Sweetheart metals'-mining bill racing to Walker's desk

[Updated from 12:40 p.m. Inspired by the rush to give it all to Foxconn, the mining rights giveaway bill has passed Tuesday night, and Walker will sign it. Read just the excerpts from the bill I pulled out at the bottom of the post, and then consider that what was reported tonight about and from the bill's lead sponsor and mining water-carrier:

Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst), the bill's lead Senate sponsor, said it wouldn't change the state's environmental rules for mining and wouldn't stop local governments from prohibiting mining in their area. 

"We are retaining Wisconsin's high environmental standards," Tiffany said. 

 Tom Tiffany I've mentioned several times in recent posts - - a summary item is here - - that legislation to promote acid drainage-producing copper and other metal mining operations in Wisconsin

Utah copper mine

- - like other sweetheart giveaways for large dairy, agricultural, golfing, sand mining and certainly the Foxconn project in our GOP-directed 'chamber of commerce mentality' state  - - is racing towards Senate approval today, pushed there by Scott Walker's wetland-filling, water-hogging special-interest corporate legislative bellhops.

And as I said the other day, this multi-front rush to give special interests every last drop of water and ounce of leverage over public resources, process and law  they've always wanted guarantees they are already rewarded should the US Supreme Court order a redistricting statewide in Wisconsin and put an end to years of one-party, GOO-connected-business-insider rule here:

Walker's been for filling Wisconsin wetlands since forever.

Seriously. Since his very first Executive order.

And for specific wetland acreage eyed by a donor developer right after Walker was sworn in nearly seven years ago.

So of course now's the right time for the right under Walker to get even busier removing wetland protections - - and offering more take-the-water privileges for mining companies and large ag businesses - -  what with a possible GOP-deflating Wisconsin redistricting being ordered by the US Supreme Court.

Having passed the State Assembly and headed to Walker's desk, the mining enabling bill will end decades of bi-partisan practices and standards that protected Wisconsin land and water from acidic-runoff and other environmental damage. 

The bill also wipes out or makes optional nearly all mining fees, weakens public hearing rules, and sets up arbitrary, fast-tracked, review and approval deadlines for what's to remain of the intentionally-watered-down state government assessments.

Here is the text of the bill and below are just a few examples of what the GOP is easing for and giving away to mining companies:
-----------------------------
This bill repeals the existing prohibition on issuing sulfide ore mining permits...

After section NR 132.06 (4) was promulgated, this state enacted section 281.36 of the statutes, which requires DNR to issue wetland permits, in a manner consistent with the federal Clean Water Act, for any activity that may affect wetlands, including nonferrous metallic mining operations. This bill repeals section NR 132.06 (4) of the administrative code... 

The bill provides that DNR is not required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for an approval required for bulk sampling [ore removal up to 10,000 tons for sample testing]...

Under current law, any person who is aggrieved by a DNR decision relating to nonferrous metallic exploration, prospecting, or mining may request an administrative contested case hearing, unless the matter was heard at the master hearing.

Under the bill, a person may not request a contested case hearing on a DNR decision relating to exploration or bulk sampling. However, a person may request a contested case hearing on a DNR decision relating to a mining or prospecting permit, including a decision related to the EIS for the proposed prospecting or mining operation or a decision on any approval related to the prospecting or mining permit application. A person seeking such a contested case hearing must request the hearing within 30 days after DNR issues the decision to approve or deny the mining or prospecting permit. In addition, the bill requires the hearing examiner in such a contested case hearing to issue a decision within 270 days after DNR approves or denies the mining or prospecting permit... 

This bill exempts nonferrous metallic mining from certain solid waste disposal fees that are required under current law. Under current law, a generator of solid or hazardous waste, including at a nonferrous metallic mining waste site, must generally pay license and review fees; tonnage fees; groundwater and well 
compensation fees; a solid waste facility siting board fee; a recycling fee; and an environmental repair fee and repair surcharge. This bill exempts nonferrous metallic mining waste sites from the review and license fees, tonnage fees, and recycling fee.

Bill To Close WI Forests Gets Sham 'Hearing' Wed.

[Update: The bill passed the committee on Thursday, as predicted, on a 3-2 GOP party-line vote.]

A State Senate Committee stacked 3-2 with GTAC Republican mine backers Alberta Darling, Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman will hold a 'hearing' [Sic] Wednesday morning in the State Capitol on a bill to let GTAC close off access to 4,000 acres of forested land around the potential mine site currently open, by law, to hunters, hikers and neighbors.

Here is the schedule:

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

11:00 AM

300 Southeast Capitol building

The bill would allow the mining company to wall off the forest even though the owners get a tax break for keeping it open.

A few days ago, the company forbade access to a wetlands expert working for the nearby Ojbiwe Bad River band which wanted to catalog water resources that could be impacted if the mine is approved.

Some background, here.

Like other hearings and pro-company legislative processes favors provided by Walker and his legislative allies on iron mining bills since 2012, the Wednesday 'hearing' is just another sham because the skids have been greased and the outcome is not in doubt:

[Co-sponsor State Sen. Tom Tiffany] plans on moving the bill quickly through the Senate. There are public hearings scheduled for Wednesday and a committee vote on Thursday. Tiffany hopes to have a floor vote in the Senate by the end of September. 

The committee is operating as a subsidiary of the mining company, as is the entire GOP legislative membership in both houses, save for one GOP State Senator - - farmer, conservationist and party pariah Dale Schultz, (R-Richland Center).

Some other guarantees Wednesday:

* Tiffany will carry the company's water. He's been doing that for GTAC, and Walker, for some time, the record shows:

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters · 15,050 like this

June 27, 2012 at 5:42pm · 

• David Storey, lobbyist for Gogebic Taconite, sent e-mails to then-Rep. [and now State Sen.] Tom Tiffany, and Walker policy adviser Eileen Schoenfeldt that discussed forming a "response team" to combat negative PR once the final mining bill was released. Read the emails here:http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/Storey_Emails.pdf

  I took a look at the emails among Storey, the Governor's staff and Tiffany; towards the end of the file there is a request for a meeting with Tiffany and then a thank-you from the lobbyist to Tiffany for getting "on board." 

*  Republican senators will inflate one regrettable, minor confrontational moment three months ago between a mining crew and protesters into a full blown Al-Qaeda attack.

*  Look for State Sen. Alberta Darling, (R-River Hills), to carry that load. To survive a 2011 recall election, Darling accepted more than $475,000 from donors backing more mining in Wisconsin.

And that, my friends - - in a State Senate race - - is not chump change. Furthermore, it helped the GOP retain for Walker and the company a pro-mining, special-interest driven Senate majority.

*  GOP Senators will disregard all testimony from the public about the loss of open access to the land.

In this era of Republican and special interest joint management at the Capitol, public input is a disposable nuisance, especially when giving away resources to a GOP-friendly private entity has been wired.

From just last week:

State D-N-R Secretary Cathy Stepp has given her final approval to a controversial grant to encourage more Wisconsinites to go hunting-and-fishing. Stepp had the final say on the matter, after the Sporting Heritage Committee voted 4-to-1 earlier in the day to give the two-year, $500,000 grant to the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation.

The panel heard a lot of testimony about the grant, almost all of it in opposition to the award. Critics said the group has no experience in training sportsmen, and its members had political ties to majority Republicans at the State Capitol.

*  GOP State Senator Glenn Grothman will overtly ignore citizens who made the 600-mile round trip from and near the Bad River reservation to Madison (as he did when he traveled north to Mellen not too long ago and insulted a farm family near the proposed mine site: (text and video).

But during testimony Wednesday, policy-maker and bill co-sponsor Grothman may be:

A. Distracted by popcorn (video);

B. Distracted by thoughts about things he does not understand.

C. Distracted by his phone.

Bored by official business...

The WMC's Mining Meltdown

The powerful statewide business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, (WMC), likes the Assembly's 'Mine-Wherever-You-Want' bill because it loosens regulatory procedures, eliminates public input and eases protections for land and waterways - - what we generally call "the environment" - - to serve private interests

The bill could pass the Assembly later this month, with the Senate and Gov. Walker waiting compliantly in the wings.

Yet with everything going its way - -its sister organization in Milwaukee just told its members that 2011 had been the best year since Genesis - -  the WMC is irked. Why so unhappy?

Seems that the Journal Sentinel editorial board had the temerity a few days ago to object to the bill's more preposterously anti-democratic, selfish and imperious provisions, as well as its sloppily-scheduled hearing - - and suggest it be land-filled.

Give the paper credit. It may have endorsed Scott Walker for Governor, but people who have read the bill see right through it, and that includes the paper's editorial writers, who said on December 17th it was:

...a travesty of legislation that will significantly weaken environmental protections and reduce citizen participation in the permitting process. It's almost as if children had replaced Republican legislators and had dared each other to see just how outrageous they could make this bill.

Even the word "cowardice" was used to describe the bill's mystery originators, as no legislator had the you-know-whats to sign it as a sponsor.

So the WMC, fearing any delay to the year-long (and perhaps soon-to-end) Walker/Fitzgerald brothers' juggernaut, and being unaccustomed these days to criticism longer than what fits on a State Capitol picket sign, felt it needed to rip the paper.

It even trotted out a sophomoric imitation of PolitiFact - - "False Statement: Reality Check" - - in a huffy, crocodile-tear stained letter to legislators about the editorial (you find the full text in a pdf link at the WMC "statement," cited here):

While we expect environmental groups to engage in this level of hyperbole, it is unfortunate that a newspaper failed to substantiate their claims before using them in an editorial.

In order to further a factual and honest debate about this legislation, we have taken the time to refute the false statements from the Journal Sentinel’s editorial...

And the paper calmly held its ground, repeating that the Assembly bill should be dumped:

On Sunday, we published an editorial critical of a new iron mining bill proposed in the Wisconsin Legislature. We stand by that view.

The editorial stressed that an iron mine would provide needed jobs and a stronger economy, especially in northern Wisconsin, and that streamlining the current permitting process makes sense, as long as there is no significant damage to rules and laws governing environmental protection.

But the proposed legislation simply goes too far in weakening those protections and in lessening the opportunities for citizen input. In our reading of the bill, it loosens protections to the point that political pressure could come to bear on the state Department of Natural Resources to ensure that a mine gets built.

As we concluded in the editorial, Wisconsin needs this mine; it does not need this legislation. Our view on this hasn't changed.

I'd posted several commentaries on the bill - - here's one - - and it's great that the environment and open government with people participating are getting much needed help from the paper in this fight.

The WMC has blundered badly here.

On my ineptitude scale, this is definitely level five - - past wobble, stumble, knee-scrape and even pratfall to meltdown.

One last thing: the WMC's gratuitous line, "While we expect environmental groups to engage in this level of hyperbole..." misses the essential point it has long-overlooked while carrying water for special intersts from mining companies to road-builders:

In Wisconsin, the environment is the economy.

Carpenter Says Special Session Mining Deal Still Possible, But...

Here is the video with remarks by State Sen. Tim Carpenter, (D-Milwaukee), on WISN-TV Channel 12's Sunday "Upfront" program with Mike Gousha.

Carpenter was said to be the swing vote who backed away at the last moment from siding with 16 Republicans, sending the mining bill to a 17-16 defeat, but Carpenter said on the program his was a vote against secrecy and process.

And the entire process was toxified by secrecy and bad process - - from the Assembly's closed-door-no-sponsor-industry-crafted bill drafting to Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald's 11th-hour disbanding of his own special mining committee established as the antidote to the Assembly's ugly process - - and then his full embrace of the Assembly bill for the hurried and botched floor vote that failed. 

“We didn’t vote against mining; we voted against the Joint Finance version,” said Carpenter, who also criticized Gov. Walker for staying on the sidelines.

So point well taken about process and secrecy and bad leadership- - but are these remarks now that the Legislature is out of session a trial balloon for a new mining bill or Partisan Politics 101?

It's not clear if Carpenter really believes a special session and amended bill is a serious possibility (GOP Senator Pam Galloway's sudden resignation last weekend means the GOP/mining bloc would need to find another Democrat to join Carpenter) or if he used the appearance on "Upfront" to criticize Fitzgerald and Walker's leadership - - as both Republicans facing recall elections.

If Carpenter wins the April 3rd election for Milwaukee City Treasurer, he's basically done with the issue, so maybe his "Upfront" appearance was his State Senate media swansong - - a pox on Scott Walker, Scott Fitzgerald and the dysfunction that is today's GOP-run State Capitol.

Meet your WI environmental champs - - Gov. Walker, Sen. Tiffany

I'd written some posts here and here about the bill Walker signed today throwing Wisconsin and its waters wide open to mining we can describe as cyanide in, metals, sulfuric acid and pollution out.

I'd put it the issues into context, advanced the story, put it aside and began to turn to other issues - - and then I saw the AP reported that "Walker believes that mining can be done without harming the environment."

Oh?

And then I read this remark by State Sen. Tom Hazelhurst, [R-Hazelhurst], the bill's lead Senate sponsor: 

"If any company wants to come here to Wisconsin, they're going to have to live with our high environmental standards."

"Our high environmental standards?"

Please, Senator: Who should we believe - - you, or those nerds over at, um, Scientific American?

How Scott Walker Dismantled Wisconsin's Environmental Legacy

Because those experts know what we know, having learned it the hard way - -  like those poor souls with contaminated wells near inspection-free, de-regulated big dairy operations - - over the last seven years; that Walker, wingman Tiffany and their allies in the GOP-led Legislature and in the GOP-led Attorney General's Office and in the GOP-water carrying DNR Secretary's office have been lowering Wisconsin environmental standards to an ineffective fraction of what they had been.

Just a few examples:

* Tiffany was at the center of, and defended, the industry-written, donor-greased iron mining and environment-wrecking bill which made numerous changes to lower, weaken and disrespect environmental rules and procedures, among others. 

“If the law is challenged and ends up in court, the judge needs to know it was the Legislature’s intent to allow adverse (environmental) impacts. That way, a judge can’t find fault if the environment is impacted, [Tiffany said].”

Tiffany made the admission after being asked Thursday in an interview with the Cap Times how Republicans could continue to claim the mining bill doesn't risk environmental harm when:

• It specifically changes the wording of existing state permitting law from “significant adverse affects (to wetlands) are presumed to be unnecessary” to “significant adverse affects are presumed to be necessary...”

• The land above the rich vein of iron ore contains hundreds of acres of wetlands, numerous pristine trout streams and several small tributaries that feed into the Bad River. The Bad River wends its way to Lake Superior through the Bad River Indian Reservation, which includes culturally and economically significant rice beds.

“We are simply being honest,” Tiffany says. “There will be some impacts but they will be limited. Changing the word 'unnecessary' to 'necessary' lets the judge know it was the Legislature’s intent that there will be some adverse impacts.”

*  And we'd have cleaner water delivered by the high environmental standards Tiffany claims if the GOP-led legislature hadn't rolled back and weakened the rules limiting phosphorous discharges into rivers and streams - - a blow to clean water that has led in recent years to an escalation of Wisconsin waterways so polluted that they end up on official lists of impaired waters.

Documented here and here and here.

*  And let's not forget that the rollbacks in environmental rules which Walker and Tiffany and their party have inflicted on the land, clean air and water in Wisconsin have taken place with the unapologetic and enthusiastic participation of special interests who stand to benefit from what they can appropriate from the people.

One example, among many. Do you remember when the rules were rewritten in 2012 to allow development close to waterways, and how the Wisconsin Builders Association bragged about the measure and the inside connections they were working? 

Here is a key paragraph from the WBA newsletter - - remember it when you see the predictable editorials urging its passage after a few tweaks:

The key to this bill passing is to get some minor technical changes in committee and make sure the bill is not “watered down” (no pun intended!) during the process.  WBA staff professionals will continue working with members, local staff members and the legislature to pass a strong wetlands bill before the end of the legislative session.

*  And don't forget that if Walker and his legislative allies get their way, a million more acres of wetlands in Wisconsin will be handed to developers who can build on them at will.

That's a million in addition to whatever Foxconn gets to fill and build on without any state review or permit, cheered on by the GOP's monied, lobbyist-heavy Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce battering ram.

High standards?

Don't insult our intelligence. 

Neal Kedzie's Mining Dance

The occasionally-moderate GOP State Senator from Elkhorn may introduce his mining deregulation bill as early as Monday.

Kedzie chairs a special committee tasked to draft a bill in the State Senate.

Though he will highlight its differences with the Assembly's blatantly pro-industry first try - - a bill so contemptuous of the public that no legislator signed on to initially co-sponsor it - -  don't look for more than a few cosmetic changes, since Kedzie is a pro-Walker conservative now and he has said his job is to write a bill that attracts mining applications.

"The committee will be respectful of Native Americans' request," Kedzie said. "But at the same time, we are not going to craft a bill that is destined to fail. We want to be able to get applications from mining companies."

It gets a little dicier for Kedzie when he tries to write a bill that will keep him out of federal court for trampling on the rights of the Chippewa who live near the mine, and also out of the sights of the recall and environmental movements looking to replace sellouts.

Editorial Backing Clean Great Lakes Should Be More Widely Applied

The Journal Sentinel makes a strong conservation and economic statement Sunday in support of fully-funded federal Great Lakes restoration initiatives:

...it's important that the Obama administration maintain adequate funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which helps municipalities upgrade their water infrastructure systems, and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, aimed at restoring habitat, dealing with non-point source pollution, such as runoff, and invasive species and monitoring waters to make sure they're healthy.

The newspaper has a tradition of environmental reporting, and has done a great job in recent years educating readers about the health and value of the Great Lakes through in-depth reporting by a specialist, Dan Egan.

At a time when most newspapers, including The New York Times, are trimming their environmental reporting, the Journal Sentinel has more than held its own - - Egan on invasive species or Lake Michigan's falling levels, Don Behm on the Jackson pipeline gasoline break, Lee Bergquist on the mining bill, and more.

And the paper's editorial clout on these issue could be strengthened by its applying the heart of today's argument in favor of aggressive Great Lakes protection and restoration to other high-profile water issues facing the state - -  namely the threat to Lake Superior and the Bad River watershed from dynamiting and excavating the Penokee Hills for iron ore upstream, and the probability of tar sand crude oil pipeline expansion in Wisconsin and throughout the Great Lakes region.

The newspaper backed away from the mining bill at the 11th hour because Republican sponsors - - to no one's surprise - -  declined to include the most reasonable amendments for modest environmental protections in the bill.

A measure now law that was drafted a) with the input of the mining company, b) with the intentional exclusion of environmental organizations and the Bad River Band of Ojibwe whose treaty-protected land and water is dangerously close to the massive open-pit mine being proposed, and c) also with damage to the environment presumed as outcomes and given legal protection, a key sponsor admitted.

An unambiguous defense by the newspaper of water quality at the edge of Lake Superior and also the Bad River Band's water-based rice-growing culture as the first public interest priority not open to negotiation or degradation would have been the preferable editorial stance.

An argument that certainly would have flowed into and enhanced the thrust of the language and goals in today's pro-Great Lakes editorial:

"...restoring habitat, dealing with non-point source pollution, such as runoff, and invasive species and monitoring waters to make sure they're healthy.

Likewise - - the newspaper went on record a year ago supporting expansion of tar sand pipeline capacity through Wisconsin from Canada even as a major pipeline break polluted and continues to damage the Kalamazoo River next door in Michigan.

With cleanup costs now hitting $700 million, by a company - - Enbridge - - that has had its share of pipeline breaks in Wisconsin.

To be fair, the newspaper's editorial urged regulators to keep "a watchful eye" on the added pipeline capacity, but "watchful" and "regulators" are regrettably too often oxymoronic, and the newspaper didn't stand unambiguously firm enough for Great Lakes watershed protections:

State regulators should make sure the improvements meet state requirements and don't put the state at greater hazard of a spill such as occurred in an Enbridge pipeline in Michigan nearly two years ago. That's paramount; Michigan is still suffering from that mess.

But if the changes can be done safely - and we think they can - Enbridge should be allowed to do what it needs to move more oil from Canadian sources to the Midwest and beyond. The result would be good for Wisconsin jobs and reducing the reliance on sources of oil in less stable areas of the world.

The paper is right on the mark when it comes to backing federal funding to assure the health of the Great Lakes.

It should apply that stance also to preserving and enhancing the waters that feed into the Great Lakes as part of the entire watershed holding the largest share of fresh surface water on the planet  - - waters in Wisconsin that sustain the Ojibwe, and support tourism and recreation and the local and statewide economy - - but successfully only if the waters are clean, fishable, swimmable and sustainable.

Cross-posted at Purple Wisconsin.

Rep. Kleefisch Opened Bill-Drafting To Self-Interested Wealthy Donor

[Reposted from 1/11/14, in light of the uproar over a Wisconsin budget amendment slipped in at the last minute a few days ago without a transparent sponsor that would keep records like these - - and many more - - secret] 
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For the love of God: Are there any standards of fair play and righteous behavior left in this administration? 

Is there any special interest that isn't given an inside track, that isn't allowed to play or pitch or profit from an angle - - sand mining, WEDC borrowers, iron mining, private Choice schools, gun interests, road-builders, wolf-and-bear hunters, etc, et al, ad nauseum? 

Remember that Walker promoted a special bill just a few days after his inauguration to let a developer fill a wetland near Lambeau Field? That was bad...but this documented story by Dee Hall in The Wisconsin State Journal stopped me in my tracks.

A controversial bill that would allow high-income parents to avoid paying tens of thousands of dollars a year in child support was written with the help of a wealthy donor to the bill’s author, Rep. Joel Kleefisch.

The Oconomowoc Republican acknowledged Friday that Michael Eisenga, a multimillionaire business owner, and his attorney helped write the bill, which could pave the way for Eisenga to force the court to reopen his divorce settlement... 

The bill drafting records, which include emails, letters and handwritten notes, show Eisenga and his attorney, William Smiley of Portage, made numerous suggestions for changes to the bill aimed at helping Eisenga lower his child-support payments... 

Eisenga donated the maximum amount allowed under law six times to Kleefisch, the [Wisconsin Democracy Campaign] database shows, for a total of $3,500. He also gave $7,500 to Kleefisch’s wife, Rebecca, who is the lieutenant governor, and $15,000 to Gov. Scott Walker.

Call it The Axis of Access.

And shame on Assembly leaders if they lift a finger to bring the bill to the floor, and more shame on any legislator who would do anything other than shove it through a shredder, and especially to Kleefisch for handing over the public legislative process to a single person with such a personal motive.

WI Senate To Begin Public Water Giveaway Thursday

In the Walker administration's boldest attack yet on the State Constitution's "Public Trust Doctrine," GOP legislators Thursday morning at 10 a.m. will use their majority on the Natural Resources Committee to deregulate access for businesses to publicly-held groundwater.

Amazing that Wisconsin Groundwater Day was celebrated less than a month ago. Things do change...

Among the changes to current law: The current, "chamber-of-commerce" directed DNR will shrug its shoulders and willingly wave 'good-bye to its core water resource regulatory responsibilities, as new high-capacity wells will automatically be granted if the agency doesn't make a permit approval finding within 65 business days.

Sixty-five days? The DNR could miss that kind of deadline with a few well-timed scheduled vacations, though by disallowing the DNR to look at a well's cumulate impacts, the work load is definitely eased.

And a permit holder may transfer the permission to a new owner without any further review.

Turning the DNR into a bystander as big business gets even more of its selfish 'certainty' embedded into state law.

Talk about handing a business a valuable, fungible asset (comprised of your/our water).

The Senate committee about to apply its ideological rubber stamp Tuesday morning in 425 Southwest Capitol to the draining of groundwater-fed state rivers, wetland and lakes is chaired by the one-time moderate Republican and former-friend-of-the-environment State Senator Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn).

Kedzie turned to the right after Walker's election and worked with Walker from Day One to remove wetlands' protections.

Given his separate 'leadership' on the Native American school mascot retention bill - - a Tea Party initiative pure-and-simple - - Kedzie is the biggest disappointment in the state legislature and the embodiment of reactionary, corporatist thinking that may drive the GOP's sole authentic pragmatic member, Dale Schultz, out of his Richland Center seat.

Regrettably, Kedzie and the rest of his corporate captive colleagues did not heed the "Protect the aquifers" advice offered by the Journal Sentinel editorial board in 2010:

The state's underground water supply has come under increasing pressure from development, more intensive agricultural practices and high-capacity wells. It's time for the state Legislature to approve a bill that would protect groundwater supplies and better regulate them in sensitive areas. 

Such a bill was introduced this week by Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) and Rep. Spencer Black (D-Madison); it deserves to be approved in this legislative session…

The River Alliance of Wisconsin points out that the Little Plover River and Long Lake, both in the Central Sands area, routinely dry up as groundwater-based crop irrigation has increased and that changes in weather patterns have reduced rainfall in northwestern Wisconsin, leaving many lakes and rivers severely depleted. 

Growth is good, but it shouldn't unnecessarily deplete the state of its natural resources.

Ah, but that was back in the old days, before Walker, before business 'certainty' was allowed to trump the public interest, before ALEC and the WMC turned the state into a mining and big-ag. subsidiary.

Their water giveaway bill text, and changes, are here.

Who wins here, changing principles of law that originated before statehood in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?

Mining companies that will leave behind toxins and debris in what's left of the water  - - a lead sponsor is State Sen. Tom Tiffany, (R-Hazelhurst), the sand and iron mining industries' main water carrier - - along with big-time polluters like mega-dairies, and other businesses eager to drain the state's publicly-owned groundwater for their narrow special interests.

Who loses? You and I and the Public Trust Doctrine, which I have been writing about on this blog for several years, including:

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 

Ultimate GOP Environmental Target In Wisconsin Is The Public Trust Doctrine 

There is a principle in state law and history known as the Public Trust Doctrine. Though awkwardly titled, it's crucial to Wisconsin's appeal by guaranteeing everyone here the right to access and enjoy all waters in the state. 

The Public Trust Doctrine dates to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 - - long before Wisconsin statehood - - and is etched as Article IX in the Wisconsin State Constitution. 

You can read about it on a DNR website, here. 

But this basic Wisconsin birthright remains under continuous assault by Gov. Walker, Republican legislators, business groups and even short-sighted judges. 

And you don't have to be a water expert of political scientist to see there removing the Public Trust Doctrine from the state constitution, or watering it down to insignificance is atop the GOP's conservative and anti-conservation agenda.
The evidence:

So when this bill becomes law, look to the DNR to get rid of this language on its website:

Wisconsin's Waters Belong to Everyone 

Wisconsin lakes and rivers are public resources, owned in common by all Wisconsin citizens under the state's Public Trust Doctrine. Based on the state constitution, this doctrine has been further defined by case law and statute. It declares that all navigable waters are "common highways and forever free", and held in trust by the Department of Natural Resources.

A Wisconsin Assemblyman Parades His Biases

Videotaped arrogance: Jeff Stone, (R-Greendale), admits that the Assembly excluded Native Americans when drafting mining legislation that also covers many water issues, too.

Though the mining bill was written in such secrecy, but with input from the mining company, that no legislator would put his or her name on it as a sponsor.

But drafting input from the mining company? Sure.

From Native Americans whose Bad River watershed will get the mines' polluted silt. No.

And I remember when Stone was considered a reasonable, moderate, thoughtful guy. Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist and I used to have coffee with Stone on Water St. to talk about transit, and government.

But these days, the Republicans feel free to air out their biases, Like State Sen Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn), another former moderate, but who is now leading the fight for Indian high school mascots and nicknames, and, in the Senate, in favor of wetland fillings and quick mine approvals.

Discrimination is in vogue!

And the public be damned. It's the era of Walker and big money, so let the feast begin.

So let the mining lawsuits fly - - which the reckless Assembly knows are coming - -  with Stone's remarks becoming Exhibit "A."

Forest Closing 'Compromise' Shows Mining Company's Reach

When you don't succeed in closing off access to thousands of acres of tax-subsidized forest for a special-interest, well - - try again.

That's the method being pursued by GOP legislators bringing back, on a smaller scale, the earlier failed effort by State Sen. Tom Tiffany, (R-Hazelhurst), to close forest access on behalf of GTAC mining and its controversial plan to dynamite the Penokee Hills.

And create what could be the largest open-pit iron mine in the world.

Never mind that Tiffany isn't the lead sponsor on this 'good-cop' pro-mine version offered by State Sen. Bob Cowles, (R-Green Bay), or that asbestos has been found on the proposed mining area in Northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior, or that the Bad River Band's treaty-protected waters and lands are downstream: GTAC has its team in place and continues to get room service from the Legislature and Governor's office.

More than two years ago, emails between a mining company lobbyist and Governor Walker's office offered details about how the bill was drafted and the "important role" on the "Response Team" envisioned for then-State Rep. and now State Sen. Tiffany. 

You can read the entire email exchange - - and I'd call your attention to two emails on July 29, 2011 in pdf format - - here.

You rarely see such an explicit discussion of how the Governor's office and key legislators work with special interests.

Little wonder Tiffany even now finds a way to fret the new bill replacing his doesn't go far enough:

Tiffany said he supports the compromise but worries that it might not go far enough to protect workers, such as biologists or wetlands specialists who are roaming the entire property.

And, again, who else would be leading the effort to further deregulate mining in the state and to further cut local governments and citizens out of the picture?

GOP-led redistricting has embedded legislators like Tiffany more or less permanently, so this level of special-interest servitude - - details about the mining company's 2011 lobbying push are here - - will direct state policy for a long time.

Wisconsin GOP Now The Donor Bellhop Party

On top of disclosures that Oconomowoc GOP State Rep. Joel Kleefisch had twice legislated for a donor comes news that State Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, (R-River Falls), got Senate to pass her bill to pay a Hudson, WI businesswoman/donor's $217,000+ claim against the state even after other officials had rejected the claim and a review board set up to handle such disputes told the donor to take her case to court.

Harsdorf's bill now goes to the Assembly. Let's hope it dies there, as did Kleefisch's most recent legislative favor - - too much even for righty talker Charlie Sykes to swallow - - for a donor who got to help write the bill.

Kleefisch's donor, a multimillionaire business owner, was looking for legislation to help reduce child support payments.

Special-interest legislating for donors became this administration's business-as-usual model when Gov. Walker, within days of taking office, prevailed on the Legislature to quickly approve a bill so one of his donors could fill a wetland near Lambeau Field for a developer before official reviews had been completed.

The move caused such a stink that the business ticketed to move into the development - - a recreational fishing retailer - - withdrew its plan.

On a larger scale, the controversial open-pit iron mine proposed by GTac near Lake Superior in Northwest Wisconsin is on a planning fast-track because legislators let the company help write the bill.

The process raised so many questions that when the bill finally got introduced, no legislator's name appeared as a sponsor.

Mining company leaders and pro-mining interests have made multiple donations to Walker and key legislators exceeding $15 million, records show, 

Special access to power and the legislative process cuts out everyday citizens and is not in the public interest.

Cross-posted at Purple Wisconsin.

WI Legislating, Policy Access Repeatedly Tied To Special Interests, GOP Donors

State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Oconomwoc) let a major, upscale donor help write a self-serving bill.

In fact, Kleefisch had earlier gone to bat legislatively for the same donor, on the same issues the donor found so compelling.

That's getting him, along with his Lt. Gov. wife Rebecca Kleefisch and her boss, Gov. Scott Walker, statewide media - - and some national attention, too.

Even a local Milwaukee right-wing talk show host gave Joel Kleefisch a scolding, getting the talker out ahead of the policy and partisan implications of the story even if it meant throwing the legislator under the bus.

After all, bad PR for Joel can wash over his spouse, a leading light in the party: When his home-county media platform including the Waukesha Freeman carried the story, Rebecca Kleefisch's image popped up, too:

MADISON — Assembly Republicans on Tuesday canceled a hearing on a bill that would reduce child support payments for wealthy parents when its chief sponsor pulled it back after a newspaper revealed a campaign donor essentially wrote the measure. The bill would exempt income above $150,000 annually from support calculations and require judges to reduce existing support orders if they exceed the amounts in the bill.

But Joel Kleefisch's behavior is not an isolated matter, as big money and powerful special interests have been linked to other Walker/GOP initiatives:

Iron mining.

Frac sand mining.

Faux 'Sportsmens' Activities.

Wetlands filling by one donor.

Wetlands fillings benefiting an entire industry.

That's not surprising, as Walker said he was installing a person atop the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources who had a "chamber-of-commerce mentality."

So when he said the state was "Open for Business," with billboards announcing it at Wisconsin's borders, he actually meant the state was "For Sale."

WI moving to bear, deer hunter self-reporting

The Legislature and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources continue to loosen oversight of hunting wildlife belonging to all the people of the state - - full bill text, here - - by eliminating, for example, the time-honored and in-person required presentation of a deer carcass with the DNR-issued tag, along with other changes to the rules:

Current law requires DNR to issue a carcass tag to each person who is issued a deer hunting license, an elk hunting license, a wolf hunting license, a bear hunting license, an archer hunting license, a crossbow hunting license, a sports license, or a conservation patron license, and a certain number of carcass tags to a person who is issued a sturgeon spearing license. Generally, a person who kills a deer, elk, bear, or wolf or who spears a sturgeon must immediately validate and attach the carcass tag to the animal. Current law also allows DNR to promulgate by rule a requirement that hunters tag each sharp-tailed grouse killed with a tag issued by DNR. This bill eliminates the requirement that a carcass tag be attached to an animal and requires only that the carcass tag be validated in the manner required by DNR. 

The hunters I know are honest conservationists, and I assume most in Wisconsin are, too but encouraging hunters to e-report their kills rather than show the carcass as has been the practice is going to encourage some cheating (poaching).

It's great to serve the public, but this Legislature and DNR and the PSC are always play favorites.

This comes at the same time that the Legislature seems set to ban photographing, and even observing  hunters and certain controversial practices, like the training of bear hounds against caged animals.

Which plays right into poachers' hands.

The current Legislature and DNR management are eager to service certain constituencies, like the powerful bear hunting lobby, which has been the lead driver of the wolf hunt, too.

Similarly, remember that the Legislature summarily closed thousands of acres of forest land to which the public had access at the request of GTac, the mining company which did withdraw the absurd destruction of the Penokee Hills and much of the Bad River watershed.

But only after roads were cut to extract and truck tons of rock samples, disturbing the land and neighbors who had a lower priority than the mine and its political allies in the north woods and the State Capitol.

The main State Senate proponent of the forest-closing bill was mining proponent Tom Tiffany of Hazlehurst, the lead Senate Sponsor of the bill that ends the mandatory in-person registration of hunters' animal carcasses, too.

In other words, some citizen outdoors' rights are more equal than others.

Stealth for partisan power routine for Walker, WI GOP

As undemocratically despicable as Walker's budget has become - - and, please, spare me the notion that Walker is a victim here of what the Journal Sentinel once soft-pedaled as overzealous partisanship by underlings on his behalf without his consent - - let's remember these Walker-centered harbingers of the politically-polluted s**storm Wisconsin is buffeted by today:

*  A still unexplained conservative power brokers' 2007 vastly-under-reported summit which anointed Walker as the GOP/Tea Party/far-right funders' chosen one.

*  Walker's secret email and political fund-raising machine installed in his Milwaukee County Executive on public time with public resources which ultimately led to six criminal convictions of key Walker aides, associates and donors.

*  Walker's Act 10 bomb dropped on all public employees in the early days of his first term after a campaign in which he never said it was his intention, despite his proven and false claims to the contrary.

That's a perfect example of reality in Wisconsin under Walker, but perhaps not well known out-of-state, so I have complied much of Walker's history into a comprehensive archive, here. Read on...

*  The secrecy with which the Assembly iron mining bill first emerged - - no sponsor, just an immaculate creation - - later found to have been written with the direct input of a mining company later found to have routed to Walker's preferred third-party campaign ally a secret, $700,000 donation to benefit his recall campaign.

*  The clandestine gerrymandering bill his legislative GOP allies wrote in private attorney offices behind closed doors, complete with confidentiality oath signatures required of legislators before they could see how voting maps were being redrawn for their districts.

We would do well, all of us - - voters, editorial writers, legislators with enough soul left to vote against this horrible budget until it is stripped of every clandestine and self-serving power grab - - to remember the admonitions of US District Court Judge J.P Stadmueller, a Ronald Reagan nominee, as he presided over litigation and coatroom maneuvering that he managed to correct some of the more egregious partisanship in the redistricting law which Walker and GOP legislators cooked up.

Whether he intended it or not, Stadmueller was promoting a new and improved Wisconsin mission statement, needed more today than ever before: 

...we have had enough of the charade and mischaracterization. I don't mean to impugn either you or anyone associated with this case, but as they say, the facts are the facts. What has occurred here is beyond the pale in terms of lack of transparency, secrecy, and at the end of the day, as the court has commented earlier, it may not have anything to do with the price of tea in China, but appearances are everything, and Wisconsin has prided itself for one generation after another on openness and fairness and doing the right thing.