WI heading for more groundwater privatization, pollution and scarcity
The right-wing corporate Republican cabal that is running Wisconsin these grim days as a subsidiary of big business took another major step towards privatizing the state's groundwater when the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources adopted as policy statewide an Attorney General advisory opinion which said the DNR did not have to take into account the downstream or cumulative effects on the water supply when reviewing an application for the drilling of a high-capacity well.
Such wells can make nearby rivers, like the Little Plover, run dry:
The number of such wells has exploded in recent years - - as has the number of water-sucking sand mines - - as have the number of water-demanding high-end golf courses - - as has the number of industrial-scale animal feeding operations which also pollute the water table - - another deleterious effect which the DNR monitors but will not resolve through limitations on the number of cows or pigs expelling their manure by the ton.
I included this news in a Friday posting about the bigger, sadder, more polluted picture - - politically and environmentally - - here.
One farmer is making the state's water crisis the centerpiece of his run for the legislature:
Where do you think that manure is headed?
Such wells can make nearby rivers, like the Little Plover, run dry:
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River Alliance of Wisconsin photos |
I included this news in a Friday posting about the bigger, sadder, more polluted picture - - politically and environmentally - - here.
Inside the WI DNR: poor morale, fear, despair over lost missionKeep in mind that the DNR is now run by corporate servants put there by GOP Gov. Scott ("chamber of commerce mentality") Walker, that the opinion issued by corporate servant GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel was requested by GOP corporate servant Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and that circle of corporate control will be tightened by a bill in the next legislative session which Walker will sign, and which the corporately-controlled State Supreme Court will affirm.
One farmer is making the state's water crisis the centerpiece of his run for the legislature:
Wisconsin clean water activists from around the state have looked to this day with anticipation: Kewaunee County farmer and environmentalist Lynn Utesch announcing his run for the first assembly district.This is what a local activist photographed after she watched manure having been trucked from a big central sands cattle feeding operation in Juneau County, spread on a farm field in Portage County - - and then the rains came.
Where do you think that manure is headed?
8 comments:
They won't be satisfied until they've RUINED the entire state and trashed everything good about it.
The people in that area voted to have that manure in their water when they helped elect Scott Walker. My response is that as long as it is not in my drinking water, it belongs in the water of those communities that voted for scott walker.
To Anon: I strongly disagree. That water flows out of those communities, and is drunk by people with o connection to the election - - children, visitors, new residents, etc. Let's leave 'mean' to the other side.
If Waukesha's application for Lake Michigan water is rejected, that leaves one of the alternatives completely possible. Waukesha could situate high capacity wells west of the shale layer in the unconfined deep aquifer.
That proposal,was rejected because of fears of lawsuits from Lake Country folks worried about drops in the level of Waukesha County lakes.
Guess what? The DNR won't stand in Waukesha's way now, would they?
After all, the City of Waukesha is incorporated. What's good enough for a dairy farm is good enough for Waukesha. We can't discriminate.
James
The point you make is compassionate and I think you are sincere, but we do live in a democracy. If multinational interests and corporate Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) can win elections by hook or crook, then it is fair that the areas that most strongly support Walker get the first taste of animal feces and urine in their water.
Elections have consequences even for children and visitors and new residents don't have to come into the most backwards parts of Wisconsin anyhow. In fact, they should probably do the rest of us a favor and stay out. There is no reason anyone that would prefer water without manure should do anything to support the pro-Walker areas that literally voted to have crap in their water.
Water water everywhere and Walker asks for Federal help to protect lake Michigan shore home owners from high water level erosion, but can't find a dime or the time of day for 4000 residents of Kewaunee County who cannot use there residential well water except to flush their toilets.
Walker, Stepp and Schimel obfuscating the problem by claiming uncertainty as to the cause of and from where the pollution is coming from doesn't remedy the situation for families and at least to public schools without usable safe drinking water.
Local state, "representatives," Joel Kitchens and Frank Lasee, can't be bothered to take action to simply provide potable water to those needing to purchase water on their own.
Walker wants the Army Corp of Engineers to rescue some property owners, gives not a damn about those being poisoned every day of his tenure in the statehouse.
"The people in that area voted to have that manure in their water when they helped elect Scott Walker. My response is that as long as it is not in my drinking water, it belongs in the water of those communities that voted for scott walker."
"To Anon: I strongly disagree. That water flows out of those communities, and is drunk by people with o connection to the election - - children, visitors, new residents, etc. Let's leave 'mean' to the other side."
This is an issue that affects every single person in Wisconsin even if it effects the drinking water only in some parts of the state.
Isn't the point of the Public Trust Doctrine that the water belongs to all the people of Wisconsin and all the groundwater is afforded the same protection regardless of use? Looked at from a purely economic standpoint, why are these few businessmen/farmers being allowed to misuse and destroy something that belongs to all of us? Where is our compensation? We pay taxes that have to be used to clean up city wells. Private well owners pay property taxes that support our environmental protection agencies. The agencies that are supposed to make sure these things don't happen. We own the water and these CAFO owners are destroying it without compensating us. That is called an external cost and these people are not paying it, we are. This is simply class warfare where a few rich people are excused from paying the costs related to their business.
I'm Orlando, so to speak; but it's no one's "opinion" that we all need clean WATER. Wisconsin's DNR is in the hands of real estate estupidos, so do we just wait and see if Wisconsin's fish die like this, or do we ban CAFO's and demand citizen oversight of DNR (?!):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-farago/on-floridas-massive-fish_b_9530084.htm
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