Sutheastern Wisconsin Clean Air network

The Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air was created in 1996, when the EPA alerted Wisconsin that the  six county region in South-Eastern Wisconsin was found to have dangerously high ground level ozone levels.

 http://www.cleanairwisconsin.org/businesses/aboutus.phpconditions.

This is a voluntary network of businesses, community organizations,  government agencies, and schools that steer a committee which attempts to find simple and cost effective ideas to reduce emissions among its member organizations. Along with that, an educational component exists, to pass on useful information to the general public about ways to reduce emissions. 

This is an all volunteer organization, but one with lofty objectives:

• Community leadership will be visibly supportive and personally engaged
• There will be a true and equal partnership between government, businesses, and citizens
• There will be sufficient resources to get the job done
• The economic and health benefits of clean air will be quantified and communicated clearly
• Voluntary emission reductions will be substituted for specific mandatory control measures to meet a portion of the requirements of the Clean Air Act
• There will be significant broad-based public support and an understanding of the various roles of all stakeholders in achieving clean air
• There will be a widely held belief that control of our own destiny through voluntary efforts is limitless in terms of what can be achieved
• There will be a close and collaborative relationship with the media to enable effective communications
• The youth of today will be involved to protect the air of today as well as tomorrow
• Travel alternatives will be strongly supported and widely used
• There will be learning resources to enable industry sharing of technical ideas
• These voluntary efforts will challenge other regions to improve air quality
• There is a vision and there are clear goals and annual recognition of success; focus and efforts will be renewed annually

The steering committee consists of these businesses and organizations:

American Lung Association of Wisconsin	City of Milwaukee Health Department
Fight Asthma Milwaukee Allies	General Mitchell International Airport
In-Sink-Erator DIV Emerson Electric	Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.
Milwaukee County Transit System	Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce
Quad/Graphics, Inc.	Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
WE Energies	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Wisconsin Department of Transportation	Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
Wisconsin Clean Cities - SE Area, Inc.

With that set of objectives and organizations that would be directly opposed to one another, what can we expect from this organization, that holds no political authority? 

Evans writes on page 119 that motivation to join these organizations is only for pure self interest. Why would WE Energies bother with an organization like this, considering the pro pollution (business) climate that exists in Wisconsin? The Fight Asthma Allies, what can they possibly gain over such powerful and well funded organizations like the MMAC? WE Energies gets to showcase its corporate responsibility, and the Fight Asthma Milwaukee Allies gets valuable input to help influence WE Energies self regulation. I mention these two because a prior post of mine mentioned a lawsuit both of these organizations were involved in. 

Evans writes that "The most common criticism of CSR is that companies will engage in order to improve their image, without stopping profitable but environmentally damaging activities". This would be called "greenwashing" and of some of these companies are extremely guilty of it.

I believe WPFCA is an organization that would fall under the CSA model of network governance.

I have a hard time finding what this organization actually asks of major polluters on its website. It does list simple ideas we can personally employ in our day to day lives to reduce emissions. Although useful, it does seem to push responsibility to individual consumers, which is odd, considering the massive amounts of pollution coming from some of the steering committee members. It seems like a greenwash, with many valid criticisms coming right from the Evans chapter on networks. Offering rideshare incentives are nice, but ineffective for real change in emissions.

The strengths I do see with this network is that it does broaden participation among actors. Even WE energies has to follow government regulation, and when it does, it can be useful to have community actors give input. 

It is also important to note that this organization is just one part of the state governments fight for cleaner air. It seems like this is the "ask nicely" part of its actions to regulate polluters. Everyone knows that it is poor form when seeking change, to not ask nicely first. So I feel it does have an important spot to fill.