Big Ag and Big Dairy gave their demands to Wisconsin GOP legislators, and the Senate, habitually in thrall to corporate interests, rolled over and said "OK" Wednesday morning, moving forward a push years in the making to skirt the Wisconsin Constitution and privatize a public resource - - state water.
If the Assembly follows suit, Walker will sign the bill as fast as you can 'check's in the mail,' and people living or fishing or working a small farm nearby or downstream can watch the big users with their high-voile wells hold those withdrawal rights in perpetuity.
The big users said they needed certainty. That's corporate code for, 'what's yours is ours, too.'
And streamlined processes. Which is code for, 'we want what is n the stream even before it it gets there. Forever.'
The water giveaway scheme engineered in plain sight and without a fig leaf of camouflage or a twinge of guilt or apology for open contempt of the environment handed down by the great stewards like Gaylord Nelson and Aldo Leopold and John Muir is part of a partisan, special interest pattern:
The GOP runs all three branches of state government. The Attorney General is on board. The 'regulatory' agencies are busy deregulating and Donald Trump will remove the EPA as a backstop.
Which is why don't say "On, Wisconsin," in Scott Walker's bought-and-sold these days.
Downward, Wisconsin is more accurate.
If the Assembly follows suit, Walker will sign the bill as fast as you can 'check's in the mail,' and people living or fishing or working a small farm nearby or downstream can watch the big users with their high-voile wells hold those withdrawal rights in perpetuity.
The big users said they needed certainty. That's corporate code for, 'what's yours is ours, too.'
And streamlined processes. Which is code for, 'we want what is n the stream even before it it gets there. Forever.'
The water giveaway scheme engineered in plain sight and without a fig leaf of camouflage or a twinge of guilt or apology for open contempt of the environment handed down by the great stewards like Gaylord Nelson and Aldo Leopold and John Muir is part of a partisan, special interest pattern:
The GOP runs all three branches of state government. The Attorney General is on board. The 'regulatory' agencies are busy deregulating and Donald Trump will remove the EPA as a backstop.
Which is why don't say "On, Wisconsin," in Scott Walker's bought-and-sold these days.
Downward, Wisconsin is more accurate.
Disheartening, disgusting. (And whoever wrote this should have proofread it before publishing, because there are a lot of words left out.)
ReplyDeleteThere will be legal challenges as this is unconstitutional in WI.
ReplyDeleteHow can the R's reconcile the Ground water taking with the Public Trust Doctrine in the WI Constitution? Just a little cognative dissonance there.....
ReplyDeleteThe Republican legislators don't reconcile or justify any of their actions. They work for their special interest campaign donors not the people of Wisconsin. It's "PAY FOR PLAY" governing pure and simple and this has been Wisconsin's government since Walker took over. The only way to stop it is to throw them all out on the street at the next election.
ReplyDelete