Clean Wisconsin 2010 Annual Report

clean wisconsin

ANNUAL REPORT 2010

2010 annual report

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Photo credits Front Cover: “At the Lighthouse,” Pierhead Lighthouse, Milwaukee:: Indy Kethdy/flickr.com P4: “Green Path” :: Indy Kethdy/flickr.com P6: 40th Anniversary Logo :: Courtesy of Think Ink & Design P8: Grant Park Beach, Lake Michigan :: Indy Kethdy/flickr.com P12: Photo courtesy of Chetek Lakes Protection Association P14: Photo courtesy of Mike Rebholz P18: Keith Reopelle :: Amy Lynn Schereck; Sam Weis :: Nick Berard

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In 2010, Clean Wisconsin celebrated an important milestone: Our 40th anniversary.

Mark Redsten Executive Director

A 40th anniversary doesn’t come without hard work. For four decades, we’ve been fighting, sometimes tooth and nail, for clean air, clean water and clean energy. For four decades, we’ve stood side by side with our allies and adversaries, attended hearings and spoke out at meetings. For four decades, we’ve done the legal work and put in long hours at the Capitol to hold our elected leaders and policymakers accountable to a higher standard. For four decades, we’ve been an effective voice for Wisconsin’s environment.

It has all been worth the effort, this work to protect Wisconsin’s special places by fighting for healthy air, clean drinking water, swimmable and fishable waterways, and other basic, commonsense environmental protections and priorities.

While we had plenty to celebrate in 2010, we also had plenty of work to keep us busy. 2010 was a building year, a year to forge stronger relationships and alliances. A year to dig deep and discover new knowledge and resources, to build our strength and to expand our capacity as an organization.

Some years are marked by great success, while others are spent strengthening our foundation to ensure future success. Regardless of what happens in a year, we’ve depended on you since our founding on Earth Day 1970. And you can depend on us. You can trust our resolve to fight for our mission and for Wisconsin’s wonderful environment, even in the face of adversity.

On behalf of everyone at Clean Wisconsin, thank you for supporting us and trusting us to do the work that makes Wisconsin a wonderful place to live, work and play. Now and into the future.

Mark Redsten Executive Director

from the director

from the Executive Director

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Table of Contents

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Letter from the Director 40th Anniversary The Next 40 Years The Lasting Impacts of Our Work Our Work in 2010 2011: A Look Ahead Thank You: Our Donors and Supporters 2010 Financials & Board of Directors 2010 Board & Staff, Interns & Volunteers

we believe

everyone deserves clean air and clean water our mission is

to protect and preserve Wisconsin’s air and water and to create a cleaner environment by being the leading voice for environmental protection

with special thanks to our members and supporters

your generosity makes this possible thank you

what’s inside

what’s inside

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Thank you to our 40th anniversary donors and sponsors.

Axley Brynelson, LLP • Bank of New Glarus • Community Shares of Wisconsin • Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP • Gary Goyke & Nancy Rottier • Susan & Jerry Greenfield • Brian Kelly & Caitlin Sticco Laura & Richard Kracum • La Capra Associates • Martin Schreiber & Associates • PinkJules • Mark Redsten & Peggy Scallon • Roger & Pauline Sneath • Ann Jablonski • Applied Tech • Richard & Gail Baker • Loyal & Bernice Durand • Susan Durst • Harvest Restaurant • Interior Investments of Madison Margi & Dave Kindig • Stephen Koermer • Organic Valley • Lucia & Pete Petrie • Rosalee & Avalon Sky Photography • The Monkey Bar Gymnasium • Gof & Mary Thomson • Wegner LLP • Guy & Joan Wolf • Althea Dotzour Photography • Balance Personal Training • Patricia Bowne • Capital Brewery Co. • Eco Friendly Flooring • Ephraim Faience Pottery • Shari & Mark Eggleson • Geek World • Group Health Cooperative • Amber Meyer Smith • Hans Meyer • Trish & Keith Reopelle • Amy Rice • Lucy Saunders • PlanetZebulon.net • Vitse Family • Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation

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Reflection & Celebration In April 2010, Clean Wisconsin celebrated a milestone: 40 years of fighting for this state’s beautiful environment. Together, with supporters, members, allies, family and friends, we held our 40th anniversary party at Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts on April 6, 2010.

This lovely evening was a time to celebrate and reflect. Working with a staff of over 20 professionals in a bustling office environment, it is easy to forget that the roots of our organization are anchored in just two individuals: Doug La Follette and Peter Anderson. They recognized the growing number of threats our state’s beautiful environment faced at the start of the 1970s and founded Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade in 1970, with the goal of protecting Wisconsin’s environment.

The organization achieved many victories in the early years, but soon outgrew its name; in 2003, we became Clean Wisconsin. With your support, we have helped to defeat coal plants and dangerous mines; helped to pass laws that protect groundwater, curb acid rain, reduce toxic mercury pollution, and encourage the growth of clean energy production; and played a vital role in the passage of the Great Lakes Compact. And these represent only a small sample of our organization’s many victories.

Forty years after its founding, it is difficult to imagine Wisconsin’s history and environment without the work of Clean Wisconsin. While our work is far from done, for one night last April, we celebrated our rich past and reflected on the work that lies ahead in our future.

Without your generosity, our event would not have been possible.

Secretary of State Doug La Follette

40th anniversary

40th anniversary

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Forward to the Future

We know we cannot rest on our past successes; the future is everchanging and we must be prepared for what we may face at the next turn, both for the organization and this beautiful state.

Legacy Fund In addition to bolstering our legal and science depart-

ments (read more about that on page 15), we’re securing our financial future. At the 40th anniversary celebration, founder Doug La Follette announced a $100,000 endowment gift, and the Madison Community Foundation issued a challenge grant; they will contribute $100,000 to Clean Wisconsn’s endowment, the Clean Wisconsin Legacy Fund, if the community raises $200,000. Coupled with the continued help of supporters like you, these gifts are vital to our work. They will help us build capacity and ensure that we fulfill our mission to protect Wisconsin’s natural places and resources for all people by being an effective, leading voice for environmental protection.

Speakers Program As part of La Follette’s contribution, Clean Wiscon-

sin also started the Doug La Follette Environmental Speakers Program, which brings distinguished environmental leaders to Wisconsin. Providing an important opportunity to advance environmental policy through public discussion, the Speakers Program will host semi-annual events in cities throughout Wisconsin and feature environmental leaders who specialize in a wide range of issues affecting the state such as climate change, invasive species, renewable energy, and Great Lakes protection. The inaugural lecture, held in late September 2010, was a standing-room-only event that featured Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead lawyer responsible for getting the polar bear on the endangered species list.

Fund for Lake Michigan Clean Wisconsin is committed to protecting all

the state’s special places, but the Great Lakes warrant special consideration. This year brings an exciting opportunity for Lake Michigan’s health and water quality: the Fund for Lake Michigan. With funding provided for the next 24 years, the Fund for Lake Michigan offers significant financial resources for direct, on-the-ground restoration projects to improve this great treasure for current and future generations.

Clean Wisconsin executive director Mark Redsten and general counsel Katie Nekola both serve on the oversight committee.

the next 40 years

the next 40 years

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Energy efficiency fund, now Focus on Energy, 1999

Nearly $2 billion in energy savings to date

Great Lakes Compact, 2008

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Keeps Great Lakes water from being sold to the highest bidder

E-Waste Recycling, 2009 Mercury Reduction Rules, 2004, 2008 Will cut mercury emissions from coalfired power plants by 90% by 2015

24.4 million pounds of old electronics recycled in 2010 alone

Recycling Law, 1990 Law has recycled 5 landfillsworth of waste

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Lasting Impacts

In 2009, Clean Wisconsin worked hard to pass the Wisconsin Electronics Recycling Law, and in 2010, we began to see the positive environmental impacts stemming from this landmark legislation. In 2010 alone, manufacturers collected 24.4 million pounds of old electronics for recycling thanks to this legislation. This success helps keep toxins found in e-waste, including mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium and bromated flame retardants, out of landfills, where it can leach into our waters and threaten our health.

E-waste recycling is just one example of how Clean Wisconsin’s victories continue to offer measurable environmental benefits and lasting impacts, year after year. Here are a few more:

Recycling Clean Wisconsin helped pass the Wisconsin recycling law

in 1990. Since then, the law has helped keep hundreds of thousands of tons of waste out of Wisconsin landfills each year. In total, this program has recycled the equivalent of five full landfills of waste.

Energy Efficiency In 1999, Clean Wisconsin helped pass the state-

wide energy efficiency fund. Now known as Focus on Energy, it has saved homeowners and businesses $2.50 for every $1 invested in the program. In total, Focus on Energy has saved homeowners and businesses nearly $2 billion on their energy bills since its inception over one decade ago.

Mercury Pollution This dangerous neurotoxin threatens the health of

our families when we eat fish that swim in polluted waters. Clean Wisconsin worked to help pass important mercury reduction legislation in 2004 and 2008. This legislation will protect our people and our state’s fishing tradition by cutting mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by 90 percent by 2015.

Great Lakes Clean Wisconsin played an instrumental role in passing

the Great Lakes Compact in 2008. This historic agreement among eight states and two Canadian provinces ensures that water from our magnificent Great Lakes stays put and is never sold to the highest bidder.

These are only a few examples of the perennial benefits of our work for clean air, healthy and abundant water, and clean energy. We are grateful to our members and supporters for making this possible.

lasting impacts

our successes have

2010 annual report

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Unfortunately, they’re also very fragile. Many of Wisconsin’s waterways are so polluted by phosphorus that the federal government lists them as impaired.

After years of hard work, intensive study, and careful compromise, Wisconsin approved some of the nation’s strongest and most innovative rules for controlling algae-causing phosphorus in our waters in 2010. This set of state rules, NR 102 and 217 (the “phosphorus rules”) and NR 151, addresses phosphorus pollution from both point sources and agricultural runoff.

Effective September 8, 2010, these new rules allow municipalities and farmers (the two largest contributors of phosphorus) to work together in the fight to reduce phosphorus pollution and improve water quality.

Clean Wisconsin staff worked for years to ensure that the phosphorus rules were as strong as possible.

These new rules will help our state take a giant leap forward in the fight to protect our wonderful waters for our children and grandchildren.

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Working Together Clean Wisconsin launched a campaign to clean up We Energies’ Valley Coal Plant in 2010.

Situated in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, the Valley Coal Plant is the dirtiest in We Energies’ fleet. More than 24,000 residents live within one mile of this plant, yet it entirely lacks modern pollution controls.

With our partners in the Cleaner Valley Coalition, we began to build the case to clean Coalition up this dirty old plant. In November, Clean Wisconsin stood alongside 150 concerned residents at a DNR public hearing on the air pollution permit to ask the agency to take action to clean up the aged plant.

Today, we’re working with a broad coalition of stakeholders, including local neighborhood organizations, civil justice groups, Milwaukee Latino Health Coalition, Black Health Coalition of Milwaukee, and many others who represent one unified voice calling for the plant to meet all current health and air pollution standards.

We made important progress on the campaign to clean up the Valley Coal Plant in 2010, and we’re looking forward to continuing our work on this campaign in 2011.

In addition to our work fighting to clean up or shut down dirty coal plants, we were busy advocating for the development of clean, renewable energy in 2010.

As a member of the Public Service Commission’s Wind Siting Advisory Council, Clean Wisconsin worked with a broad group of stakeholders on both sides of the issue to tear down barriers to the development of clean, renewable wind farms in the state. This work continues into 2011 and beyond.

2010 was about taking steps in the core areas of our work: clean air, clean water and clean energy.

We built coalitions, worked across the aisle and built a strong foundation for future success.

our work in 2010

valley, wind siting, phosphorus

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Opening a New Chapter This year opens a new chapter for Clean Wisconsin. After more than 20 years at our State Street office, we’ve moved to a new location on West Main Street in Madison.

At Clean Wisconsin, we pride ourselves in “walking the walk,” and our new office exemplifies that. Among other environmental benefits, our new office features recycled maple floors, stormwater runoff control in the parking lots, highly efficient heating and cooling systems, and water-saving restrooms. All this is in the remodeled Kroger grocery warehouse, originally built in 1917 and conveniently located on one of Madison’s many bike paths. This new location will help us exemplify an eco-conscious business ethic by significantly decreasing the environmental impacts of our operations.

The new location signifies a larger transformation at Clean Wisconsin. The new office will house a new legal department and science program. Together, these departments will provide tools for our organization to monitor and enforce state and federal environmental laws and protect Wisconsin’s wonderful environment and natural resources.

This investment comes at an important time; recent political changes will certainly bring environmental challenges and attacks. The new leadership has proposed rolling back environmental policies and sharp budget cuts that will result in staff cuts to agencies charged with enforcing and implementing environmental regulations. Increasing our in-house legal and scientific capacities will enable us to quickly and effectively prepare for environmental attacks and monitor polluters and leaders to ensure they are held accountable for their actions.

We also began investing in new online tools that make it easy for supporters to stay informed and take action on the most important environmental events. The result is a brand-new, robust website with a blog at www.cleanwisconsin.org, an interactive Facebook page, and a growing Twitter and YouTube presence. Building a strong online community is a great way to demonstrate the strength of support for our mission to leaders. We invite you to join the conversation online!

We are in the midst of a time of great environmental challenges, making our work more important than ever. With your action and support, we’re confident that we can weather this proverbial storm.

2011: a look ahead

looking to 2011

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our donors & supporters

Thank You

Without you, our passionate and dedicated community of donors, funders and volunteers, Clean Wisconsin’s work for clean air, healthy water, clean energy and other environmental protections would be impossible.

We cannot thank you enough for your generosity.

2010 annual report

Foundation and Family Foundation Supporters 1Sky Alliance for the Great Lakes Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Energy Foundation Freshwater Future Garfield Foundation Joyce Foundation Madison Community Foundation Margaret A. Cargill Foundation McKnight Foundation Oberweiler Foundation Rockefeller Family Fund Sierra Club National Coal Campaign State Environmental Leadership Program Wege Foundation

Business Sponsors ($500 & up) Other Support Bank of New Glarus Sustainable Engineering Group Renschler

Pro Bono Services

Community Shares of Greater Milwaukee Community Shares of Wisconsin

Axley Brynelson, LLP Cullen Weston Pines and Bach, LLP Geek World Gretta Wing Miller and Aarick Beher, Downtown Dailies Jennifer Endicott, Clarity Technology Group Mary Beth Collins SneathGroup Steve Tesmer, TallGuy Productions, Inc.

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Financials

2010 Revenue: $2,354,404

66.2% Grants

7.1% Other

26.2% Member & Legacy Fund Contributions

The support of our strong membership, diverse funders and business sponsors have allowed us to do what we do best for more than 40 years: Be a leading voice for Wisconsin’s environment.

0.5% Investment Income

2010 Expenses: $1,766,218 Thank you for entrusting us with your financial support; every single gift and grant is important. We deeply value your investment and ensure that every dollar is spent furthering our critical mission.

Officers

8% Development

80% Program Work

12% Administration

Board of Directors

Carl Sinderbrand (Madison) Chair Margi Kindig (Madison) Vice Chair Gof Thomson (New Glarus) Treasurer Gary Goyke (Madison) Secretary

Board Emeritus

Kate Gordon (Washington, D.C.)

Members

Belle Bergner (Milwaukee) Sue Durst (Verona) Shari Eggleson (Washburn) Luke Fairborn (Whitefish Bay) Scott Froehlke (Montello) Paul Linzmeyer (Green Bay) Chuck McGinnis (Middleton) Lucia Petrie (Milwaukee) David Wandel (Madison)

2010 financials

your generosity at work

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Mark Redsten

Brian Kelly

Keith Reopelle

Executive Director

Associate Director

Senior Policy Director

Amber Meyer Smith

Katie Nekola

Melissa Malott

Katy Walter

Pete Taglia

Program Director

Ryan Schryver

Grassroots Organizer

Ezra Meyer

Water Specialist

Energy Director

Water Director

Clean Energy Advocate

Staff Scientist

Elizabeth Wheeler Sarah Shanahan RE-AMP Coordinator

Sam Weis

Media Specialist

Clean Energy Specialist

Amanda Wegner Media Specialist

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Allie Theuerkauf

Rosie Bell

Development Assistant

David Vitse

Lizzy Edelstein

Development Assistant

Office Administrator

Jin Park

Mary Coughlan

RE-AMP Assistant

Interns

Jenny Lynes

Grant Manager

Accounting Manager

Felice Borisy-Rudin, Legal Intern Allie Donenberg, Legal Intern Rich Hankison, Legal Intern Jamie Konopacky, Legal Intern

RE-AMP Assistant

Roger Sneath

Chief Financial Officer

Ella Schwierske, Communications Intern Matt Steffen, Energy Intern Hailey Witt, Legal Intern

Volunteers

Membership & Development Communications Fay Augustyn Jackie Csedo Kaitlyn Farris Adi Lever Maggie McCann Danna Olsen Megan Phillips Dianne Redsten Genevieve Rosay Karen Stevenson

Katie den Boer Julian Holtzman Abraham Shandeling

Energy Program

Jamie Derr, Derr Solarmass Farm, LLC Pam Porter Dave Warren, Ace Hardware, Milton WISPIRG

2010 staff & board

Becky Bains

Development Director

join us! cleanwisconsin.org

634 W. Main Street, Suite 300 Madison, WI 53703 608-251-7020 Printed on 100-percent recycled paper. Š Clean Wisconsin, June 2011