Massive Waste Rock Dumping Bad For Waters North And South

Residents in the Waukesha County community of Brookfield are not pleased to discover that WisDOT intends to let contractors dump large amounts of waste rock and other debris into a local quarry during the Zoo Interchange re-construction:

The company would dump as much as 1.8 million cubic yards of WisDOT-approved soil and clean fill from the Zoo Interchange project and other projects on top of shallow areas of the body of water on the property and surrounding land for up to seven years.

Angry residents are on video, here - -  and you can see their point. Who wants local water supplies, land, clean air and peace of mind abused that way?

And who trusts claims by the state government/dumping complex that the eventual outcomes won't be harmful?

And while we observe that Waukesha County residents demanded the Zoo Interchange expansion - - but hey, go dump the waste somewhere else, let's ask this, too:

Why didn't any state legislator from Brookfield or Waukesha County's all-GOP caucus speak up in favor of local controls, clean water and residential tranquility, and against even greater waste rock dumping planned across the Bad River watershed up north if and when open pit iron ore mining is permitted there?

Vast amounts of dumped and potentially-toxic waste rock - - over 35 years - - or five times longer than what might be sent Brookfield's way?

According to this newspaper report, quoting the state's fiscal bureau:

The bureau said that could result in about 29 million short tons — 2,000 pounds is a short ton — of waste rock annually and perhaps a billion tons of waste rock over 35 years. Annual waste would consist of about 18 million tons of tailings, the crushed ore waste left over from processing iron pellets, and 11 million tons of overburden, or rock overlaying or surrounding the ore body, according to the bureau.

Are some backyards created more equally than others?