Power plants are dispatched in order of cost — cheapest first. When natural gas is cheap, gas plants run. When gas prices rise, coal becomes the cheaper option, and utilities switch. In 2025, coal consumption in the power sector jumped nine percent — the first increase in years — driven by higher gas prices and rising demand from data centers.

Wisconsin still gets about thirty percent of its electricity from coal — all of it imported, mostly by rail from Wyoming. The state has no coal of its own. So when gas prices spike, Wisconsin doesn’t just pay more for energy. It burns more of someone else’s coal to make it.

Higher prices and dirtier power at the same time. That’s the part of fossil fuel dependence most people never see.

Learn More

How "merit order" dispatch works: Power plants are dispatched in order of their variable cost — cheapest first. When natural gas prices are low, gas plants are cheaper to run than coal, so they get dispatched first. When gas prices spike, coal becomes the cheaper option, and utilities switch. This is called "gas-to-coal switching." (EIA)

Coal consumption jumped in 2025. EIA confirmed coal consumption in the electric power sector increased 9% in 2025 — the first increase in years. An 11% jump in coal-fired electricity generation was driven by higher gas costs and rising electricity demand, particularly from data centers. (Heatmap News; EIA STEO)

In MISO — Wisconsin’s grid — coal regularly exceeds gas generation in winter months. As recently as 2021-22, coal exceeded gas in every month of the year. More recently it’s been limited to winter, but the pattern persists whenever gas prices rise. (EIA)

Winter Storm Fern showed the extreme case. In January 2026, Henry Hub natural gas hit an all-time high of $30.57/MMBtu. Coal plants ramped up hard — 43 million short tons consumed in one month, 10% more than forecast. Coal consumption increased across all four census regions, led by gains in the South and Midwest. (Natural Gas Intelligence)

Wisconsin imports all its coal. The state has zero coal mines. Roughly 30-32% of Wisconsin’s electricity comes from coal (down from ~60% a decade ago). All of it is imported, primarily from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin by rail. (EIA Wisconsin State Energy Profile)

LNG exports contribute to the problem. In March-April 2025, LNG exports equaled about half of all natural gas used for electricity generation in the U.S. Exporting gas raises domestic prices, which triggers more coal dispatch — a feedback loop. U.S. LNG exports were up 25% in 2025 with another 10% increase expected in 2026. (Utility Dive/IEEFA)

Coal plants are being kept open by government orders. The Trump administration is using emergency orders (Section 202c) to prevent coal plant retirements. At least one Michigan plant reported a net loss of $125 million for 2025 under these orders. If extended to all plants scheduled to retire by 2028, the cost to ratepayers could reach $3-6 billion per year. (EDF/Earthjustice)

The emissions impact: Total U.S. CO2 emissions have essentially flattened at roughly 4.8 billion metric tons, as coal’s resurgence offsets gains from renewable energy growth. (Heatmap News)

Related Civic Minute segments: Rockets and Feathers (CM-21), Oil Is a Global Commodity (CM-23), Where Does Your Electricity Come From? (CM-34), What Energy Independence Actually Means (CM-38)

Here’s how it works. Your utility is a regulated monopoly. You can’t buy electricity from anyone else. In exchange, they can’t raise prices without the PSC’s approval. When they want a rate increase, they file a case. The PSC reviews it, holds public hearings, and decides.

Right now, that process matters more than ever. Wisconsin utilities have filed for billions of dollars in new rate increases — driven partly by data centers that could expand electricity demand by forty percent in parts of the state. The PSC is deciding who pays for that: the tech companies, or you.

The Citizens Utility Board — cubwi.org — tracks every rate case and advocates for residential customers. If your electric bill is going up, they’re worth knowing about.

Learn More

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is a three-member body appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. They regulate all investor-owned utilities in Wisconsin. When a utility wants to raise rates, it files an application, and the PSC reviews it through a formal process including staff analysis, testimony, and public hearings before the commissioners decide. (PSC: How Rates Are Changed)

Rates have been rising significantly. The PSC approved $2.2 billion in rate increases (out of $3.1 billion requested) from 2021-2026. Wisconsin now has the second-highest residential electricity rates and third-highest industrial rates in the Midwest. (WisPolitics)

The latest filing: We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service filed for $500 million in new increases on April 2, 2026, for 2027-2028. We Energies customers could see roughly $13/month increases in 2027 and $9 in 2028. (WBAY)

Data centers are a major driver. Planned facilities in Mount Pleasant (Microsoft) and Port Washington could expand electricity demand by 40% in parts of southeastern Wisconsin between 2026-2030. The Port Washington facility alone would need 1.3 GW — enough to power roughly 800,000 homes. We Energies has filed $5.5 billion in new projects to support data center demand. The PSC held public hearings on February 10, 2026 about a proposed rate structure for very large customers. Microsoft said it would "pay its own way." Consumer advocates are pushing for data centers to cover 100% of infrastructure costs. (Wisconsin Watch; Racine County Eye)

What drives rate increases: Roughly half of recent electric rate hikes are linked to new generation projects (solar, battery storage, natural gas plants). Other drivers include vegetation management, inflation, transmission costs, and supply chain cost overruns. (WPR; CUB)

How utilities make money: Fuel costs are a pass-through — utilities don’t profit from them. But they earn authorized returns on capital investments (new plants, transmission lines). This creates an incentive to build new infrastructure. The current authorized return on equity is roughly 9.8-10%. CUB has pushed to reduce it to 9.3%. (Alliant Energy)

Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin (CUB): An independent nonprofit that advocates for residential and small business utility customers. CUB tracks every rate case, provides testimony, and publishes analysis. Visit cubwi.org.

You can participate. Customers can comment on the PSC’s website, attend public hearings on rate cases, or join CUB. (PSC Public Participation)

Related Civic Minute segments: Where Does Your Electricity Come From? (CM-34), Point Beach, Kewaunee, and the Nuclear Question (CM-40)

Wisconsin used to have a second nuclear plant — Kewaunee, up the coast. It shut down in 2013, not because it was unsafe, but because cheap natural gas undercut it. The local economy lost over six hundred jobs and never fully recovered.

Now there’s a plan to build a new reactor on that same site, driven by data center demand. But building new nuclear is expensive, and it wouldn’t come online until the late 2030s.

Kewaunee closed because of a short-term bet on cheap gas that turned out to be wrong. Now gas prices are volatile, data centers want low-carbon power, and the demand for reliable electricity has never been higher. The lesson isn’t about any one technology — it’s about what happens when short-term economics drive long-term energy decisions.

Learn More

Point Beach is Wisconsin’s only operating nuclear plant — two reactors near Two Rivers on Lake Michigan, running since the early 1970s. It provides about 15% of the state’s electricity with a capacity factor above 90% and zero carbon emissions during operation. Because construction was paid off decades ago, its marginal operating cost is roughly $25-35/MWh — among the cheapest power on the grid. (EIA Wisconsin State Energy Profile; World Nuclear Association)

Why Kewaunee closed: The 556 MW plant shut down May 7, 2013 after 39 years. Owner Dominion Resources said the decision was "based purely on economics." The shale gas revolution had flooded the market with cheap natural gas, driving wholesale electricity prices below Kewaunee’s operating costs. Power purchase agreements expired and Wisconsin utilities refused to renew them. As a small, single-unit plant, Kewaunee had high fixed costs (~$40/MWh vs. industry average under $20/MWh) that couldn’t be spread across multiple reactors the way Point Beach’s costs can. (Power Engineering; CSIS)

Economic devastation: The closure eliminated 600+ jobs, $70 million+ in annual wages, and an estimated $630 million in total economic impact to the three-county area. Town of Carlton chairman David Hardtke: "That plant never should have been shut down." (ANS Nuclear Newswire; WisPolitics)

The new build plan: EnergySolutions filed a Notice of Intent with the NRC on January 15, 2026, to apply for major licensing by June 2028, in partnership with WEC Energy Group. This is not a restart — the old reactor is being decommissioned (3-5 years remaining). It would be an entirely new facility, possibly using advanced designs like molten salt reactors or small modular reactors. Construction could begin in the early 2030s, with the plant coming online by the late 2030s. Data center demand is the explicit driver, with potential for co-located data centers on site. (Daily Reporter; WPR)

New nuclear is expensive. Lazard puts new nuclear LCOE at $141-220/MWh — compared to $38-92/MWh for solar. Vogtle in Georgia, the only new U.S. reactor completed in decades, came in at roughly $35 billion, double the original estimate. Clean Wisconsin’s general counsel noted it "wouldn’t be built for probably 10-15 years" and questions what it’s being built for given data centers need power now. (Lazard LCOE+ 2025; WPR)

Bipartisan support in Wisconsin: The Assembly passed a nuclear tax incentive bill 86-11. Governor Evers signed two nuclear-supporting bills (a siting study and a Nuclear Power Summit Board). (WisPolitics)

Community concerns: Residents are broadly supportive of a new plant but nervous about transparency. EnergySolutions has been purchasing hundreds of acres of farmland around the site without confirming what it intends to build beyond a nuclear plant. Residents want assurance the land won’t be used for data centers. (Wisconsin Watch)

Related Civic Minute segments: Where Does Your Electricity Come From? (CM-34), Who Decides Your Electric Bill? (CM-39), The Sun Doesn’t Send a Bill (CM-30)

The United States produces more oil than any country on Earth. We’re also a net importer of crude — over six million barrels a day — because our refineries were built for a different kind of oil than we drill. We export what we produce and import what we need. And even at record production, when Iran choked off the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices jumped forty-five percent. Because oil is priced on a world market. Drilling more doesn’t change that.

So what would actual energy independence look like? Not relying on a commodity whose price you can’t control. It would mean running on energy sources that don’t have a world price — because there’s nothing to buy. Sunlight. Wind. A battery in your basement. The only energy you truly control is energy you don’t have to import.

Learn More

The U.S. is the world’s largest oil producer — and still a net importer. Production is roughly 13.8 million barrels per day, yet we import over 6.2 million bpd of crude because our refineries need a different type of oil than we drill. The "net petroleum exporter" label politicians use includes natural gas liquids and refined products — it’s misleading about crude oil specifically. (EIA; Poynter/PolitiFact)

The refinery mismatch: U.S. shale produces light, sweet crude. About 70% of U.S. refinery capacity was built for heavy, sour crude from Canada, the Middle East, and Venezuela. Retooling costs $100M-$1B per facility. (American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers)

Record production didn’t prevent the price spike. When Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz in early 2026, crude jumped roughly 45% to $95-100/barrel — despite the U.S. being at record production. Resources for the Future noted: "There is no such thing as energy independence, particularly when it comes to oil." Energy economist Mark Finley of Rice University put it simply: "If something goes wrong anywhere, the price goes up everywhere." (Resources for the Future; FactCheck.org)

"You can’t weaponize the sun." RFF board member Catherine Wolfram used this phrase to capture why renewable energy offers something fossil fuels never can: immunity from geopolitical disruption. Solar and wind have no fuel cost, so their price isn’t affected by wars, pipeline shutdowns, or OPEC decisions. (RFF)

Wisconsin imports ALL its fossil fuels. The state has zero coal mines, zero oil fields, zero natural gas wells. Wisconsin spends roughly $14 billion per year on imported fossil fuels. Every dollar of renewable energy generated in Wisconsin is a dollar that stays in the state. (RENEW Wisconsin)

Related Civic Minute segments: Oil Is a Global Commodity (CM-23), Does Drilling More Lower Gas Prices? (CM-24), We Drill It, Export It, Import What We Need (CM-28), The Sun Doesn’t Send a Bill (CM-30)

Here’s what you may not know: a third of the entire U.S. corn crop — five and a half billion bushels a year — goes to making ethanol. Not food. Not animal feed. Fuel.

Ethanol was created as energy policy — a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Environmentally, it’s roughly a wash — modestly less carbon out the tailpipe, but more fertilizer running off into rivers and streams. Over time, it’s become something else: a guaranteed market for a third of America’s corn. That supports corn prices, land values, and rural economies. It’s an agricultural support program that happens to flow through your gas pump instead of through your taxes.

As electric vehicles grow and gasoline demand declines, that market is shrinking. What replaces it is a question Wisconsin’s farm economy will have to answer.

Learn More

All regular gasoline is already 10% ethanol. The E10 blend has been the national standard for years. The national average blend reached 10.2% in 2025. Most people never think about it. (American Farm Bureau)

A third of the U.S. corn crop goes to ethanol — about 5.6 billion bushels a year, roughly 33% of total production. (USDA Agricultural Projections to 2035; Oklahoma Farm Report)

E15 is expanding. Wisconsin is one of eight Midwest states (IL, IA, MN, MO, NE, OH, SD, WI) approved for year-round E15 sales starting 2025. E15 is typically 10-30¢/gallon cheaper at the pump, but comes with 1.5-5% lower fuel economy (EPA says 1.5%, independent testers like Car and Driver say 4-5%). The Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025 would make year-round E15 permanent nationwide. (The Gazette; The Drive)

Environmentally, it’s complicated. Most lifecycle analyses find corn ethanol produces 20-40% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline. But growing corn for ethanol uses significant fossil fuel (diesel tractors, natural gas for fertilizer, natural gas for distillation, propane for grain drying). And more corn monoculture means more nitrogen fertilizer runoff into waterways, contributing to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

It’s not a complete diversion from food. About a third of the corn processed into ethanol comes back as "distillers grains," which are used as animal feed. So the nutritional value isn’t entirely lost to fuel production.

The food vs. fuel tension: Yale professor Kenneth Gillingham and University of Minnesota professor Jason Hill have noted that more corn for ethanol means less for feed, potentially raising food prices. (PBS NewsHour)

Ethanol demand faces a shrinking market. EIA projects U.S. gasoline consumption declining through 2035. If blend rates stay near 10.5%, domestic ethanol use could fall from 14.2 billion gallons (2025) to 13.1 billion by 2035 — roughly 400 million fewer bushels of corn demand. (Farm Bureau)

Wisconsin context: Ranked 8th nationally in fuel ethanol production in 2023. The state produces about twice what it consumes. Year-round E15 is now approved. The ethanol industry nationally supports 56,000 direct jobs and contributed $53 billion to GDP in 2024. (EIA Wisconsin State Energy Profile; NCGA)

Related Civic Minute segments: What’s in a Gallon of Gas (CM-22), When Gas Goes Up, Everything Goes Up (CM-26), The Math on Electric (CM-35)

You can argue about which number is right. But here’s what’s harder to argue with: the oil and gas industry earned over two hundred and fifty billion dollars in profits between 2021 and 2023. In a single good year, they earn more than ten times what the government gives them — even using the highest direct subsidy estimate.

These subsidies have been in place for over a hundred years. The industry that receives them has never been more profitable. Whether they still make sense is a question worth asking.

Learn More

There are three ways to measure fossil fuel subsidies — and they produce very different numbers:

Tier 1 — Direct tax expenditures (narrow): The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis puts fossil fuel tax expenditures at about $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2025. The annual average from 1994-2025 has been about $1.6 billion. This is the most conservative measure. (National Center for Energy Analytics)

Tier 2 — Broader direct subsidies: Oil Change International (September 2025) estimates $34.8 billion/year when you include tax breaks, below-market access to public land, regulatory loopholes, and direct spending. This figure has more than doubled since 2017. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, signed July 2025) added roughly $4 billion/year in new fossil fuel subsidies. (Oil Change International; Yale E360)

Tier 3 — Implicit subsidies (health and environmental costs): The IMF estimates U.S. fossil fuel subsidies at over $760 billion annually when including unpriced externalities — air pollution health costs, climate damages, and other costs the public pays rather than the industry. (IMF)

Industry profits for context: The oil and gas industry earned over $250 billion in profits from 2021-2023. In 2022 alone, U.S. oil companies reaped $301 billion — roughly seven times their pre-COVID average. (NPR)

Over a century of subsidies: Federal support for fossil fuels dates to at least 1918 (tax deductions for intangible drilling costs). Cumulative federal tax expenditures for fossil fuels from 1918-2025 total approximately $549 billion — nearly three times what renewables have received in total. (Center for American Progress)

The industry counterargument: The National Center for Energy Analytics argues the narrow Treasury figure ($2.6 billion) is the accurate measure, and that broader estimates conflate standard business tax deductions with "subsidies." They also note that removing all direct fossil fuel subsidies "would have no meaningful impact on the profitability of the traditional energy industry." (NCEA)

Related Civic Minute segments: Gas Taxes: Where Does the Money Go? (CM-32), What Energy Independence Actually Means (CM-38), Where Does the Money Go? (CM-43)

A solar farm has one cost: building it. After that, the fuel is free. Same with wind. And in most of the country, new solar and wind are already cheaper to build than new coal or gas plants — even before you factor in the fuel they’ll never have to buy.

That doesn’t mean renewables are perfect. The sun doesn’t always shine. The wind doesn’t always blow. Energy storage is getting cheaper, but it’s not free. These are real challenges.

But here’s what’s not debatable: every kilowatt-hour that comes from a source with no fuel cost is one that can’t be affected by a war, a pipeline shutdown, or an OPEC decision. That’s not an environmental argument. That’s a price stability argument.

Learn More

Two costs vs. one cost: A fossil fuel power plant pays for both construction and ongoing fuel. A solar or wind farm only pays for construction — after that, the "fuel" (sunlight, wind) is free. This means once a renewable plant is built, its operating cost is nearly fixed and largely immune to global commodity markets.

Solar and wind are now the cheapest new electricity. The EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook shows that new solar and onshore wind are cost-competitive with or cheaper than new natural gas combined cycle plants in most U.S. regions, even without subsidies. Lazard’s 2025 LCOE analysis confirms: solar PV LCOE is $38-92/MWh, compared to gas combined cycle at $48-107/MWh and new nuclear at $141-220/MWh. (EIA Annual Energy Outlook; Lazard LCOE+ 2025)

Fuel cost volatility hits your electric bill. Natural gas prices spiked during the 2022 Ukraine invasion and again during the 2026 Iran war. These costs pass directly to electricity ratepayers through utility fuel adjustment charges. Wisconsin’s electricity mix is about 40% natural gas and 30% coal — both subject to global commodity price swings.

"You can’t weaponize the sun." RFF board member Catherine Wolfram used this phrase to capture why renewables offer a hedge against geopolitical risk. Unlike oil, gas, and coal, sunlight and wind have no global price and cannot be disrupted by wars or embargoes. (Resources for the Future)

Energy storage is the remaining challenge. Lithium-ion battery costs have fallen roughly 90% since 2010 and continue to decline. Storage adds cost to renewable projects but is increasingly competitive, especially for 4-hour duration applications. Wisconsin’s first large-scale battery storage facility came online in Kenosha County in 2025. (BloombergNEF)

Related Civic Minute segments: Where Does Your Electricity Come From? (CM-34), What Energy Independence Actually Means (CM-38), When Gas Prices Spike, Your Grid Gets Dirtier (CM-41)

You’ve probably heard people argue about it. Environmentalists want it shut down. Enbridge, the company that owns it, says that would be a disaster. Here’s what the data shows.

The gas price impact of shutting it down? About half a cent per gallon — and that’s from Enbridge’s own expert. But the propane impact is real. Line 5 delivers about sixty-five percent of the Upper Peninsula’s propane. Families heat with it. Farmers dry grain with it. There’s no quick replacement.

The long-term answer may be cold-climate heat pumps, which now work well below zero and can cut heating costs in half for propane users. But that transition takes years. Right now, the honest answer is more complicated than either side admits.

Learn More

What is Line 5? A 645-mile pipeline running from Superior, Wisconsin, across Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, to Sarnia, Ontario. It carries up to 540,000 barrels per day of light crude oil and natural gas liquids. It’s been operating since 1953 and is owned by Canadian company Enbridge. (Enbridge Line 5)

The gas price impact of a shutdown is minimal. Enbridge’s own expert, Neil Earnest, testified in the Bad River Band federal lawsuit that shutting Line 5 would raise gas, diesel, and jet fuel prices by roughly half a cent per gallon in Wisconsin and Michigan. Independent analysis by London Economics International confirmed: 0.45-0.58¢/gallon. When both lines actually shut down for 19 days in 2020 after an anchor strike, dire price predictions did not materialize. (WPR; Michigan Advance)

The propane impact is real. Line 5 delivers about 65% of the Upper Peninsula’s propane and 55% of Michigan’s statewide propane needs. About 320,000 Michigan households heat with propane, plus approximately 8,000 farms. Natural gas liquids are offloaded at a terminal in Rapid River, near Escanaba, processed into propane, and shipped by truck to regional customers. The Michigan PSC and EGLE have said no viable alternative exists at current scale. (Enbridge propane data)

Wisconsin reroute: Enbridge began construction in February 2026 on a 41-mile reroute of Line 5 around Bad River Band tribal lands in Ashland and Iron counties. (Mining Journal)

Cold-climate heat pumps as a long-term solution: Modern heat pumps now work down to -15°F to -23°F, handling 80-90% of heating needs in Wisconsin/UP climates. Switching from propane can save $500-$1,500/year. The DOE’s Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge produced new products rated for 100% heating capacity at 5°F and above. For extreme cold, a "dual-fuel" setup — heat pump for most of winter, propane backup for the coldest stretches — is recommended. (WI PSC Heat Pumps; RMI Wisconsin Analysis; Center for Energy and Environment)

Related Civic Minute segments: How Gas Gets to Your Pump (CM-25), Heating in the North (CM-31), When Gas Goes Up, Everything Goes Up (CM-26)

Cold weather does cut range. At freezing, most EVs keep about eighty percent of their rated miles. On the coldest days — zero, five below — plan on losing thirty to forty percent. What most people don’t realize is that gas cars lose fifteen to twenty-five percent of their range in cold weather too — you just don’t notice because your gas gauge doesn’t show miles remaining.

For a daily commuter driving fifty miles round-trip and charging at home overnight, the math works fine — even in January. For longer rural trips, the charging network is the real question. It’s growing fast, but coverage up north is still thin.

Norway is colder than Wisconsin, and ninety percent of new cars sold there are electric. It works — but it took years of building the right infrastructure. That’s the question for Wisconsin: not whether EVs can handle winter, but how fast we build what they need.

Learn More

How much range do EVs lose in winter? Recurrent Auto’s study of 30,000 vehicles during the 2025-2026 winters found EVs retain about 78% of their rated range at 32°F on average. At 5°F, fleet data shows roughly 50% of rated range. Wisconsin and Minnesota drivers "routinely plan for 30-40% winter penalties." (Recurrent Auto; EV Energy Hub)

Gas cars lose range in cold weather too. DOE testing shows internal combustion vehicles lose about 15% of their range at 20°F. For shorter trips, fuel economy loss can reach 24%. The difference: your gas gauge doesn’t show "miles remaining," so the loss is invisible. (ZETA)

Heat pumps help. Most new 2025-2026 EVs include heat pumps as standard equipment, which cut winter energy consumption 10-15% compared to older resistance-heated models. Preconditioning (warming the battery and cabin while still plugged in) is the single biggest thing a driver can do to preserve winter range. (Energy Solutions Intelligence)

Best and worst winter performers: Tesla Model Y leads with just 11.8% winter range loss. Audi E-Tron retains 87% of range. On the other end, the VW ID.4 lost up to 37% in testing. The variation is significant — thermal management design matters a lot. (EV.com/Recurrent)

Charging infrastructure: 236,000 public EV charging connectors nationwide as of December 2025 — more than double the 2021 count. Most new EVs now have NACS ports for Tesla Supercharger access. But coverage in northern Wisconsin remains thin. (ZETA)

Norway proves it works. About 90% of new cars sold in Norway are electric, despite winters as harsh as Wisconsin’s. The key was building extensive charging infrastructure and adapting driving habits. (EV Energy Hub)

The technology is still improving. DOE-funded research is testing all-climate batteries with internal heating foils that can raise battery temperature from -30°C to room temperature in 30 seconds. (C&EN/American Chemical Society)

Related Civic Minute segments: The Math on Electric (CM-35), Heating in the North (CM-31)

The oil America drills is mostly light and sweet — low sulfur, easy to refine. But about seventy percent of our refineries were built decades ago to process heavy, sour crude — the thick, high-sulfur oil from Canada, the Middle East, and Venezuela. So we export the oil we drill to refineries overseas that can use it, and we import the heavy crude our own refineries were designed for.

It sounds absurd. But retooling a single refinery to switch crude types costs hundreds of millions of dollars and takes years. So instead, we trade.

That’s why "energy independence" is misleading. We have plenty of oil. It’s just not the right oil for our own refineries. And even if it were, the price is still set on a world market.

Learn More

The U.S. is the world’s largest oil producer AND a major importer. The U.S. produces roughly 13.8 million barrels per day — more than any country in history. It also imports about 6.2 million barrels per day and exports about 4 million. The "net petroleum exporter" label that politicians cite includes natural gas liquids and refined products, not just crude oil — which is like calling a country that exports wine and imports grain a "net agricultural exporter." (EIA; Poynter/PolitiFact)

The crude oil mismatch: U.S. shale produces mostly light, sweet crude (low sulfur, API gravity above 40). But roughly 70% of U.S. refinery capacity was built to process heavy, sour crude — the thick, high-sulfur oil historically imported from Canada, the Middle East, and Venezuela. About 90% of U.S. crude imports are heavier than domestically produced shale crude. (American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers; EIA)

Why not just retool the refineries? Switching a refinery from heavy to light crude processing costs $100 million to $1 billion per facility and takes years. With dozens of refineries nationwide, the total investment would be enormous. Canada remains the primary source of heavy crude imports — about 65% of all U.S. crude imports. (Drilling Maps)

Even solving the mismatch wouldn’t fix the price. Oil is globally priced. A disruption anywhere — whether in the Strait of Hormuz or a Gulf Coast hurricane — raises prices everywhere, regardless of how much the U.S. produces or how well-matched its refineries are. (FactCheck.org)

Related Civic Minute segments: Oil Is a Global Commodity (CM-23), Does Drilling More Lower Gas Prices? (CM-24), What Energy Independence Actually Means (CM-38)

Take farming. Wisconsin farmers run on diesel — for planting, harvesting, hauling. The fertilizer they spread is made from natural gas. The propane that dries their grain comes through pipelines from hundreds of miles away. When energy prices rise, farmers get squeezed from every direction — and those costs show up at the grocery store.

But does it have to be this way? You’ve already seen electric cars on the road. Electric semi trucks are starting to join them. And most freight locomotives already run on electric drivetrains — the diesel engine is just a generator, which means they’re surprisingly easy to convert to battery power.

Every piece of the supply chain that moves off oil is one less place where a crisis in the Middle East can reach into your wallet.

Learn More

Energy costs are embedded in everything you buy. Fuel powers the tractors that grow food, the trucks that deliver it, the trains that haul raw materials, and the heating systems that keep businesses running. When energy prices spike, costs ripple through the entire supply chain — and consumers pay more for goods that may have nothing directly to do with gasoline.

Wisconsin farming is especially energy-dependent. Farmers use diesel for equipment, fertilizer made from natural gas (via the Haber-Bosch process), and propane for grain drying. Propane supply is linked to pipeline infrastructure including Enbridge’s Line 5. When energy prices rise, farmers are squeezed from multiple directions simultaneously — and those costs eventually show up at the grocery store.

The "sticky prices" problem: Energy price spikes trigger broad inflation, but when energy costs fall, consumer prices don’t drop equally. Businesses raise prices to protect margins and lower them slowly, if at all. Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi noted: "We’re going to be paying the price for this through much of the year." (CBS News)

Freight locomotives are already partly electric. Nearly all U.S. freight locomotives are diesel-electric — the diesel engine powers a generator, which powers electric motors on the axles. This means converting them to battery-electric is more feasible than it sounds, because the drivetrain is already electric. A Berkeley Lab study published in Nature Energy found that switching U.S. freight rail to battery-electric would save $94 billion over 20 years, using half the energy of diesel. (Nature Energy)

Companies working on this: Voltify is retrofitting diesel locomotives and began pilot programs with a Class 1 railroad in early 2026. Wabtec (FLXdrive), Progress Rail (EMD Joule), and Siemens (Charger B+AC) are also developing battery-electric freight locomotives. CSX expects 3 battery-electric units by 2027. (CNBC)

Electric semi trucks are also entering the market, including the Tesla Semi, Freightliner eCascadia, and Volvo VNR Electric. Each electrified link in the supply chain is one less point where global oil prices affect what you pay.

Related Civic Minute segments: Rockets and Feathers (CM-21), Your Gas Is One-Third Corn (CM-37), The Sun Doesn’t Send a Bill (CM-30)

Wisconsin’s gas tax is indexed to inflation, so it adjusts a little each year. The federal gas tax is not. It’s been eighteen point four cents since October 1, 1993. That’s over thirty years with no adjustment. In today’s dollars, it’s lost nearly half its purchasing power.

That’s one reason America’s roads and bridges keep falling behind. The Highway Trust Fund has been running short for years, and Congress keeps patching it with general tax revenue rather than raising the gas tax — because nobody wants to be the politician who raised gas prices.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry has received federal tax breaks and subsidies for over a century. The roads wear out. The subsidies don’t.

Learn More

Wisconsin’s gas tax is 32.9¢/gallon (state excise) plus a 2¢ petroleum inspection fee. It’s indexed to CPI, so it adjusts slightly each year. Gas tax revenue goes to Wisconsin’s state transportation fund — about $1.07 billion in 2021-22, roughly 45% of the fund’s total revenue. Wisconsin ranks 12th highest among states. (WI Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Informational Paper 40)

The federal gas tax — 18.4¢/gallon — has not changed since October 1, 1993. It is not indexed to inflation. In today’s dollars, it has lost roughly 45% of its purchasing power. (EIA FAQ)

Total Wisconsin gas tax: About 51.3¢/gallon combined. For comparison: California charges 70.9¢, Illinois 66.4¢, and Alaska just 9¢. The national average is about 33.5¢ as of January 2026. (Tax Foundation; EIA state tax data)

The Highway Trust Fund keeps running short. Congress has transferred over $275 billion in general fund revenue since 2008 to keep the HTF solvent — essentially using income taxes to make up for a gas tax that hasn’t been raised in over 30 years. (Congressional Budget Office)

Fossil fuel industry subsidies have existed for over a century. The federal government has provided direct tax expenditures to oil, gas, and coal companies since at least 1918. See CM-33 (Who’s Subsidizing Whom?) for detailed subsidy data.

Related Civic Minute segments: What’s in a Gallon of Gas (CM-22), Who’s Subsidizing Whom? (CM-33)

But for four years running, drought has been dropping water levels on the river. When the water gets low, barges carry lighter loads. Lighter loads mean more trips. More trips mean higher costs. In 2024, barge rates jumped nearly sixty percent above their three-year average. Those costs flow straight through to fuel prices, fertilizer prices, and grocery prices across the Midwest — including Wisconsin.

And this isn’t a one-time event. Scientists say these swings between extreme wet and extreme dry are becoming more frequent. The river that keeps the Midwest economy moving is becoming less reliable — and there’s no backup system that can replace it.

Learn More

Barges are enormously efficient. A standard 15-barge tow carries as much cargo as 1,050 semi trucks or 216 train cars. This is why bulk commodities — fuel, fertilizer, grain, construction materials — move by water whenever possible. (Waterways Council)

The Mississippi is America’s agricultural highway. Over 65% of U.S. agricultural exports bound for international markets move on the inland waterway system. Ninety-two percent of agricultural exports pass through the Mississippi River Basin. (Wisconsin Watch / Inside Climate News; National Park Service)

Four consecutive years of drought have hammered river levels. In 2022, Memphis recorded water levels 11 feet below the historic average. Barges grounded in 2022 and 2023. The Army Corps of Engineers has had to dredge earlier than normal each year. By early September 2024, barge rates from St. Louis had jumped 57% above their three-year average. (USDA via Inside Climate News)

The costs flow downstream to consumers. Mississippi River mayors warned that fuel prices jumped roughly 20 cents overnight along the river in 2026 due to the combined effects of the Iran conflict and rising transportation costs. (ABC News)

The climate pattern is getting worse. Ohio State climatologist Aaron Wilson has documented an emerging pattern of rapid oscillation between extreme wet and extreme dry conditions. The Fifth National Climate Assessment found 5-15% precipitation increases across the Midwest over 30 years, but with much more extreme variability — meaning bigger floods AND bigger droughts. (Fast Company)

Wisconsin connection: A Wisconsin-based tug pilot, Captain Mike Napper, explained the economics: lighter loads mean more trips, which means higher costs for everything that moves by barge. Some Wisconsin soy growers are investing in new export terminals — including one on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee — to reduce dependence on the Mississippi route. (WVIK/NPR)

Related Civic Minute segments: How Gas Gets to Your Pump (CM-25), When Gas Goes Up, Everything Goes Up (CM-26)

That’s close to what a new gas car costs. But the real difference shows up over time. Electricity costs roughly four cents a mile to drive. Gasoline costs twelve to fifteen. That’s a thousand dollars a year or more in fuel savings. There are no oil changes, no transmission service, and brake pads last two to three times longer because the motor does most of the braking.

Add it up over five years, and an EV can cost eight to twelve thousand dollars less to own than a comparable gas car — even if the sticker price is similar. The upfront price gets the headlines. The running cost is where the math actually happens.

Learn More

Affordable EVs are here now. The redesigned 2026 Nissan Leaf starts at $29,990 with 303 miles of EPA range. The new 2027 Chevy Bolt arrives mid-2026 at $28,995 with 255 miles of range. Both use NACS charging ports, meaning they can access Tesla’s Supercharger network. (Autoblog; CarGurus)

More options under $40K: The Chevy Equinox EV ($35,000, 319 miles), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (reduced to $37,500, 318 miles), and Kia EV3 (~$35,000, 300+ miles) all offer competitive range and features. (Sierra Club)

The federal tax credit is gone — but deals abound. The $7,500 federal EV tax credit expired September 30, 2025 under the OBBBA. However, automakers are offering discounts of $7,500-$10,000 on many models, and dealers are sitting on 130 days of EV inventory. (Autoblog)

The fuel cost math: Electricity costs roughly $0.04 per mile to drive. Gasoline costs $0.12-0.15 per mile. That’s $1,000-1,500 per year in fuel savings alone. (DOE/fueleconomy.gov)

Maintenance savings are significant. No oil changes, no transmission service, no spark plugs. Brake pads last 2-3 times longer because regenerative braking does most of the work. Total maintenance savings: roughly $800-1,200 over three years compared to a gas vehicle.

Total cost of ownership: Over five years, an EV can cost $8,000-12,000 less to own than a comparable gas car — even at a similar sticker price. Consumer Reports total cost of ownership studies have consistently found EVs cheaper to own over time.

The used EV market is booming. A wave of lease returns from 2023-2025 is flooding dealer lots with low-mileage EVs at steep discounts. Used EV sales were up 12% in Q1 2026. (Autoblog)

Related Civic Minute segments: EVs in a Wisconsin Winter (CM-36), The Sun Doesn’t Send a Bill (CM-30)

And unlike driving, you can’t just heat less to save money. In a Wisconsin winter, you need what you need.

Cold-climate heat pumps are changing that equation. They run on electricity, which is generated locally and priced far more predictably than propane. Today’s models work well below zero — the Department of Energy now certifies units for full heating capacity at five degrees and colder. Propane households that switch can save five hundred to fifteen hundred dollars a year.

Your heating bill doesn’t have to be hostage to the next global crisis.

Learn More

Propane prices are tied to global energy markets — just like gasoline. Propane is derived from natural gas liquids, and its price tracks global energy markets closely. Prices spiked during the 2022 Ukraine invasion and again during the 2026 Iran/Hormuz crisis. Wisconsin Gas customers paid 24% more for gas in May 2022 than October 2021, and 34% more in winter 2021-22 than winter 2018-19. (RMI Wisconsin Analysis)

About 300,000 Wisconsin households use delivered fuels (propane, fuel oil) or electric resistance for heating — all of which are expensive and/or volatile. (RMI)

Cold-climate heat pumps now work well below zero. The DOE’s Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge produced units that maintain 100% heating capacity at 5°F without auxiliary heat. Modern models maintain 50-70% capacity at 0°F and 30-50% at -10°F. Trane has tested a prototype to -23°F. They can handle 80-90% of heating needs in Wisconsin’s climate. (WI PSC Heat Pumps; Center for Energy and Environment)

Savings for propane users: RMI’s Wisconsin-specific analysis finds propane-to-heat-pump switchers save over $500/year. National data shows $600-$1,500/year savings depending on propane prices and local electricity rates. The Wisconsin Office of Energy and Climate Change states: "The economics of heat pumps are also good if you currently heat with propane, fuel oil or electric resistance heat." (RMI; Dane County Climate Action / WI OECC)

Dual-fuel for extreme cold: The WI PSC recommends dual-fuel systems — a heat pump handles most of winter, with a propane or gas furnace kicking in at a preset low temperature. This provides "flexibility and confidence" for the coldest days. (WI PSC)

Financial help available: The IRA provides up to 30% tax credit for heat pump installation. Focus on Energy (Wisconsin) offers additional rebates. Many Wisconsin electric cooperatives and municipal utilities also offer heat pump rebates. (WI PSC)

Related Civic Minute segments: The Pipeline You’ve Never Thought About (CM-27), The Sun Doesn’t Send a Bill (CM-30), EVs in a Wisconsin Winter (CM-36)

About forty percent is natural gas. Another thirty percent is coal — down from sixty percent just ten years ago. The Point Beach nuclear plant provides about fifteen percent. And renewables — solar, wind, and hydro — make up around twelve percent. Solar doubled last year alone.

Why is solar growing so fast? Because it’s now cheaper to build a new solar farm than a new coal or gas plant — even without tax credits. That’s according to Lazard, one of Wall Street’s oldest investment banks.

The catch is that the sun doesn’t shine at night. That’s why Wisconsin just brought its first large-scale battery storage facility online in Kenosha County. Near Portage, the nation’s first utility-scale CO2 battery is under construction. More projects are in the pipeline across the state.

The mix is shifting. The question is how fast.

Learn More

Wisconsin’s electricity mix (2024): Natural gas ~40%, coal ~32% (down from 61% in 2014), nuclear ~15% (Point Beach), solar ~4%, wind ~3%, hydro ~3%, biomass ~1%. Coal was surpassed by gas for the first time in 2022. (EIA Wisconsin State Energy Profile)

Solar doubled in Wisconsin. Solar generation more than doubled from 2023 to 2024. It became the state’s largest renewable contributor for the first time, providing 41% of renewable generation. The 250 MW Darien Solar Energy Center came online in March 2025. (EIA)

Solar is now cheaper than gas or coal for new builds. The EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2025 found solar PV LCOE is lower than natural gas combined-cycle on average for new plants. Lazard’s 2025 analysis confirmed that unsubsidized utility-scale solar is cheaper than new natural gas. Solar LCOE: $29-92/MWh. Gas combined cycle: $61-93/MWh. Coal: $69-169/MWh. (EIA AEO2025; Lazard via pv magazine)

Battery storage is arriving in Wisconsin:

• Paris Solar-Battery Park (Kenosha County): Wisconsin’s first large-scale battery storage. 110 MW storage + 200 MW solar. Online June 2025. (WPR)
• Columbia Energy Storage Project (near Portage): Nation’s first utility-scale CO2 battery. 20 MW/200 MWh, 10-hour duration. Using Energy Dome technology. Operational by 2027. Located at the site of the retiring Columbia coal plant. (Utility Dive; Alliant Energy)
• More in the pipeline: Black Mountain (Milwaukee, 300 MW/1,200 MWh), Tern (Green Bay, 200 MW/800 MWh), Koshkonong Solar + 165 MW BESS (Dane County). (Renewable Energy World)

Wisconsin imports all its fossil fuels. The state has zero coal mines, zero oil fields, and zero natural gas wells. All coal is imported (primarily from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin via rail), all natural gas from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas, and Canada. Wisconsin spends roughly $14 billion/year on imported fossil fuels. (RENEW Wisconsin)

Data center demand is driving new construction. Six or more major data centers are planned or under construction in Wisconsin. The Port Washington facility alone would need 1.3 GW of power. Utilities are building billions of dollars in new infrastructure to meet this demand. (Wisconsin Watch)

Related Civic Minute segments: The Sun Doesn’t Send a Bill (CM-30), Point Beach, Kewaunee, and the Nuclear Question (CM-40), Who Decides Your Electric Bill? (CM-39)

The city hadn’t changed. The people hadn’t changed. The only thing that changed was the lines on a map. And just like that, fifty years of representation disappeared.

This is what gerrymandering looks like up close. Not an abstract political concept. A community, divided with surgical precision, so that the people who live there no longer get to choose who represents them.

Sheboygan isn’t the only place this happened. But it’s a good reminder that when politicians draw the maps, it’s real people who pay the price.

Learn More

Sheboygan’s redistricting history: Democrats held Sheboygan’s Assembly seat almost continuously from 1959 to 2011 — over 50 years. During the 2011 redistricting, Republicans split the city between the 26th and 27th Assembly Districts, each drawn with enough rural conservative voters to ensure Republican wins. In 2022, Governor Evers won the city of Sheboygan by 11 points, but lost Sheboygan County by 16 — illustrating how the cracked city was diluted by surrounding rural areas. (Wisconsin Watch / WPR, December 2022)

The 2011 redistricting process was conducted by Republican legislative staff in secret, with the assistance of a private law firm. Democratic legislators were given no input. The maps were designed using sophisticated voter data to maximize Republican advantage. This process was challenged in federal court in Gill v. Whitford (2018), which reached the U.S. Supreme Court but was dismissed on standing grounds. (UW Applied Population Lab)

"It just verifies for me that gerrymandering is a highly effective way of destroying democracy." — Mary Lynne Donohue, former Assembly candidate from Sheboygan and plaintiff in the Gill v. Whitford lawsuit. (Wisconsin Watch)

New maps changed the picture. Governor Evers signed new legislative maps in February 2024 after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the old maps unconstitutional. Under the new maps, Sheboygan is no longer split between two Assembly districts in the same way. The 2024 elections were the first under the new boundaries, and Democrats flipped 10 Assembly seats statewide.

General gerrymandering resources: See CM-5 (Packing and Cracking) for links to PlanScore, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, MIT Election Data + Science Lab, Brennan Center, and Dave’s Redistricting App.

Related Civic Minute segments: Packing and Cracking (CM-5), What Gerrymandering Is (CM-7), The People Already Agree (CM-9)

This isn’t a close call. This isn’t a partisan issue — at least not for the voters. Across the political spectrum, the people of Wisconsin have said: take the politics out of drawing our maps.

And yet, for over a decade, the legislature did nothing. The resolutions sat in a drawer. The people in power chose not to listen.

The one reform that would make them accountable is the one reform they refused to pass — because they don’t have to.

But right now, there’s a chance to break that cycle. On April 14th, the legislature convenes a special session on redistricting reform. Fifty-six counties have already said what they want. Call your representative and remind them.

Learn More

Overwhelming bipartisan support: Since 2013, 56 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have passed board resolutions calling for nonpartisan redistricting. Five additional municipalities in 3 other counties have done the same. Thirty-two counties and 21 municipalities have put the question to a countywide vote — and voters approved it by overwhelming margins every single time, in communities across the political spectrum. (Fair Maps Coalition History)

21 reform bills — zero floor votes. From 2009 to 2022, twenty-one bills or resolutions were introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature to create a nonpartisan redistricting process. None received an up-or-down vote on the floor of either chamber. (Fair Maps Coalition: Bills & Resolutions 2009-2022)

The Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition is a statewide coalition of dozens of organizations and thousands of volunteers. Member organizations include Common Cause, Law Forward, League of Women Voters, RepresentUs Wisconsin, All Voting is Local, and others. The coalition formed in 2017 after the federal court ruled Wisconsin’s maps unconstitutional in Gill v. Whitford. (fairmapswi.com; About the Coalition)

What they’re proposing: An independent, nonpartisan commission that draws district lines for state and federal office, then presents the maps to the legislature for an up-or-down vote — no amendments. This is the model used in several other states. (Wisconsin Farmers Union / Fair Maps)

The 2024 victory — and the unfinished work. Governor Evers signed new state legislative maps in February 2024 after the Supreme Court struck down the old ones. The 2024 elections showed immediate results: 14 seats flipped and both parties had to compete. But without a permanent change to the redistricting process, whoever controls the legislature and governor’s office after 2030 will draw the next set of maps. The coalition’s goal is to have an independent commission in place before then. (fairmapswi.com)

The coalition held public meetings across Wisconsin in summer 2025 — in North Shore, Dodgeville, Green Bay, Wausau, Waukesha, and Madison — to build support for independent redistricting commission legislation. (InfluenceWatch)

Get involved: Contact the Fair Maps Coalition at fairmapswi.com or Carlene at carlene@fairmapswi.com / 608-513-7655. (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign redistricting resources)

General gerrymandering resources: See CM-5 for links to PlanScore, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, MIT Election Data + Science Lab, Brennan Center, and Dave’s Redistricting App.

Related Civic Minute segments: What Gerrymandering Is (CM-7), Competition (CM-8), The Next Ten Years Are on the Ballot (CM-20)

So candidates don’t compete for the middle. They compete for the edges. They take more extreme positions, because that’s who shows up to vote in a low-turnout primary. The incentive isn’t to represent the district — it’s to avoid getting outflanked by someone even more partisan.

This isn’t a theory. Watch what happens in safe districts. The rhetoric gets hotter. The positions get more rigid. Compromise becomes a dirty word — because compromising with the other side can cost you the only election that matters.

Gerrymandering doesn’t just pick the winners. It pulls them toward the extremes. And all of us pay for it.

Learn More

Only 8% of voters are choosing 83% of Congress. A 2022 Unite America report found that just 8% of all eligible voters cast ballots in partisan primaries for "safe" congressional seats — yet those primaries effectively determined the winners in 83% of all House contests. (Unite America)

95% of House seats are "safe." The Cook Political Report’s 2024 ratings found only 22 of 435 House races were true toss-ups — about 5%. FairVote’s analysis found five of six 2022 House races were decided by more than 10 points. (Bipartisan Policy Center)

Members of Congress know where the real threat is. Brookings Institution’s Primaries Project found that in safe seats, "members of Congress know that the only place they can be defeated is in a primary. Thus, members of Congress are finely attuned to that electorate — in some instances, more so than to their general election electorate." (Brookings)

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Political Reform concluded that primary elections are "corroding our political system in an era of high polarization." (BPC)

Wisconsin’s own data: Under the old gerrymandered maps, only 4 of 99 Assembly races were decided by fewer than 5 points in 2022. In 29 districts, one party didn’t even field a candidate. Under the new maps in 2024, 82 of 99 districts had both-party candidates — the most since 2010. (See CM-8, Competition)

Further reading:

• Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter, The Politics Industry (Harvard Business Review Press, 2020) — argues the political system functions like a duopoly that suppresses competition
• Nick Troiano, The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes (Simon & Schuster, 2024) — makes the case that primary reform is the single most impactful democratic reform
• Protect Democracy, "How Did We Get Here: Primaries, Polarization, and Party Control" (2025)
• Brookings, "A Primer on Gerrymandering and Political Polarization"
• The Fulcrum, "When Politicians Pick Voters: Why Gerrymandering Is Undermining Democracy"

General gerrymandering resources: See CM-5 for links to PlanScore, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, MIT Election Data + Science Lab, Brennan Center, and Dave’s Redistricting App.

Related Civic Minute segments: Competition (CM-8), Packing and Cracking (CM-5), Final Five Voting (CM-3)

In 2011, Republicans controlled the legislature and the governor’s office, and they drew maps that locked in their advantage for over a decade. In 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down those state legislative maps and new, fairer ones were drawn. The results were immediate — in 2024, fourteen seats flipped, and both parties actually had to compete for control.

But here’s the thing. The court only fixed the state legislative maps. Wisconsin’s congressional district maps, for the US Congress, are still based on that same 2011 gerrymander. Those congressional maps aren’t changing before this November. And as long as politicians draw their own maps, this cycle repeats every ten years.

Learn More

How redistricting works in Wisconsin: Every ten years, after the census, legislative districts are redrawn. In Wisconsin, the legislature draws the maps and the governor signs or vetoes them. Whichever party controls both has enormous power to shape elections for the next decade.

The 2011 maps were drawn by Republican legislative staff in secret, with the assistance of a private law firm. Democratic legislators were given no input. The maps locked in a Republican supermajority even in years when Democrats won more total votes statewide. (Wisconsin Watch / WPR)

The 2023 court ruling: In Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission (December 2023), the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state legislative maps as unconstitutional. Governor Evers signed new maps in February 2024.

The 2024 results were immediate. Under the new maps, Democrats flipped 10 Assembly seats and 4 Senate seats. The Assembly went from 64R-34D to 54R-45D. For the first time in over a decade, both parties had to genuinely compete for legislative control.

Congressional maps are still gerrymandered. Wisconsin’s eight U.S. House districts are still based on the 2011 gerrymander. Six of eight seats are held by Republicans in a state that’s roughly 50-50 statewide. The median margin of victory across all eight districts is close to 30 percentage points. Democrats hold what advocates call the "lowest mathematically possible" number of seats given the state’s voter distribution. (Law Forward; PBS News)

The lawsuits have largely failed — for now. One lawsuit (Bothfield v. WEC) was dismissed by a three-judge panel on March 31, 2026 — the panel ruled it lacked authority to overrule the Supreme Court. The Wisconsin Supreme Court separately declined to hear a direct challenge in June 2025. A second lawsuit by Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy is expected to go to trial in 2027. No new congressional maps before the 2026 elections. (WPR; Wisconsin Examiner; Wisconsin Watch)

The deeper problem: As long as politicians draw their own maps, this cycle repeats every ten years. Advocates like Law Forward and the Fair Maps Coalition push for an independent redistricting commission to take map-drawing out of politicians’ hands.

General gerrymandering resources: See CM-5 (Packing and Cracking) for links to PlanScore, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, MIT Election Data + Science Lab, Brennan Center, and Dave’s Redistricting App.

Related Civic Minute segments: Packing and Cracking (CM-5), The Sheboygan Story (CM-6), Competition (CM-8), The People Already Agree (CM-9)

That means every race this November — from governor to state Assembly — will determine whether the next decade of maps is fair or gerrymandered. Governor Evers isn’t running again. The next governor will hold the veto pen. And the legislature will either pass redistricting reform or protect the status quo. Remember — nobody was paying attention to these races in 2010, and we got a decade of gerrymandering.

So when candidates knock on your door this fall, ask them one question: do you support an independent redistricting commission? If they dodge it, you have your answer.

The next ten years of representation are on the ballot this November. Pay attention.

Learn More

The 2030 census triggers redistricting in 2031. The Wisconsin Constitution requires the legislature to redistrict in the first session following each census. Whoever controls the legislature and the governor’s office at that moment decides how it’s done.

Current fair maps aren’t permanent. The maps signed by Governor Evers in February 2024 were ordered by the Wisconsin Supreme Court (Clarke v. WEC, December 2023). But the process hasn’t changed — the legislature still draws the maps. Without a constitutional amendment establishing an independent commission, the next trifecta government can gerrymander again.

Governor Evers is not running again. He announced in July 2025 that he would not seek reelection in 2026. The next governor will hold the veto pen over any redistricting legislation — and over the maps themselves when they’re redrawn after 2030.

What’s on the ballot in November 2026: All 99 Assembly seats and half the Senate seats. Under the new fair maps, Democrats have a realistic shot at winning one or both chambers (currently 54R-45D in the Assembly, 18R-15D in the Senate). The outcome will determine who draws the 2031 maps — or whether an independent commission draws them instead.

Neither party has clean hands. Democrats held a trifecta in 2009-2010 and didn’t pass redistricting reform. Republicans gerrymandered aggressively in 2011 and 2021. The lesson: process reform, not party control, is the only lasting solution.

The question to ask every candidate: "Do you support an independent redistricting commission?" If they dodge it, that tells you what they plan to do with the power once they have it.

The Fair Maps Coalition’s plan aims to have an independent redistricting commission established before 2031. Phase 2 (legislative advocacy) is underway. Visit fairmapswi.com.

Related Civic Minute segments: The People Already Agree (CM-9), Get in the Fight (CM-19), The Special Session (CM-11), What Gerrymandering Is (CM-7)

Here’s what usually happens with special sessions in Wisconsin. The governor calls one. The legislature gavels in. And then, within seconds — sometimes literally within thirty seconds — they gavel back out. No debate. No discussion. Session over.

It’s happened on gun violence. On abortion. On school funding. On child care. On the state budget. Every time, the same result.

This time, the question is gerrymandering — an issue that fifty-six Wisconsin counties have voted to reform. An issue where the voters have spoken over and over again.

So: will the legislature listen this time? Or will it be another thirty seconds? That’s up to them — and it’s up to you to tell them which one you expect.

Learn More

What happened on April 14: Republicans gaveled in but immediately postponed the special session — they did not adjourn. Unlike past gavel-in-gavel-out sessions, the legislature left the session open, with Republicans signaling ongoing conversations about redistricting reform. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said "redistricting is a core legislative power and any changes to the current process have to be made intentionally and specifically using normal legislative procedure." Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Republicans would be "more than happy to negotiate" but criticized the governor’s one-sentence amendment proposal as lacking detail. (WPR; Civic Media)

Democrats were ready to act. Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein held a press conference denouncing the lack of action, saying Democrats were "in the Senate chamber ready to discuss, debate and pass the constitutional amendment banning partisan gerrymandering." (WPR)

Why "postponed" matters more than "adjourned": In past special sessions (gun violence 2019, abortion 2022, budget surplus 2022, child care/workforce 2023), Republicans gaveled in and immediately adjourned — ending the session permanently in as little as 30 seconds. This time, postponing instead of adjourning leaves a procedural door open for negotiations. Assistant Majority Leader Scott Krug said: "If we leave it open, that means there’s conversations ongoing. That’s a good sign." (WPR)

The governor’s proposal: Executive Order #285 called for the legislature to pass a constitutional amendment banning partisan gerrymandering. A constitutional amendment requires passage by two successive legislatures, then approval by voters in a statewide referendum. (Wisconsin Examiner; WisPolitics)

The broader context: Evers is in his final year as governor. Without a permanent change to the redistricting process before 2030, whoever controls the legislature and governor’s office after the next census will draw the maps — potentially returning to partisan gerrymandering. (Wisconsin Examiner)

General gerrymandering resources: See CM-5 for links to PlanScore, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, MIT Election Data + Science Lab, Brennan Center, and Dave’s Redistricting App.

Related Civic Minute segments: The People Already Agree (CM-9), What Gerrymandering Is (CM-7), The Next Ten Years Are on the Ballot (CM-20)

Six states have redrawn their maps already. More are coming. The country hasn’t seen this much mid-decade redistricting in over fifty years.

For years, states have been slowly moving toward independent redistricting commissions to take the politics out of map-drawing. This arms race blew that progress apart in a matter of months.

Here’s the truth: as long as who draws the lines determines who wins, this fight never ends. There’s a bill in Congress — the Fair Representation Act — that would replace single-member districts with proportional representation, making gerrymandering pointless. That’s not a ceasefire. That’s ending the war.

Learn More

The highest level of mid-decade redistricting since the 1800s. Six states — California, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Utah — enacted new congressional maps between the 2024 and 2026 elections. Before 2025, only two states had conducted voluntary mid-decade redistricting since 1970. (Ballotpedia; Congressional Research Service)

How it started: President Trump pressured Texas to redraw its maps in summer 2025 to lock in more Republican seats. Texas Democrats fled the state to deny a quorum but ultimately failed to stop the process. In response, California voters approved a ballot measure in November 2025 allowing the legislature to redraw maps — potentially gaining Democrats five House seats. (ABC News)

The escalation continues. Virginia is pursuing a constitutional amendment allowing mid-decade redistricting. Florida Governor DeSantis called a special session on redistricting for April 21, 2026. Maryland and Washington have introduced redistricting legislation. Indiana Republicans explored new maps at Vice President Vance’s urging. (MultiState; The Fulcrum)

The progress that was lost: For years, states had been moving toward independent redistricting commissions — California (2010), Arizona, Michigan, Colorado. This arms race blew that progress apart in months. California even bypassed its own commission via ballot measure. (Center for American Progress)

Federal legislation on the table:

• Redistricting Reform Act of 2025 (Rep. Lofgren, Sen. Padilla): Would prohibit mid-decade redistricting nationwide and require every state to establish independent redistricting commissions. 50+ co-sponsors. (Rep. Lofgren press release)
• Fair Representation Act (H.R. 4632): Would go further — replacing single-member districts with multi-member districts elected by ranked choice voting, making gerrymandering structurally impossible. (FairVote)

General gerrymandering resources: See CM-5 for links to PlanScore, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, MIT Election Data + Science Lab, Brennan Center, and Dave’s Redistricting App.

Related Civic Minute segments: What Gerrymandering Is (CM-7), The Oldest Democracy (CM-13), The Next Ten Years Are on the Ballot (CM-20)

The Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition has been organizing this fight for years. Right now, they’re holding community hearings across the state — from Waukesha to Luck to Oconto — to get your input on a proposed Independent Redistricting Commission that would take map-drawing out of politicians’ hands for good. They’ve held over twenty hearings so far, and more are coming.

You can show up to a hearing near you. You can sign their pledge. You can put a Fair Maps yard sign in your front lawn. You can write a letter to your local paper — they’ve got a template ready for you. Or you can request a speaker for your church, your rotary club, your neighborhood group.

Find everything at fair maps w-i dot com. That’s fairmapswi.com.

Learn More

Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition is a statewide coalition of dozens of organizations and thousands of volunteers working to establish an independent redistricting commission before the 2030 Census. Visit fairmapswi.com.

Take action — here’s how:

• Attend a community hearing: fairmapswi.com/communityhearings — check for upcoming dates and locations near you
• Sign the pledge: fairmapswi.com/petition24
• Volunteer: fairmapswi.com/join
• Request a speaker for your church, rotary club, or community group: bit.ly/FMCspeaker
• Write a letter to your local paper — the coalition provides templates
• Yard signs: Contact the coalition directly
• Donate: wisdc.org/get-involved/donate (via Wisconsin Democracy Campaign)

Member organizations include: Common Cause, Law Forward, League of Women Voters, RepresentUs Wisconsin, All Voting is Local, Campus Vote, Leaders Igniting Transformation, Souls to the Polls, and many more. (About the Coalition)

The coalition’s three-phase plan: (1) Public education and community input, (2) Legislative advocacy, (3) Constitutional amendment establishing an independent redistricting commission. (fairmapswi.com)

56 of 72 counties have already passed resolutions calling for nonpartisan redistricting. 32 counties have put it to a vote — and voters approved it overwhelmingly every time. (See CM-9, The People Already Agree)

Related Civic Minute segments: The People Already Agree (CM-9), What Gerrymandering Is (CM-7), The Next Ten Years Are on the Ballot (CM-20)

Congress is even worse. Since those maps were drawn, the median margin of victory across Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts has been close to thirty points. In a state that’s essentially fifty-fifty.

When your representative knows they can’t lose, they don’t have to listen to you. They don’t have to compromise. They don’t even have to show up. They answer to whoever picks their voters — not to the voters themselves.

Wisconsin got new state legislative maps in 2024, and the difference was dramatic — real races, real choices, and fourteen seats changed hands. The congressional maps? Still the same. There are lawsuits in the courts right now challenging those maps, but no new lines before this November.

Learn More

Only 4 of 99 Assembly races were competitive in 2022. Under the old gerrymandered maps, just four races were decided by fewer than 5 percentage points. The other 95 had outcomes that were effectively predetermined. (Wisconsin Watch / WPR)

Congressional races are even less competitive. Since the maps were drawn in 2011, the median margin of victory across Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts has been close to 30 percentage points. Only 1 of 40 congressional races since 2011 was decided by fewer than 10 points. In a state where statewide elections are routinely decided by 1-3 points. (AP via PBS Wisconsin; Law Forward)

New maps produced real competition in 2024. Under the new state legislative maps, 82 of 99 Assembly districts had candidates from both parties — the highest since 2010. Fourteen seats changed hands (10 Assembly, 4 Senate). The Assembly went from 64R-34D to 54R-45D. (Marquette Law Faculty Blog)

Why lack of competition matters: When representatives can’t lose, they answer to party leadership and primary voters rather than to the broader public. There’s no incentive to compromise, engage with constituents, or show up at town halls. Safe seats are where accountability dies.

Congressional maps unchanged for 2026. The Bothfield v. WEC lawsuit was dismissed March 31, 2026. A second lawsuit goes to trial in 2027. No new congressional maps before November 2026. (WPR; Wisconsin Examiner)

General gerrymandering resources: See CM-5 for links to PlanScore, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, MIT Election Data + Science Lab, Brennan Center, and Dave’s Redistricting App.

Related Civic Minute segments: Packing and Cracking (CM-5), How Safe Seats Make Politics Worse (CM-10), The People Already Agree (CM-9)

Packing means stuffing as many of your opponent’s voters as possible into a single district. They win that one seat in a landslide — eighty, ninety percent — but all those extra votes are wasted. They could have helped win seats somewhere else.

Cracking is the opposite. You take a community that would have enough voters to win a district and split it across two or three, so they’re outnumbered in every one.

That’s what happened in Sheboygan. A city with fifty years of Democratic representation was cracked in half — split between two districts packed with enough rural voters to flip both. The people didn’t move. The lines did.

In Wisconsin in 2018, thanks to gerrymandered maps, one party won sixty-three of ninety-nine Assembly seats with just forty-five percent of the vote. Nearly two-thirds of the seats, with less than half the votes. Perfectly legal. But it doesn’t need to stay that way.

Learn More

What are packing and cracking? The two core techniques of partisan gerrymandering. Packing concentrates opposing voters into as few districts as possible so they win those seats by huge margins but "waste" votes that could have been competitive elsewhere. Cracking splits a community of opposing voters across multiple districts so they’re outnumbered in each one. The two strategies work in tandem: you pack some voters so you can crack the rest. (Marquette Law Faculty Blog; UW Applied Population Lab)

The Sheboygan story: Democrats held Sheboygan’s Assembly seat in all but four years from 1959 to 2011. During the 2011 redistricting, Republicans split the city between the 26th and 27th Assembly Districts, each drawn to include enough rural voters to ensure Republican wins. The city went from 50 years of Democratic representation to zero — without its voters moving. (Wisconsin Watch / WPR)

The 2018 election numbers: Republicans won 63 of 99 Assembly seats with just 44.75% of the statewide vote. Democrats won approximately 53% of votes but only 36 seats. That year Democrats won every statewide race (governor, attorney general, etc.) but couldn’t come close to an Assembly majority. (Wikipedia; Wisconsin Watch)

The efficiency gap: Under the 2011 maps, the Wisconsin Assembly’s efficiency gap — a measure of how many votes are "wasted" due to gerrymandering — averaged 11%. In 2018 it hit 15.4%, the fourth-highest Republican skew in nearly 1,000 statehouse elections between 1972 and 2020. (PlanScore via Wisconsin Watch)

The margins tell the story: In the 10 closest Assembly races Republicans won in 2022, the average margin was 7.5 points. In the 10 closest for Democrats, it was 15.2 points. This asymmetry is the signature of packing — Democratic wins are lopsided while Republican wins are efficient. (Wisconsin Watch / WPR)

New maps are now in place. Governor Evers signed new legislative maps into law in February 2024 after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the old maps unconstitutional. The 2024 elections were the first under the new maps, and Democrats flipped 10 Assembly seats.

General resources on gerrymandering and redistricting:

• PlanScore — Nonprofit that scores redistricting plans for partisan fairness using the efficiency gap and other metrics.
• Princeton Gerrymandering Project — Grades every congressional and state legislative map in the country for partisan fairness, competitiveness, and geographic features.
• MIT Election Data + Science Lab (MEDSL) — Nonpartisan research lab producing election data, including redistricting analysis and election performance metrics.
• Brennan Center for Justice — Research and advocacy on redistricting reform, with detailed state-by-state analysis.
• Dave’s Redistricting App — Free tool that lets anyone draw and analyze redistricting maps using real census and election data.

Related Civic Minute segments: The Sheboygan Story (CM-6), What Gerrymandering Is (CM-7), Competition (CM-8), How Safe Seats Make Politics Worse (CM-10)