highlights that such projects’ benefits can be responsibly weighed against potential environmental impacts raised through public comment.[34]
[1] See The Paris Agreement: What is the Paris Agreement?, UNFCCC, https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement (last visited Feb. 22, 2025).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] See Johannes Friedrich et al., This Interactive Chart Shows Changes in the World’s Top 10 Emitters, World Resources Institute, https://www.wri.org/insights/interactive-chart-shows-changes-worlds-top-10-emitters (Mar. 2, 2023).
[5] See Matt McGrath, US Rejoins Paris Accord: Biden’s First Act Sets Tone for Ambitious Approach, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55732386 (Feb. 19, 2021).
[6] See Seung Min Kim et al., Biden Signs $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill, Fulfilling Campaign Promise and Notching Achievement That Eluded Trump, The Wash. Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-poised-to-sign-12-trillion-infrastructure-bill-fulfilling-campaign-promise-and-notching-achievement-that-eluded-trump/2021/11/15/1b69f9a6-4638-11ec-b8d9-232f4afe4d9b_story.html (Nov. 15, 2021).
[7] See Sarah Gimont et al., Inflation Reduction Act Signed Into Law, Nat’l Ass’n of Counties, https://www.naco.org/news/inflation-reduction-act-signed-law (Aug. 8, 2022).
[8] See The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at One Year: Where Are We Now?, American Clean Power: The Power Line, https://cleanpower.org/blog/the-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act-at-one-year-where-are-we-now/ (Nov. 29, 2022); see also Press Release, The White House, Fact Sheet: Two Years In, the Inflation Reduction Act Is Lowering Costs for Millions of Americans, Tackling the Climate Crisis, and Creating Jobs, https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/08/16/fact-sheet-two-years-in-the-inflation-reduction-act-is-lowering-costs-for-millions-of-americans-tackling-the-climate-crisis-and-creating-jobs/ (Aug. 16, 2024).
[9] See Max Bearak, Trump Orders a U.S. Exit From the World’s Main Climate Pact, The N.Y. Times,
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/climate/trump-paris-agreement-climate.html?searchResultPosition=1 (Jan. 29, 2025).
[10] See Exec. Order No. 14,154, 90 Fed. Reg. 8353, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/ (Jan. 20, 2025)
[11] See Evan Bush, Despite Sizable Cuts To Emissions, U.S. Still Far Off Track To Hit Its Goals, Report Finds, NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/emissions-cuts-us-off-track-paris-goals-rcna163084 (July 23, 2024).
[12] See UNFCCC, supra note 1.
[13] See Lincoln L. Davies, Alexandra B. Klass, Hari M. Osofsky, Joeseph P. Tomain & Elizabeth J. Wilson, Energy Law and Policy 898 (West Academic Publishing, 3d ed. 2022) (“If the goal is to limit damage from climate change, Net Zero Energy strategies are critical.”).
[14] See Kelly Levin et al., What Does “Net-Zero Emissions” Mean? 8 Common Questions, Answered, World Res. Inst., https://www.wri.org/insights/net-zero-ghg-emissions-questions-answered (Mar. 20, 2023).
[15] Id.
[16] See generally Princeton University, Final Report: Net-Zero America (2021), https://netzeroamerica.princeton.edu/the-report.
[17] See generally Evolved Energy Research et al., Summary Report: 100% Clean Energy in Wisconsin (2022),https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Final-Evolved-Energy-Research_100-percent-in-Wisconsin-Summary.pdf.
[18] See Joe Schulz, 2 Large-Scale Clean Energy Projects Came Online in Wisconsin in 2024, 2 More Expected in 2025, Wis. Publ. Radio, https://www.wpr.org/news/clean-energy-projects-roundup-2024-2025-paris-solar-park-wisconsin-alliant (Dec. 30, 2024).
[19] Id.
[20] See Joe Schulz, State Regulators Approve Largest Solar Project in Wisconsin History, Wis. Pub. Radio, https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-regulators-approve-largest-solar-project-history-vista-sands (Dec. 13, 2024).
[21] Id.
[22] Wis. Stat. § 1.11(2)(c) (2001).
[23] Wis. Admin. Code PSC § 4.20(2) (2000).
[24] Vista Sand Solar Final Environmental Impact Statement at xii, No. 508693 (Wis. Pub. Serv. Comm’n 2023), https://apps.psc.wi.gov/ERF/ERFview/viewdoc.aspx?docid=508693.
[25] Id. at 49.
[26] Id. at 50-53.
[27] Id.
[28] See Larsen v. Munz Corp., 482 N.W.2d 332, 342 (Wis. 1992).
[29] See City of New Richmond v. State Dep’t of Nat. Res., 428 N.W.2d 279, 282 (Wis. Ct. App. 1988) (citing Wisconsin’s Env’t Decade, Inc. v. Pub. Serv. Comm’n, 256 N.W.2d 149, 153 (Wis. 1977)).
[30] See Final Environmental Impact Statement, supra note 24, at 114-15.
[31] Id. at 63-64.
[32] See Danielle Kaeding, Regulators Urge Scaling Back Solar Project Due To Concerns Over Prairie-Chickens, Wis. Public Radio,https://www.wpr.org/news/regulators-urge-scaling-back-solar-project-due-to-concerns-over-prairie-chickens (July 24, 2024).
[33] Davies et al., supra note 13, at 900.
[34] See Final Environmental Impact Statement, supra note 24, at 117 (“Providing such a large source of zero-emissions energy production onto the electrical system should reduce the need and usage of carbon-emitting sources currently in operation.”).