Brian Dake

The Biden administration has abruptly canceled a plan announced last month to purchase up to three million barrels of oil as part of its effort to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The SPR — which Congress established for emergency situations — currently contains 363.6 million barrels of oil, a 43% decline from January 2021 when President Biden took office, federal data shows. Biden began depleting the reserve in late 2021 to combat high fuel prices.

The Department of Energy said that while it remains committed to refilling the SPR, it would pull back its most recent solicitation for oil amid increasing prices. On March 14, DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves announced the solicitation for three million barrels of oil to be delivered in August and September to its Bayou Choctaw site in Louisiana, one of four major SPR storage facilities.

When DOE first announced the Bayou Choctaw refill plan last month, it said it would aim to purchase oil priced at $79 per barrel or below. Since then, oil prices have increased, with the U.S. benchmark hitting $85.71 earlier on Wednesday.

Overall, the president ordered DOE to release a total of about 260 million barrels of oil from the SPR in 2021 and 2022. Although the administration has recently initiated the process of refilling the reserve, Republican lawmakers and energy experts have warned its actions make the U.S. vulnerable to short-term supply shocks.

The rules for running elections in Wisconsin have changed after voters approved two constitutional amendments Tuesday that will restrict the use of private money, and consultants, to support election administration.

Both amendments are responses to the use of private funds in the 2020 presidential election.

The prohibition on outside funding means that Wisconsin election workers will only be able to access public funds, and cannot apply for or receive private grant money to support their work.

The amendment that affects election officials states that only legally designated election officials can perform tasks “in the conduct of” election. The nature of those tasks, and the excluded workers — which may include people who work in municipal clerk offices but are not sworn officials — is likely to require court clarification, legal experts say. Lower courts have previously found that election officials may turn to outside experts for that work.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today announced its release of an expanded Unemployment Insurance (UI) statistics dashboard. The expanded dashboard now includes an interactive map with information on UI claims filed by county.

“Today’s expanded UI dashboard release is yet another important step in our ongoing modernization efforts and demonstrates DWD’s continued commitment to transparency, accountability, and customer service,” DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek said.

Initially released in May 2022, the UI statistics dashboard provides information on UI claims filed, benefits paid, adjudication, appeals, and help center call metrics. Metrics are updated each Thursday, making up-to-date current and historical UI data available to the public.

By adding the county claims feature to the existing UI statistics dashboard, DWD aims to empower decisionmakers with the data they need to better analyze trends and develop policies tailored to the unique needs of communities across Wisconsin.

Key features of the expanded dashboard include the following measures for both initial claims and weekly claims, summarized by county:

• Total claims;
• Claims per 10,000 in the civilian labor force;
• Claims per the unemployed labor force (as a percentage); and
• Weekly percentage change in claims.

To access the new claims by county statistics, visit the UI Statistics page.

Last Friday, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule clarifying the rights of employees to authorize a representative to accompany an Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance officer during an inspection of their workplace.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act gives the employer and employees the right to authorize a representative to accompany OSHA officials during a workplace inspection. The final rule clarifies that, consistent with the law, workers may authorize another employee to serve as their representative or select a non-employee. For a non-employee representative to accompany the compliance officer in a workplace, they must be reasonably necessary to conduct an effective and thorough inspection.

Consistent with OSHA historic practices, the rule clarifies that a non-employee representative may be reasonably necessary based upon skills, knowledge or experience. This experience may include knowledge or experience with hazards or conditions in the workplace or similar workplaces, or language or communication skills to ensure an effective and thorough inspection.

The rule is in part a response to a 2017 court decision ruling that the agency’s existing regulation, 29 CFR 1903.8(c), only permitted employees of the employer to be authorized as representatives. However, the court acknowledged that the OSH Act does not limit who can serve as an employee representative and that OSHA’s historic practice was a “persuasive and valid construction” of the OSH Act. Today’s final rule is the culmination of notice and comment rulemaking that clarifies OSHA’s inspection regulation and aligns with OSHA’s longstanding construction of the act.

The rule is effective on May 31, 2024.

Wisconsin’s in-state undergraduate students will see a tuition hike of 3.75 percent in the fall, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman announced Thursday. The proposal will be considered by the Board of Regents on April 4.

Rothman said the 2024-25  increase is necessary to keep up with inflation. The tuition hike increases UW System revenue about $39 million, but with inflation the money is intangible, Rothman said.

Seven universities are proposing a fee increase on top of the 3.75 percent to fund specific needs such as academic advising, financial aid, and faculty hiring in high demand programs. Rothman said segregated fees will also increase by an average of $74 per year.

The proposed resident undergraduate tuition and segregated fees for each university in 2024–25 are as follows:

• UW-Eau Claire: $9,643
• UW-Green Bay: $8,700
• UW-La Crosse: $9,896
• UW-Madison: $11,604
• UW-Milwaukee: $10,398
• UW-Oshkosh: $8,532
• UW-Parkside: $8,271
• UW-Platteville: $8,425
• UW-River Falls: $8,824
• UW-Stevens Point: $9,049
• UW-Stout: $9,386
• UW-Superior: $8,813
• UW-Whitewater: $8,406

Wisconsin school districts could soon have more flexibility in choosing their fall start date.  Under current law, Wisconsin public schools are prohibited from starting fall classes until September 1.

The state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) can grant school board requests for an exemption to start school early for “extraordinary reasons.”

Now, an administrative rule is working its way through the Legislature that would expand the types of reasons for DPI to grant an exception for school districts.  If approved, exceptions would include factors that pertain to student graduation rates, reading and mathematics proficiency, school attendance, mental health of students and staff, and recruitment and retention strategies for educators.

The Tourism Federation of Wisconsin has long been against the change, saying repealing the September 1 start date for public schools would lead to a loss in revenue for Wisconsin’s businesses.

Several members of the tourism industry testified against the change this week.

Bill Elliott, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Hotel and Lodging Association, which represents approximately 600 members, said changing the start date for schools won’t fix the problems facing education.

“At the same time, the changes would have a negative impact on the lodging industry and all the other businesses that make up Wisconsin’s tourism economy,” Elliot said. “Starting school before Sept. 1 shortens the Wisconsin summer for vacations and travel by families with school aged children, which negatively impacts the already short tourism season.”

Minnesota and Michigan have state laws that prohibit schools from starting until after Labor Day.  School boards have autonomy in Illinois.

State Representative Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, said DPI should not get to change the rules, the Legislature should.

“Tourism is a big part of our economy here in Wisconsin and many, many families depend on that,” Kitchens said. “But it’s not just good for business. It’s good for families. I mean, my kids will tell you that the vacations that we took together as a family were some of their best memories, and I think it also played a big part of enhancing their education.”

Superior leaders are bracing for a legal challenge after its planning commission recommended the city deny local approvals for a nearly $1 billion natural gas plant there. An attorney for one of the project’s owners told the commission that utilities can move forward without the city’s blessing.

The Superior City Council, some of whose members have signaled opposition to the plant, will have the final say on local approvals for the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center, or NTEC. Several utilities want to build the 625-megawatt plant to maintain reliable and affordable power as they shift from coal to renewable energy, including Minnesota Power in Duluth.

Minnesota Power requested the city vacate streets and change zoning to allow the project to move forward. Even so, Justin Chasco, an attorney for the utility, said it can build the plant without any zoning changes because the Wisconsin Public Service Commission has already approved the project.

“Wisconsin law is crystal clear that when that determination has been made, the city has no power to undo it,” Chasco said.

Wisconsin law says no local ordinance can prevent or hinder construction when the PSC has issued power plants a certificate to build — and the project received approval from the state in 2020. The planning commission voted 4-2 in opposition to the utility’s requested changes. Shortly before its vote Wednesday night, Superior Mayor Jim Paine said he didn’t appreciate veiled or direct threats, adding he expects the utility to respect any final decision.

“If it’s not, I cannot be bullied out of that. We will see you in court,” Paine said. “I’m not afraid to defend the decisions of the city or its governing bodies.”

Paine told WPR the city is prepared for any legal challenge. He said he doesn’t expect the city council to take up the commission’s recommendation until sometime in May. If the council denies local approvals for the project, Minnesota Power spokesperson Amy Rutledge said the utility has “legal remedies” it could pursue.

Candidates and political groups will have to disclose when they use artificial intelligence to generate audio or video in ads aired in Wisconsin, according to a new law signed Thursday.

The bipartisan legislation comes in a national election year that some political experts say will be defined by AI-generated content and influence campaigns.

“This technology is not good or bad. Somebody can use AI to generate graphics to generate a jingle for a radio ad, to maybe make an animation that illustrates their views on the issues,” said Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, who co-authored the bipartisan bill. “But they can also use it to make it look like their opponent said and did something they didn’t.”

The law requires any audio or video campaign materials — whether produced by a candidate, PAC or other campaign entity — to disclose at the start and end of an ad if they used “synthetic media,” or media that is “substantially produced by means of generative artificial intelligence.”

Groups that violate the requirement will face fines. At least four other states currently have disclosure laws on the books, including California and Michigan, and similar legislation is pending in a handful of others, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

When the bill passed the Assembly last month, Rep. Adam Neylon, R-Pewaukee, told colleagues AI was making it harder to know what’s real. Voters, he said, were being asked to determine truth from fiction.

“And to do that, they need the tools, they need disclosures, they need disclaimers when artificial intelligence is generating false representations,” Neylon said at the time.

After nearly a year of frantic lobbying and debate, the EPA has finalized strict new rules on vehicle emissions that will push the auto industry to accelerate its transition to electric vehicles. The EPA expects that under the new rules, EVs could account for up to 56% of new passenger vehicles sold for model years 2030 through 2032.

The rules cover light- and medium-duty vehicles — cars, SUVs, vans and pickup trucks, but not 18-wheelers — from model years 2027 to 2032. The EPA rules are not written as an EV mandate or a ban on the sale of gas cars. Instead, the EPA sets standards that apply across an entire fleet — meaning an automaker still can make vehicles with higher emissions, as long as they also make enough very low or zero-emission vehicles that it averages out.

The oil industry, meanwhile, has been an even more vocal critic of these rules and other policies promoting EVs. Rising adoption of electric vehicles is expected to reduce oil demand over time, although it will take decades for the global fleet of vehicles to turn over.

But the oil industry’s opposition goes even further. The attorney general of Texas has previously filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s authority to set rules designed to promote electric vehicles. Multiple oil trade groups backed Texas in the case.