Op-Ed Amplifies Lessons In Coal Ash Spill

Kerry Schumann, Executive Director of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, lays out the lessons about We Energies' dump of coal ash into Lake Michigan this week - - a bluff collapse and spill that took place after the company received a pass from DNR regulators that allowed construction on top of buried coal ash:.

She writes:

This is what can happen when special interests convince decision-makers to allow them to bypass environmental and public health protections...

Wisconsin legislators need to learn this lesson fast before they cause more devastation.

There is a bill racing through the so-called special jobs session that attempts to do more of the same, but on a much larger scale. Senate/Assembly Bill 24 (which should be called the "Polluters Over People Bill") would give a free pass to industries that damage natural resources. This would jeopardize Wisconsin's water quality and quantity, air protections and public input opportunities.

The bill also would provide a back door for mining operations to set up shop without obeying conservation laws that have been on the books for decades. Just as We Energies got a regulatory pass in 2008, mining interests have received this gift of a bill by being significant campaign contributors - in this case to Gov. Scott Walker...

Wisconsin legislators may soon have to cast a vote on SB/AB 24. They should connect the dots between this week's environmental disaster in Lake Michigan and the ones that would flow from this new legislation.