The Political Environment: WI DNR uses Twitter to spin, obfuscate on air quality

Sunday, December 25, 2016

WI DNR uses Twitter to spin, obfuscate on air quality

Not content with scrubbing climate science and deleting long-standing links to additional information, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources run by Scott Walker's handpicked "chamber of commerce mentality" Secretary and top manager Cathy Stepp
Wisconsin DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp proudly shows off her first deer, taken opening weekend last year. In the upcoming TV Special "Deer Hunt Wisconsin 2012, Stepp urges male hunters to take more girls and women hunting. "The secret's out," she says. "Hunting is a lot of fun, so don't keep it to yourselves." photo courtesy of Wisconsin DNR

Wisconsin DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp proudly shows off her first deer, taken opening weekend last year. In the upcoming TV Special "Deer Hunt Wisconsin 2012, Stepp urges male hunters to take more girls and women hunting. "The secret's out," she says. "Hunting is a lot of fun, so don't keep it to yourselves." photo courtesy of Wisconsin DNR

took to its official Twitter account at 11:11 a.m. on December 23rd to paint a rosy clean air picture - -

Wisconsin’s air quality continues to improve! 2016 Air Quality Trends Report is now available. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/airquality/trends.asp … 11:11 AM - 23 Dec 2016

- - so I wonder, noting that exclamation point which is a Cathy Stepp 'tell' if the Tweet was to pre-empt this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about air quality problems posted at 3:00 p.m. on December 25th?

Lakeshore counties to exceed new ozone limits

And though 500,000 Wisconsinites suffer from asthma, Walker and Stepp are not on their side, the Journal Sentinel story indicates:

Last week, Walker in a letter asked Trump to rid the federal bureaucracy of unnecessary regulations. Walker said the ozone regulations would penalize Lake Michigan counties with inherited pollution.

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp has also objected to the new regulations in comments filed with the EPA. In April, the state Justice Department joined a group of states in a federal lawsuit challenging the law.