DNR's Foxconn fine doesn't deliver deterring punch
A Foxconn subsidiary has been fined by the DNR precisely $1,159.50 for recent runoff flooding at the company's Mount Pleasant site.
I'm told the figure is just a deposit on a final forfeiture which could amount to $14,000 - - still a big-picture pittance.
By my calculations, $1,159.50 is like the owner of a million-dollar sports car finding a parking ticket on his windshield for about a dime.
Or maybe it's a penny: my old-man mental math can't hold all those zeroes in place so easily anymore, but you get the idea.
We're not talking about a fine that delivered much deterrence.
However:
The DNR recently levied exactly zero dollars in fines against a sand mine that spilled ten million gallons of orange-colored muddy wastewater into the Trempealeau River.
So perhaps the fine handed to Foxconn by the DNR is something of a victory for the people in a state where regulatory agencies are intentionally run with Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality.'
Yet the forfeiture aimed Foxconn's right down to fifty cents intrigues me, and I am digging around for the citation and language that might explain the calculation.
I doubt it represents the damage done to the land and waterway downstream, but we'll see.
I will add this post to my Foxconn blog archive I began updating in June, 2017.
Below are some relevant entries:
* Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin was reposting projections which threw cold water on fears of increased flooding downstream from Foxconn...before the recent flooding.
* Mud, flood, water pollution, fake 'blight,' eminent domain and now a second local credit rating downgrade; what else is on the agenda at this Saturday's annual Mount Pleasant Day 2018?
I'm told the figure is just a deposit on a final forfeiture which could amount to $14,000 - - still a big-picture pittance.
By my calculations, $1,159.50 is like the owner of a million-dollar sports car finding a parking ticket on his windshield for about a dime.
Or maybe it's a penny: my old-man mental math can't hold all those zeroes in place so easily anymore, but you get the idea.
We're not talking about a fine that delivered much deterrence.
However:
The DNR recently levied exactly zero dollars in fines against a sand mine that spilled ten million gallons of orange-colored muddy wastewater into the Trempealeau River.
So perhaps the fine handed to Foxconn by the DNR is something of a victory for the people in a state where regulatory agencies are intentionally run with Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality.'
Yet the forfeiture aimed Foxconn's right down to fifty cents intrigues me, and I am digging around for the citation and language that might explain the calculation.
I doubt it represents the damage done to the land and waterway downstream, but we'll see.
I will add this post to my Foxconn blog archive I began updating in June, 2017.
Below are some relevant entries:
* Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin was reposting projections which threw cold water on fears of increased flooding downstream from Foxconn...before the recent flooding.
Foxconn flood muddied Robin Vos' Twitter feed, too
* Mud, flood, water pollution, fake 'blight,' eminent domain and now a second local credit rating downgrade; what else is on the agenda at this Saturday's annual Mount Pleasant Day 2018?
Muddied landscape, fiscal picture could frame Mount Pleasant Day 2018 on Saturday* Lessons learned: Images, activism pay off. Corporate P.R., not so much.
Floodwaters poured downstream from Foxconn to mainstream media; 3 takeaways* Residents want answers, action in wake of predictable 'Lake Foxconn runoff in flood-prone Racine County.
Mt. Pleasant residents want answers, action after Foxconn site runoff.* As predicted, heavy rains in SE WI have led to flooding off the Foxconn site and into the Pike River.
See the flood runoff from the Foxconn site. Heads up, downstream!!* Despite the heaving subsidies, or perhaps because they're on the schedule, Foxconn will add to or create shortfalls in the region's road and transit spending. What a deal!
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