End The Blackout On Key AG Water Opinion

For a year, I have posted items on this blog about a crucial document ignored by the state's traditional media - - a heavily annotated opinion about Great Lakes water diversion law written in 2006 by then-Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager.

The opinion lays out what the law says Wisconsin officials can and cannot do, and should and should not do when reviewing or approving diversions of water out of the the Great Lakes basin.

You can read the opinion in full, here.

In a nutshell, the opinion says that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the State of Wisconsin cannot open the spigots and move water beyond the boundaries of the Great Lakes basin without the approval of the other Great Lakes states.

Yet that very thing has happened twice in Wisconsin: once in 1989 for Pleasant Prairie, and again in 1999 for Menomonee Falls, facilitated by Wisconsin state officials.

Those precedents should not be repeated by state officials or be moralized into state statutes a) because they didn't meet the demands of the law, and b) because if Wisconsin wants to cite them as valid, then they could be similarly used by other states as the basis for moving water outside of the Great Lakes basin, creating net water losses across the Great Lakes - - including in Wisconsin.

Yet some policy-makers in and around the State Capitol, as they are working to establish water policies statewide, want to embed those precedents as valid diversion guides into a bill passed along with legislative approval of the pending Great Lakes Compact.

And the policy-makers are able to consider this option because a) the Lautenschlager opinion has been undercovered by media, and b) Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource officials have repeatedly said they believe the DNR, based on its past practice, can approve diversions of Great Lakes water without the approval of the others states.

A lengthy commentary on the DNR's arrogation of authority is here.

It would be foolhardy to reward bad procedure and put those predecents into Wisconsin law at the very moment the state is joining the Great Lakes Compact, and thus agreeing to standard diversion procedures.

It would would undermine the cooperative nature of the Compact, and invite litigation from the other Great Lakes states.

If a stunt like that is pulled by the state legislature, why would the other states do business with us?

Ending the journalistic denial surrounding the AG opinion would be a public service.

And it would help everyone grasp the need for sound, legal-and-fact-based legislating, giving the Great Lakes Compact and its conservation principles their proper grounding in our state.

How And Where To Register Opposition To The $1.9 Billion I-94 Boondoggle From Milwaukee-To-Illinois

Despite skyrocketing gas prices, rising demand for transit and a plan that even its sponsor says won't trim commuting times, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is forging ahead with plans to spend $1.9 billion on the Interstate highway between Milwaukee and the Illinois line.

There is a public comment period that ends next Monday, May 5th.

Below is information about where to register an opinion about the project, and further information about the plan, in detail:

*****

Comments can be sent via e-mail to dotsefreeways94nsc@dot.state.wi.us, phone (262) 548-8721 or fax (262) 548-5662.

You can read the entire most recent transportation report on its plan at http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/d2/i94/eis.htm

Thanks to Gretchen Schuldt and Citizens Allied for Sane Highways (CASH) for continuing leadership on these issues.

Plan B To Duck A Great Lakes Water Bill Hearing

Some legislators want to approve the Great Lakes Compact implementation bill without a hearing.

That would draw less attention to it.

Now there's a Plan B to cut the public out of the process - - literally roll the bill into Budget Repair legislation - - a one-step, take-it-or-leave-it package.

WisPolitics.com reported last week that the two measures could be taken up in tandem, and I posted that report, but now the the Compact implementation could be completely subsumed in a deal over the budget if the money bill and the water bill are in a joint measure.

Pretty awesome subterfuge, I'd say. Why not just change the state motto from "Forward" to "More Logrolling!"

Legislators say they want to get out and campaign, putting their personal agendas and re-election schedules ahead of the public interest.

Let's see how this looks on the scales of political justice:

Imagine, on the one hand, approving an eight-state, two-nation agreement seven years in the making to govern water access and conservation in the state and region, in a package with hundreds of millions in significant revenue changes to put the budget back into its mandatory balance.

On the other hand, boogying out-of-town to unimpeded fundraisers, potluck dinners and coffee klatches.

I guess if you are a certain type of legislator, the bolt out of town is no contest.

The Road To Sprawlville, Chapter XIII, Through Dane County...

Has stopped.

Not that it's particular to Dane County. The housing-and-mortgage-bust is nationwide.

So with upcoming subdivisions at Pabst Farms on hold, and people redirecting their discretionary income from clothing and appliances to gas tank fill-ups, why are Waukesha County and the State Transportation Department so hell-bent on building that $25 million interchange to the once-scrapped-already Pabst Farms mall?

What Is The Real Value Of Water: Waukesha Will Find Out

The City of Waukesha is eyeing a parcel of land for condemnation in the neighboring Town of Waukesha because there is a supply of fresh water beneath the 42-acre parcel.

So how much is it worth?

The City's appraiser and the owner's appraiser are about $1 million apart on their estimates - - nice summary article by Darryl Enriquez in the Journal Sentinel here.

Milwaukee and suburban officials will also have to address this issue if and when sales of Lake Michigan water take place.

At that point, the value added by diverted water to development in the buying community will have to be factored into the price, or the selling community will not receive a share of the full value of the water.

The Waukesha estimates' dispute opens the door to this potentially-thorny issue.

Journal Sentinel Calls For Hearing On Great Lakes Compact Bill

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel adds its voice to the growing call for a hearing on whatever amendments legislators agree to add to the Great Lakes Compact implementing bill.

I have been hammering away on this blog and in a Sunday Journal Sentinel op-ed about the need for full disclosure of these amendments prior to their introduction - - especially if legislators have agreed in advance to approve them.

That is because adopting the Compact is a good thing, but could be undermined if the implementing bill contains key wording similar to what has been circulating around the Capitol.

Those phrases and other amendments could establish an indefinite period of time during which diversions of water outside of the Great Lakes basin could be allowed in Wisconsin using previous diversion permissions that were granted without the review and approval of the other Great Lakes states.

That would undermine the cooperative, conservation spirit and letter of the Compact - - using bad old precedents to establish bad new precedents - - akin to intentionally throwing good money after bad.

Additionally, some GOP legislators want fewer water conservation requirements in the bill, even though the legislation could be a fulcrum to obtain popular, once-in-a-lifetime water conservation planning and achievements.

Turns out that a poll released this week shows 77% of the Wisconsin public supports requiring statewide water conservation planning, so chalk up the Assembly GOP, which takes credit for stripping it out of the so-called water implementation "deal," as out of touch with public sentiment.

No wonder that GOP legislative leaders in the Assembly have been saying "no way" to a hearing.

On April 26th, the Journal Sentinel published a few updating paragraphs on its NewsWatch blog about the matter, including these:

"A legislative vote on the Great Lakes compact could still be two weeks off.

"Gov. Jim Doyle announced April 8 that he would call a special session for lawmakers to ratify the eight-state deal governing water diversions from the five big lakes, but legislators are still crafting the final language of a compact bill, and nobody can say now when a final vote will occur.

"The vote should happen within two weeks, said John Murray, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch.

"Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has asked for a public hearing, but Murray said that won't happen.

"As soon as we get the amendments drafted, the plan is to take it to a vote," he said.

The possibility of quick votes before the public is allowed into the process through a hearing, or widespread distribution of the contents of the deal arranged behind-the-scenes, has gotten stronger.

Some legislators in the last few days suggest putting the Compact's implementation bill into a package with a deal-ridden budget repair bill - - then putting the whole shebang up for a take-it-or-leave it vote.

That would obscure the water legislation bill and make a hearing something of a logistical impossibility.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and the Common Council leadership have called for a hearing, as have citizens in Waukesha County,

That sets the correct, non-partisan tone for what should be routine in Wisconsin - - letting the public see the fruits of the legislative process, and comment on them, before a vote is taken.

As the newspaper rightly points out, a "watershed moment" like this demands full vetting and public disclosure.

Chicago Beats New York

It's the transportation equivalent of "Cubs Win! Cubs Win."

A few weeks ago I posted an item about New York's efforts to raise money for transit expansions through fees on motorists driving into the city using what is known to transportation wonks as "congestion pricing."

Well, it turns out that the New York plan fell through. Too much suburban opposition.

So the feds instead like what Chicago is doing so much with transit improvements and increased parking meter fees that it decided to ship $153 million of the New York plan's federal funding to the Windy City.

Details here.

Of course, nothing is happening in Milwaukee with transit improvements because Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has said "no" to anything with a rail under it, preferring to starve and dismember his dying bus system.

Smog Can Be A Killer, But Wisconsin Still Has Its Dirty Air Apologists

A federal scientific study shows that smog can be a killer.

But the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Patrick McIlheran and the Doyle administration are arguing that federal clean air regulations in southeastern Wisconsin are too restrictive.

Now there's a trifecta for you.

The smog tolerators claim that our region will lose jobs if George Bush's Environmental Protection Agency adopts rules to make the air cleaner - - rules watered down already, but still unacceptable to some on the non-compassionate side of conservatism.

I imagine the next step for the dirty air advocates is asking the state's medical, funeral home and cemetery professions to calculate the economic benefits from smog-exposure illness and death, then fold those numbers into the pro-jobs' cost/benefit analysis.

That could take the sting out of the scientific study's finding of "strong evidence that short-term exposure to ozone can exacerbate lung conditions, causing illness and hospitalization and can potentially lead to death," and turn it into a heckuva plus!

Murphy Oil Expansion in Superior Has The Duluth, MN Daily Paper Engaged, Too

An excellent primer on the economics surrounding the potentially-large refining expansion at Murphy Oil in Superior, WI is laid out nicely in the Minnesota daily paper next door, the Duluth News Tribune.

For related information, see this post and the comments.

Less North Dakota Wheat, More Corn And Soybeans Instead...And That Bagel Is Going Up In Price

Those amber waves of grain - - wheat - - are being replaced by corn and soybeans for fuel and export across the Great Plains, says The Washington Post, and all your basic bready starch products are going up in price like, well, gasoline at the pump.

County And Pabst Mall Developer Playing $25 Million Game Of Chicken

Imagine the temerity of those Waukesha County officials - - asking for the names of the stores headed for the already-delayed-once-still-not-ready-for-launching Pabst Farms shopping mall before they release $1.75 million tax dollars to help build an I-94 interchange to deliver customers to said mall and stores.

The mall developer promises the stores will be more than a collection of your basic Big Boxes that is truly worthy of a county subsidy and also that larger helping of public cash - - $21.1 million in state highway funds to be expended on this boutique interchange.

And be the veritable regional draw promised by the developer, because if it isn't, it makes no sense to commit millions in public dollars, as budgets are about to be trimmed in Madison, (and don't forget that Ocononomoc is also in for the bargain basement sum of $400,000), to a special interchange if it's only to serve a glorified strip mall.

Granted that the developer has to match the county share - - $1.75 million - - 7% of the total - - and it looks like the developer has to show its cards before the county releases the funding, which, in turn, makes the state's contribution a "go."

Maybe the first mall developer that stepped back from the initial big, regional mall concept knew that a recession was coming, fueled by spiking gas prices that make traveling across a region in search of goods and services at an upscale shopping destination something of a costly anachronism.

Maybe Waukesha County would be better off using that $1.75 million to fill some potholes, or put more buses on the streets, and the state can take $21 million-plus off the books and erase a bit of that shortfall in state spending.

Past Sentencing Raises Questions In Wake of Triple-Fatal Wreck In Oconomowoc

The Waukesha County man charged with three counts of vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated (under the influence of painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety pills) after last Friday's gruesome wreck in Oconomowoc had been charged with his third OWI in July, 2007, records show.

According to the state DOT website, a third OWI conviction can carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail, and confiscation of the vehicle.

Had those penalties been imposed when the driver, former physician Mark Benson, finally pleaded guilty to that third OWI just two days before the wreck, Benson would not have been back on the road and in his heavy Cadillac Escalade that rear-ended a Honda Accord, killing a pregnant woman and her nine-year-old daughter.

Why wasn't Benson incarcerated upon his guilty plea by the Waukesha County justice system after that third conviction, given a lengthy dangerous driving record that included repeat offenses, including additional tickets after the third OWI arrest?

Some explanations are already overdue.

UPDATES:

Benson's 75-day sentence, imposed by Waukesha County Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr., was to begin May 9th.

Too late, it turns out.

Note also that the sentence imposed by Dreyfus, had it taken effect immediately, would have kept the defendant off the roads - - but it was but 20% of maximum one-year potential incarceration, and without vehicle confiscation.

As discussed on this blog previously, Wisconsin does not adequately address intoxicated driving.

A first offense is treated as a ticket, not a criminal offense - - an unusually easy arrangement among the 50 states - - meaning that only repeat offenders in Wisconsin acquire criminal records.

With little deterrence to first-time offending, and as Dreyfus' sentencing indicates, relatively light treatment even for 3rd-time offenders, the state, irresponsible drivers (and at times, bars that served drunk-driving customers described as "blitzed" before their fatal crashes) enable each other.

And the carnage continues on Wisconsin roads.

US Supreme Court Endorses Voter Suppression

The US Supreme Court says the Indiana voter photo-ID law is a good idea.

Is that wailing I hear outside my window today's 30 mile-per-hour wind, or the sound the state GOP makes when it realizes that losing the State Senate cut them out of installing such a law here?

Glad to see that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel agrees the Supreme Court ruling was unjustified.

Sell The SUV And Move Into The City: $10/Gallon Gas Predicted

Industry sources are predicting gas at $10-per-gallon in a couple of years.

Still think we don't need more transit and fewer new highways?

Murphy Oil Expansion At Superior Continuing To Raise Questions

Minnesotans next door to the proposed seven-fold expansion at the Murphy Oil refinery in Superior are raising broad questions about the wisdom of the massive project.

And even company officials concede that the expansion will put more greenhouse gases in the air - - the same issue that is already plaguing the destructive extraction of the tar sand oil ticketed for Great Lakes refineries from beneath Canadian bogs and forests.

I have posted numerous commentaries and sources on this blog about the Murphy Oil project, emphasizing the potential loss in Wisconsin of up to 500 acres of wetlands on the refinery site, and the damage to Lake Superior and its surrounding water, land and air resources that are inevitable in a project of this scope.

The refinery expansion is a $6 billion endeavor, along with an $8 billion pipeline addition - - good for some of the local economies, but not necessarily a boon to the region's fishing and tourism industries.

Or the long-term health of residents who will breathe in the additional pollutants that Murphy officials say will accompany the expansion.

As I have said before, it's such a contradictory time in Wisconsin and the rest of the Great Lakes region.

On the one hand, there is an effort to adopt the Great Lakes Compact, an eight-state, two-nation (with Canada) agreement to help preserve the Great Lakes.

On the other, Canadians are tearing up Alberta to gouge out the tar sand oil, expending huge amounts of energy and water to separate the oil from the sand and pipe the gooey product to the Great Lakes states for refining.

We seem to want better Great Lakes water quality, and preserved quantities, yet we also want more oil and, if Wisconsin and federal officials agree, are willing to dirty up the Great Lakes ecosystem to refine what the Canadians have dug up at great cost to the north.

Media are filled daily with stories about renewable energy, and the tar sand approach is certainly the exact opposite, so we march in the opposite direction hoping that tar sand oil will somehow keep the price of a gallon of gasoline affordable.

Don't count it.

Renewable Energy Conference Set For Milwaukee May 21

Johnson Controls and WE Energies are sponsoring a conference on renewable energy technologies in Milwaukee on May 21.

The program is free. Details here.

Op-Ed Call For A Hearing On The Great Lakes Compact Bill For Wisconsin

Thanks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for op-ed space to urge the legislature to at least air the contents of the Great Lakes Compact bill at a hearing prior to its probable vote this coming week.

Does The Wisconsin Idea stop at the academic end of State Street?

Has it somehow been banished from the State Capitol?

Muskego Activist Speaks Out On Great Lakes Legislation

A Muskego resident active in grassroots land use and power issues has begun writing legislators about the Great Lakes Compact, and I have agreed enthusiastically to post the letter on my blog. Here is the text:

*****

I am writing to you today to express my concern with the potential language in the Great Lakes Pact and the State of Wisconsin Legislation related to it. I am also asking for specific information with regard to the Waukesha County or areas straddling the great lakes basin line.

As I understood the language to this point, there were different provisions for areas in the basin, communities straddling the basin and communities within straddling counties, but completely outside the basin. I have a reasonable understanding of that.

I also understood that there was specific language that required a conservation component that shall be implemented before an area is granted access to Lake Michigan Water, assuming they request it.

I am very concerned that the conservation component might be eliminated or compromised to the point were it is no longer effective. I find it disturbing that many of the people who participated in this matter to this point have been restricted due to the heightened level of political participation at this point.

I recently attended the Town of Vernon (Waukesha County) annual meeting at which State Senator Mary Lazich spoke about the pact and upcoming legislation.

I also read articles in which State Rep. Scott Gunderson spoke about the issues. Both are claiming victory for the Republican party and praising the outcome.

Oddly, the issue has not yet been voted on or signed into law to my knowledge.

My questions related to this are as follows.

1. What do they know that they would go on record and be quoted so specifically on this matter?

2. Has the conservation component been eliminated or compromised? Historically, conservation issues are typically not a platform from which Republicans speak.

My community, the Town of Vernon, has for some time been discussing the formation and completion of a study to measure the seasonal variation in ground water levels in the Town and quite possibly the water quality in relation to those levels (if I have my may).

This study has become increasingly necessary due the previous threats of privately owned power plants at the Town's eastern border with New Berlin and Muskego and a recent quarry expansion along with other threatening developments.

Also, in this regional community the City of Waukesha has taken or considered to take steps to condemn an area in the Town of Waukesha so that they can annex it for the purpose of placing high capacity wells that they feel are necessary for the blending of water in their municipal supply.

Blending their water with good water from somewhere is necessary to dilute the radium levels that are in excess of EPA upper limits. The Town of Waukesha is located immediately North of the Town of Vernon and the ground water flows southerly (for the most part) in that area.

The City of New Berlin has been growing unsustainably for many years along with many other communities in this region. Many areas with conservatory designations have been compromised or eliminated with the overall end results not entirely seen.

If areas that have habitually experienced unsustainable growth are allowed easy access to Lake Michigan water then the current problems will not only continue, but they will multiply with very serious environmental consequences with some that are unpredictable.

My third and final question is this. In your opinion, do you believe that it is in my best interest to continue the formation and completion of a ground water study for the Town of Vernon or will my time be wasted?

Will it be easy for communities to obtain access to Lake Michigan water?

Personally, I believe that if the Town were to seek access to Lake Michigan water at any point in the future then the treated waste water would be required to be returned to the basin and if the Town were to create it's own municipal supply then a sewer system would still be necessary, but with the waste water routed differently.

So, my summation would be that the Town should proceed to monitor ground level activity to assist with future decisions so that the availability of water is better understood and the expense of dealing with any depletion in the supply is better decided.

Your assistance with this matter is greatly appreciated. Please take the time to advise me accordingly, knowing that your opinion and time are greatly respected. Thank you for your time and understanding.

Sincerely,
Kurt Barikmo
S77 W22180 Eleanor St.
Muskego (Vernon), WI 53150
KBARIKMO@wi.rr.com

Why You Gotta Love The New York Times...

And why Prince Fielder is the King of Milwaukee.

Why Sprawl Is So Dang Complicated, Expensive And Ubiquitous

Sean Ryan, the indefatigable chronicler of development in these parts for the business publication Daily Reporter, has a fascinating piece about one major homebuilder's efforts to win the full panoply of municipal services for its 29-acre parcel in the Town of Waukesha.

Meaning sewer, water, police, fire and street services.

To say that there are hoops to jump through doesn't really cover it, as there are permits, approvals, inter-governmental cooperation, finances and more to nail down... in a certain sequence.

What's really instructive about Ryan's piece is that it describes but one of the multiple, similar developmental examples in various stages underway across the region at any given time, explaining why the state is spending billions on roads crisscrossing the area.

And why legislators are cutting deals to make Lake Michigan water more easily available to certain communities in Southeastern Wisconsin, or why the regional planning commission (SEWRPC) is busy writing a set of wide-ranging recommendations that will make that fresh water supply a faster-occurring reality.

After SEWRPC used a million public dollars to write a 'transportation plan' for the region to add $6.5 billion in major highway projects, without a penny for transit, to match up with its existing landuse plan for the region's seven counties that made sprawl the SEWRPC territory's official policy.

All this governmental activity, paid for with public dollars, is to enable development on open land, because in the real world, government, road-builders and developers constitute a civilian equivalent of the military-industrial complex.

It's powerful, hard to fight, and combines power and money that is both inside government and serving it.

And this focus, this priority on developing open land with public funds to serve private interests also tamps down any serious debate about whether it's the best use of the land and the public dollars in the first place, or in the final analysis.

The more development, the more need there is for road-building, and vice-versa. And the development keeps the transportation and water utility bureaucracies expanding in a loop of subsidized self-interest inside and outside of government - - paid for by taxpayers, of course.

What a sweet deal for all these public and private sector insiders.

So thanks to Sean Ryan for the case study, and to those, like the Waukesha Environmental Action League, for example, who keep hauling out the big picture and urging their policy-and-decision-makers to at least think about it.

Heavy Rain In Waukesha Got Me Thinking

True story:

I was caught in Waukesha during Friday's downpour, and all that rain got me thinking: in that water-hungry area, and elsewhere for that matter, why haven't the water supply folks long ago called for the installation of water catchment systems to collect, store and apply rainwater in any number of uses?

Such devices were routine in rural areas, some still exist and rain barrels are being distributed by the MMSD in large numbers, so the concept is still alive.

Sophisticated systems are in place in plenty of areas worldwide: even the toniest homes in upscale Bermudian neighbors have them because there is precious little potable groundwater in Bermuda, but certainly plenty of rain falling on the island - - free for the collection.

There are voices in our region calling for capturing rainwater and using it where reasonable.

Longtime Waukesha County conservation activist Lisa Conley is a member of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's water advisory study committee,

One of two women on the 31-member committee, and the sole designated representative of the environmental community (industry and government, of course, have more), Conley has more than once pitched catchment systems as worthy of serious inclusion in the study committee's recommendations due out at the end of the year.

As low-cost, reasonable and practical are Conley's proposals, I wouldn't expect to see them given great weight in the probable committee's final recommendations wherein water conservation plans will be a supplement, a side dish, if you will, to the preferred main course:

Diverted Lake Michigan water widely piped to many communities in the region.

That recommendation will be made easier to implement when the state legislature adopts the Great Lakes Compact next week along with a crucial companion bill that will make some diversions easier to achieve for the next several years, at a minimum.

Milwaukee Leaders Call For Open Discussion Of Great Lakes Compact Legislation

As the Great Lakes Compact implementing bill progresses towards approval most likely next week by the state legislature, City of Milwaukee leaders are urging that the bill's language be disclosed prior to adoption.

This eminently reasonable position, which includes a call for a public hearing - - themes I have been pounding away about on this blog for weeks - - (sample item here) was contained in a letter signed jointly by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Common Council President Willie Hines, and 10th Dist. Alderman Michael Murphy, the Council's most senior member and resident water expert.

The letter, dated Wednesday, April 23rd, was sent to the chairs of the State Senate and House Assembly committees who have been instrumental in guiding a compromise bill towards adoption in a special legislative session.

Manure-To-Biogas Conversion Systems At Work In Wisconsin

No - - this is not a sly reference to hot air at the Capitol.

It's for real, with more and more Wisconsin farms converting manure to fuel that eliminates the use of some fossil fuels and cuts down on ground and water pollution.

Thanks to the Daily Reporter.

Waukesha's Diversion Dilemmas And State Legislation Coming Into Clearer Focus

Saturday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Illinois officials downstream from Waukesha and the Fox River, concerned about the City of Waukesha's probable application for a diversion from Lake Michigan, could formally object to the application.

That is because Waukesha has said it is working towards some measure - - just precisely what and how has not been announced - - of returning diverted water back to the lake via the Root or Menomonee River as required by the pending Great Lakes Compact.

Under its current procedure, Waukesha dumps treated wastewater into the Fox River, where it maintains the Vernon Marsh and water supplies downstream into Illinois before it ends up in the Gulf of Mexico - - but would not carry water back to Lake Michigan if Waukesha began discharges into the Root or Menomonee to comply with the Compact.

The Compact requires return flow to the Great Lakes to maintain lake levels there - - but federal law and the Compact also give a Great Lakes state, and Illinois is one of them, the power to veto a diversion to a community that is outside of the Great Lakes basin like Waukesha.

This is yet another illustration of the fundamental dilemma facing Waukesha.

If it doesn't pledge return flow, or tries to get by with returning water to Lake Michigan only in the colder months while keeping its Fox River treatment and discharge plant running in the summer when evaporation already draws down water flowing in the Fox and through thee marsh, then a Great Lakes state like Michigan, which historically has vetoed most diversion applications, might deep-six Waukesha's plan.

If it does pledge return flow, then another Great Lakes state like Illinois unhappy with the consequences of return flow also might veto it under current federal law that requires unanimous approval of diversion proposals by the Great Lakes states.

This conundrum facing Waukesha means three things:

* It helps explains why, as I have said repeatedly on this blog that the bill to implement the Compact in Wisconsin is apparently going to establish a period of indeterminate time during which Wisconsin could approve and advocate for diversions - - based on earlier diversion precedents - - that were achieved without the approval of the other states.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has argued that it has that power.

* It points out again why Waukesha's long-term water supply needs may have to be met with a combination of technological improvements to its wells, water recycling and reuse, other new wells drilled into clean, shallow underground reserves, and conservation - - alternatives that do not involve a Lake Michigan diversion.

* Waukesha needs to look much more carefully at its annexation policy, which has historically accepted virtually every expansion proposal from developers, and which then expands its water supply system and needs even as its laudable conservation measures show promise.

Currently, Waukesha uses something like 9 million gallons a day, but in its two confidential applications for Lake Michigan made to Gov. Jim Doyle in 2006, Waukesha sought 24 million gallons daily, suggesting that it expects its population to increase along with its total water needs.

Estimates for Waukesha County's population increase vary to 520,000 from its 2000 census level of 360,000, according to various officials, so that would mean significant growth in the City of Waukesha and other water-hungry areas of the county.

Where is all that water going to come from?

If Waukesha forges ahead with a Lake Michigan application, there could be massive litigation costs looming if one or more Great Lakes states exercises a veto.

And that raises the possibility that either the Compact or the current federal law would unravel or be overturned, opening the Great Lakes to wholesale and chaotic withdrawals without any rules or standards whatsoever.

It's a complicated issue, and all parties need to proceed very carefully so that unintended or unappreciated consequences are not the result.

Levee Repaired In Louisiana With Newpapers

Newpapers instead of rubber seals.

A post-Katrina horror story. and the people who did it worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Ballast Water Regulation Gets Support In Interesting Places

The US House of Representatives has passed the first-ever national rules to combat the release of invasive species from ocean-going ships' ballast water tanks that are devastating fish populations in the Great Lakes.

If the Senate passes the bill, the country will have a standard to address a serious economic and environmental problem - - one that has bi-partisan support and is especially important to Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states.

In Wisconsin, a number of organizations have been pushing hard for state and national action, including the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, led by former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary George Meyer.

A nice explanation of the issue is in this piece by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dan Egan.

On Friday afternoon, WISN-AM's conservative talk show host Mark Belling weighed in strongly backing the measure despite its origins in the Democratic-led US House.

Belling had to assure his audience that he wasn't turning into a lefty Al Gore-type, and professed a bit of dismay when liberals, including yours truly, called in to agree with and praise him.

He tried unsuccessfully to find some partisan ground on which to stamp his feet, blaming "lefty" lakefront city Mayors and Gov. Jim Doyle for failing to do something about these problems here.

But, in fact, the DNR has been involved, as has Doyle, on pilot projects to remove invasives in Wisconsin ports precisely because there was no national approach.

And it would be settling for a half-loaf if the national standards could not be superseded by stronger standards sought for Wisconsin. (See Midwest Environmental Advocates statement below.)

Never the less, no one called to complain that Belling was somehow taking the side of big government against business.

People understand that a healthy Great Lakes is crucial to the Wisconsin economy.

Tourism, recreation, commercial and sport fishing all are dependant on clean, abundant, appealing water in Wisconsin - - and that is why the ballast water rules, a water quality approach, is just as important as a larger Great Lakes Restoration plan stalled in Washington, and the pending Great Lakes Compact, which is a water quantity issue.

It's all tied together: it's time to pay great attention to the Great Lakes, whether you're conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, righty or lefty.

I've dished out plenty of criticism to Belling over the years, but when he's right about something, it's important to acknowledge it.

I also need to note that Midwest Environmental Advocates, a public interest law firm, is calling for amendments to the bill to strengthen it.

Below is the text of the MEA position, (a link is here) all of which make sense to me:

House Bill Threatens EPA and State Authority to Regulate Invasive Species in Ballast Water

Madison, WI -- Today, Midwest Environmental Advocates (“MEA”), along with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (“MCEA”), expressed its opposition to portions of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2008, H.R. 2830, which includes the Ballast Water Treatment Act of 2008, in letters to Wisconsin’s and Minnesota’s congressional representatives. The bill, scheduled for a House floor vote this week, could take away important federal and state tools currently available to fight invasive species.

As currently drafted, the bill is objectionable because it could undermine two crucial tools that State officials have to control the introduction of aquatic invasive species from ship’s ballast water. The bill would largely preempt States from adopting discharge standards that are more stringent or that take effect sooner than those in the new law. In addition, by superseding the existing invasive species law’s savings clause, the bill could be read as limiting the application of the federal Clean Water Act to these point source discharges of pollutants.

Invasive species, such as zebra mussels or Eurasian water milfoil, cause incredible devastation to the native fish and plant life of the state’s waters. Invasives also place a strain on Wisconsin’s economy. Tourism, recreation and sport and commercial fishing industries face the most obvious impacts, but any industry that uses raw water for processing is also affected (power companies and paper mills, for instance).

MEA believes that this bill will perpetuate the economic and environmental harm from invasive species for many years to come. “The bill, as currently proposed, would limit a state’s authority to protect its own waters from invasive species,” states Karen Schapiro, MEA’s Executive Director. “We would like to see a bill that allows and encourages states to set standards that are even more stringent than the absolute minimums set forth in federal law, such as the Clean Water Act.”

In the letters, MEA and MCEA urged the addition of two provisions to H.R. 2830 that will protect the efficacy of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the State’s ability to exercise its authority in upholding the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or its own applicable laws and authority.

####

Fast Facts

Ø Invasive species are incredibly pervasive across Wisconsin’s waters. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1,655 waterbodies in the state have aquatic invasives. These include such invasives as zebra mussel, banded mystery snail, Chinese mystery snail, curly-leaf pondweed, Eurasian water-milfoil, freshwater jellyfish, Japanese mystery snail, hybrid milfoil, rainbow smelt, rusty crawfish and spiny waterflea.

Ø Several industries in Wisconsin are impacted by invasive species, including tourism, commercial and sport fishing industries, forestry and even the power companies.

Ø Power companies use raw water to cool their machinery during production. Invasive species like zebra mussels clog their intake and discharge pipes, leading to extra costs. These costs are then passed along to customers.

Ø The Great Lakes sport and commercial fishing industry, valued at almost $4.5 billion, is at risk due to the growing numbers of invasive species present in its waters.[1]

Ø Midwest Environmental Advocates is Wisconsin’s first and only public interest environmental law center. MEA provides legal and technical support to grassroots organizations that are fighting for clean air, clean water, and environmental justice. See http://www.midwestadvocates.org/ for more information.
[1] Facts taken from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ website, “Invasive Species Make Themselves at Home in Wisconsin’s Lakes and Landscapes,” http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/ (last visited April 24, 2008).

.

Vote Now In An Online Poll About UWM Engineering School Location

If you think locating the UWM's new engineering school in Wauwatosa makes little sense, and that a downtown location is preferable, then express yourself in a Business Journal poll, here.

Nice TV Feature About Tia And Gaylord Nelson

This WISC-TV Channel 3 Earth Day piece also includes a nice feature about another Wisconsin Giant, Aldo Leopold.

It's great that both Leopold and Gaylord Nelson's legacies are so well-maintained, and especially fortunate that Tia Nelson, Gaylord's daughter, returned to Wisconsin and public service a few years ago.

Rethink The Subsidies For Corn-Based Ethanol

The worldwide run-up in food prices is proof that corn-based ethanol is hardly the panacea once promised.

Corn is food and shouldn't be turned into fuel. Let alone grown with subsidies and refined in subsidized plants.

Too much raw land and farm acreage in this country is being converted to corn production for ethanol, drawing down water supplies and costing more energy in the growing, refining and transporting than it saves - - and with similar soybean-to-ethanol programs worldwide, is helping to distort food markets.

Conservation of existing petroleum resources, along with production of non-food ethanol from grasses and wood products is a far more rational approach to shortages of oil, water and oil.

I've noted this before, fyi.

This is all of particular concern in Wisconsin, where government, agriculture and industry are working hand-in-glove to vastly expand corn production for ethanol conversion.

And while it's understandable that all sectors want farmers and their rural communities to be successful, focusing on corn growing and ethanol production puts a heavy strain on the state's water resources - - at the very time when consciousness about water preservation is at its peak during the debate over the Great Lakes Compact.

It has been estimated that it takes a total of 1,700 gallons water to grow enough corn to produce a single gallon of ethanol.

I know that sounds impossible, but that highlighted link takes you to a Cornell professor quoted in the Wall Street Journal, so I'm betting it's a good statistic.

Here's the key paragraph:

"Ethanol plants consume roughly four gallons of water to produce each gallon of fuel, but that's only a fraction of ethanol's total water habit. Cornell ecology professor David Pimentel says that when you count the water needed to grow the corn, one gallon of ethanol requires a staggering 1,700 gallons of H2O. "

That's a poor use of water resources, adding to the illogic of trying to grow enough food to make a gasoline additive to stretch petroleum a little farther.

Savings that could be achieved with more efficient vehicles and greater reliance on transit.

Wisconsin has begun modest research and development funding aimed at producing ethanol from wood products and grasses, all of which are better alternatives to corn, the King Crop when it comes to water and fertilizers needed to grow it.

You know that agriculture has had its booms and busts, and that it's just a matter of time when this iteration of planting fencepost-to-fencepost will inevitably lead to farm mortgage failures when the ethanol market moves away from corn to alternative sources.

Will Wisconsin include that sort of transition planning as it moves away from the unsustainable fixation with corn-based ethanol?

Great Lakes Compact Legislation Losing Priority, Visibility

WisPolitics.com reports that the Great Lakes Compact bill could be dealt with in next week's special legislative session in tandem with a much-needed state budget repair bill - - raising the possibility that the Compact bill gets even less attention and appropriate fine-tuning.

And opens the door to the cutting of deals that have nothing to do with water policy, and everything to do with unrelated state finances.

There has to be a separation of these two matters, and full sunshine throughout.

SEWRPC Continues To Snub The Public That Pays It

The Executive Committee of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission - - an appointed committee of the unelected Commission (SEWRPC) - - will approve an agreement Thursday naming Kenneth Yunker the next SEWRPC Executive Director, acccording to the committee's agenda.

The committee has the power under SEWRPC rules to hire the Executive Director; it did so without a job search, or any outreach within its seven-county region - - Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Walworth Counties.

SEWRPC likes to call this hiring from within.

Or, you could call it hiring by excluding everyone else from the process except the insiders.

Public Policy Forum Blog Delves Into Wind Power

MilwaukeeTalkie, the online voice of the Public Policy Forum and by far the area's best-named blog, has a nice posting about wind power.

I appreciate the blog's citing an earlier post of mine about the subject and will overlook its misspelling (Rowan) of my last name (Rowen).

Documentary Film In The Works About Our Region's Transportation Gridlock

A film is in production about our transportation gridlock in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Great idea. Here's a story a trailer.

Wal-Mart To Slowly Discontinue Plastic Baby Bottle Sales

The good news: Wal-Mart is joining the movement to stop selling plastic bottles for babies that contain BPA, a plastic toxin.

The bad news: the removal won't take place until next Spring.

Yeah, what's the rush?

Major UWM Climate Change Conference Begins Thursday In Downtown Milwaukee

UWM is hosting a major conference on Global Climate Change & Sustainable Development beginning tomorrow, April 24th, at the Double Tree Hotel in Milwaukee.

Details here.

The two-day conference will certainly impart useful information and help raise the institution's scientific profile.

Drunk Driving Puts Our State To Shame

Statistics say that more than 25% of the drivers in Wisconsin have driven drunk in the last year, making us the worst in the nation.

I noted a little while ago on this blog that Wisconsin still treats an offender's first Operating While Intoxicated arrest as a civil, not criminal matter, meaning a fine, license suspension and alcohol assessment.

That sends the very mixed message that drunk driving is wrong...but isn't a criminal problem until you're caught a second time and become a repeat offender.

And since police officers know it is highly unlikely that a first offender's arrest is not that motorists's first episode of drink driving, how many more instances of OWI will that driver will commit between arrest number one and arrest number two - - all the while putting motorists, passengers and pedestrians at risk?

Denial...thy name is official policy.

So it was surprising this year when the state announced its annual "get tough" patrolling on St. Patrick's Day, that it added the odd note that there wouldn't be any warnings issued that day.

Warnings?

For OWI?

Say what?

That casual attitude is reflected in the national rating. It's a category that no state wants to lead.

We should get tougher on drunks that endanger the public with their cavalier and reckless attitude - - an attitude mirrored in the state's absurdly reckless and cavalier official approach to drunken driving enforcement.

Same thing goes for college town officials and their tavern owners and academic leaders.

They have for too long tolerated the state's legendary binge drinking, leading to repeat drownings in LaCrosse, regular Friday night bar closing fights in Madison, illegal keg and cup beer sales in student houses disrupting UW-Madison and Milwaukee neighborhoods, and daily loss in workplace productivity for everything ranging from hangovers to chronic disease.

Granted there is an educational component that needs to be provided in families and communities by parents, media and schools to turn the Wisconsin culture away from its distorted emphasis on alcohol use that begins early in life and stays late.

But because they endanger the rest of us, the party should be over for motorists through "no-warning," zero-tolerance law enforcement and justice system consequences.

And if we don't face the problem squarely, with the focus and vigor suggested recently by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, then shame on us.

Earth Day In Wisconsin Brought Another Dirty Air Alert

How ironic and outrageous that there was unhealthy air across much of Wisconsin this Earth Day, according to the bulletin reprinted below from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

This was the pattern for much of the late fall and winter, despite assurances from the state and industry that the state's air quality was improving.

Note also that some of the very counties that are under this and many of the earlier alerts, like Milwaukee County, are among the counties that the state and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce argued should be released from federal air quality air quality mandates.

Outrageous!

The state is getting ready to add 75 miles of new interstate lanes through the heart of the southeastern Wisconsin smog zone, from Milwaukee to the Illinois line, as part of a $1.9 billion freeway rebuilding and expansion project.

The price of gas is skyrocketing, the air quality is already unhealthy, yet the state/highway lobby/road-building troika continues to spend our money on programs that are unsustainable, and unhealthy.

Wisconsin needs a reality check. It needs to address its air quality problems and substantially trim back the very highway expansion that keeps problems from being address and solved.

The City of Milwaukee has requested that $200 million from the $1.9 billion interstate project be shifted to the commuter rail program that needs to get out of the station.

What better time than on the heels of an unfortunate wake-up call about the state's polluted air on Earth Day.

Text of the DNR announcement, below:

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is issuing an Air Quality Advisory for Particle Pollution (Orange) for Brown, Calumet, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond Du Lac, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jefferson, Kenosha, Lafayette, Manitowoc, Marquette, Milwaukee, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara and Winnebago counties effective 9:00 am on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 through 10:00 am on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 .

The advisory is being issued because of persistent elevated levels of fine particles in the air. These fine particles come primarily from combustion sources, such as power plants, factories and other industrial sources, vehicle exhaust, and wood fires.

The Air Quality Index is currently in the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups. People in those sensitive groups include those with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults and children. When an orange advisory for particle pollution is issued, people in those groups are advised to reschedule or cut back on strenuous activities.

People with lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, and heart disease should pay attention to cardiac symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath or respiratory symptoms like coughing, wheezing and discomfort when taking a breath, and consult with their physician if they have concerns, or are experiencing symptoms.

Fine particle pollution deposits itself deep into the lungs and cannot easily be exhaled. People who are at risk are particularly vulnerable after several days of high particle pollution exposure.

To receive air quality advisories by e-mail, visit http://dnr.wi.gov/air/newsletters/.

There are several actions the public can take to reduce their contributions to this regional air quality problem.

Reduce driving when possible and don't leave vehicle engines idling.

Postpone activities that use small gasoline and diesel engines.

Minimize outdoor wood fires.

Conserve electricity.

For more ideas on how you can reduce your emissions today and every day visit: Do a little, save a lot!

Earth Day 2008: A Few Thoughts

Well, this blog is called The Political Environment, so there's no way Earth Day 2008 could come and go without a few relevant observations, especially about the state and local picture.

Statewide, I'd say it's a mixed report card, maybe a B-/ C+.

The Governor got most of his upgrade to the Stewardship Fund approved in the last budget cycle. Similarly, some programming began for alternative energy research and funding.

With the state's agricultural, water and academic resources, there's a chance that more efficient ethanol and energy planning, R&D and actual production can take place in the state.

And it looks like the Great Lakes Compact will be approved in a week or so, no small feat given the flat-out "No!' voiced by Assembly Republicans last month.

That's all to the good.

Unfortunately, it's at least a step backward for each one forward.

The Compact's adoption is a good thing, but the precise bill setting up the rules under which it will be implemented are still unclear - - in large measure because the process to write them prior to their being introduced for a final legislative vote has not been an open one.

And for every step towards alternative energy production that the Governor's budget establishes, regression is in the wings with Murphy Oil's $6 billion expansion onto 400-500 acres of wetlands in Superior.

That's a prescription for harm to Lake Superior and the air downwind, along with miles of pipelines bringing in Canadian Tar San crude for refining, and then flowing out towards Chicago - - all with their inevitable promise of breaks and leaks.

In our neck of the woods, downtown Milwaukee's renaissance is the region's major environmental success story, with thousands of new residents chucking their fertilized lawns and vehicle-bound lifestyles for urban condos and apartments within walking distance of most amenities.

Yet the regional planning commission (SEWRPC) is still working hand-in-glove with state transportation officials to build more highways that starve transit - - a complete contradiction made worse by SEWRPC's recent closed process to hire one of its leading highway proponents as the new Executive Director.

So it's a mixed bag. Some good things, some not so good that repeat a mindset that someday will be just a distant memory.

At a time when every day will be a day that honors the Earth.

Local Businesses Ride The Economic Roller Coaster

Little surprise that Harley-Davidson and Midwest Airlines are both laying off employees.

A contracting economy and rising fuel prices are clobbering companies depend on consumers that are a) flush with cash and b) willing and able to absorb rising gasoline costs.

With a recession here, or coming, motorcycle ownership and airplane travel cab become relatively discretionary relatively quickly.But other businesses are doing well in these parts, especially Badger Meter and Johnson Controls.

Both sell high-tech equipment - - meters, batteries, control systems - - that are in high demand, especially in the so-called green sectors of the economy.

Managing water and saving energy play to these companies' strengths.

The bottom line is that there is green to be found in green, and Milwaukee, a Great Lakes port city with ample water resources, industry and available land and employees could be in a better position than other cities to ride out a recession.

Land Trust Adding Value At Rapid Rate

The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust has made great strides in recent days, closing a deal to turn the privately-owned 142-acre Squires Country Club and golf course - - with a view of Lake Michigan into conserved land, with public access, and working with state and MMSD funds to put the prized Mequon ravine described below into the public domain.

This is exactly how the state's Stewardship fund is supposed to work in partnership with land trust and other agencies - - so hats off again to Gov. Jim Doyle and the grassroots support he garnered to convince the state legislature to strengthen and expand the Fund.

And the often-maligned MMSD gets credit, too, because its forward-looking Greenseams program stabliizes shorelines and keeps stormwater from degrading lakes, waterways and their banks.

It's a coordinated, coherent, comprehensive effort and exactly the kind of Earth Day activity that will pay dividends for generations.

The only negative word I heard about the bald eagle habitat/Mequon easement purchase came from Mark Belling last week, but that can only mean is that the easement purchase is a winner, and we need more of them.

Story text:

MONDAY, April 21, 2008, 2:09 p.m.By Don Behm
MMSD OKs Mequon shoreline easement

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's commission this morning approved spending $600,000 to acquire a conservation easement prohibiting development of 23-acres along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Mequon that is home to a nesting pair of bald eagles.

MMSD's Greenseams land conservation program would purchase the easement and become a partner with the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust in preserving the wooded ravine and bluff a few miles north of the Milwaukee County line.

Greenseams buys floodplains and environmental corridors, also known as greenways, in the district's service area.The appraised value of the property, known locally as the Donges Bay gorge, exceeds $3.5 million.

In addition to the MMSD easement acquisition, the land trust is seeking a $1.75 million grant from the state Stewardship conservation fund as well as private contributions and foundation grants to pay for the land purchase.

Businesses Win Deserved Praise For Green Innovations

The Sierra Club has given recognition to Wisconsin businesses that have met high standards for green innovation.

These awards underscore that there is wide common ground connecting business and environmentalism, with green benefits spreading from the bottom line to cleaner air and water for everyone's benefit.

Public Hearing Denial In 2007 No Reason To Make Same Mistake Again

It was about a year ago that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources declined to schedule a public hearing on New Berlin's precedent-setting application for a diversion of Lake Michigan water.

At the time, I wrote that there was a need for full disclosure when it came to making Great Lakes diversion decisions.

I'd argue now that there is a fresh, urgent need for a public hearing before whatever compromise amendments are introduced when the legislature convenes its upcoming special session on how diversion planning and related matters are to be determined in Wisconsin under the Great Lakes Compact.

Understand that this is not an objection to the legislature approving the Compact, the multi-state agreement with Canada to adopt common rules and procedures to determine whether diversions are allowed beyond the Great Lakes basin.

What is needed is a hearing into the companion bill that will establish just how those rules and procedures are established in Wisconsin, since there will be a period of years before the Compact and its diversion procedures take full effect.

Too much diversion scheming in Wisconsin has already taken place out of the public eye.

In addition to New Berlin's proposal that was first released to the public by the State of Michigan to which it had been sent for review - - not by Wisconsin officials coming clean with the public here - - there were the two separate confidential pitches to Gov. Jim Doyle from the City of Waukesha's legal consultants in 2006 as well.

I found those documents in the files of the Waukesha Water Utility using the State Open Records law.

All these maneuvers, and statements by key Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials indicating that Wisconsin might continue to allow and approve diversions on its own, were cited by then-Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager (in a much-overlooked opinion) as compelling reasons to remind Wisconsin officials that they needed to follow the law when approving diversion proposals.

Sources have indicated that the final bill amendments being drafted in Madison to implement the Compact will give controlling legal status to some previous "customary" or "historical" diversions and review processes that did not meet the letter of the law, and which do not comply with the standards that the Compact will require when its ratifications are complete.

These so-called precedents were a diversion the DNR permitted Menomonee Falls in 1999 without the approval of the other Great Lakes states, and which does not send water back to Lake Michigan, and a 1989 diversion to Pleasant Prairie, to which some but not all Great Lakes states approved, and which gave Pleasant Prairie 20 years to complete a return flow process.

Letting New Berlin, Waukesha and other Wisconsin communities slip into the inside-lane on diversion's Easy Street would undermine the very reasons that the eight Great Lakes states are trying to approve uniform, conservation-based diversion standards and procedures in the pending Compact.

Wisconsin should not put into its Compact implementing statute any validation of the earlier diversion procedures that Lautenschlager said were inappropriate, and beyond the DNR's legal authority.

A public hearing will let the public know just what is in these compromise amendments before legislators raise their hands after lining up all the votes in advance.

It's not enough that key lobbyists and administration officials think the amendments are well-written, and are calling them merely "technical" - - while pushing staffers to find the exact legal language that would make the amendments pass muster in the courts and with other Great Lakes states' reviewers.

And some legislators are saying they have not been shown the amendment drafts - - which makes you wonder what the big deal is if all that's being done is drafting some technical clarifying language.

What's really happening is that Waukesha County interests organized by the State Assembly GOP's leadership - - with the assent of some Democrats and administration officials - - are carving into the implementing bill an interim period between the bill's approval and the Compact's ratification by Congress.

And during that interim period, diversions could be speeded-up in Wisconsin because those earlier "customary...historical...precedents" giving the DNR great diversion approval power would help guide the process.

This is not the way to make public policy in Wisconsin, especially when the future of the Great Lakes and water policy statewide, with all its ramifications, is at stake.

Hold a hearing on the Compact implementing bill and let the public be heard.

Campaign On Something Positive

As someone who's had an AARP card for a while, I think attacks on Sen. John McCain over his age are stupid and counter-productive.


It's one thing to have an opinion, another thing to verbalize them.

McCain is vulnerable to political criticism over issues, particularly the Iraq War. Isn't that enough?

Pressure Your Legislators For a Compact Hearing

There's no good reason for the Great Lakes Compact to be pushed through a rushed Special Session without a full public hearing.

Call your legislators. Tell them the public should be heard, and that requires that amendments to the bill should be aired publicly, not just discussed and written among lobbyists, legislators and administration officials.

As things stand now, Waukesha County politicos are carving an interim period into the amendments that will permit eased diversions without required return of diverted water, based on prior diversions that were approved by the Wisconsin DNR without the full approval of the other Great Lakes states.

The interim period would begin when the bill is passed and ends when the Compact is approved by all eight states and the Congress - - a period ranging from years to infinite.

That's hardly in the spirit of, or to, the letter and intent of the Compact, which sets up uniform diversions rules, procedures and return flow mandates.

Letting some diversions proceed without all the states' approval, or mandated return flow just because in the past, Wisconsin custom (sic) or process (sic) allowed it ruins the Compact for Wisconsin and weakens it across the region.

This very lack of process as precedent was warned against by-then Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager in 2006 precisely because the Department of Natural Resources was publicly saying it had the power to allow diversions that skirted existing federal law and would be barred once the Compact is approved.

I have posted references to this opinion a half-dozen times on my blog: major media refuse to report on it.

A public hearing about the pending amendments can inform the public and deter legislators from intentionally opening loopholes in the Compact's implementation in wisconsin.

At Least In Dane County, Highway Planners Consider The Environment

What impressed me about this story from the Daily Reporter about highway planning in Dane County was the consideration given to environmental issues.

In southeastern Wisconsin, environmentalism and highway planning simply do not coexist.

Brownfield Session Planned for 30th St. Corridor In Milwaukee

There will be a public session about planning to rehabilitate Brownfields in the 30th St. corridor in Milwaukee on Earth Day, April 22nd.

Milwaukee's central city needs this focus.

Details here.

New Well Could Harm Lake Buelah, Suit Contends

The percolating objections to the drilling of a high-capacity near Lake Buelah have led to a lawsuit, described in the news release reprinted below.

At stake, beyond the threat to the lake and surrounding wetlands, rivers and properties, is the process by which the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources awards such permits - - a huge deal particularly in water-hungry sprawl areas of southeastern Wisconsin.

Lawton & Cates, S.C.
Ten East Doty Street, Suite 400
Madison, Wisconsin 53703-2694
telephone: (608) 282-6200
facsimile: (608) 282-6252
www.lawtoncates.com

PRESS RELEASE – APRIL 15, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST STATE OF WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND VILLAGE OF EAST TROY

In an effort to protect public waterways and safeguard vulnerable wetlands, several individuals and two lake management districts filed suit today in Dane County Circuit Court against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Village of East Troy, located in Walworth County, Wisconsin. The lawsuit focuses on the lack of testing and consideration of whether a high capacity well is likely to harm nearby natural resources. The well was installed by the Village and approved by the DNR. The plaintiffs in this action seek to prevent operation of this well, and construction of any similar well likely to impact wetlands and public waters, until and unless the DNR first determines that the amount of groundwater withdrawn will not harm natural resources.

High capacity wells are defined as wells capable of withdrawing at least 100,000 gallons per day. The DNR is the agency responsible for approving all high capacity wells in the state.

The well that instigated this lawsuit, designated as “Village Well # 7,” has been constructed in a location approximately 1000 feet from the shoreline of Lake Beulah and its adjacent wetlands. Lake Beulah is an 840-acre, spring-fed lake in southeast Wisconsin, and serves as a source of water to the Mukwonago River. The Mukwonago River is considered an exceptional resource water and is home to a variety of endangered species. In 2003 the DNR approved the Village’s application to construct the well, and it extended that approval in 2005. On neither occasion did the DNR consider whether the well would impact natural resources.

Under its permit for Well # 7, the Village is allowed to withdraw up to 1.4 million gallons of water per day from the shallow aquifer that feeds the lake. That rate is roughly twice the volume of water the Perrier Group of America sought approval to pump from a high capacity well it proposed to install in Adams County in 2000. In that instance, the DNR did perform an environmental assessment, although Perrier elected to install its well elsewhere.

The plaintiffs in this case contend that the DNR has a duty under state statutes and the “Public Trust Doctrine” of the Wisconsin Constitution to protect all navigable waterways in the state. The six-count complaint alleges that the DNR violated those public trust responsibilities and its associated duty to protect vital wetlands. The complaint also alleges that the Village of East Troy violated state law requirements that it protect navigable waters and that it proceeded to install Village Well # 7 without a valid approval. The complaint chronicles several years of actions and inaction by the DNR and the Village aimed at controverting and subverting existing environmental protection duties and policies so as to move forward with this well without having to analyze its potential detrimental impact.

The actual and potential impact of high capacity wells on shallow aquifers that also serve as the source of groundwater feeding lakes, streams and wetlands has become a significant issue throughout Wisconsin, and particularly in rapidly developing areas of southeastern Wisconsin. A reduction in the flow of groundwater due to the operation of a high capacity well could impact the temperature and chemistry of surface waters, further endangering ecosystems already threatened by invasive species. In some circumstances the operation of a well could reduce surface water levels and affect wetlands. The plaintiffs in this case contend that the DNR must evaluate such possibilities before approving any high capacity well whose operation might damage those resources.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT EITHER FRANK DAVENPORT OF BERGER, NEWMARK & FENCHEL P.C. AT 312-782-5050 OR DANIEL P. BACH OF LAWTON & CATES, S.C. AT 608-282-6200.

Gretchen Schuldt On The Bogus I-94 'Plan.'

Gretchen Schuldt again picks apart state transportation documents on the $1.9 billion I-94 boondoggle, and proves using the department's own words that this project does not need its 70 miles of new lanes to mitigate future congestion.

The City of Milwaukee has officially objected to the project's bottom-line and disregard for transit.

Where are our silent state legislators on this rip-off? Are they too tied into the highway lobby to raise a ruckus, or are they simply inert?

Hold A Hearing On The Great Lakes Compact Bill

The special session called to ratify the Great Lakes Compact and to adopt a bill that outlines how that Compact's provisions will be implemented in Wisconsin should not take place without a public hearing.

The special session, initially scheduled to begin today, has been delayed a week or two because the details of the implementing bill are still being filled in.

So now there is adequate time to include a hearing in the legislative process and much justification and need to do so.

I have reported on this blog that there are substantial changes in amendments being discussed privately in or around the State Capitol by legislators, state officials and special interests that alter, and in some cases, weaken the bill to which they will be attached - - State Senate bill 523.

That bill to implement the Compact in Wisconsin passed in March on a bi-partisan vote of 26-6, following...yes...a packed public hearing in Kenosha.

The public cares a great deal about this bill, but too often has been shut out of developments involving the crucial, eight-state agreement to manage the Great Lakes.

That should not be the Wisconsin way, especially on the eve of next Tuesday's Earth Day, founded by former Governor and US Senator Gaylord Nelson, the state's iconic environmental leader.

The amendments circulating around the Capitol weaken SB 523 in at least these areas, notable because they undermine the spirit of the Compact and its focus on water conservation through standard-setting and intentional planning:

* Mandatory statewide water conservation has been changed to voluntary programs.

* Diversion approvals, especially in what could be a lengthy interim period between the time that Gov. Jim Doyle signs what the legislature passes and final final final ratification by the other Great Lakes states and the US Congress.

What is being added to the Wisconsin bill to apply during the interim period is legal, precedent status to two ongoing diversions that have been allowed to pipe Lake Michigan water outside of the Great Lakes basin in Wisconsin that do not meet the review standards and procedures mandated by the Compact.

The key diversion language added is said to be "historical applications" or "interpretations" - - and that lowers the review standard because the Compact mandates that all diversions outside of the Great Lakes basin must get the approval of all the other Great Lakes states, and must promise return flow of the diverted water.

Citing historical applications or interpretations gives legal status to the Menomonee Falls 1999 diversion sanctioned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources without the approval of the other states or return of the diverted water to the Great Lakes basin.

In the other relevant precedent, a diversion was granted in 1989 to Pleasant Prairie without all the other Great Lakes states' approval, and the city was not required to fully complete its return flow of the diverted water for 20 years.

* Other amendments circulating fail to spell our in detail what kind of water conservation plans a community seeking an out-of-basin diversion have in place when it applies for Great Lakes water.

These and other questions about this major piece of legislation could and should be answered during at least one public hearing.

There is nothing to be lost, and much to be gained - - not only in the quality of the information that would be forthcoming, but in the formal inclusion of the general public in a process that has been marred from the outset by secrecy.

The City of New Berlin's initial application for a Lake Michigan diversion in 2006 was disclosed by Michigan reviewers who had received it from Wisconsin's DNR.

And two applications for Lake Michigan diversions were made by the City of Waukesha confidentially to Gov. Doyle and were only disclosed after I discovered them in the files of the Waukesha Water Utility through an Open Records request.

It's time to break this pattern and open up the process.

If the amendments to the bill are the insignificant "clarifications" as claimed by the proponents of the compromise deal to move the Compact legislation compromise forward, then let's have the amendments displayed at a hearing and give the public a chance to see them prior to a vote.

Franklin Gets More Progressive Council, Says "Goodbye" To Local CRG

The Sprawled Out blog conveys fascinating information about the ascension of new progressive alderman to key Common Council positions, and also forwards details about how and why an off-shoot arm of the Citizens for Responsible Government in Franklin had to disband.

Gas Hits Record Price: The Wisconsin Solution Is ???

Build More Freeways!

$6.5 billion worth in SE Wisconsin alone.

Any transit expansion in the works, as fuel costs - - $3.59 a gallon at station-after-station in the Milwaukee area, and $115/barrel - - price people out of their cars?

Nah.

Vote On Great Lakes Water Bill Delayed Up To Two Weeks

Legislators working behind-closed-doors with administration officials to cobble together a Great Lakes Compact implementation bill are now saying that Thursday's special session to approve a new bill will be delayed one or two weeks.

That's good - - because the process to produce a new bill by amending State Senate bill 523 - - which passed in March with a bi-partisan majority of 26-6 - - has been taking place in secret.

And too many people around the Capitol are being told that the amendments will be mere technical clarifications, when in fact, Republicans want to use the Compact's implementing bill in Wisconsin as a way to restrict water conservation planning.

And to also make some diversions of Great Lakes water easier to achieve by using as legal precedents past diversions that were approved with questionable or incomplete procedures in Menomonee Falls and Pleasant Prairie - - procedures that the Compact will eventually forbid.

What the Assembly is trying to manipulate through the implementing bill undermines seven years of regional work to negotiate, write and then adopt an eight-state agreement - - the Great Lakes Compact.

Creating Wisconsin's implementing law must take place in the open to prevent the approval of a bill that is significantly weaker than what the State Senate had approved, and weaker than what the citizens of the state and region deserve.

Earth Day is April 22nd.

Let's truly honor it with a good bill, and not turn it it into a second April Fool's Day by enabling the Wisconsin GOP-led Assembly to foist a weak bill onto the State Senate.

A bill being negotiated right now with the participation of some conflict-averse Democrats, and the Department of Natural Resources - - the very agency that will be hamstrung by the implementing bill when it comes time to write administrative rules, or issue interpretations.

The same DNR that will be relatively powerless to seek strong conservation-minded diversion applications from the cities of New Berlin and Waukesha when they come in for Lake Michigan hookups - - either because the bill heading for approval in the legislature doesn't spell out the standards they have to meet for conservation planning, or because the bill will reference those earlier diversions in Wisconsin as grand-fathering precedents that would not have taken place if the Compact had been in force.

More details are available in a week's previous postings, with this a good place to start.

Let me also agree completely with the comment left by "Betsey," who, in part writes:

"And the public should be allowed a hearing for more input. Yes, there was a hearing on SB 523 and another on the Assembly NRC [Natural Resources Committee], but with so many substantive changes afoot--on the issues of conservation, public trust doctrine and public enforcement--the public should have every opportunity to comment, esp as the 3 issues mentioned are so critical to THE PUBLIC."

Compact Changes Being Negotiated Too Quietly

Amendments to the proposed Great Lakes Compact implementing bill being prepared for a now-delayed Special legislative Session are being discussed and touched up around the State Capitol but have not been released as a package for the public to to see.

Originally scheduled for April 17th, the session may not take place until early May. And that's good, because there needs to be sunshine on that process.

Because the amendments are being described as "technical," or "clarifications," as if they are mere language tweaks without major ramifications.

That is not accurate.

For example, I am told - - and I posted a blog item about this a few days ago - - that the words "historical application" will be added to the Compact implementing bill's procedures that will help determine whether some Great Lakes water diversions happen in Wisconsin.

Sounds technical, and it's just two words, but the words are there for a reason.

That's because "historic application" is code to cover two Lake Michigan diversions that sent water outside of the boundaries of the Great Lakes basin.

One was for Pleasant Prairie in 1989 and the other in 1999 for Menomonee Falls - - and both were pulled off without the approval of the other seven Great Lakes states

Even though at the time of their approval, federal law said all such diversions needed the approval of all the Great Lakes states.

The Pleasant Prairie diversion got some states' formal approval, Department of Natural Resources records indicate, while other states did not respond at all, or gave a conditional approval.

Talk about "technical" and parsing processes:

The non-responses, or conditional approvals, were interpreted by Wisconsin officials as unanimous approval by all the other states, and the water flowed - - and return flow didn't have to be finally completed for 15 years.

The Menomonee Falls diversion was simply allowed by the DNR, and no return flow is required.

In fact, the DNR's cavalier attitude towards allowing diversions that disregarded the federal law was one reason that Peg Lautenschlager, then-Wisconsin Attorney General, wrote a definite opinion telling the DNR it did not have the authority to approve Great Lakes diversions that were barred by federal law.

I have posted a number of commentaries about that AG opinion, but the so-called mainstream media continue to ignore it, thus wounding the debate over the need for both the Compact and a strong bill to implement it, and enabling the DNR in continuing to argue that, in fact, it doesn't necessarily feel bound by the federal law.

Find that hard to believe?

Read this.

The Compact is supposed to clean up these administrative or patched-together diversions with clear standards and procedures, and with exceptions spelled out.

Return of water back to the Great Lakes will be required under all diversion approvals when the Compact receives its final ratification by all the Great Lakes states and the Congress.

But adding "historical application" into Wisconsin's implementing bill, thus creating a process for diversion reviews until all those final legislative approvals are completed by the states and the Congress elevates the Menomonee Falls and Pleasant Prairie precedents and gives them a legal status they do not deserve.

It undermines the entire goal of the Compact.

And:

I am also told that the amendments getting approval around the Capitol do not require a community seeking a Great Lakes diversion to have in place a demonstrable water conservation plan that meets specified, proven achievements.

Will these communities be required to have a plan operating when they apply for a diversion, or within a year, or twenty years? And is a plan something achieves something - - and what is that? - - or will an annual flyer in a ratepayer's bill count as a program?

The bill will also drop mandatory statewide water conservation programming - - all of which could have shown the other states that Wisconsin is serious about water conservation.

It certainly would have been a smart complement to Smart Growth, and a recognition that a warming climate will put more pressures on Wisconsin's waters, including Lake Superior, but some Republican legislators and business groups already opposed Smart Growth mandates, and would not have that concept extended to water conservation. No way.

The amendments will be offered as changes to the strong implementing bill approved in March by the State Senate , with bi-partisan action, 26-6.
The amendments are now being enthusiastically embraced by the same Republican legislators who blocked State Senate bill and wouldn't even bring it to the Assembly floor for a vote.

And the amendments appear to tow the line offered up by the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce when it applauded those GOP legislators when they stonewalled the Senate and its bill.

This is the bottom line:

The amendments will turn what was a conservation-based Compact implementation bill into a diversion-enabling bill.

Does anyone think that the broad philosophical and economic objections from the Assembly could be satisfied with just a few little technical changes?

State Proceeds With I-94 Plan Despite Public Comments

The Daily Reporter notes without having to directly call it ironic that the state Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is proceeding with its $1.9 billion no-transit I-94 highway expansion south of Milwaukee despite getting more negative comments from the public than positive comments.

One morsel from the story:

"WisDOT received 110 comments asking it to spend $200 million on transit projects, a plan championed by the city of Milwaukee, instead of building additional I-94 lanes. It received seven comments opposing the idea."

Amount of money in the plan for a ready-to-go commuter rail plan for the same corridor? Zero.

As I said earlier on this blog, So what else is new?

It's Standard Operating Procedure for the transportation department, or its sidekick agency, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, and in other public planning in the region.

(It was just a few weeks ago that 150 people attended a public hearing In Kenosha on the Great Lakes water Compact legislation, speaking forcefully in favor of water conservation. Last week, a 'compromise' agreement was announced, considerably watering down what the public said it wanted at the hearing, and what had been approved by the State Senate already.)

Citizens line up at hearings, or dutifully send in letters, or sign petitions, and their input is routinely disregarded - - whether on highway expansion, transit improvements or water conservation - - because special interests work arm-in-hand with elected officials whose campaigns they enrich.

It's that simple.

So let's tell the truth.

These public input charades, these hearing, are a fake process, a formality.

Citizens have said for years in this region that they want transit in the major transportation corridors - - including light rail and commuter rail - - yet the highway bureaucrats and planners, with the public's money, forge on ahead with their highway-only alternatives.

More truth: It's a closed, tightly-controlled process, designed to look open.

The regional planning agency took $1 million in funds from the transportation department, issued the $6.5 billion regional freeway plan, didn't include a penny for transit, held 'hearings,' got tons of negative feedback, then approved the plan, and forwarded it back to the transportation department that paid for it.

And where implementation proceeds, with $810 million already committed to the Marquette Interchange phase, $1.9 billion about to be spent between Milwaukee and the Illinois line, with the Zoo Interchange also on a fast-track to satisfy State Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield) and other demanding Waukesha commuters.

The same phony 'process' is happening with the state transportation department's plan to rush a $25 million interchange onto the books for an interchange in Western Waukesha County - - to serve a shopping mall at Pabst Farms that has already been cancelled once by its developers and has been downgraded from the regional upscale mall once promised to a rather routine collection of retail stores, including some Big Boxes.

The planning agency took public comments on the interchange plan.

Every comment received was negative.

And then?

All the comments were dismissed, and planning for the interchange continues.

More SOP by the DOT and SEWRPC. Beware that bitter alphabet soup.

And remember that all this regional freeway planning (sic) is based on gasoline costing $2.30 a gallon.

Seen that lately, have you?

Motorists today were lined up at a filling station in Shorewood on E. Capitol Dr. selling regular gasoline at the bargain price of $3.48 a gallon - - 50% higher than what the planning agency used to predict traffic patterns and congestion, and to justify 120 miles of lanes - - because all the other stations on Capitol Dr. had regular gas pegged at $3.59.

Any bets when gas will hit $4 a gallon? I'd say no later than June 30.

Wisconsin motorists are screwed by the gasoline companies. Disregarded by local planners. Used by the highway lobby, and flat run over by the state transportation department.

Along With Other Big Issues, Bush Will Leave Climate Change To His Successor

Pres. George W. Bush is expected to announce some goals for curbing greenhouse emissions - - no plans, mind you - - just some goals - - in a Rose Garden speech Wednesday.

This is the Bush pattern: screw things up during most of your Presidency, then do a little legacy outreach in the 8th year - - but then take a mountain bike ride, go on vacation and leave the heavy lifting repair work to your successor.

This is the story of the Bush presidency and the Iraq war, the housing crisis, climate change, the decline of the dollar, FEMA's credibility, unemployment, airline stability, the price of gasoline, the national deficit, the international trade imbalance, the price of food, US military equiping and recruiting, and America's standing in the world.

Attendance has risen steadily at Major League Ballparks.

Why Do Conservatives Become Socialists When It Comes To Highway Spending?

A national publication notes that conservatives become Big Government socialists when it comes to road-building.

Certainly true in SE Wisconsin, where $6.5 billion in highway reconstruction and expansion is being poured into seven counties while the region's transit services go down the tubes.

The Presidential Campaign Is Becoming Pander Fest '08

I thought the peak had been hit when Sen. Hillary Clinton began reminiscing about shooting guns as a kid, but Senator John McCain's proposal today for a summer gas tax suspension just takes the cake.

It's as if Comedy Central is scripting the candidates, not mocking them.

The Election Cycles Cycle On: A Prediction

Scott Walker begins his new term today as Milwaukee County Executive, and his next year will be aimed at two things:

1. Submitting another tax-freeze budget for '09, leaving the down-and-dirty work of saving services to the County Board with funding restorations, and...

2. Using that submitted shell of a budget to launch another run for Governor in the 2010 election.

It's a campaign that will be styled on the Gableman candidacy: repeating a few simple talking points and relying on the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and other special interest millionaire clubs to flood the airwaves with ads.

Paradoxically, Democrats have enabled business development and residential growth with road expansion and pending Lake Michigan water transfers, right into the heart of Milwaukee suburban areas that vote 2:1 Republican, and more, and where the population is growing.

With little connection considered between policy-making, spending and voting patterns, Democrats statewide are giving Republican politicians like Walker a helping hand.

Part of the reason is that Democrats are overly-focused on Madison and Dane County.

Southeastern Wisconsin is still a political mystery among too many Democrats in Madison, and out-state, though the lessons embedded in Butler's defeat couldn't be any clearer.

One more reminder:

Walker has won two elections in Milwaukee County - - the traditional Democratic voting base.

Against a Democrat, Walker may not be able to carry Milwaukee County, but depending on the campaigns, he could take a big enough bite to cause the Democrats a serious problem.

The one thing he won't have to worry about is the Democrats doing the same thing to him in Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington and Walworth Counties.

Scot Ross Manages One Wisconsin Now, But Who IS He?

In his OWN words.

Mary Lazich's Ohio Ally In Compact Blocking Schemes Takes Another Media Hit

For most of the last year, State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) had an ally in Ohio's legislature - - Ohio State Sen. Tim Grendell - - and the two of them had a little tag-team routine going where each tried to enlist their colleagues in unsupportable moves to block the Great Lakes Compact.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which has never minced words when describing Grendell, notes now that Grendell is more isolated, but is still pursuing "crackpot" Compact blockading schemes, including passing a state constitutional amendment to solve a problem no one sees existing.

A few choice graphs from the Plain Dealer editorial, italicized;

"If Grendell can persuade enough legislators to buy into his crackpot theory of a conspiracy to steal water from every little stream and duck pond on private property, more power to him.

"As Plain Dealer columnist and editorial writer Tom Suddes told a group of downtown business executives during a speech Friday, "The senator from Geauga County thinks government is trying to steal everyone's squirt guns." The resulting roars of laughter were at Grendell, not with him.

"But when the laughter died, what remained was the undeniable reality that it would be horrible public policy to make the passage of a compact designed to protect the economic future of Northeast Ohio dependent on some bizarre constitutional amendment."

Lazich had touted Grendell to Wisconsin's legislative council committee last year, where his notions about property rights and water went nowhere except to produce a report from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that called Grendell' arguments irrelevant to Wisconsin law.

And you wonder why that committee spun its wheels for a year?

Major Wind Power Proposal Underscored Need For State Planning Effort

Wisconsin officials are now working to write rules that will eventually determine if offshore wind power can be a major contributor to the state's energy mix.

Part of the reason that officials have begun to address the question, beyond the push for more sustainable energy generation, was an approach to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 2007 by a California firm, EWindfarm, Inc., to locate 610 large wind turbines in Lake Michigan offshore from Kewaunee County to Kenosha County, according to DNR documents.

Each turbine tower would be one-to-two miles offshore, 328 feet tall, and connected via underground cables to onshore electrical stations, records show.

The record suggests that neither the state nor the proponent were ready to embark on a project of that scale, though wind power is growing in usage.

Some additional information about Lake Michigan's wind power potential is here.

Great Lakes Water Resource Index

From time to time, I post a list of online sites that offer information about Great Lakes water issues.

Here's the newly-updated list.

Please send me suggestions, and I will repost this in a few weeks or so.

Blogs:

1. Loon Commons. Environmental Blog in Minnesota.

2. Michigan Liberal. More politics than environment.

3. Dave Dempsey Blog, in Minnesota, via Michigan. A treasure.

4. The Political Environment blog, from Wisconsin. Great Lakes water, land use and political issues. This is my blog, fyi.

5. Energetich20 blog. This is by a UW-Madison engineering student. Would that more individuals would be this dedicated.

6. Dale Olen Blog - - Wisconsin activist.

7. Noah Hall - - Great Lakes Legal blog.

Online news and information sites:

1. Great Lakes United.org: All-purpose informational site.

2. Great Lakes Information Network, GLIN, collecting traditional media, daily (but no blog items).

3. Great Lakes Town Hall, an arm of the Biodiversity Project, Madison.

4. The environmental engineering firm Brown and Caldwell has an excellent newsletter and roundup (free registration required here).Great Lakes For All.

5. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's WATER Institute: Numerous experts, papers, other resources.

6. Peter Annin's Great Lakes Water Wars: Comprehensive listing of Great Lakes resources, diversion applications and responses, and more. One of my personal favorites.

7. Good variety of sources at Great Lakes Shipwatchers.

8. Oregon State University's Water and Watersheds.

9. Wisconsin Association of Lakes e-newsletter and additional resources.

10. Midwest Lakes Policy Center. Water issues, generally.

Great Lakes Compact Deal: A Glass Emptied To Half-Full

Given that we're talking about the Great Lakes water management Compact, it's an apt metaphor, don't you think?

Granted, it's a little hard to tell, since when the powers that be gathered in New Berlin last week to announce the deal, then didn't release any details.
I can't remember if it was a cloudy day, but there sure wasn't much sunshine out there.

But with what we know so far, it's fair to say that the glass is no better than half-empty because it was filled more fully in State Senate Bill 523, which passed on a strong, 26-6 bipartisan vote - - before GOP Assembly members threatened to toss the contents down the drain, and Democrats began to help empty enough of the contents to satisfy the tougher GOP negotiators.

Half-full because the legislature will approve the Great Lakes Compact.

But emptier than it could have been, because the legislation that will implement the Compact in Wisconsin - - where the details and rules become crucial - - will subtract content from SB 523, a variety of sources have said.

A summary entry point to that reality is here.

In what were partisan discussions in a legislature divided - - Democrats control the Senate, Republicans the Assembly - - the Republicans were, shall we say, more focused, perhaps more strategic, on winning the outcome their Waukesha County cohort wanted.

The Republicans in the Assembly simply balked at passing anything.

They said "No," demanding that the Compact itself be rewritten - - when everyone knew that wasn't going to happen, because a real delay in Wisconsin's Compact approval - - setting aside what was in the implementing bill - - made it impossible for New Berlin to get the Lake Michigan water it wants now and what the City of Waukesha wants pretty soon.

So the Republicans appeared to 'cave,' and agreed to 'drop' their essentially fake demand that the Compact be rewritten - - in exchange for substantial Democratic concessions that weakened SB 523 with amendments that are circulating around the Capitol, and which appear to have the votes for adoption in this coming week's special legislative session.

So, again, to summarize:

The glass is roughly half-full, because the Compact will get approved.

That will move the issue forward and encourage Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to join the others states that have already approved the Compact.

But what the Democrats were not willing to try (which would have meant being as resolute as were the Assembly Republicans) was to say in response:

"OK, Assembly Republicans, you've said "No," so we'll all wait until the November election, and see if we can get SB 523 through an Assembly with a new Democratic majority."

If that tactic were to have failed this November, and I don't think it would have come to that because New Berlin, a Republican stronghold wants its Lake Michigan water now, then the compromise the Democrats agreed to last week could be gotten after November, with little lost in the overall process.

But by taking the deal now, the Democrats did this:

* They gave up on mandatory statewide water conservation, agreeing instead to voluntary programs. Folding such improvement in public policy and planning into this major piece of water conservation legislation was perfect timing, and failing to keep it in Wisconsin's bill is a major lost opportunity.

* They agreed to include into the diversion review procedure - - until the Compact's final final final approval at some future date - - certain diversion precedents in Wisconsin.

These "historic applications," as I hear that the amendments call them, skirted the federal law that mandates all diversions to communities that are outside of the Great Lakes basin get the approval of all eight Great Lakes states.

Previous diversions to Pleasant Prairie, and to part of Menomonee Falls were allowed to happen without all the other states' approvals.

Becoming a benchmark in Wisconsin law for an indefinite period makes diversions easier to seek in our state.

And the "historic applications" language validates some previous imperfect procedures.

Should Wisconsin law strengthen, reify if you will, earlier, bad practice? Is this what we want Wisconsin legislators to do when we send them to the Capitol?

Because let's remember: the end goal of the Compact, when it is approved by all the other states and, it hoped, by the Congress, is to make diversions rare, and granted by uniform standards.

No wonder this amending process is happening in the shadows.

* Democrats also stepped away from using now the Compact's eventual mandate for the return of diverted water piped beyond the Great Lakes basin's boundaries.

Yes, that will be the hard-and-fast requirement for applicants, but again, only after the Compact is approved by all the eight Great Lakes states and the Congress - - a time frame conceivably years away, at best.

In that interim period, Wisconsin communities seeking out-of-basin diversions will not have to make that return flow pledge because it is not in the state implementing law.

Diversion-seeking communities would be smart to put these return flow pledges in their applications, and to show good faith in their budgets and spending so there is no doubt that return flow will happen.

But in the amendments that are heading into SB 523 to produce this 'compromise,' it's not a requirement.

* Finally, the amended SB 523 might contain language that makes it harder for citizens to bring complaints about violations.

This little-discussed possibility is vital if Wisconsin is to have a Compact implementing bill that encourages enforcement of water management on behalf of the public interest, and Great Lakes preservation.

I noted in an earlier post that certain big water users, like Murphy Oil, have already had their needs met in the drafting.

Waukesha, and New Berlin, and the water-hungry development interests in Waukesha County, are also big winners in the behind-the-scenes rewriting of SB 523.

If citizens are refused standing to push for enforcement, or if their input is rendered impossible by intentionally-crafted clever legal and financial barriers, then the glass will be pretty much emptied, with Democratic and Republican decision-makers having worked in tandem to make this significant bill just another favor to insider special-interests.

Dave Zweifel Tracks The Growing Anti-WMC Effort

Dave Zweifel at the Capital Times provides the links to the expanding Internet-based effort in our state to unmask the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

The impetus for these activities was certainly the millions of dollars that the WMC spent in 2007-2008 on sleazy ads that supported pro-business candidates.

Wait until hundreds of groups and their members statewide - - environmental, hunting & fishing, public health, water conservation, transit and others - - make the connections and discover that the WMC is blocking logical approaches to problem-solving in their issue areas, and more.

Could be the beginning of a consumer revolt against a group that has become increasingly partisan, and ideological, at the expense of our state's common ground.

Some pieces of the story about the WMC's continuing tilt to the right on a broad front, and its harshly self-serving agendas, are here.

In the spirit of citizen journalism, forward your suggestions for additional inquiry or disclosure about the WMC right here and I will pass them on to the appropriate investigators.

Or utilize the links that Dave Zweifel posted as a convenient shortcut.

Tomah Journal Nails The Sprawl/Lending Connection

The Tomah Journal identifies the connection between exurban sprawl, environmental degradation and the squandering of the nation's financial and resources.

Quite a read.

Pulitzer Prize Winner Dave Umhoefer Keeps Living The Dream

Gets to throw out the first pitch at a Brewers game.

Pretty cool.

And if fellow award winner Bob Dylan shows up to collect his award?

Priceless.

Wisconsin's Great Lakes Compact Bill Also Helps Big Lake Superior Users; And An Earth Day Signing?

Much of the attention following last week's 'breakthrough' compromise on a Great Lakes Compact implementation bill for Wisconsin focused on the easier paths it will create for water diversions from Lake Michigan to communities like New Berlin and Waukesha that are partially or completely outside the Great Lakes basin.

And, by boosting the economies of communities west of Milwaukee, will expand the disparities in wealth between land-locked Milwaukee and the sprawling western suburbs - - unless those suburban communities obtaining Lake Michigan diversions from Milwaukee agree to payments for water that reflect its contribution to those suburbs' tax bases.

Overlooked to a degree in the wake of the compromise: the original bill that passed the State Senate 26-6, and that is scheduled for final approval with amendments that promote diversions and eliminate some conservation requirements, guarantees water access to very large users that are within the Great Lakes, not outside of it.

One such example that the Senate drafters had in mind: Murphy Oil.

The company will need in the range of 5 million gallons a day for its boosted refining operations if its $6 billion expansion to process Canadian tar sand crude oil gets the green light from company executives and government regulators.

The Senate bill was written with certain thresholds to make sure a project the size of Murphy's operations would be able to access that much water, a fact duly noted by media in northern Wisconsin, where the refinery expansion promises employment.

Much of the water would be returned to Lake Superior, but a substantial portion would be lost in the refinery's industrial processes.

A recent business publication noted that refining tar sand crude releases a relatively large amount of greenhouse gas; the extraction of the oil in the Alberta, Canada wilderness, requiring massive amounts of water, energy and pipeline corridors, has been dubbed "the most destructive project on earth."

And let's not forget that the expansion at Superior by Murphy is expected to require the largest filling of wetlands in Wisconsin - - 400-500 acres, sources indicate - - since the adoption of the US Clean Water Act of 1972.

This projected water demands of the refinery expansion at Superior and its potential impact on the lake and the nearby wetlands is especially troubling because more and more scientific data is accumulating about Lake Superior's falling levels due due to warming temperatures.

It's good to understand the entire context of development issues in and near the Great Lakes, and their connections to national, international and global issues.

A lot is at stake, from jobs in Wisconsin, to the state's energy mix, to the relative benefits of petroleum-based development and the coming wave in renewable energy generation - - wind, tidal, various ethanols, solar and conservation.

The Detroit Free Press carried a story about Lake Superior's level decrease just a day after Wisconsin's Gov. Jim Doyle and a brace of legislators, local officials and some environmental activists gathered in New Berlin to hail the Compact implementing compromise now scheduled for approval at a special legislative session April 17th.

The compromise bill does approve the Compact, but the implementing bill is a weak shadow of what originally went through the Senate, especially on the giveback of statewide conservation plans and the lack of clarity on conservation requirements in communities seeking diversions.

And that's without the Murphy Oil considerations.

Some sponsors of the bill are hoping for an April 22nd, Earth Day signing.

Spare us.

State Gives Shorewood $4 Million; Non-Milwaukee Image Is Goal

Here's regional cooperation at work, with some of your money, Milwaukee:

The state Department of Transportation, not content with merely ripping up the city for the convenience of suburban commuters, is giving the Village of Shorewood $4 million to help it streetscape itself so it won't be mistaken for just another Milwaukee neighborhood.

Perish the thought!

Trust me: I like Shorewood, and I used to live there. But guess what: it is a neighborhood of Milwaukee, with which it shares a border and myriad business, education, personal and financial connections.

And shame on the State of Wisconsin for spending public money on something so condescending and divisional.

h/t to Greg Kowalski for the story. I had missed it.

Downtown, Wauwatosa Sites for UWM Research Campus Considered

The possibility that UWM's research campus could be located downtown is getting more media attention.

This is a good thing, and I've posted about the issue a few times.

Granted that the Tosa site is near some medical facilities: downtown offers other college campuses, housing choices, transit connections, broad retail conveniences, major industrial and white-collar employers and many other amenities nearby.

It's even closer to the airport - - a connection high on the list of necessities for start-up businesses and institutions.

The regional-benefit issue cuts both ways, so is essentially a wash.

Downtown offers far more advantages on its own.

Water Crunch An Interesting Issues Blog

Great name for a Southeast US-focused water issues blog - - Water Crunch. Wish I had thought of it. It's now on my blog roll.

New Water Blog From Noah Hall

Noah Hall, long-time water writer and teacher, has begun posting on Great Lakes legal issues, here.

Waukesha Conservative Promotes Compact's Value

The conservative blogger and columnist James Widgerson again explains to his Waukesha audience values of the Great Lakes Compact.

Waukesha communities like New Berlin and Waukesha, because their applications for Lake Michigan water have been stymied by the Compact's legislative stall, will gain the most immediately if and when the Compact is approved by the state legislature next week.

The discussion through Widgerson's site and writings about the self-described leading Compact opponent, State Sen. Mary Lazich (R- New Berlin), is also recommended reading.

Great Lakes Compact Implementing Bill Relatively Weak

So here is the short version of what we know about the compromise bill most likely to pass at next week's legislative Special Session to implement the Great Lakes water management Compact in Wisconsin.

And a few additional thoughts about the legislative negotiations that produced the compromise and what it means for the larger political picture in Wisconsin.

In a nutshell, it will be a weaker bill than what the State Senate passed 26-6, on a bipartisan vote.

Assembly Republicans and Waukesha County members in both houses come away with what they are calling a big win.

That's because some mandatory water conservation requirements will be voluntary instead, some communities' water conservation planning could be delayed, and water diversion applications to heavily-Republican suburban communities have a better chance of approval.

Gov. Doyle, and Democrats in both houses, come away with something that it's hard to call a big win.

They get a bill, but a lesser product than what the Senate approved.

The partisan nature of the fight and the outcome cannot be denied.

If the Senate bill were to get an "B+," the bill likely to come out of the Special Session, with the overall stewardship of the Great Lakes and Wisconsin's opportunities in mind, is no better than a "C-."

Final thought.

Have the Democrats in the legislature who are thinking about supporting this agreement - - which has been enthusiastically embraced by GOP members in Waukesha County and the other fast growing 'burbs - - forgotten the results of the April 1st State Supreme Court election so soon?

Where a strong turnout in those 'burbs put Michael Gableman over the top to knock out Milwaukee-based Justice Louis Butler.

What do you think the effect will be on the population numbers and voting patterns in Waukesha County with an infusion of fresh Milwaukee water there?

Here's the core reality: Waukesha County votes 2:1 Republican.

The turnout is extremely high, year-in and year-out, and the County is a reliable base of solid political influence for the GOP and conservative causes that rivals what Dane County and Milwaukee County represent for Democrats and liberals.

So the more you enable residential population and business movement and relocation to Waukesha County, the more easily you help developers there turn farm fields into subdivisions, the more tax base you help those communities west of the Great Lakes basin get annexed, the more you Dems are diminishing effectiveness in Milwaukee, southeastern Wisconsin and the Capitol, too.

Along with water management, land use and developmenr, the Compact debate in Wisconsin is about political power, too.

Given the political environment surrounding the Compact legislation's evolution, I'd say:

Advantage, GOP.

A longer explanation about the Compact negotiation dynamics is here.

New Political/Environmental Website For Wisconsinites

Check out Greenvoting - - this very cool new website for political and environmental news in Wisconsin.

Business Publication Lays Out The Staggering Costs Of Tar Sand Oil Extraction

A financial services company has produced an informative paper on the staggering financial and environmental costs of tar sand oil extraction.

These are the sources from Alberta, Canada that will supply Great Lakes oil refineries with new supplies of crude oil, including Murphy Oil's likely seven-fold expanded operation in Superior, and other firms' operations in Indiana and Michigan.

It's definitely worthwhile reading.

Loopholes, Gaps Appearing In Great Lakes Compact Deal

Yesterday I blogged about the Great Lakes Compact deal announced in New Berlin by Gov. Jim Doyle and legislators from both parties, but with a large contingent of celebratory GOP lawmakers who just days earlier had been fierce Compact opponents.

My point yesterday was that details were yet to emerge, so caution should be the watchword, lest false or naive hopes about a bi-partisan agreement mask a flawed document and help enable it into the statutes.

I would now suggest that there is a need for even greater caution based on those few bits of intelligence seeping out of what has been and continues to be a very closed process gathering momentum - - without a draft or amended bill produced for media and the public - - for a hurry-up special legislative session next Thursday, April 17th.

[Note: I have clarified in italics some of the following graphs, paying closer attention to what I call the "intermediate" period between approval of a bill in Wisconsin and final Congressional approval of what all eight Great Lakes states eventually adopt into their statutes.

Because that period could be a number of years, or conceivably, permanently if the Congress balks, it is important to understand what will and can happen regarding water conservation requirements and performance, and also to understand which laws and past practices Wisconsin intends to use when evaluating and enabling applicants' diversions of Great Lakes water.]

For one thing, there were mandatory statewide water conservation provisions in the Compact bill that was approved by the State Senate on a 26-6 bipartisan vote, but which have been removed from the Wisconsin version now in play - - a clear trade downward for achieving water conservation in the state.

Before the full legislature meets next week, 20 or more new amendments - - so far, all from GOP members - - will have been considered as changes to the Senate bill, and their overall thrust minimizes water conservation outcomes in Wisconsin that could have been achieved if the Senate bill language had been retained.

The amendments are also aimed, in the main, at maximizing diversion opportunities and minimizing possible costly return flow procedures for some communities on or near the Great Lakes basin boundary during the intermediate, interim period between the Wisconsin bill's approval that is probable next week, and final Congressional approval - - a period of years, perhaps indefinite.

This disclosure about the dropping of statewide mandatory water conservation programming did not come from an environmental critic of the deal announced in New Berlin.

According to the Racine Journal Times, it's coming from one of the Assembly's GOP leaders, Scott Gunderson, (R-Waterford).

The key paragraph:

"According to Mike Bruhn, spokesman for Gunderson, the compromise contains some important alterations. The state would not gain new authority over groundwater, which he said would have been a huge change in property rights. The altered version also removed the requirement for a mandatory statewide water conservation program (my highlighting) and gave a legislature committee oversight of the governor’s vote on the council."

Changing the statewide conservation that had passed the Senate for requirements for conservation only in the Great Lakes basin, perhaps mandatory, perhaps not, is certainly not in the state, or region, or Great Lakes' interest.

Additionally, it is not yet clear if water conservation plans will be required for communities and counties that touch the Great Lakes basin boundary, or if they are required, at what point in the process.

Will it be a conservation plan in place before a diversion application is made, or after a diversion is underway, or after all the states approve their Compact statutes, and the entire ball of wax is approved by the Congress?

In this intermediate or interim period, which could be years, or permanent, a lot of water usage would take place in Wisconsin without strong conservation measures in place.

Deleting or downplaying them is certainly not in the spirit of the Compact, or in the Wisconsin Senate bill that is now facing the substantial amending work agreed to in the announced deal among legislative leaders and Gov. Doyle.

Secondly, it appears that all the hoopla over getting the GOP opponents to drop their objections to the requirement that all eight states must approve diversions of water outside the Great Lakes basin was much ado about nothing.

Or worse, a political diversion to draw attention away from a major difference between the federal law and the Compact when it comes to those eight-state approvals for diversions of water outside of the Great Lakes basin.

The federal law says all eight state governors have to approve diversion applications to move water outside of the Great Lakes basin.

The Compact says all eight state governors have to approve the diversions - - and here is the crucial additional caveat: those diversion applications must pledge returning the water to the Great Lakes basin.

As I pointed out yesterday, that eight-state approval provision was never going to be deleted from the Compact a) because four of the eight states had already approved it, and b) it has been in the federal law since 1985.

So why have the GOP Compact opponents, clustered in Waukesha County, suddenly embraced the eight-state approval, as laid out in the federal law, to serve as the sole legal guiding authority?

Because Wisconsin has a track record of skirting the federal law when it chooses to do so.

That is why I am hearing that advocates for weakening the strong State Senate bill - - and the amendment writing and negotiating among the parties is certainly a process in constant flux as the special session approaches - - want certain Wisconsin's "historic" diversion procedures recognized in the final bill as legal precedent to guide diversion approvals.

State Rep. Kevin Petersen touches on this point, here.

Remember that Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources approved administratively a diversion of Lake Michigan water to a portion of Menomonee Falls that was outside of the Great Lakes basin, and did not feel obliged to get the other Great Lakes Governors' approval, or to require that water be returned to Lake Michigan.

And remember also that Wisconsin sought and obtained a diversion to Pleasant Prairie without the formal approval of the other Great Lakes states.

Some states in that process during the Tommy Thompson administration said OK to the diversion.

Some states merely did not object. You can call it parsing, but in the end, Pleasant Prairie got the water without the actual approval of all seven other states, at the request of Wisconsin, for a diversion of Lake Michigan water to a community outside the Great Lakes basin.

Another logical explanation for the GOP's sudden embrace of the federal law requirements appears in this AP story:

"Gunderson spokesman, Mike Bruhn, said the new deal states current federal law will govern water draws until Congress gives the compact final approval."

Continued Bruhn:

"Some cities planning to apply for lake draws were unsure which rules to follow in the period between state and federal ratification, Bruhn said."

It's that so-called intermediate, or interim period popping up, again.

The important wording there is "in the period between state and federal ratification," which could be years, or forever.

Return flow is an expense to a diverting community. Piping sewage or treated water back, for instance, many miles to Lake Michigan, or a tributary, or to a treatment facility run by the MMSD would require a second set of pipes, with engineering, land acquisition and operating costs.

Some communities interested in diversions, like the City of Waukesha, have balked at the return flow requirement, or have not yet resolved how to achieve it.

And while Waukesha has moved considerably on the issue, if the Wisconsin Compact law does not require return flow of diverted Lake Michigan water because it's not mandated by the federal law, that would allow Waukesha to apply for a diversion and seek to continue to discharge its wastewater into the Fox River - - flowing towards the Mississippi River and away from the Great Lakes.

Waukesha has said that one option is returning some wastewater down the Root River into Lake Michigan, and returning some wastewater into the Fox River to maintain levels there and in the Vernon Marsh.

Waukesha's Mayor Larry Nelson continues to make strong statements about Waukesha's return flow intentions - - but his words do not include 100% guarantee.

If the Compact were in place now, or if the Compact's intentions were followed as the guideline prior to its final approval by Congress, return flow would be a requirement of any Wisconsin community's diversion application.

But if the federal law is followed as the guiding standard until Congressional approval - - which could be years away, or never happen - -that would mean that there is no requirement in Wisconsin that return flow accompany a sought-after diversion, or require it in a timely fashion.
Even if that was not anyone's intention, and no one but this cynical blogger envisioned it before, it is a huge loophole that again defeats the conservation intent of the Compact, so should be buttoned up with tight, unambiguous language.

If exploited, the loophole could considerably change what the Governors signed in December, 2005, and intended for the health of the Great Lakes, when they launched the Compact into their state legislatures for approval.

Wisconsin legislators need to step out into the sunlight and shore up their approach to the Compact.

Legislators need to get conservation practices and return flow requirements back into the bill that implements the Compact in Wisconsin - - certainly for the communities that touch the Great Lakes basin, or that are in a county that touches the basin - - and not rush into special session next week, declare victory and approve the Compact with a bill that is so weak that the other states will say the entire effort has been jeopardized.

MMSD Gets A Cleaner Bill Of Health

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District gets some credit for its performance in the new Milwaukee Magazine.

While talk radio has used the MMSD as a convenient punching bag, the facts, as gathered by Erik Gunn, indicate the MMSD is a good performer and adding capacity to keep the area's lakes and rivers even cleaner.

Common Council Supports Downtown Research UWM Campus...

Unanimously, at today's session. Makes a lot of sense, given the proximity of MSOE, MATC, Marquette University, the planned School of Public Health, transit lines, housing options, hotels, Amtrak, businesses, etc.

Precisely what is missing from the County Grounds.

Great Lakes Compact Deal: Some Details Known, Others Not

Though the participants at today's news conference about the Great Lakes Compact hosted in New Berlin by Gov. Jim Doyle have released few details about what it is they have agreed to approve at a special legislative session next week - - and there may be surprises when the fine print emerges - - it is clear that a key element of the Compact has been retained:

That all eight states will have to approve any movement of Great Lakes water to a site that is completely outside of the Great Lakes basin, meaning that a single state could veto such an application.

This is important for the credibility of the Compact, the likelihood that it can move successfully through all the states and Congressional ratification, and the long-term health of the Great Lakes, too.

Republican legislators had screamed about that provision - - one literally - - demanding that it should be amended to a majority vote of the states, and demanded also that the agreement be renegotiated despite seven years of such negotiations and debates - - even though four of the states had already approved it.

A renegotiation was politically, and technically, unrealistic and impossible.

But that provision was always going to stay in the Compact for one main reason:

It is already in federal law, and has been since 1986.

It is there as an important check against any Great Lakes state unilaterally making a deal to send water to a faraway state or country to make money at the expense of a region's shared resource.

It appears that what Republicans got in blocking the Compact in the Assembly, threatening its approval this year, is language that clarifies and smooths the diversion application process and the more precise standards that those applications have to meet.

I hear that issues such as what exactly constitutes the "return flow" of diverted water that the Compact requires be pledged and achieved to maintain the Great Lakes' levels could still raise problems for conservationists, and perhaps with the other states, or litigants.

Specifically, will return flow be required to be made directly to the Great Lakes' source?

And is there a grace period before which that return flow must begin, and becomes 100%?

All eight states must approve laws incorporating versions of the Compact that are not materially different. That's what a Compact is all about.

In the end, the major political forces each got something in the compromise in addition to being able to say they worked together:

Gov. Jim Doyle will get a bill approved.

As the chairman of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, Doyle needed Wisconsin to adopt a bill. Now Wisconsin can toss the hot potato to Pennsylvania, where approval is a certainty, and to Michigan and Ohio, where things are going to take longer - - and a bill without the "majority rule" amendment or any other obvious poison pill.

And I say "obvious" because the drafters haven't yet released the text.

Republicans can say they didn't lose anything on the eight-state approval standard's inclusion, because it's already in federal law, and they got a slightly-better bill that will speed the City of Waukesha's diversion application and refine its preparation.

In the end, for Waukesha, its application will still need the other states' approval, so how it pledges to return diverted water and demonstrates conservation commitments will be crucial to the other states' approval.

New Berlin wins, too.

Under the Compact - - but not the current federal law - - New Berlin is in a special category, being a city literally straddling the Great Lakes basin.

According to the Compact, New Berlin needs only the approval of the home state, not the other seven, because some of its land is inside the Great Lakes basin.

This is why it was absurd for State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), to be calling for the Compact's obstruction, because the longer the Compact was held, the longer New Berlin remained blocked from Lake Michigan water by the eight-state federal approval standard - - a standard lowered in the Compact to approval by Wisconsin only.

Once the Compact is approved in Wisconsin, and New Berlin gets Wisconsin's pro forma OK, New Berlin then needs only to locate a willing seller - - such as Milwaukee, or Oak Creek - - with which to strike a deal for the sale of water for to its land that is west of the basin boundary.

Since the City of Milwaukee already sells water to New Berlin's territory that is east of, and inside the basin boundary, Milwaukee is the logical seller.

When those negotiations begin, one question remains:

Will Milwaukee settle for the wholesale water cost already in the fee schedules for bulk sales to suburbs?

I'd say that's a start, but...

Will it also include the cost of the water and the new pumps and pipes needed to get the water over the boundary basin's elevation - - somewhere between $4-10 million?

I'd say, it better. No way that Milwaukee residents should be paying for that.

And what about a fair share of the development value that Lake Michigan water will bring to New Berlin - - money that will help mitigate losses to Milwaukee's economy as more capital - - liquid as water - - is pumped from Milwaukee to the suburbs?

In other words, payments that reflect the value of water and not its mere, per-gallon cost, which in our water-rich region, is nearly entirely an electricity/pumping charge, with the actual water thrown in for nothing.

Again, I'd say such a fiscal sharing is a necessity. Smart people can figure out a fair formula, because in today's world, we need to be mindful of the full financial and social value of water.

With so many assets already pulled away from the city and spread across the landscape, leaving behind development that is distorted and inequitable, Great Lakes water, if it is to be diverted away from Milwaukee and the basin, must also be used to re-balance the city's relationship to the suburbs and its place in the region.

Anything less will be short-sighted, and a failure of regional stewardship of both water, land and humanity.

Three caveats from now to the end of the Special Session, and then beyond:

1. Don't put it past Wisconsin GOP leaders, or their allies in Ohio's property-rights' fringe element, to see if they can negate the 1986 federal law in court. That would leave the door open to widespread diversions, regardless of the Compact.

2. Don't put it past one or more area governments to establish a new regional water authority in a so-called "straddling community," then legally finagle a way to distribute water through it to other communities that would not apply for diversions on their own.

Let's just say that there are plenty of people interested in finding or creating loopholes through which they could obtain and move Great Lakes water - - even if they pledged to return it.

Along those lines - - communities will be required to return diverted water, but how directly to the source from which it was diverted, and how promptly?

If the return flow can be indirect, or delayed for months or years, then the spirit of the Compact is undermined.

3. So keep an eye on amendments that could be offered prior to the final votes in the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate. And later, in law and administrative rules that implement what's in the Compact bill.

Sometimes in the rush to get something done, and be gratified that you worked cooperatively with your opponents, there is a tendency to give up something, or overlook something else, especially if you are dealing with willful or crafty special interests.

Good intentions can have profound but intended long-term consequences - - in this case, precedent-setting for many states- - with regard to the world's largest supply of fresh surface water.

We need the Compact. Let's just make sure we know what we are getting, and that it's the right version.

Twenty-six of 32 State Senators probably didn't get it wrong.

Environmental Activists Win Nail-Biters On Franklin Council

Environmental advocate Kristen Wilhelm, after a recount, won a seat on Franklin's Common Council by a four-vote margin, 609-605.

She defeated an incumbent, as did a second environmental challenger, Steve Taylor - - by a mere ten votes.

So every vote does count!

Franklin has been roiled recently by controversial developments, and the city's Environmental Commission, on which Taylor and Wilhelm sit, had found its status often discounted by other local officials.

So congratulations to Wilhelm and Taylor for being progressive voices in a relatively tough environment - - Milwaukee County's south suburbs.

You can follow Franklin and that region's land use and political issues at a great Franklin-based blog by John Michlig.

And then for the flip side, there's full-time state legislative aide Kevin Fischer and his Franklin-based, self-proclaimed pro-development blog - - wherein he calls the Department of Natural Resources "the Wisconsin Wing of the Nazi party."

Very nice.

Billions To Be Wasted On Highways As Era Of Cheap Gas Ends

At what point will driving recede because of the price of gasoline?

Doesn't it feel that way already? Isn't it clear that people are minimizing their driving, and will continue to do so as the price of gasoline rises.

And will adjust their lifetsyles, housing and work options to save money by reducing their gasoline burn?

Gas is at $3.49 a gallon, with $4 a gallon fuel predicted for this summer.

$4 gas today: do I hear $5?

And still the state forges ahead with the freeway rebuilding and widening plan, with eight years of construction due to start this year on the North-South leg of I-94 to the Illinois state line from Milwaukee.

Implementing a plan drafted when the economy was expanding, gas was at $2.30-a-gallon - - as I have pointed out and which the plan's author, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission continues to defend - - and people were grabbing SUV's off the dealership lots regardless of the vehicles' mpg.

Mpg? That was for sissies. Get me one with a V-8 Hemi.

Ram Tough. Expedition. Hummer.

But now, bummer.

Things have changed. A deep recession, or worse, is unfolding, but no one at the state Transportation Department or in the Governor's Office is willing to rethink freeway expansion and improvements, and move towards regional transit.

No one will take leadership and begin to speak the truth.

So out will come the orange barrels, then the road graders, then the concrete trucks, with more billions of taxpayer dollars thrown west to Jefferson County, north into Ozaukee and Washington Counties, and south into Walworth County, for another 20 years.

Think of the debt we are laying down for the next generation to shoulder.

When we knew better.

Wisconsin GOP Compact Blockaders 'Only Here To Help.'

A group of Republican state legislators tell the Green Bay Press Gazette that they only blocked the Great Lakes Compact in the Assembly because the Senate version (approved 26-6 with a bi-partisan vote) had too many flaws.

OK.

We'll see whether these representatives drop their biggest objections once they are done with their careful legislative flyspecking - - those objections included the Senate's inclusion of mandatory water conservation planning and the unanimous approval of all eight Great Lakes states for diversions of water outside of the Great Lakes basin.

Sykes' Post-Pulitzer Self-Satire...Or Not Knowing When To Quit

Charlie Sykes did what any former Milwaukee Journal print reporter would do by extending his congratulations after the announcement that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dave Umhoefer had won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

But then Charlie couldn't resist telling the paper how to do its job to win more prizes.

No one in that newsroom would take one nanosecond's advice from Sykes, who regularly uses the paper as a punching bag.

As the kids would say these days, LOL.

Sykes' posting is below:

CONGRATULATIONS
By Charlie Sykes
Story Created: Apr 8, 2008
Story Updated: Apr 8, 2008

... to the JS and reporter David Umhoefer for winning a Pulitzer Prize for committing a flagrant act of journalism. This is an extraordinary achievement for all involved and a reminder of the unique value of good hard-headed newspaper journalism.

Now that they've gotten a taste of the rewards of tough investigative journalism, how about turning Umhoefer and his colleagues loose on state government? The casinos? The technical schools? The vast wasteland of MPS?

There's more gold in them thar hills.

The Mike Gableman-Mary Lazich-Kevin Fischer Connection

I offer an explanation on The Madison Capital Times op-ed page today.

The Case For A Downtown UW-M

I've several times advocated for UW-Milwaukee's proposed engineering and research expansion to take place downtown.

It's an uphill battle because many major political forces in the region are supporting a Wauwatosa campus.

The case for downtown is a strong one, and its leading voice is Dave Reid.

Though it supports the Wauwatosa option, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in fine journalistic tradition offered Reid op-ed space Sunday to make his case - - and here it is.

Florida Town Considering 100/Gallon Per Person Water Usage Daily

A Florida town suffering from over-development and water shortages is considering a mandatory 100/gallon per person limit per day.

We do better in Wisconsin, with residents using around 70 gallons a day.

But the point isn't to feel smug. The point is that we need to recognize that water can be saved with coordinated personal responsibility and community conservation, so that communities in Wisconsin where there already are supply problems don't find themselves in the Florida situation.

The Great Lakes Compact would require statewide conservation programs - - a provision that some GOP legislative leaders are trying to weaken.

The Compact bill that has passed the State Senate, with bi-partisan support, contains the stronger conservation language and should be kept in any so-called compromise that has yet to be adopted in the State Assembly.

The Senate, and Gov. Jim Doyle, should not cave in on this provision.

MMSD Calls For Strong Great Lakes Compact

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission adds its weight to the call for a strong Great Lakes Compact.

It's nice to see the MMSD standing up for water conservation - - extending its "Every Drop Counts" campaign - - and showing leadership on a critical environmental issue that is being fought by so many policy makers in Waukesha County.

And the statement serves as another reminder that in the debate about diverting water from Lake Michigan - - and returning it to the source, which will be a requirement - - expansions to, and added costs, for the MMSD will be a consequence.

Big costs.

So communities seeking diversions need to include those expenses in their calculations, and not assume that everyone else in the region is going to subsidize their diversions on the treatment end of the diversion loop.

Dave Umhoefer's Pension Reporting Wins Pulitzer Prize

Dave Umhoefer, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's reporter on the Milwaukee County pension scandals, has won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

This is a tremendous achievement. It's great news for Dave and the paper, and for readers and local taxpayers, too, because it will compel further reporting and legal action to remedy what Umhoefer has continually uncovered, and so brilliantly explained.

I worked with Dave at the paper.

He's the consummate professional, and now the whole world knows.

Wow!

Being Jeff Wagner Doesn't Mean Being Sharp

Conservative 620 WTMJ radio talker Jeff Wagner also has a blog, and in this posting calls Wisconsin State Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson both a "big loser" in the Butler-Gableman race, and then a few paragraphs later "a solid favorite" to win re-election next year.

A little wobbly logic there, eh?

Dave Zweifel Calls Out The WMC

Madison Capital Times emeritus editor Dave Zweifel calls out the WMC for its blatant Supreme Court seat buying.

He also publishes the names and businesses represented on the WMC board - - a good list for Wisconsin consumers and voters to peruse.

More information about the WMC is here, at WMCWatch.

Carcinogen Contamination Is Okey-Dokey In Baraboo Hills

Hey, is carcinogenic contamination in the soil around the closed Army ammo plant in Baraboo something to worry about?

Nah, apparently.

Fact Checker Analysis Shows Gablemen & Co. Threw The Most Mud

The data show Gableman forces in the State Supreme Court threw the most mud.

The numbers on election night showed Gableman the winner.

The lesson is pretty obvious.

McIlheran Leaves Out The Facts

The Journal Sentinel's in-house conservative columnist, Patrick McIlheran, wades back into the State Supreme Court race in his Sunday op-ed page column.

"Thought that Supreme Court business was over?" he ledes. "No! The sour-grapes harvest goes on."

So he does his own bit to keep the election post-mortems alive, demonstrating that it's hard to be a good winner, and worse, tossing what can only be charitably described as an incomplete offering into the mix.

McIlheran is in full Righty righteous indignation, claiming that critics of the winning Gableman were "insinuating racism," as the columnist puts it.

Say what?

This all began when Gableman aired his now infamous television advertisement pairing a photo (and not surprisingly an unflattering picture, to boot) of Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, who is African-American, side-by-side with the mug-shot photo of an African-American rape defendant whom Butler had represented as a public defender.

The ad falsely went on to say that Butler - - at the time a defense attorney, not a local judge or Supreme Court Justice - - had gotten the rapist released through a loophole, only to rape again - - thus the quite accurate complaint that Gableman had introduced a Willie Horton-type race-baiting ad into the campaign.

McIlheran says the critics are "dishonest" in their allegations that the ad was racist because "no one making the claim can explain it other than to say it's racist to show a criminal's face if he's black."

McIlheran says the ad was "wrong-headed." There's a light rap on the knuckles. He also says it was "a dirtball ad." That's closer to the truth, because the ad was misleading, but McIlheran leaves out the heart of the racial issue that the critics have correctly identified.

The point absent from the McIlheran piece is that pairing the photos was designed to make a negative racial connection in the ad.

Thirty-four Wisconsin judges pointed this out in an unprecedented statement prior to the election.

Did McIlheran miss it, or choose to parse his way past it in his op-ed?

Even a short Madison television station editorial summing up the controversy didn't miss the racial import of this ad - - the first commercial by Gableman, and not one sponsored by a so-called outside interest group.

Believe me, that bit of commercial footage chosen and aired by Gableman's people, "authorized and paid for" by the candidate's committee, was no accident, no mere cinematic coincidence.

I certainly do not believe that a vote for Gableman was a racist vote. Maybe some votes were. I hope few to none.

But I do believe the ad was a deliberate appeal to racism, and that Gableman deserves to be denounced for taking that route to a seat on the state's highest court.

To deny that the ad had racist content and intentions is to live in a very naive world, and to demonstrate a pretty uninformed view of what political attack ads are all about.

But to leave such key information out of a lengthy post-election op-ed, yet call your philosophical and political adversaries "dishonest and reflexive," is a pretty big omission and one big fat act of projection.

OK: Let's Have Some Answers From Mary Lazich

She asks how does government spend our money? Fair question.

Which leads to this: Any tax money spent on a blog which has Lazich's name on it?

Or this one, by Kevin Fischer, her staff aide, who recently called the state Department of Natural Resources "the Wisconsin wing of the Nazi party" - - with, to date, no apology from Fischer or Lazich.

So are you two comfortable with that?

And I'm not the first to ask the blogs' accounting questions, so it's time for some answers.

Sen. Lazich...Kevin?

(Note that there are elected officials who take action and responsibility for their staffs' behaviors when they reflect badly on an elected's reputation.)

New Data Mean Greater Water Conservation Needed

Despite heavy winter snows, lake levels remain low, meaning water conservation is needed more than ever, data in Monday's Journal Sentinel indicate.

Nanny State Interferes With Management's Right To Screw Workers

That pesky Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development - - this time allied with State Rep. Josh Zepnick, D-Milwaukee) - - is at again, interfering with the rights of a South side Milwaukee auto parts firm that suddenly locked its doors and and withheld from workers $1.5 million in wages owed under the law.

Now I see just how onerous and dictatorial is the business climate in Wisconsin. How can you operate a business in this day and age if you can't just keep workers wages after a surprise shutdown?

No wonder businesses are moving to China.

Let's hope that Justices Ziegler, Gableman, et al will address this on behalf of the WMC in the State Supreme Court's fall term.

We need some judicial activism to restore managements' rights!

Rob Henken Argues For Better Government

Rob Henken, the new Executive Director of the Public Policy Forum, correctly writes that there is a need for stronger government leadership, cooperation and focus on results.

I agree.

He says we should also focus on the positive, and, again I agree, given the severity of the region's economic and social problems.

And without being contradictory, I would also argue that all the units of government, and organizations that play watchdog roles - - media included - - still need to take government officials to task when secrecy and the public's exclusion is official practice.

Case in point: the ability of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission to approve a new Executive Director without an outside, objective search and any effective notice to the public that the position was open and change in the agency's management was possible.

Government will get more respect when its leaders and actions earn it.

In SEWRPC's case, there was intentional withholding of the facts and dismissal of any public participatory process.

And I have yet to hear a peep of criticism from major media or even officials from seven counties who send the agency millions in operating tax dollars annually.

I have argued, here, that SEWRPC sacrificed much of its dwindling credibility with the hiring game it just played.

Maybe that's OK with the folks there who run it, since they are not elected and escape voter accountability.

But the rest of us should continue to call them out even as we also find better examples of public policy-making, as Henken suggests, and which would help the region, that are meritorious on both process and results.

Water Writer Chris Wood's Essay Is A Must-Read

Chris Wood presents in the Toronto media an excerpt from his new book Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis in North America, about the Great Lakes.

The essay is quite a mix of science, math and pure passion for and about the Great Lakes.

I'm struck how different Wood's language and approach is, to say, the Waukesha politicos and business people who just say "gimme, gimme, gimme," without a care in the world for the larger picture.

The people who refuse to understand the complete price/value construct when it comes to water.

And compare their phony, Orwellian argument that obstructing the approval of the pending Great Lakes Compact will make the agreement stronger, when in fact the delays in ratification leave the Great Lakes vulnerable to mismanagement, or would, if 'improved' with amendments, increase the number of out-flowing diversions.

Thanks to Dave Dempsey also for his related posting and hat tip.

WMC's Hit To Your Wallet Approaching $10 Million

That's the word from One Wisconsin Now's WMC Watch dollar counter, running freely, here.

More Great Lakes Compact "Strange Interpretation" From Ohio Lawmakers

And remember, these folks called out in this Cleveland Plain Dealer coverage are allied with their ideological counterparts in the Wisconsin - - specifically the Assembly's GOP leadership, State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin), and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, et al.

Prof. Stanley Kutler Explains Perils of Privatization

The author and retired UW-Madison constitutional scholar Stanley Kutler turns his sharp eye and keyboard towards the perils of privatization in this substantive Capital Times commentary.

Definitely worth a read.

Lack Of Smoking Ban Highlights Larger Issue

The Wisconsin State Journal laments the lack of a statewide smoking ban, with progress towards its implementation stymied by partisan bickering and influential special interests.

It's an excellent point and well argued. We deserve better.

But this same disinterest in the public's health is evident in our state's unacceptable record in attaining good air quality outside, too.

A truly unholy, yet powerful alliance - - road-builders, legislative Republicans, the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state Department of Natural Resources, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and Governor Jim Doyle have all discounted the effect of smokestack or tailpipe emissions - - either by emphasizing highways over transit, or telling federal regulators that it's OK to have dirty air over the Badger State and in our lungs.

For much of the fall and winter, large portions of the state were under dirty air advisories and warnings, as smog, soot and other pollutants hung in the air and made it unhealthy, even dangerous for athletes, children, the elderly, or those with asthma to go outside.

Again, an unacceptable situation, but willfully made worse, then rationalized.

Industry and their apologists in government argued that federal air quality standards as coordinated by the Bush administration (!) are too stringent, or that economic development will suffer if anti-pollution efforts are mandated, or that balanced transportation in our state and particularly in our region around here is unneeded, or too expensive.

That's bunk: development in the effected counties, from Door to Kenosha, and in much of southeastern Wisconsin, will wither in the area if air quality puts companies' personnel at risk for asthma, lung ailments and heart disease.

And a transit-poor community is a turnoff to worldly CEO's and employees who are used to taking trains to the office, light-rail over the lunch hour, and living in housing near a rail station.

Milwaukee business leader, philanthropist and inventor Michael Cudahy has been arguing in favor of better transit in Milwaukee for years.

He said it again on April 2nd, too. You'd think one of these days, he'd be heard.

People will be dissuaded from vacationing here, let alone opening a business or choosing to remain in Wisconsin because there are healthier, more forward-looking cities and climes elsewhere.

Wisconsinites should have access to cleaner indoor air and less-polluted air outside, and that means more political leadership.

This should be a bi-partisan, cooperative no-brainer, with governments and the private sectors agreeing that public health and environmental protections inside and outside, too, are not negotiable.

Despite Arguments From Deniers, Global Warming Action Gets Greater Urgency

The New York Times lays out the case for greater anti-warming technology investments to be made now.

Climate change deniers will say that there's no need to be alarmed, but scientists with credentials are telling us that time is of the essence.

Key paragraphs from The Times story:

"[...] with recent data showing an unexpected rise in global emissions and a decline in energy efficiency, a growing chorus of economists, scientists and students of energy policy are saying that whatever benefits the cap approach yields, it will be too little and come too late.

"The economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, head of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, stated the case bluntly in a recent article in Scientific American: “Even with a cutback in wasteful energy spending, our current technologies cannot support both a decline in carbon dioxide emissions and an expanding global economy. If we try to restrain emissions without a fundamentally new set of technologies, we will end up stifling economic growth, including the development prospects for billions of people.”

"What is needed, Mr. Sachs and others say, is the development of radically advanced low-carbon technologies, which they say will only come about with greatly increased spending by determined governments on what has so far been an anemic commitment to research and development. A Manhattan-like Project, so to speak."

Big Applicant Pool For Next UW-Madison Chancellor

Fifty-five applicants.

Sure hope the pay is high enough.

Widgerson Falls Off The Edge The World Defending The WMC

James, James, James Widgerson!

"Perfidy" is a great Scrabble word, but it no way makes any sense in your off-the-mark defense of the WMC and silly slam at Paul Soglin.

And yes, decades ago, I did work for Paul, but I never thought I'd have to step up and defend him against allegations of disloyalty to Wisconsin.

Someone put some bad mushrooms in your pizza, brother James.

Or this Gableman 'victory' has damaged your DNA.

Either way, I'm worried about ya. That post wasn't rational.

More Government Support For Expanding I-94: Are You Surprised?

An added lane and a rebuilt I-94 freeway from Milwaukee to Illinois gets a predicable thumbs up in a government-paid environmental review.

$1.9 billion to shave up to ten minutes off some commutes - - a pricetag that has doubled since this 35-mile segment of regional freeway work was first proposed in 2003.

And it contains zero dollars for transit, while gasoline is now 50% more expensive than it was when the freeway study was approved - - a $6.5 billion gift of public funds to the road-builders launched by the regional planning commission and embraced by the state transportation department.

The report includes data acknowledging increases in traffic, yet predicts there will be cleaner air overall because newer vehicles will run more efficiently.

Yet the area already fails federal air quality standard's - - which are getting tougher.

With wetlands that highway planners say they will restore as a result of construction (note to us all: let's see the proof!), and the water polluted runoff they'll deal with, (let's check that, too), I'd wager that we'll end up with dirtier air and fouled land and waterways - - but a bit less traffic congestion.

And no transit components for residents in the region without cars, or the means to pay for what will be $5-$6 per-gallon gasoline when the eight-year project is completed in 2016.

By 2016, people in the region will be screaming for more transit, to which the response will be: those dollars were directed into highways back in the earlier part of the centruy, when the road-builders were kind.

The plan and its so-called "environmental review's" one-dimensionality and dismissal of concerns for air and water quality are short-sighted embarrassments.

But it's all so predictable because it validates what transportation policy-makers around here, like Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and State Rep Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), have promoted for years:

A 21st century waste of money - - dictated by the road-builders - - based on 1950's planning that ignores the environment but increases sprawl development.

It's our our state and county governments and regional planning commission at work - - pushing again for the Old Suburbanism rather than transit and city-supporting New Urbanisn.

Mequon Development Honors Wildlife

Developers in Mequon left some money on the table, but will win goodwill from their neighbors by putting wildlife and nature preservation above some potential profit, according to the Daily Reporter.

Note that the public benefits are happening also in no small measure through the cooperation and resources of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, and the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust.

Sounds like a true public/private partnership, with no shortage of good will anywhere.

Major Wisconsin Business Groups Attacked From The Right

It defies the laws of political physics - - that somehow the Metropolitan Association of Commerce and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce could be attacked from the right - - but one business executive thinks those two very conservative groups have defected to the other side.

Details here.

Science Daily Reports Soot/Arctic Melt Connection

Worldwide soot particles, emitted worldwide, could be linked to warmer temperatures melting Arctic ice, according to a study posted at the site Science Daily (newer posting here).

A reader posting a comment on an earlier blog item suggested I check out Science Daily, so thanks.

By The Numbers: Bush-Cheney Administration In Last Throes

81% of the country says we're headed in the wrong direction.

Can January 20, 2009 come faster?

Righty TV Talker Glenn Beck Loves Big Oil

Yes, Glenn Beck loves Big Oil.

You can't make this stuff up.

At least the conservative cable TV talker has moved on to other topics - - mercifully for both the host and the viewers - - leaving behind his first-person accounts of botched rectal surgery, suicidal thoughts, and epiphanies about US health care services.

Like I said: you can't make this stuff up.

Here's the video of that "eye-opening" - - his words, I kid you not - - experience.

And his subsequent 'I-really-should-stop-yammering-video' where he talks about his "butt surgery."

Yeah, cable TV talkers are really elevating the national dialogue.

WMC Board Resignation Hits The Business Media

Steve Jagler at Small Business Times gets the word out to a business audience about an intriguing resignation from the board of the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

Attention Wisconsin shoppers: if you don't like the politics of the leadership of the firms you patronize, find alternatives.

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson To Run Again

As predicted on this blog before Tuesday's State Supreme Court campaign votes were counted, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson has confirmed that she is definitely running for re-election in 2009.

Given the well-heeled Right's interest in retaining wealth and control of the state's social agendas, and Abrahamson's pivotal role in the state judiciary's management and direction, the struggle for her seat on the bench will make the two most recent Supreme Court races look like kindergarten playground patty cake.

Look to the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and its affiliates to raise and spend up to $10 million to oust Abrahamson if need be.

That's because the Chief Justice, as an elected and battle-tested candidate, is in a relatively strong position to win, and to benefit from a broad, and bi-partisan coalition of groups and citizens that will make her success their top 2009 political priority.

So also expect the Right to find a front candidate more substantial than an empty suit who wins with 51% of the vote.

Paper Calls On Walker To "Bend" On Rail Transit

Don't hold your breath.

As long as Walker is tied to right wing talk radio, that's the direction he will bend because he and the hosts are rooted in the anti-rail suburbs.

None of that alliance cares enough about the city or the downtown or transit riders to support an urban transit network with a rail component.

Talk radio support and suburban voters are more important to Walker than the Journal Sentinel's second-straight editorial endorsement, which is why the paper should have backed Walker's April 1 opponent, State Sen. Lena Taylor, (D-Milwaukee) for a fresh start in County leadership.

Without a new face in the County Executive's office, and preferably a Democrat with whom Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett could work, the roadblocks to modern rail transit and a brighter economic future in Milwaukee will continue.

McCain Is On The Wrong Side Of His 100-Year War

Every day there is another good reason to make sure there isn't another US soldier in harm's way in Iraq.

And certainly not on John McCain's 100-year timetable.

Cities' Water Access Jeopardized By New Berlin And Ohio Radicals

I've posted several items on this blog going back to last year - - one example here - - about the counter-productive alliance between legislators in Wisconsin and Ohio whose obstruction of the pending Great Lakes Compact could sink this crucial, eight-state water management agreement.

Counter-productive because without the Compact - - seven years in the making - - applications for Great Lakes water by certain communities like New Berlin cannot move forward.

And counter-productive because the Compact's demise would be bad for the health of the Great Lakes and the entire region's economy and future, too.

State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) is the self-described leader of Wisconsin's Compact opponents: you can listen to her 26-minute Senate Floor tirade about the evils of Great Lakes cooperative water conservation.

Yet New Berlin is the community whose Great Lakes water access is now the most in peril.

More about that and the contradiction caused by Sen. Lazich's obstructionism and Ohio alliance in a moment - - though you gotta ask yourself: who would want such possible damage from your hometown and across much of the continent on your resume?

There's fresh media coverage in Ohio of Lazich's major Buckeye cohort, State Sen. Tim Grendell, here, including accounts of Grendell's temperment and racial insensitivity.

I had earlier linked to a separate newspaper story from a while back that reprised Grendell's demeaning remarks to an African-American legislative colleague.

Both Lazich and Grendell are pushing for such basic changes in the Compact - - even though four states have already adopted it - - that trying to reopen the years of multi-state negotiations that produced it would lead to the agreement's demise.

That ploy has also been endorsed by other Wisconsin politicians and business organizations, including the Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas.

Just as the Wisconsin State Senate and Ohio's lower house have already overwhelmingly approved strong Compact bills, it's important that both legislatures complete that positive, pro-Compact approval process.

It will help preserve the Great Lakes and soundly put these reactionary little cabals in their proper places - - at the fringe, where they can't do more damage.

It's important for Wisconsinites to understand just how radical and reckless that Grendell has been.

And Wisconsin legislators like Lazich - - more analysis and her own words here - - who have touted Grendell's 'approach' to the Compact should explain why they have thrown their prestige and Wisconsin's reputation his way.

New Berlin residents need to know that the longer Lazich plays political games with Ohio politicos over the Compact, the more likely it is that her home city will not win the Lake Michigan water diversion it has applied for, and that exemptions in the Compact specifically help enable.

Without the Compact, New Berlin finds itself blocked from Lake Michigan by a much tougher federal statute.

And if somehow Lazich and Grendell prevailed, thus voiding the Compact approvals already produced in New York, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana, the anger in those states would surely lead to their blocking future water diversion applications coming from Wisconsin and Ohio communities.

Do residents of New Berlin, Waukesha and other cities in the region want to pay that price?

Why We Love That Baseball Is Back

There's nothing like a second straight early April defeat for the Chicago Cubs at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers - - televised straight in HD to the home office - - that will always cure what ails ya.

And game day reporting can include some great little nuggets, like this end note from today's AP account of the Cub's 8-2 defeat:

"Part of [Cubs' pitcher] Carlos Zambrano's problems with cramping is related to a low potassium level, manager Lou Piniella said. Zambrano had to leave in the seventh Monday with a cramp in his right forearm. He's had similar problems with cramps in past seasons. Zambrano said he would have to drink more water. Piniella said his ace will have to eat more bananas. And the Cubs would also like Zambrano to cut back on his caffeine intake."

Supreme Court Race, By The Numbers

Milwaukee County gave hometown State Supreme Court candidate Louis Butler a 25,000 vote cushion, but only with a 58-42% split; Mike Gableman more than made that up in surrounding southeastern Wisconsin counties, records show.

Waukesha County alone gave Gableman a 21,000 vote margin, and a 67-33% division.

With Milwaukee County having substantially more than twice the population of Waukesha County, it means Democrats and liberals are doing a terrible job in Milwaukee County by comparison with Waukesha County in getting out and voting.

Though the totals were smaller in Washington County, the split there was still 70%-30%, Gableman.

Combine that with Gableman wins in many of the more rural counties out-state - - 2,000 votes here, 3,000 votes there - - and he overcame Butler's predictably gaudy Dane County percentage and vote total to prevail.

Chart here.

Soglin On The Election And The WMC

Plenty of blogging to read on the Supreme Court race.

WisOpinion's index today can keep you busy, and Paul Soglin is definitely worth a read.

Mike Plaisted, and Illusory Tenant, too.

And before this election fades into memory, let's not let the victorious Mike Gableman or his supporters absolve themselves of this responsibility:

It was Gableman's campaign, authorized and paid for, with the candidate's approval, that ran the now-infamous Willie Horton, race-baiting attack on Justice Louis Butler.

An ad so misleading that it was condemned across-the-board by major mainstream media statewide and Charlie Sykes, Milwaukee's morning conservative talk show host on AM620 WTMJ.

It was Gableman's campaign committee, and not some "shadowy" third-party group, some outside PAC that dreamed up, paid for and aired the spot.

In Gableman's first TV ad. High fives all around when they saw it, no doubt.

And it was the candidate himself who refused all those appeals to take the ad down, and on election night thanked the "good people" of the state for following his lead.

Mike Gableman, his handlers and his financiers have severely devalued the political process in this state, and along with it, the reputation of its judiciary.

It will be interesting to see if Gableman makes any effort to correct this wrong, or acknowledges that he will drag this stain into the Court's chamber.

Gableman is the only person that can remove it.

Maybe he'll listen to some of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. audio tapes that will play on Friday, the anniversary of his assassination, and be moved to do some healing work.

UW Stem Cell Advocate Wins National Recognition

The UW-Madison's stem cell program is the envy of universities worldwide because it has combined the two elements academe and the surrounding communities crave:

Scientific breakthrough, and economic development.

Through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Dr. James Thomson and his team of researchers have advanced the stem cell science, but they have been aided by others who have worked tirelessly in more arcane administrative arenas that help WARF protect its advantages for the school and the economy.

Without, for example, the license, patent and so-called technology transfer protections won for WARF through lawyering and lobbying, the scientists, and the businesses and jobs their work is spinning off, would be less successful.

As wonderful and exciting and promising as are stem cell and related health sciences, there have to be smart and capable people on the team that navigate the legal, political and business worlds so the full social benefits can migrate from campus to commerce to consumers.

The universities around the country involved in such endeavors each year give an award for work that helps the entire field, and this year's recognition went to Andrew Cohn, WARF's director of government and association relations.

Those of us who are lucky enough to know Andy are not surprised that his peers have given him their accolade.

I'm just happy to pass the news along.

Another Win For The Right - - And November Is Fast Approaching

A few first thoughts on the State Supreme Court race:

Burnett County Circuit Judge Michael Gableman's defeat of incumbent Justice Louis Butler is an undeniable victory for the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

Not a runaway victory, but let's be honest and put aside any spin: the business group engineered the defeat of a sitting Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice for the first time in four decades.

With the successful backing of now-Justice Annette Ziegler last year, the WMC is two-for-two in back-to-back years, flipping the High Court's split to a 4-3 conservative majority.

And turning on the green light for whatever Big Business wants in Wisconsin - - new tax breaks, voided regulations, easier permitting and whatever else these conservative/libertarian business leaders desire.

That victory and its spoils, however, has come with a price.

It was Gableman, not any outside group, that played the race card in its first television ad against Butler, and never apologized for it.

Gableman's campaign and the outside groups like the WMC played Bad Cop/Worse Cop on the airwaves - - and played hardball from start to finish - - reducing Butler to a caricature of the dedicated attorney, judge and Justice he'd been.

It'll take Wisconsin some to recover from such a statewide sliming.

I watched Gableman's victory speech on television Tuesday night and heard him thank the "good people" in the state for voting for him.

That gave me the shivers.

It reminded me of a long ago Madison Mayor, William Dyke, who appealed for votes by that city's "decent people."

Someone needs to tell Gableman that Butler's voters are good people, too.

And that a sitting Supreme Court Justice can't afford to keep separating people out and categorizing them like that.

One more thing:

Gableman says he isn't an activist, but the term is completely situational and relative.

When the WMC and its allies on the right come before the High Court, you better believe they want activism - - on their terms.

And for the left:

Liberals, progressives and the other elements of the traditional Democratic coalition, now having lost Supreme Court races in 2007 and 2008, have no time to waste.

The November election will be here before we know it.

Transit Planning Money Restored, Still No Consensus Plan

Milwaukee officials can again tap into federal transit planning money, but there is no agreement between city and county leaders on what transit improvements a study could help implement.

There is a separate pot of funding - - $91.5 million - - available for transit in Milwaukee, but County Executive Scott Walker wants to spend it on buses, while Mayor Tom Barrett wants it spent on both buses and a trolley loop in and near the downtown.

With Walker viewing anything that moves on rail as toxic, and unacceptable to his talk radio handlers, the stalemate will continue.

Wisconsin Lawyer/Blogger Says Butler's One Of The Nation's Best

The blogger/lawyer Illusory Tenant reached that conclusion after reading scads of Justice Louis Butler's opinions during extensive research for the last few weeks of bloggers' battles over the Butler-Gableman tilt.

Which Illusory Tenant says is no contest.

The key graph:

"Louis Butler is one of the smartest and best judges in Wisconsin. Having recently plowed through dozens of Butler's written opinions, there is no doubt about that. And he's not just one of the smartest and best judges in Wisconsin, I'd argue he's one of the smartest and best in the country. Mike Gableman is ... well, unfortunately, Mike Gableman. Gableman's entire campaign has been premised on falsehoods and personal attacks intended to tear down the personal and professional integrity of a good man. It's clear he could only fail spectacularly on that account. And it's equally clear that that's the best he could come up with."

Taxpayers Provide Local Government Officials With Gas-Guzzlers

No, that's not an April Fool's Day headline.

Here's the story:

I noticed when reading the minutes of the February meeting of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's executive committee that the agency had taken delivery of a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria.

Usually you see those big 'ol Crown Vics - - souped-up with special speed and handling packages - - in law enforcement fleets.

That makes sense, since officers need big cars to catch speeders and haul prisoners.

But in regular, civilian life, where cost is a substantial factor, Crown Vics are joining other big domestic cars as memories of an era that's ending.

Case in point:

New York City cab companies are replacing their Crown Vics with hybrid vehicles to save money, given the price of gasoline.

And you'd think that getting a green fleet in operation would be a priority at SEWRPC, our regional planning agency, where sustainability - - fiscal and environmental - - should be something of a model.

Both to conserve resources, and to save taxpayer money. I mean, why not?

But signs to the contrary have been routine at the Pewaukee-based agency, whose headquarters in an industrial park isn't even on a bus line.

The $6.5 freeway upgrade SEWRPC wrote for the region, with more than $2.7 billion in the ground or about to be committed by state transportation officials, contained no transit extensions or recommendations, and projected usage of our rebuilt and expanded freeway system when gasoline was at $2.30 a gallon, SEWRPC records indicate.

In 2005 dollars.

It would be nice to be able to buy gasoline with three-year-old dollars, and at $2.30 a gallon, that's not what any of us are paying, and it's not what the taxpayers are spending to keep a new Crown Vic on the road, either.

Or another recently-obtained vehicle, a 2007 Chevrolet Impala, itself not known as a gas miser.

I asked the agency for more information, and an email came back, reprinted below, that provided a great deal of information about SEWRPC's fleet.

One highlight:

The assignment of the Crown Vic to contractor - - not fulltime staffer - - Kurt Bauer, the agency's Executive Director Emeritus.

Bauer, who retired as Executive Director in 1996, is a three-quarter-time consultant to SEWRPC earning $6,500 a month, and who also receives an office and a car, according to the agency.

Bauer's major contract duties at SEWRPC include chairing two SEWRPC advisory committees, and serving as County Surveyor, according to the agency.

Now I can see having roomy, heavy vehicles for some of SEWRPC's field work.

And I'm not suggesting that people be squeezed into a minicar.

But c'mon:

Buying relatively low mpg rides for the current Executive Director (Phil Evenson, an '06 minivan), Deputy Director (and '09 Executive Director designee Ken Yunker, the '07 Impala), and Bauer (the '08 Crown Vic - - which gets 18 mpg combined city, highway driving, per the newly-recalibrated federal estimates)?

And other trucks that also really burn gas?

Remember: taxpayers from seven counties pay all SEWRPC's expenses - - Milwaukeans the largest share - - but it doesn't appear if saving money or fossil fuels went into the vehicles' purchase or operation.

Here is the SEWRPC fleet information email, verbatim:

"All Commission vehicles are considered to be available to all employees on an as-needed, sign out basis; consequently, they constitute a pool.

"Certain individuals, including Messrs. Evenson, Yunker, and Bauer, are designated as the primary users and sign-outs need to be cleared with them. To the extent the vehicles are taken home or used for personal use, we follow all IRS regulations.

"The Commission auto pool consists of the following vehicles:

2006 Chrysler Town & Country Primary user - Executive Director

2008 Chevrolet Impala Primary user – Deputy Director

2008 Ford Crown Victoria Primary user – County Surveyor

2007 Chevrolet Suburban Primary user – Field Crew Chief – Wetlands

2000 Chevrolet Silverado Primary user – Field Crew Chief - Surveyor

2003 Ford Taurus No primary user

2004 Ford Freestar No primary user

2006 Chevrolet Silverado No primary user

2006 Dodge Grand Caravan No primary user"

The point is that the SEWRPC mindset still doesn't embrace sustainability.

The only green component of SEWRPC's fleet operation is the color of our money ending up at auto dealerships and gas stations.

Great Lakes Water Sale Predicted In 10 Years, Ohio Official Says

Ohio's Lt. Governor, who also serves as the state's development director, told The Toledo Blade that the Great Lakes states would have to decide in a decade whether to sell water to states and countries beyond the Great Lakes basin boundaries.

The Great Lakes Compact, stalled in the Ohio Senate and Wisconsin Assembly by the same stripe of obstructionist Republican states' rightists, would establish rules and procedures to make out-of-basin sales difficult by requiring that diverted water be returned.

So a community like Waukesha could meet that standard, but a community in Georgia, Arizona - - or in Asia, for example could not.

So why is the Compact stalled in Wisconsin?

Because a handful of Waukesha-area legislators and business leaders don't want any restrictions on Waukesha's ability to pull Lake Michigan water across the basin, even though Waukesha City Mayor Larry Nelson has said he can live with the Compact agreement and its terms, as written.

Those blocking the Compact would leave the door open to diversions taking place without the water being returned, or without the Compact's regional water conservation requirements firmly in place.

Setting up the Great Lakes and their watershed for net water losses is absurd.

But so far, that is the risk that Waukesha and state chamber of commerce leaders, along with Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, (R-West Salem), State Rep. Mark Gunderson (R-Waterford), State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin), and Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas are willing to take.

Gableman, Ziegler Fiascos Ensure Abrahamson '09 Candidacy

Just an assumption on my part, but I think it's a lock that State Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson will run for re-election in 2008.

The court has taken two big hits in a year: Annette Ziegler winning, only to face discipline for ethics violations, and Mike Gableman's vile campaign this year, which 34 judges statewide called "a new low."

I can't imagine Abrahamson stepping aside at this point. She's well-positioned to win re-election because she has widespread, bi-partisan, even iconic name recognition and appeal.

And as long-time Chief Justice, she's the right person to keep the Court on an even keel and protect the institution from further degradation.

The same far-right outside groups that enabled both Ziegler and Gableman can throw the same millions at whomever they find to mouth those phony cliches about "activist judges," but that'll be money poorly spent.

And also by that time, perhaps more members of the unmasked Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce will come to their senses and step away from the group until it replaces the reactionary ideologues on the staff that have twisted the group into a corrosive anti-Wisconsin, anti-business front.

Helping convince the legendary Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson to run for another 10-year-term - - remember, she's the leader of the pack the Right loves to hate - - is for the WMC and all the other Righties their Well-Deserved, Self-Inflicted, Unintended Consequences Booby Prize of The Day.

And an April Fool's reality, a perfect fit.

Stop Underestimating Water's Real Value

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calculates the dollar value of possible water sales to communities west of Milwaukee, including some on the far side of the sub-continental divide.

A few million a year, total, from projected sales to many communities, based on your standard utility operating checklists: wholesale water rates, certain service charges, etc., etc.

This is the same narrow view of the water issue framing the ongoing area supply study by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission:

Straight Econ 101 - - supply and demand.

Who needs water? Waukesha, et al.

Who's got excess pumping capacity, and access to Lake Michigan water?

Why, none other than Milwaukee, whose Water Utility Manager, Carrie Lewis, is quoted in the Journal Sentinel story as a willing water supplier.

The same Carrie Lewis who voted at the water committee against an effort to broaden the foundation of its study, and to take into wider issues that moving water around the region might effect.

The committee's focus is supply and demand, and fitting its final recommendations into SEWRPC's existing land use plan - - a plan that has existed for decades as the suburbs grew, Milwaukee declined, affordable housing was ignored, highways were expanded, open land was paved and developed, transit atrophied, and minority employment collapsed.

In order to fully recognize the value of water to communities eager to buy it from Milwaukee, sellers and recipients absolutely have to add two more parameters to that supply/demand equation after conservation standards and other legal requirements are met.

They first have to agree that payment for water will include a share of the development improvements in the buying communities linked in any way to new and reliable supplies of water.

Second parameter:

If water is to be shared regionally, then so do solutions to the region's systemic problems that have been heaped disproportionately into Milwaukee - - the city that now has the water access, the treatment facilities (best in the country) and the pumps and the pipes to get it to the wanting communities.

The principle in water sales negotiations should be:

You can't have one without the other, because water - - if its transfer meets all the legal criteria - - and an agreement to move some of it - - are too precious to waste.

Subdivisions, malls, office complexes, hotels, golf courses, water parks, hospitals, and factories will be attracted to, improved and retained in the outlying communities if and when pipelines are built from Milwaukee.

You can see and hear the ads already:

"Buy Your New Home In Gushing Springs, Supplied With Lake Michigan Water..."Bring The Kids To Diversion World, With Waukesha County's Biggest Water Slide!...Get Rid Of That Water Softener And Build Yourself A Backyard Pool: We're Hooked Up To The Lake Now."

A decent percentage of that new development beyond the Great Lakes basin will include business relocation from Milwaukee, too.

Water will follow the capital, and vice-versa, so the buyer and seller need to figure out how to share the benefits and make them work for both parties, since we're all in the same region.

Look at it like this.

You sell your business. The buyer purchases the fixed assets, both sides of the ledgers, and a calculation for good will/future earnings.

You know - - the business's real, or total, value.

The same goes for Lake Michigan water.

The water will add value to the buying communities.

A group of economists, planners, and politicians should be able to negotiate a fair formula, and then a fair calculation - - as a floor.

And opening access to that water needs to also open discussions and produce new approaches to help remedy all the disparities between city and suburb - - not just the disparity between whose got Lake Michigan water and who doesn't.

Anything less would undervalue the water.

And please don't get all huffy about this, the way State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) or others have done, calling a proposal like this for some sort of tax-base sharing, or water-based policymaking "extortion," or hatred for the suburbs.

That's bunk, and rhetoric, and they know it.

Don't be diverted from the real issue, which is to make a genuine effort to conserve water, then fully falue and utilize if it is legally moved.

And to recognize the opportunities that water sales can play to address a wider range of issues to boost the entire region, broadly defined: housing availability, balanced transportation, land use protections, water conservation, and more fully open municipal borders.

Given the growing scarcity of water nationally and worldwide, an honest effort to establish the full economic and social value of water in the Great Lakes region would send a message that we take our roles as water stewards seriously.

And understand that water, a life-giving necessity, should be used to add value to everyone's life.

Al Gore Launches New Climate Change Awareness Effort

Though Al Gore is committing much of his own resources to expanding awareness of climate change, expect the flat-earthers to go nuts.

The rest of us, and our children and grandchildren, thank him.