Thursday, April 26, 2018

Walker's 'chamber of commerce' DNR needs updated mission statement

[Updated from 4/26/18] This was the week that Scott Walker's Wisconsin's DNR became the Department of No Return.

You'd think that a formerly science-based natural resources agency would post a newly-accurate mission statement if it had:

* Speedily greenlit the release of 700+ tons by Foxconn of air pollutants annually into already smog-challenged SE WI skies;

* Quickly approved for Foxconn a daily diversion of Great Lakes water equal to 1,100 tanker trucks lined up for 14 miles;

* Like other public agencies offered no protection for residents in rural Racine County who can be forced off property which Foxconn wants to acquire for a massive constuction project on a site where wetlands, lake beds and stream courses can be altered, filled or paved without permits.

* Update - - And put out a platitude-laden Arbor Day/Forest Week news release with a link to a proclamation about the benefits of trees, forests and habitat which is under cut by Walker's relentless war on wetlands, trees, forests and habitats he began in the first hours of his first term.

Surely it's time that the DNR added some truth-in-advertising to its mission statement reflecting the defacto Department of Commerce status Scott Walker has embedded there, no?

Wrong.

In light of Walker's two-term degradation of the DNR, its absorption by  Foxconn at Walker's direction and its servitude to various mining, development, corporate Ag and transportation interests which are hostile to the environment, I'm posting the DNR mission statement below which has been shattered into irrelevancy and parody by the actions of its own managers.

Perhaps the DNR could enlist the help of the WMC and the Realtors in writing a more reality-based DNR mission statement, since they did such a good job writing what is essentially a no-fault recusal rule for the Wisconsin Supreme Court into which the organizations' campaign money had flowed.

Our Mission
Lake at sunset
To protect and enhance our natural resources:
our air, land and water;
our wildlife, fish and forests
and the ecosystems that sustain all life.
To provide a healthy, sustainable environment
and a full range of outdoor opportunities.
To ensure the right of all people
to use and enjoy these resources
in their work and leisure.
To work with people
to understand each other's views
and to carry out the public will.
And in this partnership
consider the future
and generations to follow.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

WI DNR is no longer about managing resources...It is about "managing" its employees with fear and intimidation....Managers can pretty much do whatever they want to employees without civil service protections.