Johnson
fights to clear the air
What's
left to say about a guy who built an $8 billion company, flies
jets and has enough environmental conservation awards to make
his honors from the leaders of Japan, France and Spain seem like
afterthoughts?
This
year, the answer is easy because Sam Johnson, chairman emeritus
of S.C. Johnson and Son Inc., dedicated $150,000 to start a new
organization opposing the construction of coal-fired power plants.
Formed in opposition to We Energies' Power the Future proposal
to build a $4.3 billion coal-fired plant in Oak Creek, Responsible
Energy for Southeastern Wisconsin's Tomorrow became a rallying
point for environmental advocates in the debate.
Steve
Bulik, coordinator for RESET member Citizens for Responsible Power,
said Johnson balanced the power in the Power the Future discussions.
"I
think the whole opposition stepped up a notch when he took a position
on it," Bulik said. "All he's done is level the playing
field. I mean, look at who we're playing against here."
The
original list of seven companies and organizations that joined
Johnson to found RESET in October 2002 ballooned to 50 a year
later. RESET took Johnson's message to television, radio, the
Public Service Commission and, most boisterously, to the streets.
Because
of Johnson's participation in RESET, the debate shifted from a
skirmish between one of Wisconsin's largest corporations and comparatively
smaller nonprofit groups to what Milwaukee County Supervisor Mark
Borkowski characterized as a "battle royal."
On
the night Racine passed a resolution opposing the power plant,
Johnson led a crowd of 200 backers through the city's downtown
waving "No More Coal" signs.
He
also attended two out of three PSC hearings on the plant in Racine,
sitting quietly in the back during the first and testifying during
the second.
"I've
been a business man for over 50 years," he said during the
Sept. 19 hearing. "I've seen companies that put profits ahead
of what is best for their people and their communities. Most of
those companies are out of business."
Over
the course of 30 years running the company, Johnson, the fourth
generation of his family to lead S.C. Johnson, has increased the
company's worth from $171 million to more than $8 billion. His
business has provided jobs to people in 70 countries on every
continent but Antarctica.
Bulik
said Johnson's work on the power plants is just the latest in
a career spent looking out for the people and communities of southeastern
Wisconsin. He's helped redevelop downtown Racine, and he's made
sure to treat his employees well.
"He's
done a lot more for this community than just this one issue,"
Bulik said. "He's made a lot of investments in our city,
similar to how the Bradley family did in Milwaukee."
Johnson's
work helping corporate America become environmentally conscious
has earned him a long list of accolades and positions, including
the United Nation's Lifetime Environmental Stewardship Award,
the chairman's role on The Nature Conservancy Board of Governors
and the Rene Dubos Environmental Award. He also helped found the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and these
days he directs the World Resources Institute.
And
he's turned his eye for environmental safety on his own company
as well. One of Johnson's most widely known business decisions
was his removal of harmful chlorofluorocarbons from his company's
aerosol products three years before laws mandated the change.
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