A Dane County judge has approved an agreement setting recall election dates of May 8th and June 5th for Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican state senators. Under the agreement, any required primaries would be held May 8 with a general election four weeks later on June 5. Meanwhile, the 2011-12 Legislative session officially ended on March 16th.This signals the serious beginning of the campaign season. All 99 Assembly seats and 16 Senate seats (those in even numbered districts) were already scheduled to be on the fall ballot. One Senator facing recall, Senator Pam Galloway, has resigned for personal reasons. However the recall election against her will still take place to pick her replacement. In addition to Senator Galloway, a number of other legislators in both houses have announced their retirement or intention to seek other offices.

Those retiring include:

• Rep. Barbara Toles of the 17th District.
• Rep. Mark Radcliffe of the 92nd District.
• Rep. Dick Spanbauer of the 53rd District.
• Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer of the 25th District.
• Rep. Dan Meyer of the 34th District.
• Rep. Michelle Litjens of the 56th District.
• Rep. Karl Van Roy of the 90th District.
• Senator Jim Holperin of the 12th District.

Those seeking another office include:

• Rep. Donna Seidel of the 85th District and Rep. Jerry Petrowski of the 86th District to run in the recall election for
the Galloway seat.

• Rep. Tom Tiffany of the 35th District is expected to announce his bid at Senator Jim Holperin’s open 12th District Senate seat.

• Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald of the 39th District to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Herb Kohl.

• Reps. Kelda Helen Roys of the 81st District and Mark Pocan of the 78th District to run for the 2nd Congressional
District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin.

• Senators Spencer Coggs of the District and Tim Carpenter of the District to run for Milwaukee City Treasurer.

• Senator Kathleen Vinehout of the 31st District to run against Gov. Walker in the recall election. The 31st District seat
is not up for election this year, so should her run for Governor be unsuccessful, she would retain her current seat.

TrilliumHD has announced it is building the Green Bay area’s
first public compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station. The
fueling station, which will open in March, 2012, will be located
in De Pere. TrilliumHD will also operate and maintain the
station. Public access to the fuel will be available to anyone
with a CNG vehicle. The station’s primary customers, however,
will be heavy-duty (HD) trucking and transportation fleets.
Special fueling programs will be available to fleets wanting to
take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits
of CNG.   Paper Transport, Inc. is the first fleet to contract
with TrilliumHD. TrilliumHD  is a joint venture between
Integrys Transportation Fuels, LLC, operating as Trillium
CNG,  with offices in Green Bay and Chicago, and Paper
Transport, Inc., based in Green Bay.

Alliant Energy Corporation has announced it has engaged UBS
Investment Bank to assist with the sale of its non-regulated
subsidiary RMT, Inc. (RMT), a renewable energy engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.  Earlier in
February, the Alliant Energy Board of Directors approved a plan
to sell the RMT business. RMT is an EPC contractor specializing
in the design and construction of wind and solar electric energy
generating facilities. RMT’s experienced construction crew is
backed by in-house engineering and development support
professionals who have provided engineering, procurement and
civil and electrical infrastructure construction for over 5,000 MW
of renewable energy projects across 26 states.
RMT was founded in 1977 and began working in the renewable
energy field in the mid-1990s.  The company is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

With passage by the state Assembly on a 58-36 vote,  Wisconsin moved a big step closer to bringing back one of Wisconsin’s foundational industries – iron mining. Assembly Bill 426 would maintain Wisconsin’s strong environmental standards while streamlining the process to approve a new iron mine in Wisconsin.

The current process fails to recognize the difference between mining for iron, which involves no hazardous chemicals, and the environmental challenges in mining for metals like copper and silver. An iron mine proposed near Hurley would bring a private investment of $1.5 billion in construction and over 2800 new jobs to Wisconsin. With the exception of power plants, this would mark the largest private investment in Wisconsin history.

Why does the mine matter to utility investors? The modern, environmentally responsible mining process means an iron mine instantly becomes one of Wisconsin’s largest customers for electric energy. Electric shovels will dig the rock, electric crushers will grind it and electric magnets will separate the iron from the sand without the use of chemicals.

Now is the time to stand up for Wisconsin’s economy and the thousands of Wisconsinites who need family supporting jobs. Contact your legislator today and tell them to support AB 426.

Click Here to view AB 426.