Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Evers follows through on Foxconn air pollution permits' review

Gov. Evers says he wants a review of the air emission permits that Walker's DNR had quickly approved for Foxconn - - pollutants 
Smoke stacks from a factory.
if spewed over an already challenged clean air environment in SE WI would like be adding to the mix a major new paper mill.
Foxconn's 4 air emission permits go through DNR speed-dating
Remember, what goes up comes down, and Lake Michigan is right there.
...an independent analysis of the permits was headlined "Foxconn could increase Racine County's emissions by six percentand said, in part:
The four facilities, to be built in phases over the next several years, could combine to emit 229 tons per year of nitrogen oxides, 240 tons of carbon monoxide, 52 tons of particulate matter, 4 tons of sulfur dioxide and 275 tons of volatile organic compounds.
There’s only one facility in the state – the Verso Corp. Wisconsin Rapids paper mill – that emits at or above the levels Foxconn is proposing across all five pollutants. 
I will add this development to my Foxconn archive, here.

Don't forget that Walker made the air pollution issue worse - - as he did throughout his administration - - by getting Trump's pro-pollution US EPA [Sic] to approve a weakening of clean air standards over a portion of SE WI to help Foxconn comply with the 'rules.'
After hurriedly-awarding Foxconn permission in late April to emit annually 796 tons of smog-producing greenhouse gases and other airborne land-and-water contaminating toxins, then winning on May 1 from Trump's EPA exemptions for much of SE WI from stronger air quality rules, and finally a mere three days after the State of Illinois said on May 4th that it will sue over those Wisconsin clean air exemptions, the DNR's p.r. staff emitted its own spinning cloud
DNR highlights successes during Clean Air Month this May
While Evers had during the campaign raised questions about the Foxconn air emission permits, I expect that the same Republicans who are always defending Trump's actions because 'he's just doing what he said during the campaign he'd do' will condemn Evers for doing exactly the same thing. 

No comments: