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Joel Brennan: “I was the Department of Administration secretary for…”

Featuring: Joel Brennan, Democratic | Candidate, Governor of Wisconsin

Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2

Published June 2, 2026 | Video Starts at 03:52

Joel, David, Francesca, and Andy. So, Joel, take it away. Thank you very much, Laura, and thanks for having us here tonight. By way of background, for those who don't know me, I was the Department of Administration secretary for Governor Evers for three years. And so I was secretary of DOA during 2019 when Governor Evers first did that executive order. I also helped stand up the Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy in the state as well. (03:52–03:58)

CLAIM

Asserts that Joel Brennan served as the Department of Administration secretary for Governor Evers for three years.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Joel Brennan

“In Wisconsin, 60% of what we still get is from natural gas.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 04:31-04:38
“The Public Service Commission was the first one of these [commissions] that was ever created.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 11:41-11:48
“90% of us live within a mile of a project that has been affected positively by Knowles Nelson since it was introduced in the 1980s.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:01:05-1:01:14
“Every well [in the town of Campbell, Lacrosse County] is contaminated and for the last five years they have had to drink bottled water.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:11:35-1:11:41
“I also helped stand up the Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy in the state as well.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 04:05-04:11
“We need to make sure that we are investing in the DNR robustly.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 04:47-05:02
“Local units of government are ahead of where we are at the state level [in dealing with climate change].”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 05:01-05:13
“People [in Wisconsin] are determining whether they're going to pay their utility bill or buy their prescription drugs.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 11:21-55:03
“Renewables, whether it's wind or solar, are the quickest and cheapest way for us to be creating new sources of energy.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 22:22-22:30
“We are doing what is our responsibility, moving as quickly to renewables, moving as quickly as we can to a carbon-free effort that we can…”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 22:22-22:30
“The Public Service Commission in Wisconsin was one of the first [and] was groundbreaking when it was introduced.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 26:21-26:27
“The Public Service Commission and the DNR are hamstrung in what they can do.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 26:32-26:38
“Their decisions can't really necessarily be focused on what this energy production means to people's health.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 26:37-26:45
“The legislature hasn't been able to [establish guardrails for data centers].”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 31:51-31:54
“If I get elected governor, we would call for a pause as we look at some of the guardrails that are already out there.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 31:53-32:03
“Ensuring that it's Wisconsin workers, Wisconsin union workers who are building these data centers.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 32:24-32:29
“There is a Democratic bills that have been done with lots of stakeholders. I think they're starting with 70% as the renewable goal.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 32:46-32:54
“It'd be my intent to do that in the first few months of the legislative session so that everybody knows what the bar is that they have to…”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 33:07-33:18
“The legislature had to work on a deal last week where the governor and legislative leaders went behind closed doors.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 38:42-38:49
“There are ways that the budget has been done and people have discussed how to do the budget going behind closed doors.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 38:53-39:01
“Transparency in government is paramount.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 39:01-39:05
“We're a regulated state, and it's about a balance between affordable and reliable energy and what utilities can do.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 42:57-43:11
“We need to get back to a Public Service commission that serves its founding mission, that it was the case over 100 years ago.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 43:36-43:44
“We should do that [change legislation or close loopholes] if there are opportunities.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 43:45-43:52
“We need to make sure that we're appointing commissioners who know that their job is in the public interest.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 43:51-44:01
“Affordability is a crisis everywhere [in Wisconsin].”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 54:49-54:57
“We spend, I think when you combine weatherization and energy assistance and focus on energy, it's like $350 million statewide.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 55:16-55:25
“The low income heating assistance programs, weatherization programs at the federal level are all being targeted by the Trump administration.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 55:32-55:40
“One of the bills in the legislature around data centers also has a fee that would automatically go into weatherization, go into energy…”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 55:44-56:01
“Democrats have introduced bills to have county conservation staff focused on resilience at the local level.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:00:29-1:00:37
“DNR has been hollowed out so much that [local governments] are ahead of us.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:00:43-1:00:48
“It's going away as of June 30th.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:01:15-1:01:18
“The coastal management program that I help manage at DOA, that's one way that we can continue to leverage funding.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:01:17-1:01:24
“We are six years removed from one of the worst public health crises in the last hundred years.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:06:51-1:07:00
“The federal government has pretty much abandoned us.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:07:09-1:07:12
“There is far too much burden that's placed on local units of government [regarding mental health].”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:07:21-1:07:27
“A fractured system where sometimes the county has to deal with mental health and public safety officials are forced to be doing things that…”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:07:26-1:07:37
“It does come down to the amount of funding that we can create and making sure that we are doing what is coordinated between the state and…”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:07:36-1:07:47
“Leaning into the lessons that we learned when we had to face the challenge of our lifetime in Covid.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:07:48-1:07:54
“The DNR has to provide bottled water in a Wisconsin community.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:11:40-1:11:45
“For five years there was money that was allocated by the legislature, hasn't been spent in the last two years.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:11:44-1:11:52
“I served as the top appointed official for Governor Evers during the time of crisis of COVID 19 economic and public health crisis.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 1:12:12-1:12:21