As predicted, pro-business WI DNR sides with business on clean air

As I said a couple of days ago, corporate Wisconsin is running the DNR and its air division, so are we surprised that if the issue is a new clean air rule proposed by the 'Emperor Obama,' the Walkerites and their business allies would all line up together with talk radio against it?

It's part of a larger pattern, as shown by this Top 10 list of links.

And these Wisconsin executive branch agencies will have their own ideological counsel close by, as new GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel has announced he intends to sue the EPA over such policies and has hired an oil and gas lobbyist as his chief of staff.

Public health be damned, as I also wrote on Nov. 27th:

Read and absorb the 19th paragraph, past the snide, dirty air enabling stance taken by the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce in this story about President Obama's healthy air initiative: 

"Patrick Stevens, director of the DNR's division of air and waste management, said his agency may offer comments to the EPA after his staff analyzes the proposal. "

I think we can bet those comments on the proposal (US EPA posting) will not be a thank-you note for a plan that aims to keep children's lungs and the atmosphere free of ozone and other pollutants.

I have been tracking the DNR's disinterest in clean air since the early days of the Walker era:

The politicization of the DNR is off the charts - - literally - - as Wisconsin is now open for air pollution less publicized.  One of two notification systems - - the "watch," akin to weather "watches" that precede storm warnings, is being ended, says the agency in an email - - so if you have asthma, for example, you won't know the air conditions are favorable to constrict your breathing until you are already on your way to your destination.

Surprise!

Remember that Pat Stevens, a lawyer who worked for the road-builders, home-builders and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce,  is now managing the agency's air quality section.