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Joel Brennan: “We should do that [change legislation or close loopholes] if…”

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 43:45

We need to get back to a Public Service commission that serves its founding mission, that it was the case … We should do that [change legislation or close loopholes] if there are opportunities. … that their job is in the public interest, that they're working for the public and not working for the utilities. And so, you know, my life and my career has been about relationships. (43:45–43:52)

CLAIM

Asserts the need to change legislation or close loopholes when opportunities arise.

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 was the Department of Administration secretary for Governor Evers for three years.”
Wisconsin's Environmental Future: A Nonpartisan Gubernatorial Forum Part 2 | Uploaded June 2, 2026 | 03:52-03:58
“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 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