Saturday, October 13, 2018

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.
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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