You can stand for clean air, wetlands, climate science in WI this week
You can be busy this coming week in Wisconsin if you support fresh water,
clean air, climate change science, wetland preservation and citizen input into conservation policies across the board ignored or obstructed by Walker and his 'chamber of commerce' directed administration.
Here are a few dates and schedules to keep in mind.
* Citizen public hearings held annually by Wisconsin Conservation Congress, (WCC) will take place in all 72 counties Monday evening at 7 p.m.
The DNR gathers public opinion on a wide array of subjects at these annual statewide meetings which are free and open to all.
Here is the DNR's webpage about the hearings.
I am grateful to Journal Sentinel outdoors writer Paul Smith for his complete account which lays out the hearings' processes, locations and goals.
I also want to point you to the full, lengthy text of all the policy questions to be voted upon at the hearings, noting that you can send in comments for the formal record on the questions through April 9th, per directions in the text, but to have your opinion counted among the ballots you must attend one of the hearings.
While many of the questions are specific to a particular agricultural or recreational program or regulation, there is a question on this year's ballot about restoring climate change and climate science to the Legislature's agenda and DNR mission "to support science and market based legislation and rules to reduce the risk of global warming and increase the use of renewable energy resources."
Remember that the DNR scrubbed climate change and climate science from its web pages, that the Walker-coordinated Legislature has been hostile to alternative energy projects, so a strong "Yes" vote on the question would be newsworthy and could help redirect years of official green energy and clean air intransigenceobstruction.
Here is that question:
* Friends of the Black River Forest holds a Sheboygan organizing event and fundraiser Sunday, April 15th to support its legal challenge to the pivotal wetland-filling permit the DNR has to allow a nature preserve to be bulldozed and chainsawed into a high-end, privately-owned golf course, driving range, clubhouse and related facilities.
The project was awarded by the DNR's oversight board acreage within the adjoining state park for a road, parking and a maintenance building - - just one of several manipulations of law and process that continues to give a wealthy Walker donor access to public resources and state decision-making agencies no everyday citizen could ever obtain.
Here is a recent post about the project, and here are details about the fundraiser next Sunday in Sheboygan:
The department DNR made available for public comment the applications, draft permits and analysis for four air pollution control permits covering the Foxconn facility.
To view the documents search the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov, for keyword Foxconn. The DNR will accept public comments through April 16, 2018...
Written comments may be sent to jonathan.wright@wisconsin.gov or to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Northeast Region Air Program, Oshkosh Service Center, Attn.: Jonathan Wright, 625 E. County Road Y, Suite 700, Oshkosh, WI 54901-9731.
An independent review of the permits sought indicate the facility's pollutant releases would equal that of a large paper mill, while Racine County is already likely to fail complying with US EPA clean air standards which the Walker administration wants weakened:
clean air, climate change science, wetland preservation and citizen input into conservation policies across the board ignored or obstructed by Walker and his 'chamber of commerce' directed administration.
Here are a few dates and schedules to keep in mind.
* Citizen public hearings held annually by Wisconsin Conservation Congress, (WCC) will take place in all 72 counties Monday evening at 7 p.m.
The DNR gathers public opinion on a wide array of subjects at these annual statewide meetings which are free and open to all.
Here is the DNR's webpage about the hearings.
I am grateful to Journal Sentinel outdoors writer Paul Smith for his complete account which lays out the hearings' processes, locations and goals.
I also want to point you to the full, lengthy text of all the policy questions to be voted upon at the hearings, noting that you can send in comments for the formal record on the questions through April 9th, per directions in the text, but to have your opinion counted among the ballots you must attend one of the hearings.
While many of the questions are specific to a particular agricultural or recreational program or regulation, there is a question on this year's ballot about restoring climate change and climate science to the Legislature's agenda and DNR mission "to support science and market based legislation and rules to reduce the risk of global warming and increase the use of renewable energy resources."
Remember that the DNR scrubbed climate change and climate science from its web pages, that the Walker-coordinated Legislature has been hostile to alternative energy projects, so a strong "Yes" vote on the question would be newsworthy and could help redirect years of official green energy and clean air intransigenceobstruction.
Here is that question:
- Would you support the WCC take a position and encourage legislators and DNR to support science and market based legislation and rules to reduce the risk of global warming and increase the use of renewable energy resources?
The project was awarded by the DNR's oversight board acreage within the adjoining state park for a road, parking and a maintenance building - - just one of several manipulations of law and process that continues to give a wealthy Walker donor access to public resources and state decision-making agencies no everyday citizen could ever obtain.
Here is a recent post about the project, and here are details about the fundraiser next Sunday in Sheboygan:
April 15, from 2-5 at Paradigm Coffee and Music, we will kick off a major fundraising campaign with a goal of $300,000. We will have speakers, entertainers, and online opportunities for giving and sharing our campaign. Please mark your calendars to help with our spectacular launch! Donate here. Poster. Click to Donate at YouCaring.com. or GoFundMe.com.* You have another week through April 16th to send DNR comments on air pollutant emission permits sought by Foxconn:
The department DNR made available for public comment the applications, draft permits and analysis for four air pollution control permits covering the Foxconn facility.
To view the documents search the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov, for keyword Foxconn. The DNR will accept public comments through April 16, 2018...
Written comments may be sent to jonathan.wright@wisconsin.gov or to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Northeast Region Air Program, Oshkosh Service Center, Attn.: Jonathan Wright, 625 E. County Road Y, Suite 700, Oshkosh, WI 54901-9731.
An independent review of the permits sought indicate the facility's pollutant releases would equal that of a large paper mill, while Racine County is already likely to fail complying with US EPA clean air standards which the Walker administration wants weakened:
Wisconsin has a hide-and-seek policy towards air pollution: Hide the facts, seek no facts and make a dirtied-up state even dirtier.
So it's fitting that the State of Wisconsin's new official approach to Lake Michigan shoreline golf course development and air pollution data collection is to stop that pesky data collection:
The state Assembly has passed a bill that asks the federal Environmental Protection Agency to exclude a monitoring site in a Sheboygan County state park from a statewide air-monitoring plan.
The bill passed on a party-line vote Thursday. It now heads to the desk of Gov. Scott Walker, having passed the state Senate Tuesday.
It's part of Walker's bigger plan to get federal environmental enforcement transferred back to the states, where Walker and his allies can make sure nothing happens.Stay tuned.
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