Ballast water routinely used by cargo ships is a known source of invasive species that is harming the Great Lakes, and with Congress unable to put ballast water controls on the books, conservationists in Wisconsin want the Natural Resources Board to act on its own.
The Department of Natural Resources, governed to some degree by the Board, fears that a state-only initiative might put Wisconsin shippers at a competitive disadvantage: the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation is leading a coalition that is applying the pressure.
More and more, the DNR behaves like an arm of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce: the wildlife federation is reminding the Board and the DNR that its first job is environment and resources protection, and the Great Lakes are certainly at the heart of that mission.
The Federation is also at the forefront of an effort to return the appointment of the DNR Secretary to the Board.
Under former Gov. Tommy Thompson, the secretarial appointment authority was removed from the Board to the Governor.
yep, and on the topic of confined animal feeding operations, CAFOs, we need them to step up. If you are talking regs for application of manure in regions with risks to ground water, or air_emissions or just enforcement so many regs that they are supposed to enforce--they need to step up.
ReplyDeleteI'm a dreamer.