Blockbuster Waukesha Water Report Ignored By Milwaukee Media

A report prepared for the Town of Waukesha by a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee hydrologist says significant problems could occur if groundwater close to the Vernon Marsh is pumped for export to the neighboring City of Waukesha - - but the report, which implicates water issues across southeastern Wisconsin and across the Great Lakes, has received coverage only in the Waukesha Freeman.

That's unfortunate, because if the City of Waukesha is unable to obtain water in the Town of Waukesha - -- and the report to the Town lays out substantial consequences if the water export is permitted, or is done without extensive protections and agreements - - then the City may work instead even more aggressively for a pipeline to Lake Michigan.

That could create political and legal problems with other Great Lakes states, where an unratified agreement setting up rules and standards for diversions of Great Lakes water is bogged down in controversy and inertia - - including in the Wisconsin legislature.

(The lack of coverage about the content and significance of the report for the Town is at least the second time that major and relevant documentation about water issues facing southeastern Wisconsin has not made it into mainstream media.

Since December, 2006, there has been no coverage (except on this blog: one example of several postings is here) of a detailed Wisconsin Attorney General's opinion on Great Lakes diversions. The opinion tells the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that it does not have the authority to approve a diversion to the Cities of New Berlin and Waukesha that are outside the Great Lakes basin without the approval of all eight Great Lakes states' governors.)

Prof. Douglas Cherkauer, a renown expert on groundwater, produced the water report as a consultant for the Town. It wanted an examination of the City of Waukesha's plan to condemn a 43-acre parcel in the adjoining Town to obtain well sites for a new City source of drinking water.

Among Cherkauer's findings:

1. Using available data - - (Cherkauer also noted the absence of important information for continuing analyses) - - the report finds that water levels in Town wells and in the Vernon Marsh could drop substantially if the City's new high-capacity wells became operational. A portion of the marsh could cease to function as a wetland, Cherkauer suggests.

2. The pumping could change the way surface and groundwater interact in the area. That means that discharged wastewater from the city's treatment plant could end up flowing into the underground water and introducing contaminates.

3. Cherkauer says that "real future problems could develop," underscoring, I think, the need for both cautious, detailed scientific and inter-governmental action and much better continuing reporting of these issues to the public.

Though it is a bit lengthy, here is the executive summary of Cherkauer's very readable report, dated September 17th, 2007. I have highlighted portions, in boldface.

When I get a link to the entire report, I will post it, though I have appended at the end two short sections indicating the breadth of problems that Cherkauer's report pinpoints:

"The City of Waukesha is considering the possibility of constructing a high capacity well or wells in the shallow aquifer beneath the Lathers property in the Town of Waukesha.

"They would extract an unknown amount of water (estimated to be between 1.5 and 3 million gallons per day or mgd) from the same aquifer used be nearby private well owners as their sole source of supply.

"The pumping will cause water level drawdowns and will alter the exchange of water between the shallow aquifer and nearby surface water bodies, most notably the Fox River and Vernon Marsh.

"Before such a project goes forward, a full assessment is needed of what the sustainable supply at this site is and what the impacts of the extraction will be. An analysis should also be undertaken of all available water supply alternatives for Waukesha to determine if this one is the best.

"This report presents an interpretation of the ground water conditions at the site based on the available information.

"The property lies above a bedrock valley filled with glacial sediments consisting of alternating and interwoven sand and gravel aquifer units and clay-rich barrier or aquitard units.

"It appears likely that the aquifer material extends underneath both the Fox River and the Vernon Marsh and that the unit to be tapped by the proposed well(s) is essentially the same aquifer used by nearby households.

"Within a year, drawdowns could be as much as 10 feet under the river and marsh. After 15 years, drawdowns could range from 20 to 25 feet at the nearest private wells, and from 33 to 38 feet at the river and the marsh.

"This indicates a very real probability that there will be significant impacts to private wells and northern portions of the Vernon Marsh complex which need to be fully assessed before the project proceeds.

"Effects on flow in the Fox River are not a concern, but the well could reverse ground water flow and draw river water into the aquifer, possibly altering aquifer water quality.

"These conditions suggest real future problems may develop. Three steps need to be taken to safeguard both the Town of Waukesha’s residents and their water resources:

"1. Monitor water levels regularly,
2. Expand on existing information, and
3. Establish an agreement with the City that, if they do proceed with wells at the site, they will fix problems they cause.

"Monitoring is needed to provide a better understanding of the ground water flow system and to allow the quantification of impacts from the proposed wells if they go forward. It should be undertaken as soon as possible.

"A well-designed aquifer test on the site will provide much of the information needed to predict future impacts. Coupling the results with a calibrated flow model will allow a good assessment of the magnitude and extent of the effects of the wells.

"The suggested agreement will be the only protection for homeowners in the Town of Waukesha, short of taking the City to court after a problem occurs.

"Such legal action is slow and acrimonious, while an amicable, cooperative agreement could produce rapid solutions to water supply problems."

Cherkauer, on the staff of UW-M's WATER Institute, is also a member of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's water supply advisory committee. That committee is writing a recommended plan to address several water supply issues in a seven-county region, including Waukesha.

City of Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson has said the City would work out any problems with the Town if the water export plan created them.

That the City billed the Town $2,700 to meet the Town's request for information to help Cherkauer produce his report indicates how rocky is the relationship between the Town and the City - - a not uncommon circumstance between bordering communities in southeastern Wisconsin.

Two final items that I pulled from the full report that should not go unnoticed, which I have labeled "A" and "B." Both touch on past practices.

A. " Well inventory:

"An inventory of all the nearby wells has not been undertaken for this report. Such an inventory will be time consuming and will probably succeed in identifying only a small portion of the wells. A significant number of the well construction reports available from the WDNR could not be used in the creation of the cross sections because they had insufficient or inconsistent location information. Reports for other wells have either not been filed or have been lost over time."

B. "Does the City of Waukesha have other options in the shallow aquifer?

"Waukesha has examined a variety of possible locations for the construction of high capacity wells in the shallow aquifer (AS&T 2004, 2005 a to d, 2006 a to c, 2007 for example).

"Most of these lie outside the City limits. They are commonly on undeveloped, often agricultural lands.

"As part of the assessment of the viability of each site, a search is done for all the potential contamination sources within the distance from the site required by the Department of Natural Resources. There are often many, many such sources identified near these relatively rural test properties, mostly associated with nearby human development.

"It appears from these site assessments that society has not done a particularly good job in the past of protecting the shallow aquifer as a source of water supply.

"The City of Waukesha will either need to go outside its boundaries to find a suitable site for wells in the shallow aquifer, or they will need to remove the existing potential contamination sources and any associated contamination.

"This past track record also suggests that any new sites they develop for wells should be protected against future contamination, and it makes it difficult to imagine how this could be done if the City also allows development on these sites.

"The City has examined the possibility of using treated wastewater as a means of augmenting their water supply (CH2M-Hill, 2002). The idea was dismissed due to water quality concerns in favor of other sources.

"Waukesha's wells 11 and 12, however, may be in a position to draw some water from the Fox River. As they are located downstream from the wastewater plant's discharge point, the river water will contain treated wastewater. As suggested above, the same may be true if wells are developed on the Lathers site.

"In the materials provided by the City of Waukesha, there appears to be no consideration of augmenting recharge to the shallow aquifer with runoff from rainfall or snowmelt.

"This is another large volume source of water available for use, although it would likely need to be treated due to quality concerns associated with roadway and land surface chemical applications in developed areas."

A Sulfide Mine In the Upper Peninsula? Bad Idea

A bad idea if you love the Porcupine Mountains and Lake Superior, writes Eric Hansen in the Capital Times.

Bill Richardson On Water II

Saturday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a page-one story about presidential candidate and Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's opinion that Great Lakes water could be shipped to the arid west.

Richardson made his remarks to a Las Vegas, Nevada newspaper.

The importance for Wisconsin readers is the damage that such water diversion could do to the Great Lakes, even as our legislature cannot craft a bill to adopt a compact with the other Great Lakes states that would make such diversions illegal.

Readers of this blog, however, already knew about Richardson's views, if they remembered this posting from five weeks ago as part of the blog's focus on Great Lakes water issues:

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Bill Richardson On Water

Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson tells Nevadans that he would elevate water to cabinet-level importance.

That makes sense, since he's the Governor of arid New Mexico and is known as a big-picture thinker, though his thinking aloud about Wisconsin making water deals with arid states raises a heck of a lot of questions.

Posted by James Rowen at 1:56 PM

"Bush's Veto Lies" Column Headline Tells The Real Health Care Story

Turns out that the much-ballyhooed $83,000 eligibility income limit in the popular, bi-partisan health insurance expansion bill that Pres. George W. Bush vetoed...isn't in the bill after all.

So for those of you who said the whole story wasn't being told, even though this is not what you meant, well, now you know the rest of the story.

Officials Who Approved Mall Interchange Funding Have Some Explaining To Do

What did they know and when did they know it?

There's no way that officials at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the Waukesha County Board and County Executive's Office, and in the City of Oconomowoc hadn't heard the rumors about the possible collapse of the Pabst Farm mall plan while they went ahead and cut the deal to spend $25 million to build an interstate interchange to the now-scrubbed mall.

Officials are telling the Daily Reporter that they continue to support the interchange spending, either betting on the come that a mall substitute will materialize, or to service Big Box stores instead.

But the right questions to ask are: were you pitching this plan to the Waukesha County Board's executive committee earlier this week in favor of approving the county's $1.75 million share knowing the mall plan was shaky or dead?

And the same question needs to be answered by WisDOT.

I know that the legislature is consumed with budget deliberations, but this is certainly a matter for the Joint Committee on Finance to address, or perhaps the audit committee, too, because this entire fiasco raises fundamental questions about the way that a state agency finds and commits big dollars.

Good-bye Upscale Mall, Hello Big-Box Stores: What, a Targette?

So the other shoe drops, and the million-square foot upscale mall at Pabst Farms is toast.

That's good news for the regional small town commercial districts and mainstreets - - a subsidized mall 20 minutes away would have killed a lot of established businesses and devalued a lot of property.

But the rumored alternative to the lost mall - - once a key element in the entire Pabst Farm concept - - might be another Big Box store, or a grouping of same - - what Waukesha's Mayor Larry Nelson might call The Centre of Big Boxx Shoppes ?

(That's an inside joke: you'll have to click on the link.)

There is absolutely no way that local and state government taxpayers should spend tax money ripping up the Western Waukesha County landscape to build a free Diamond Interchange for that kind of development.

State, Waukesha County Highway Budgets Resemble Game Shows

Will the state transportation department continue to reserve more than $20 million for a Pabst Farm mall interchange so the project owners can woo a developer to an interchange-serviced site?

Is this how it works? Dangle the prize money and the developers come calling?

Will Waukesha County set aside $1.75 million for a mall developer, any developer, or for that matter, any big project planner, too?

Is public budgeting when highway spending is involved now an episode of "Oprah."

"You get an interchange! You get a TIF. You get a blank check? You get whatever you want," even if all the existing competing businesses established themselves in nearby towns and commercial districts without gobs of subsidies.

I-94 Raceway, Once You Get Out Of Milwaukee County

Spent the afternoon in Waukesha County and observed, for the umpteenth time, that traffic in the left lane bolts westward averaging 80 mph once you clear Brookfield.

A bit of guesstimating on my part, but I can tell based on my cruise control locked in 68 mph that traffic to my left leaves me in the dust.

Same phenomenon when you head towards Chicago: traffic move along dutifully near the speed limit past the airport, then boom: off to the races.

The word of mouth in this area has always been that speed enforcement in Jefferson County is much more aggressive than in Waukesha, and forget about speeding into Dane County near Madison, but on I-94 in Waukesha County, there seems to be minimal enforcement.

Widgerson Speaks Truth To Power

I had wondered when some Waukesha conservatives would see the folly in pouring more public subsidies into a privately-owned mall at Pabst Farms, and at the expense of existing businesses - - and blogger James Widgerson has come through with scintillating commentary, here.

Take the rest of the night off, James.

Pabst Farms Mall Builder Clearly Rethinking Malls

GGP, the developer of the Pabst Farms mall that appears to be pulling out of the project isn't much of a mall fan anymore, according to the company itself.

According to an article reprinted by the Congress for the New Urbanism, "GGP’s acquisitions, and an awareness of changing living patterns and widespread opposition to sprawl, have given the company a growing appreciation of mixed-use development. “We’re looking, going forward, at being a different company,” D’Alesandro told a CNU audience May 19."

GGP is sticking with a major project in St. Louis, an urban project - - 100% different than building on converted W. Waukesha County farmland.

The Congress for the New Urbanism is headed by former Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist, for whom I worked from 1996-2004.

Public Comment Period On the Pabst Farms Interchange Ends October 29th

Citizens can register their opposition to the proposed Pabst Farms mall highway interchange - - even as the mall developer appears to be pulling out of the deal - - through October 29th.

Details about how and where to register comments are here.

The comment process is being managed by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission: ironically, its executive director emeritus, Kurt Bauer, who is still a SEWRPC consultant and chair of its water supply advisory committee, has said the Pabst Farms project conflicted with the original recommendations for the site in the commission's regional land use plan.

Spending more than $20 million in public funds to build an interchange to nowhere is a ridiculous step for government to take; it can be slowed down or stopped if enough taxpaying citizens say "no."

Don't Build The Interchange To Nowhere

So the developer of the million-square-foot upscale mall at Pabst Farms is pulling out; maybe asking them to pay 7% of the cost of the $25 million Diamond Interchange so shoppers could get to the mall was asking too much?

Rumors about this were circulating earlier this week.

If those developers don't think the area can sustain the mall, why should the state, county and City of Oconomowoc press ahead with the fast-tracked construction of the Interchange?

When it comes to planning in Western Waukesha County, this could actually be a good thing - - a moment to slow down and do some serious planning where the tail does not wag the dog.

Even Kurt Bauer, executive director emeritus of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, has criticized the Pabst Farm project as an inappropriate use of agricultural land.

A little-publicized public comment period on the interchange plan ends October 29th: Details about how to send in comments are here.

The $25 million price tag for the interchange exceeds the amount of Tax Incremental Financing from local governments that went into the Pabst Farms project to begin with.

A recent discussion about how TIF should be used is available, here.

If the mall component conceived as part of the 1,500-acre housing and retail/commercial Pabst Farms complex is in such flux, government should step back and see if the private market is really committed to a mall construction, and on which site, and in what configurations.

And for the municipalities throughout the region to more carefully study Pabst Farms, and other developments and plans in the region, to see how they impact the region's land use, water, employment, housing, transportation and fiscal resources.

For example, Pabst Farms includes a hospital, a shopping center and other commercial buildings, along with hundreds of high-end single-family homes.

The mall would have added hundreds of additional relatively low-paying jobs to the entire project's commercial components, yet Pabst Farms has no transit service and no market-rate, apartment or multi-family housing for people who might work at Pabst Farms properties.

Is this planning?

Or is it emblematic of the reasons why the Waukesha County Board turned back the regional planning commission's latest long-range plan for the county as insufficient?

Until these questions are addressed in depth - - don't use public funds to build an interchange to nowhere.

What Are The Best Uses of TIF

Sean Ryan at Daily Reporter, one of the state's best reporters at an under-appreciated resource, summarizes the policy questions surrounding the spreading and controversial uses of Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

Without TIF, Pabst Farms would still be the prime agricultural land that the regional planning commission said was its recommended use: now it's a new city, the unofficial Capital of Sprawlville, which is the area west of Brookfield across Waukesha into Jefferson County, south into Walworth County, and north through the remaining scattered elements of the Kettle Moraine.

More on Pabst Farms here, as the mall component is collapsing there for which a new interstate interchange was being rushed to groundbreaking.

Is this what TIF was intended to do?

I think not.

Bush Child Insurance Veto Is The GOP 2008 Dagger

Some Republicans in Congress are as upset as Democrats over Pres. George W. Bush's veto of expanded health coverage for children.

The veto of this bi-partisan and popular measure will make it harder for Republicans to convince voters that there is anything remotely resembling a compassionate conservative in their party, handing Democrats another political leg up.

Another GOP stalwart, Pete Dominici of New Mexico, has announced that he will not run for re-election, as more and more Republicans step away from elections knowing they face defeat, or at best, a lonely and politically powerless life in the Congressional minority.

For Democrats and for the common good, November, 2008 can't come fast enough.

A Club That Mary Lazich Might Join

States' rights advocates are getting together to plot a way out of the union that holds the country together.

State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) and her states' rights allies in Ohio that are blocking the Great Lakes Compact over sovereignty complaints might find comfort there.

Tommy Thompson Is Mulling: Everyone Hold Your Breath

I can't take the suspense: Whom will Tommy Thompson endorse, and will Thompson's presidential supporters all ride in one car to the lucky endorsee's next event?

'Led' by Scott Walker, The Region Is Letting Transit Die

There's going to be a quick, $25 million ponied by the state and some junior partners so upscale shoppers can drive a direct route off I-94 to the Pabst Farms proposed glitzy mega-mall - - but Waukesha's County Executive Dan Vrakas and Milwaukee County's Scott Walker closed ranks against the region's lower-income residents and said "no" to a regional transit system.

The region's big-city Mayors, including Waukesha's Larry Nelson, want a regional transportation system because they run cities, where people of all classes and needs live, work, and require transportation options.

The crazy anomaly in the dysfunctional regional transportation non-system is that Walker is in charge of Milwaukee's buses, which he's willing to help drive into oblivion with fare hikes and service cuts because his private-sector-first mentality, if you can call it that, wishes upon a star that someday everyone will own a car, will have no use for the bus, and can happily motor on over to Mayfair, even to Pabst Farms.

The losers here are Milwaukee central city residents, many without access to a car, let alone to vehicle ownership, whom Walker wants to pay more of their already meager incomes for shrinking transit services - - services that will not take them to jobs in expanding suburbs that Walker's anti-city policies are helping to grow.

Milwaukee Aldermen Seek To Bar Certain Water Sale Negotiations

Four City of Milwaukee Common Council members have introduced a resolution to prohibit city negotiations with any community outside of the Great Lakes basin for the sale of city water until the Great Lakes Compact is adopted by all eight Great Lakes states and approved by the US Congress.

The text of the resolution, which indicates the resolution reinforces existing city policy, is here, and is sponsored by Alds. Michael Murphy, Michael D'Amato, Joseph Dudzik and Robert Bauman.

The impact of the resolution is unclear.

Adoption of the resolution could further slow the efforts of New Berlin to obtain a diversion of Lake Michigan water, and push New Berlin to find fresher sources of water either from another lakefront city, or by installing equipment on its existing wells that would remove naturally-occuring radium.

Ideally, however, it could serve as a wake-up call to state legislators whom, to date, have not moved with any urgency to consider and adopt a strong bill that will ensure what is the Compact's goal: sustainable water supplies in the entire Great Lakes region in perpetuity.

Rejection of the resolution would essentially enforce the status quo, which is that legal hurdles that existed in federal law since 1986 remain in place, barring any community's movement of Great Lakes water beyond the boundaries of the Great Lakes basin without the unanimous approval of all eight Great Lakes governors.

Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources gave the go-ahead to discussions between Milwaukee and the City of New Berlin for a potential water sale by Milwaukee to that portion of New Berlin that is west of, and outside of, the Great Lakes basin.

Observers said at the time that the DNR did not need to authorize such discussions, and did so to satisfy New Berlin that progress was being made on its quest for Lake Michigan water without actually granting that permission - - something that would surely rile both the City of Milwaukee and the other Great Lakes states, or scuttle the pending Compact altogether.

New Berlin has completed an application for such a diversion, but the DNR has not approved it (reviewed it, yes: approved it, no), in part because the Compact, which establishes first-ever rules and standards for such diversions, has not been approved by the Wisconsin legislature, and only the states of Illinois and Minnesota.

Approval by the Congress would come after all the Great Lakes states had approved versions of the Compact that were very similar, and did not have substantial changes from the draft Compact signed by all the Great Lakes Governors, and Canadian provincial premiers, at a Milwaukee ceremony in December, 2005.

Approval is going slowly in most of the states, including Wisconsin.

A year of discussions by a blue-ribbon panel in Madison to draft a bill to approve and implement the Compact for Wisconsin collapsed late this summer over objections from some Waukesha County legislators and business representatives.

They were led by State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) and others who feel that the Compact's regional rule-and-decision-making gave other states too much power over Wisconsin communities' ability to easily tap into the Great Lakes.

Last year, the DNR sent New Berlin's first application for a diversion to the other Great Lakes states, where there was substantial, written opposition to the application's thoroughness and accuracy.

A subsequent and revised application got a favorable review by the DNR; the agency indicated that the application also had met the other states' earlier objections.

DNR officials said those other states' approvals were verbal; an Open Records request for the other states' reviews of the revised New Berlin application produced no documentation.

A Wisconsin Attorney General's opinion from December, 2006, indicated that the DNR did not have the authority to approve a diversion for a Wisconsin community outside of the Great Lakes basin without the approval of all the other states.

That is because such approvals are required by existing federal law and the spirit of the Compact, which was designed after years of multi-state and national negotiations to refine and replace the current federal legal standards.

Curiously, the Attorney General opinion has not been reported on by the traditional media.

It is unclear whether the review the DNR has said that the application has received would meet the Attorney General guidelines.

No public hearing has been held on the New Berlin application.

The Milwaukee resolution has been referred to a committee for initial consideration.

New Berlin has indicated its preference for purchasing Milwaukee water over installing radium-removal filtration or buying water from another lakefront community.

Any community agreeing to move Lake Michigan water to New Berlin would have to receive approvals from the DNR.

And until the Compact is approved, the Attorney General's opinion says approval from the other states is needed under the federal WRDA process.

All the more reason why New Berlin should be leading the charge in the legislature to get the Compact approved if it wants Lake Michigan water - - and why Sen. Lazich's obstructionism, at odds with the wishes of Jack Chiovatero, New Berlin's Mayor, is so bafflingly counter-productive.

Stunned Scientists Witness Arctic Heat Wave

The evidence of ongoing climate change is piling up - - literally - - but we still have an administration only engaged at the rhetorical margins, disconnected from reality, and basically unconcerned.

You can tell your grandchildren that the pivotal global warming years came after 2000, during the administration of a Texas oil man, George W. Bush..

That's was when the biggest consuming fossil-fuel and carbon dioxide emitting nation on the planet was guided by a secretly-drafted energy-gorging policy determined by an All Powerful Vice President Dick Cheney, a wealthy energy company insider, who famously observed that conservation was a "personal virtue...not a sound basis for a comprehensive energy policy."

About That State Budget...Can You Say "Fore" Instead?

When you consider the budget stalemate and all the other public issues that are stalled or moving backward in Wisconsin - - can you react with anything but disgust when you read the details about the following two golf fundraisers in the coming days for legislators, at $500-$700 a pop.

And while you're reading, ask yourself:

Who do you think attends these high-dollar events?

And why do you think legislators hold them?

First the Democrats:

"Save the Date," begins the invitation from the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee (ADCC), sent via the Internets from a faithful blog reader.

"Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007

ADCC FALL CLASSIC GOLF OUTING

Edelweiss Chalet Country Club
W4764 Edelweiss Rd
New Glarus , WI

Registration 10:30 am – Shotgun start – 11:00 am – Buffet Reception 4 – 6 pm

$700 per player - $2500 foursome (includes golf, cart, sleeve of balls, practice balls, hole & team prizes, buffet reception)

Golf/Hole Sponsor - $3000 foursome / Hole Sponsor only, $750
Buffet Reception Only - $250

Conduit and Individual contributions accepted, no corporate or PAC contributions."

And not to be outdone, and in the bi-partisan spirit, let's tee off on a similar event for State Sen. Alberta Darling, (R-River Hills):

"Seventh Annual Darling Classic 10/2/2007

11:00 am The Bog, 3121 County Highway I, Saukville.

11:00 am Registration/Lunch

Driving Range Opens 12:00 pm

Shotgun Start 5:00-6:00 pm

Cocktail Reception & Award Ceremony $500 Golf and Reception (Includes all associated costs)

$100 Reception Only

$2000 Hole Sponsorship."

Bush Administration Finally Recognizes Environmental Degradation - - It's Caused By Illegal Immigrants

Hmm...so the worst thing that can be done to the environment is the trail of trash left behind by illegal immigrants?

Worse than, say...spilling oil in Alaska? Heating up the atmosphere and melting Greenland? Clear-cutting the rain forest?

Yes, apparently, the worst thing that can happen to the environment is littering, says Michael Chertoff, our Homeland Security chief.

CNN Video Shows Great Lakes Decline

CNN sent a reporter/pilot to the Great Lakes in both the US and Canada, and his report tells the story:

Water levels are declining, water and air temperatures are rising, and drought is adding to the problems.

Yet Wisconsin still has no Great Lakes Compact on its books or under consideration so it can do its part along with the other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces to conserve these global and regional fresh water reserves.

Sierra Club's Dale Olen Calls For Great Lakes Compact Adoption

Today's Crossroads section in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel features a solid piece by Dale Olen about the need for Wisconsin to adopt the Great Lakes Compact.

Madison Peak Oil: Interesting Energy Blog

Add Madison Peak Oil to your valuable internet reading.

Apparently Environmentalism Causes Religious Decline

So says Patrick McIlheran, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's in-house conservative columnist and blogger, if I'm reading him correctly.

An author he quotes, Frank Furedi, also suggests that God and nature are separate, and again, if I understand their argument - - traditional religions somehow err when they point their flocks towards environmental principles that sound like what's commonly called "sustainability.

Writes Furedi, quoted by McIlheran:

"However, eco-spirituality cannot really compensate for the loss of traditional moral authority. Indeed the very embrace of the environmentalist agenda can only accelerate the decline of institutions that cannot give meaning to the religious doctrines on which they were founded. The shift away from God towards nature inevitably leads to a world where the pronouncements of environmentalist experts trump those of the priesthood. It will be interesting to see what will remain of traditional religion as prophecy and revelation is displaced by computerised climate models."

I'm not seeing how environmentalism accelerates the decline of religious institutions, their philosophies and goals.

Where's the contradiction? Isn't our earth the one that God created, according to the Old Testament?

Don't we have an obligation as the inheritors of the earth to try and help sustain it (at least to do it no harm), and doesn't it make sense for traditional religions' leaders and messengers to encourage that attitude and practice?

Pope Benedict XVI is on board.

Seems to me that the more that institutions and their practitioners, spokespeople or leaders - - whether political, religious, secular: you name it - - respect and steward the land (read: nature), the more credible and relevant that those institutions will be.

Same for the rest of us.

The planet, too.

What's not to like?

No name-calling here on this pleasant Sabbath: I just don't see overall threat, and especially that nature/God division.

A few personal observations.

When I was in Japan, and visited the shrines of nature-worshipping Shinto, I never doubted for a second that I was standing on Holy ground.

I felt the same way hiking through the Black Hills this summer, as I did when canoeing in Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park, or when I first discovered the trails in the Kettle Moraine.

Isn't it possible that environmentalism, resource conservation, call it what you will - - even a small intentional act of care for the earth - - is actually what people of many faiths would call God's will, and is a complement to other rituals of belief and faith that might be more recognizable because they take place in traditional houses of worship?

Will A Nuclear Power Plant Help Extract Canadian Crude Oil Headed To Superior?

It's the energy policy trifecta:

To produce gasoline at an expanded Murphy Oil refinery in Superior, on Lake Superior, crude oil from Alberta must be extracted from the tar sand deposits there.

The extraction of the oil from the sand is an energy-intensive process - - so why not build a nuclear power plant in Alberta, Canada, to do the trick?

That's the buzz north of the border.

Pollution is Down! Oh, Wait A Minute: Pollution ENFORCEMENT Is Down

Just another Bush administration story: enforcement against polluters is down, reports The Washington Post - - not pollution.

Carry on...until January 20, 2009.

Ethanol: Boom, Bust. No Surprise.

The New York Times tells us that the boom in corn-based ethanol is going bust.

Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote on this blog about ethanol:

"Not that I'm a glass-empty person, but you have to wonder where this is all headed, given that boom-and-bust has been seen in rural America before, and that even with sufficient rainfall, corn-growing and ethanol-making requires a lot of water and energy as inputs."

The future in ethanol fuels rests in so-called cellulosic, fiberous plants, including grasses, even wood chips, which require far less water, fertilizer and energy to produce.

Doesn't The Hurried-Up Pabst Farm Mall Interchange Need An Environmental Review?

So let's get this straight:

The state transportation department, Waukesha County, The City of Oconomowoc and the Pabst Farms developer all agree to quickly construct a $25 million interchange at I-94 and Sawyer Rd. in Western, exurban Waukesha County to provide the development's upscale mall with easier customer access.

Any parallel move towards a transit connection?

More about that, below, but back to the spiffy interchange being created at warp speed.

With the State using tax money to pay most of the cost.

There's talk of ground-breaking next spring, maybe as early as April.

So the question is:

Can the state and other entities proceed with spending that much money on an Interstate project - - and most of its share comes from state and federal gas tax collections (e.g. our money) - - without an environmental study?

The entire Pabst Farms project is being built on formerly-designated prime agricultural land. Water that flows through the land replenishes the region's underground water storage in aquifers - - something not helped along naturally by the addition of more and more concrete.

There are nearby bodies of water with water levels and habitat that will certainly be affected by the construction of a big-time, so-called "Diamond Interchange," with construction and the addition of sweeping ramps that will eat up raw land.

And there will be traffic counts on that stretch of Interstate highway that will jump with drivers induced to drive to the new mall - - adding an unevaluated impact on future development, land use, highway expansions, and local road usage, to name but a few items that need study.

It's noteworthy that the project and interchange have been labeled as contrary to the area's land use plan for the area produced by Kurt Bauer, director emeritus of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, yet Pabst Farms and now the interchange addition are moving forward, and quickly.

Have we abandoned entirely the concept of studying the environmental impacts of a suddenly-announced $25 million highway project?

Is anyone in Waukesha County or state government still interested in measuring all aspects of the public, common interest?

Update: A related question is being asked in Monday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, too - - how will all the workers at the high-end mall get to their low-paying jobs without a transit connection?

Or to the hospital and other commercial ventures at the upscale city, where apartments and market-rate housing was excluded by design from Day One.

Steve Hiniker, executive director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, calls it all textbook bad planning, which is not overstated.

$25 million was found in record time to pay for the interchange construction: watch how the planning and transportation double-standard labors to find money for bus connections, which may get as far as the City of Waukesha, but not to Milwaukee.

Bush A Believer On Climate Change?

You've seen the stories: George W. Bush wants to do something, or think about something, or get some PR for wondering about climate change and global warming.

How do we assess this phenomena?

One story sums it up, so as we used to say in the newsroom, read to the kicker (the end).

Superior's Future - - The City And The Lake's - - Has An Oily Feel

News and blogger accounts of the probable expansion of Murphy Oil's Superior, WI refinery have been bubbling to the surface.

The Arkansas-based company is seeking a deeper-pocketed partner to finance up to $6 billion of development to bring its 35,000-barrel-per-day Lake Superior refining operation to 235,000 barrels-a-day.

What's fueling such a substantial increase, and along with it, the potential for major wetlands-fillings around the company's existing site and possible pollution to Lake Superior, the cleanest of the five Great Lakes?

Certainly the company wants to make money, but there's a bigger story, and the San Francisco Chronicle's award-winning energy reporter Robert Collier has been all over it.

More than two years ago, Collier went to Alberta, Canada and wrote extensively about the vast tar sand oil resource there, and how squeezing thick crude from the sands requires massive amounts of water and energy.

And where will a lot of that crude be headed?

Down the pipeline to Superior and other US refineries - - construction of which has already led to scores of documented improper wetlands' incursions and violations that does not bode well for its operations once it's up and running.

(Here are some summary facts about pipeline problems in Wisconsin, courtesy of the River Alliance of Wisconsin.)

Why could Superior's future - - both in the lake and in the surrounding land - - be an oily one?

Consider that there is:

* Ongoing instability in the Middle East (say, whatever happened to that post-invasion profitable supply of Iraqi crude oil that was supposed to smooth out the market?), putting pressure on the supply side of the equation;

* An even larger reserve of shale oil in Colorado that is still prohibitively expensive (another solid Collier piece lays that out, here), so more supply-side pressure;

* And no coherent national energy conservation policy in place, thanks to Dick Cheney's secret energy 'plan,' and American consumers' consumption - - thus helping the demand Ying to the supply side Yang.

Conclusion?

Count on tar sand crude oil from Alberta continuing to be a hot commodity, with the attendant political and environmental issues landing squarely in Superior and at the State Capitol, too.

Tar sand crude is the same product that led to the outcry along the Lake Michigan shoreline from Milwaukee to Gary, Indiana this summer, when British Petroleum obtained a permit from Indiana officials to dump more of tar sand crude oil's refining pollution into the lake.

The uproar led the company to backtrack on the dumping increase, but the refining expansion is moving forward, because the demand in the US for gasoline seemingly has no limit, even at $3 a gallon, and more.

Wisconsin and its Canadian neighbors who share the Lake Superior shoreline could easily be headed for a confrontation like the one that broke out over BP's expanded refining waste stream at the Indiana facility.

That could happen if - - and I should really say "when" - - Murphy Oil either comes to state officials for permits to discharge refining pollutants into Lake Superior, or to fill in the refinery's surrounding wetlands when siting additional structures, or both.

BP's plans were rolled back because major media, like the Chicago Tribune, and political leaders including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, US Senator Dick Durbin, and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and others, got heavily involved.

As did citizens, who signed petitions and began standing with picket signs in front of BP stations.

BP, which advertises itself as the environmentally-friendly "Beyond Petroleum" company, wisely said it could find treatment technologies for its new refining waste stream than depositing it into Lake Michigan.

What will happen in Wisconsin with regard to the Murphy Oil issue, where organizations including Clean Wisconsin, Midwest Environmental Advocates and Wisconsin Wetlands Association, among others, have already gotten involved?

But about which the Wisconsin public still has very little information.

One last note: when the BP issue was front and center across the Great Lakes region, Wisconsin political and Natural Resources Department leaders stayed virtually silent.

With that channel turned down, it's time for others to be turned up.

In China, Growth Above Ground, Water Depletion Below

The New York Times looks at what happens when population growth and resource gorging is totally out of synch with the amount of water that is required to give life to people, and economies.

Anyone see any lessons about water management for governments, planners and politicians in, say, the Great Lakes region?

Waukesha Water Grab Could Dry Up Portions of Vernon Marsh, Expert Says

When the City of Waukesha announced it planned to acquire acreage in the neighboring Town of Waukesha at the edge of the Vernon Marsh to sink some new wells, area residents and Town officials worried that pulling out water for export to the City would damage the Marsh.

The Town hired University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee hydrology professor Douglas Cherkauer, and in a report submitted to the Town, but undercovered by most major regional media, indeed found that the plan could dry up portions of the Marsh.

The Freeman, Waukesha's daily paper, did run a story, (some excerpts below that online coding has made editing and pasting difficult. Best to read the entire story at the link.)

“Within a year, drawdowns could be as much as 10 feet under the river and marsh. After 15 years, drawdowns could range from 20 to 25 feet at the nearest private wells, and from 33 to 38 feet at the river and marsh,” the report states."

The report, said the Freeman, went on to say:

“This indicates a very real probability that there will be significant impacts to private wells and northern portions of the Vernon Marsh complex, which need to be fully assessed before the project begins.”

Continuing, the Freeman said: "Cherkauer’s report notes that at the marsh, “areas where water levels drop could literally dry up, ceasing to function as a wetland.”

It's hard to imagine that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources would allow the wells to created, given Cherkauer's expertise and standing in the scientific community.

And the newly-formed Friends of the Vernon Marsh could easily organize substantial opposition in both the City and the Town, further diminishing the chances that new, high-capacity municipal wells would ever be sunk where the Waukesha Water Utility wants to locate them.

The City of Waukesha could seize the moment and address its future water needs with greater conservation, but it is more likely to continue with its modest sprinkling water regulations and rate tinkering while it pursues what it really wants:

A diversion from Lake Michigan.

Insurance Industry Recognizes Climate Change

While talk radio know-nothings deny that climate change is a real and growing dilemma - - a "global emergency," as Al Gore correctly puts it - - private sector insurers and the regulators who examine their books know that global warming is happening.

And is getting costlier.

The Daily Reporter has the details, from industry and state fiscal officials, here.

Here's a related question: What's the reaction of the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce?

Wisconsin is home to many insurance companies, thus to corporate balance sheets which could indicate some of the early warning signs of global warming.

October 24th Program To Honor Gaylord Nelson

1000 Friends of Wisconsin will honor Gaylord Nelson at its 2007 Annual Meeting on Wednesday, October 24th, with a program that includes a luncheon.

Registration details are here.

Speakers and honored guests will include Bill Christofferson, author of the Nelson biography The Man From Clear Lake, and Tia Nelson, the environmental activist who is also executive director of the Wisconsin Commission on Public Lands, and Gaylord Nelson's daughter.

Bush To Veto National Water Projects, Wants Eight Times As Much For the War

President George W. Bush has just requested another $190 billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan - - but will veto $23 billion in improvements for waterways and water systems in every state.

The disasterous priorities of his administration couldn't be clearer.

Annette Ziegler Faces More Questions

There's only one realistic way to read this story:

Bad news for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler in the incompleted ethical disciplinary case pending against her.

The case was created because she had failed to remove herself from a raft of circuit court cases, decided prior to her Supreme Court election victory, that involved a bank to which she had her husband were linked by stock holdings and loans.

Adding to Ziegler's woes: The Wisconsin State Journal, the state's lead daily paper on the story, is editorially calling for a tough penalty.

You can read the official investigative order that is at the heart of this developing story, and that will frame the final sanction against Ziegler, here.

The editorial is aimed directly at the special three-judge panel that will determine Ziegler's fate.

The editors are not the decision-makers in this case. The judges are.

But it's a safe bet that the judges read the papers, run by people who, for good reason, are called opinion-makers.

Scott Walker's Self-Interest Is Self-Defeating

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker stumbled Wednesday in a too-hurried effort to get, as they say in politics, "ahead of the story."

Fearing a county pension system investigation into an expanding series of scandals and taxpayer rip-offs - - some of which might have occurred on his watch - - Walker announced that some criminal activity might have taken place.

Oh, really?

What did he know and when did he know it?

And to whom did he report it, as is his duty?

By the disclosure, Walker appeared to be clumsily trying to inoculate himself against an inevitable comparison with his disgraced and recalled predecessor, Tom Ament, the man supposedly responsible for all of Walker's financial problems.

Walker got slapped down immediately by District Attorney John Chisholm, the man elected to prosecute wrong-doing, but who was also put into a box by Walker' unwanted and unneeded amateurish lawyering: should no charges be filed, would it be Chisholm who wasn't up to his job, since Walker had suggested otherwise?

All in all: Not a good political or leadership move by Walker, who is up for re-election in April, and doesn't have opposition.

Yet.

A transparently gratuitous abuse of power like this is just the kind of misstep that can convince an electorate that in the end, despite everything he'd said about Ament, Walker is just another self-interested courthouse pol.

Not a person of substance and stature who is up to running a county with serious problems to solve.

Final thought: Does this fit on a bumper sticker?

Walker Can't Walk The Walk.

Oil Pipeline Damages Wisconsin Wetlands: A Cause For Deep Concern

The construction of the already-controversial pipeline carrying Canadian tar sand crude oil from Superior to St. Louis has led to numerous instances of damage to Wisconsin wetlands, and this is very early in the process.

This is a disturbing development, not only because damaged wetlands take a long time, if ever, to come back to health (and don't believe everything you read about "remediation," or worse, "artificial wetlands" to replace wetlands allowed to be filled), but because the $2.1 billion project has a long way to go.

Not to mention the probability of wetlands damage - - whether accidental or allowed - - that is sure to accompany Murphy Oil's likely plan to ramp up tar sand oil refining at its Superior refinery from 35,000 barrels daily to 235,000.

Wisconsin is going to need assertive management, oversight and regulation by its Department of Natural Resources to save imperiled wetlands from this expanding oil refining and piping binge.

Wisconsin environmental organizations have been raising alarms and bird-dogging Enbridge since the pipeline route was approved.

Wisconsin Wetlands Association has taken the lead. You can check out the fine work of this group, here.

The DNR's enforcement actions along the pipeline route are a good sign that it is keeping an eye on things, but the number of violations suggest that the route is too long and complex for inspections that are preventative in nature.

Doyle Urged To Strip Fired Cops' Pay From State Law

State Senator Tim Carpenter, (D-Milwaukee), correctly asks Gov. Jim Doyle to support a provision in the State Senate's version of the budget that would end an outrageous state mandate:

The requirement that forces Milwaukee taxpayers to pay fired cops even after their convictions in court.

Legislators beholden to the Milwaukee Police Union pushed this Milwaukee-only statute onto the books years ago.

It is a patently discriminatory and meddling law that has transferred millions in lost city tax revenues for salary and benefits to police officers who have broken the law, been fired and were convicted in court - - but stretched out their sentencing dates through appeals, leaving them on the payroll.

While other honest cops were out on the street.

The so-called "Jude cops" alone have received an unjustifiable half-million dollars, and those payments won't stop until the end of November.

Court sentencing dates for the former officers who beat Jude, violated his civil rights and then perjured about it, could even push that payroll termination to a later, more costly date, too.

It's time that state law stopped sticking it to Milwaukee taxpayers, on behalf of rogue cops who hired and entrusted to protect, not victimize, a further-ripped-off public.

Feingold Blasts Weakened Bill On Water Project Spending And Management

A conference committee of US Senators and Representatives has agreed on a major water spending bill, but removed key oversight reforms, according to Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold (D).

Details here.

Particularly galling, says Feingold, is that Senate negotiators on the conference committee caved in on agreed-upon changes that would have put the US Army Corps of Engineers, along with major project spending, under better supervision.

Tuesday Night Meeting in Milwaukee To Discuss Bradford Beach Cleanup

A public meeting of the Milwaukee County Conservation Coalition will be held 7:00 PM at the offices of the Milwaukee Environmental Consortium, 1845 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee, with discussion of Bradford Beach pollution and cleanup issues on the agenda.

In advance of that meeting, here is a guest posting by Cheryl Nenn, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, with the local environmental organization Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers:

I went to a public hearing on the Bradford Beach pollution issues held in July, and echo continuing concerns among activists that a proposed action plan has some shortcomings.

[A recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story with some background on the Bradford Beach cleanup issue is here.)

Although the same consultants were used for the Bradford and Racine projects (Earthtech), the solutions at Bradford fall more in the “window dressing” and education realm, and I don’t think will address the water quality issues.

The City of Racine was much more aggressive in detecting illicit discharges that contribute human fecal material to the stormwater outfalls, and created a much larger bio-retention facility to deal with the contamination.

The gardens at Bradford also will not be able to contain all rainwater from the outfalls and so any pollutants captured will probably be washed out and down the beach periodically.

When I asked whether or not they had found where the human fecal bacteria were coming from (as identified by Prof. Sandra McClellan of the UWM WATER Institute), they stated that they hadn’t found it, but the County apparently did conduct some dye testing and other televising tests and found no problems, intimating that the City sewer along Lake Drive was the culprit.

They also were saying that they wouldn’t use pervious pavement in repaving the lots because it wasn’t proven in cold climates, which is ridiculous, in my opinion, as there is a ton of research to the contrary.

Tom Chapman from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and I tried to make a case, but to no avail.

They did talk about putting in an engineered device at some of the parking lots that could be more easily maintained than pervious pavement and would still reduce some of the sedimentation and runoff from the parking lots to the beaches.

Steve Keith at Milwaukee County government is the lead, and may be able to talk at the MCCC meeting on Tuesday, September 25th. (His number is 278-4355).

Milwaukee County Parks Director Sue Black spoke at the hearing, saying that she still had a lot of questions about the project, and I’m not sure if there have been any design alterations since the July meeting or not.

Cities Hold The Keys To Fighting Global Climate Change

The greenest environments with the greatest opportunities to fight global warming are cities, according to the Congress for the New Urbanism and a recent report on MSNBC.

To some that would be surprising.

But think about it:

Cities and urban neighborhoods are where you find transit systems, fewer yards, cutting-edge efficient buildings, green roofs, more pedestrians - - thus more sustainable demands on finite energy and water resources.

Data show, for example, that a exurban home can generate a carbon footprint five times that of a city dwelling.

Another report on this subject has also been released by the Urban Land Institute.

Wonder if this comprehensive focus on cities will be considered both at Gov. Jim Doyle's Global Warming Task Force and President George W. Bush's global warming summit?

Must Be Canada Day On This Blog: The Globe And Mail Sums Up The Great Lakes Disappearing Act

An excellent summary of the issues facing the Great Lakes, from a leading Canadian paper.

Taking Great Lakes Issues To Daily Kos

Daily Kos gets a half-million hits a day. Why not use these great new platforms to get out messages about Wisconsin and our issues to a broader audience?

Here's an example...

The Park People Take To The Blogosphere To Spread Their Message

A welcome to the blogging world to The Park People - - the dedicated Milwaukee County activists trying to save our greatest county-wide natural resource.

Check out their new blog and note that the community newspaper platform they are using is available to those who want to use them.

The Park People homepage is here.

Canadians Examine Oil And Water Policies, Don't Like What They See

There are analysts in Canada, according to this website posting from north of the border, that have looked at their nation's natural resource use for various exports to the US - - with implications for Wisconsin - - and don't like what they see.

Note the linkage to the production and export of Canadian tar sand crude oil - - a process that uses substantial amounts of water, which like oil is also a finite resource.

And the tar sands provide the crude oil that will supply the expanded refining capacity on the US Great Lakes at Whiting, Indiana (British Petroleum) and Superior, Wisconsin (Murphy Oil).

It takes three gallons of water to produce a barrel of crude oil for export, with polluted wastewater to deal with in Canada, experts say.

Then it takes more water to refine that crude oil, and produces more waste that has to be dealt with by the refinery - - on the Great Lakes.

BP got permission from the State of Indiana to increase to three tons daily the amount of ammonia and solid pollutants it was permitted to introduce into Lake Michigan as a result of the tar sand refining increase, but bent to public pressure and announced it could treat the waste in ways other than putting into the lake.

Murphy Oil is still searching for an investment partner to finance the expansion at Superior, but will be confronted with similar waste-stream issues and public relations issues as was British Petroleum, especially if the State of Wisconsin approves a pollution permit that increase dumping into Lake Superior.

Some Canadians are making the linkages between their export and energy policies, climate change, water availability. and environmental protections.

And other Canadians want more action on their side of the border to preserve the Great Lakes, too.

Note this new poll data from Alberta.

We'll see if Wisconsin policy-makers and residents, when Lake Superior is at the heart of the question, are willing to demand the highest standards to protect the Great Lakes.

Walking To School Is Good For The Kids

"Back in my day, we walked five miles to school..."

You've heard that old saw, and it turns out that walking to school has advantages over the bus or the car.

Also reminds me of this posting about the growing suburban waistline.

Falling Great Lakes Levels = Falling Cargo Ship Loads

Falling lake levels are costing the shipping companies money and cargo by the ton.

In some cases, 6,000 tons of cargo per trip.

Yet there still has been no remedial action or agreement on a plan by the states or national governments involved.

Kids Can't Vote, Bush Will Veto Their Health Care

A bi-partisan Congressional measure extending health care to more US families and children - - a measure that is also supported in many states managed by Democrats and Republicans Governors - - will be vetoed by Pres. George W. Bush, he says.

Billions and billions of dollars a week for years paid out to military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan - - and even for universal US-paid health care in those countries, too - - but let's limit that kind of assistance back home.

Can't have too many healthy kids here in America.

Guiliani Phone Call Stunts Diminish The Electoral Process

The long, drawn-out Presidential campaign season hits a new low with what looks suspiciously like another staged telephone call 'interruption' to the candidate by Rudy Guiliani's wife.

Taking a cellphone call while making a speech?

Can you see President Guiliani doing that in front of the UN General Assembly?

Ringtone.

"Hi, honey. OK: I'll get a quart of milk on the way home. Carryout? Chinese? Sure. Be home by 7. Love you. Smootch/smootch/smootch."

Click.

"Now, back to the Darfur genocide..."

The candidates devalue the entire political process and our worth as voters with phony theater like that.

Bad enough Guiliani is busy doing pandering re-writes of his political history (the recent phone call came during a speech to the National Rifle Association, where the former Mayor of New York City who had supported tough gun controls now says 9/11 makes him a Born Again Gun Rights Guy).

The Washington Post suggests that the speech fell flat, and labels the telephone episode "an odd interlude."

The New York Times has its own take on the wierd moment.

Set your DVR's for Monday's Daily Show and Colbert Report.

To sum it up:

Maybe Guilaini failed to use Marriage #3 to charm away his fresh flip-flopping on Constitutional Amendment #2.

Public Relations Firm Clarifies BP's Plans For Lake Michigan

The public relations firm GolinHarris, on behalf of British Petroleum, has sent me clarifying information after reading an op-ed I wrote for The Capital Times about the recent uproar over a plan by BP's Whiting, IN refinery to add more so-called "suspended solids" and ammonia to Lake Michigan.

After the uproar (protests, petitions, a US House of Representatives resolution, pledges of boycotts, hostile local media and the like), BP said it would not use the expanded pollution permission granted to it by the State of Indiana.

Instead, BP said it would proceed with an expansion to the refinery's capacity refinery using waste treatment methods that did not include discharges to Lake Michigan.

I am surprised and disappointed that the good people at GolinHarris don't know the difference between a letter to the editor, and a column, but anyway...the entire e-text is below.

(NOTE: Even if the treated wastewater BP says its refinery produces is 99.9+% "ordinary water," I think I'll pass on a taste test.)

Email Text:

Subject:
"Oil Refinery Expansion Raises Lots of Questions"
Date:
Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:51:56 -0400
From:
"Dananay, Jason (CHI-GHI)" jdananay@golinharris.com

Dear James.

We have read with interest your letter to the editor entitled, “Oil Refinery Expansion Raises Lots of Questions,” which appeared in the September 10, 2007 edition of The Capital Times.

We would like to provide clarification on some details in your letter and provide you with additional information on the environmental efforts at BP’s Whiting Refinery.

In your letter to the editor, you stated, “An effort by British Petroleum Co. to expand its Great Lakes refinery in Whiting, Ind., on Lake Michigan led to widespread criticism and BP's retreat from its plan to increase water pollution from expanded refining of Canadian tar sand oil. BP said it would continue with the Indiana refining expansion, but treat the additional toxic wastes on site.”

BP’s Whiting Refinery does not and will not dump waste toxins into Lake Michigan . The water that BP returns to Lake Michigan is just that – water. It has been treated and is more than 99.9 percent ordinary water.

BP recognizes that it is a steward of the lake, and we are committed to meeting the growing energy needs of the community while minimizing the environmental impact of our operations.

We are balancing the challenge of meeting the increasing demand for energy with our environmental responsibilities - and we believe it is possible to achieve both goals.

BP is making investments in the U.S. to provide heat, light and mobility – all which are critical to sustaining the standard of living we have come to expect. For example, in addition to the refinery modernization, which will increase Whiting’s motor fuel production by as much as 620 million gallons per year, BP is investing billions of dollars in alternatives like solar, wind and biofuels.

In order to provide information on the Whiting refinery modernization to the media and the general public, we have developed a website on the project. We hope that you will access this site at http://whiting.bp.com/. You can also learn more about BP’s commitment to the environment by visiting http://www.bp.com/.

Best,

Jason Dananay

Jason Dananay
Account Supervisor
GolinHarris
111 E. Wacker Dr.
Chicago , IL 60601
t 312.729.4221
f 312.729.4027

Sykes Calls Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson "Race Pimps."

Why is it that right-wing talk show hosts have to get into the gutter when they object to African-American leaders' activities?

Charlie Sykes is outraged about the "Jena 6" protests.

Fine.

Object.

But is it necessary to sound like Don Imus, and call Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton "race pimps," as Sykes just did finishing his 10 AM segment today on 620 WTMJ-AM?

Lazich Hints At Litigation To Blow Up Great Lakes Cooperation

This blog has posted numerous items about the efforts of State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) to undermine the Great Lakes Compact.

And this blog has also pointed out several times that Lazich's obstruction of legislation in Wisconsin to implement the Compact is counter-productive to the effort that her home community of New Berlin is making to obtain Lake Michigan water.

The current Shepherd-Express goes over this ground again, but Lazich uses her exposure in the Milwaukee weekly to drop a bombshell: that New Berlin might go to court to try and wipe out the federal law that currently governs diversions of Great Lakes water.

It's not clear just what Lazich means by "New Berlin," since Jack Chiovatero, New Berlin's Mayor, supports the Compact, recognizing that it is the fastest route to a deal for Lake Michigan water.

And he has expressed frustration with Lazich's anti-Compact position - - one that is shared by powerful business interests, including the Metropolitan Builders Association and the Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce.

But going to court to knock out the federal law is regarded as the nuclear option in the Great Lakes region, the ultimate act of regional uncooperation.

That's because, if successful, the Great Lakes - - all five of them that touch eight states and two Canadian provinces, and that contain 20% of the world's fresh surface waters - - would be left without any protection against wholesale, whimsical, unjustifiable and flat-out greedy withdrawals of water.

And without any conservation planning or requirements that equal amounts of water taken from the Great Lakes be returned to sustain this vast, two-nation ecosystem.

The Great Lakes Compact would have installed a series of rules and procedures for New Berlin to obtain Lake Michigan water that are easier to meet than what is contained in the federal law.

If Lazich truly represented the public interest, she'd have been a leader in getting the Compact adopted.

Instead, she a) helped insure that no bill is moving forward in the Legislature to accomplish that, and b) is talking about wiping out the remaining law which the Compact, in coordination with the federal law, would help make diversion procedures more reasonable.

All to help sustain the Great Lakes. They're the only ones on the planet, and they are held in trust for all the people of all the states and provinces, making stewardship of this resource a shared responsibility.

There has been a spate of stories in recent weeks about damage that the US Corps of Engineers has done through dredging in a key Great Lakes tributary that appears linked to huge water losses daily from the lakes into the Atlantic Ocean.

Congress, the Canadians, and many organizations are marshaling resources to try and pinpoint and repair the damage so that water levels in the Great Lakes can be stabilized.

Imagine if all that political, scientific and engineering work were to finally get launched - - only to have one State Senator from New Berlin, Wisconsin help to blow open a bigger hole in the Great Lakes.

Look back to Wisconsin's conservation history. You'd have the Aldo Leopold Legacy - - defining for the state and country what a land ethic really is.

Then you've got former Governor and US Senator Gaylord Nelson's Legacy - - Earth Day, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, preservaton of the Apostle Islands, and more.

Then you could have the Lazich Legacy - - leadership to litigate, then lower the water levels, in the former Great Lakes.

Milwaukee: Minor League Traffic, Major League Expense-ways: Guest Post

I'm pleased to post this guest essay by Steve Filmanowicz, a former Milwaukee journalist, and now Communications Director at the Congress for the New Urbanism - - CNU, the Chicago urban design organization run by former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist (for whom Steve and I both worked).

By Steve Filmanowicz

What would it take for Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and other state leaders — many of whom are at loggerheads over how to pass a state budget that doesn't raise taxes — to question the need to spend a mind-boggling $6 billion dollars expanding and "enhancing" Southeast Wisconsin's freeway system?

How about the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and top radio talker Charlie Sykes, both of whom pride themselves on their roles in protecting the taxpayers from wasteful government spending?

Well, what if the nation's most authoritative traffic study ranked congestion in Milwaukee 48th among US metro areas — way, way behind gridlock capitals such as Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas, behind even out-of-the-way locales such as Birmingham, AL and Colorado Springs?

If that were the case, surely the stewards and watchdogs of taxpayer dollars would call for rethinking, scaling back and "value engineering" this colossal public works project. After all, if freeways and major roads in Milwaukee are in or heading towards a crisis, government should by all means step in and fix them.

But if congestion here is already strictly minor league — on a par with Omaha, where the smell wafting from livestock trucks is often a bigger concern than commuting delays — why tax people to the tune of $1,100 per Wisconsin resident to supersize our freeway system?

Why not check the facts first?

The Texas Transportation Institute just issued the latest update of that authoritative study, the 2007 Urban Mobility Report, and it indeed confirms that Milwaukee is already one of the nation's leading traffic success stories — even with its supposedly inadequate 1970s-era highway system.

Even before spending a dime on the $6 billion enhancement/expansion plan.

In fact, the ranking quoted above is from the previous TTI mobility report, published in 2005. The 2007 report ranks Milwaukee even better -- 59th in hours of delay per rush-hour traveler for the most recent year measured (2005). Delays are now worse in Allentown-Bethlehem, PA than in Milwaukee despite what Billy Joel had to say about "closing all the factories down."

And despite what you've been taught to fear about highways being on the verge of filling up, the TTI (a highway-friendly organization, by the way) reports that the actual delays experienced by Milwaukee area travelers have been declining.

In 1995, it was 22 hours per traveler. In 2000, it was 20 hours. And in 2005, it was 19. (This was all before major work began on the Marquette Interchange project, which influenced delays but far, far less than expected.)

At 19 hours of delay per peak-period traveler, Milwaukee is now on par with Tulsa and New Haven, CN.

But hey, if we spend $6 billion more, could we go lower?

For comparison purposes, two metro areas in our population group with lots more highways (and stronger economies), Minneapolis and San Diego, have double and triple the hours of delay per peak traveler and these numbers have generally been growing.

The average Detroit rush-hour traveler experiences 54 hours of delay, despite the region's declining economy and abundance of freeways.

Interestingly, Milwaukee actually subtracted from its highway system slightly -- replacing the .8 mile Park East Freeway with a boulevard and lift bridge -- and saw overall congestion drop.

Whatever measures are used, the 2007 Urban Mobility Report paints a consistently uncongested picture of Milwaukee area traffic. The length of the "rush hour" here was 5.6 hours in the latest year measured (2005), down from 6.2 hours in 2000. The share of congested "lane miles" of highways and principal arterials fell to 25% from 31% in 2000.

Read the report for yourself (http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/report) and you'll see that there's next to nothing in it that suggests traffic is a major issue in Milwaukee. In fact, the TTI gives Milwaukee its lowest possible congestion scores (L- and S-), concluding that the region has "much lower" than average congestion and "much slower" than average congestion growth.

Despite being prepared by the top traffic experts in the country, these conclusions differ rather sharply from what was presented to Milwaukeeans by the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) when it debuted its highway plan calling for adding lanes to pretty much every stretch of interstate in Southeast Wisconsin.

The powerpoint presentation SEWRPC used at public hearings is still available on its website and has graphs showing more freeway miles subject to "bumper-to-bumper" traffic (through 1999) and maps showing more and more stretches subject to "extreme" congestion (also through 1999).

SEWRPC typically explains that it takes the long view. Economic fluctuations affect traffic in the short-term. But a check of the TTI archives shows that traffic in Milwaukee has been improving relative to other metro areas for decades.

Milwaukee's ranking in delay per traveler hovered around 40 for much of the 1980s, hit 39 in 1999 and has been heading down towards 59 since then.

SEWRPC has also noted that our aging system needs to rebuilt in some form, so shouldn't it be "modernized" — meaning not just reducing areas of weaving and other obvious problems but broadening existing lanes, lengthening ramps and straightening out curves in order to keep speeds up?

And since we're making room for this footprint-swelling and budget-swelling modernization anyway, why not go the extra mile and add lanes to all of Milwaukee's major highways?

SEWRPC answers these questions without regard for how its plans are funded, creating a bias toward overbuilding, toward paving for a rainy day. The current plan was actually unfunded at the time of its adoption and Governor Doyle has chosen to follow blithely along, stretching the state budget to accommodate it

As a result, we have the Escalade of Cadillac highway plans — the newest and biggest that money can buy. Apologists for freeway overbuilding typically accuse urbanists of wanting to worsen traffic in a vain attempt to force people to live close to the city, but that argument simply doesn't apply here.

Traffic on Milwaukee's major routes is currently at levels that other metro areas would kill for, yet expansion supporters call for spending billions to make it even easier to drive ever longer distances.

As hard as this strategy is to justify today given our Tulsa-sized traffic, it gets even harder when you consider, as Jim Rowen did recently on this blog, that SEWRPC based its future traffic projections on a future with $2.30 per-gallon gasoline. Tight gas supplies and growing global demand will have the power to make these cheap-gas projections look embarrassingly shortsighted.

The decision over how much taxpayer money to plow into freeways — a decision that has admittedly already been made, just without the thorough public review of costs and benefits it deserved — comes down to priorities.

In a region like Milwaukee that is struggling for its economic life in a highly competitive world economy, tax dollars and other economic resources are precious.

If instead of the Escalade highway plan, Governor Doyle were to give Southeast Wisconsin the Camry plan or even the green Prius plan featuring enhanced transit, the couple of billion dollars or so in savings could go to an array of strategically beneficial uses — fixing structurally deficient bridges, making Wisconsin a leader in science and math education from the elementary through university level, or just keeping more money in taxpayers' pockets so they can put it to work themselves.

Or we can build the ultimate highway system and move a few more notches down the congestion list.

After all, we still have Akron and Buffalo to catch.

--30--

County Pension Scandal Reporting Produces An Investigation

Credit Journal Sentinel reporter Dave Umhoefer and his bosses at the paper for having laid out more facts and timelines in the County's continuing pension scandals - - the first, precipitous mess during the recalled Ament administration, and the newer mess that has taken place on Scott Walker's watch - - and forcing a potentially consequential investigation.

I suspect people in media, county government and prosecutors offices will be paying close attention.

Good Media About Midwest Environmental Advocates

Milwaukee's Small Business Times takes notice of the expansion of Midwest Environmental Advocates into the state's largest city.

The business publication has an aggressive online edition, biztimesdaily, a must-read-solid-adjunct to the paper's hard-copy editions..

Climate Change, Global Warming, Arctic Melting.

The New York Times again reports on the stunning melt-off of Arctic Ice - - but there seems to be little appetite for these stories in other mainstream media, other than by NBC Nightly News/MSNBC and its spectacular videos and photographs from a recent reporting visit to Greenland.

(Click on the photographs to advance to the next one. And access an additional set of videos, maps and displays posted by MSNBC, here.)

I suspect that in the years ahead, we will have to answer to our children and grandchildren about what we were doing when we had the chance to leave them with a planet in better shape - - and were too busy with our indifference.

The Road To Sprawlville, Chapter IV, Rolls Through Waukesha County's "Cow Corner"

This latest installment of "The Road to Sprawlville" takes us through a central Waukesha County highway intersection known colloquially and accurately as "Cow Corner."

It is to this spot that the Village of Wales (pop. 2,655) has decided to expand a tax increment financing district and use public funds for a sewer extension - - proving again that sewers bring development to exurban and rural America these days as rail lines spread the economy in an earlier era.

The sewer project will facilitate the construction of some commercial buildings, a coffee shop, and a Walgreen's.

That's an upgrade, I suppose, for the highway crossroads that is within walking distance of Kettle Moraine High School and LeDuc's, the locals' excellent frozen custard stand.

Highway 83 is a north-south route, while Highway 18 runs from the west through working farms and new subdivisions all the way east to the City of Waukesha, six miles away.

The highway intersection now boasts a gas station, a supermarket and a drive-in bank; subdivisions and silos share the nearby landscape, as development has carved deeply into the hilly Kettle Moraine and brought heavy traffic to the area.

And sure enough, on the northwest corner of the intersection on a recent afternoon, a half-dozen or so cows and calves were taking it easy at the edge of their ten acres, in a thunderstorm.

The scene was a reminder that Waukesha County had and still has a agricultural component - - though developers and municipalities, in a mutual money-making pact, are converting every agricultural acre they can find to add home inventories, businesses and tax base onto their respective books.

That's been the classic development formula, certainly since the end of World War II - - pushing people and traffic further from existing communities and business districts.

But there are bumps these days along The Road to Sprawlville, where the TIF that Wales is expanding literally through a piece of cow country was created to help launch a major condo development - - a project that has been on hold for a year because the housing market is in the tank.

Maybe the recent cut in interest rates will loosen up the frozen home-building and selling market.

But you've got to think that empty-nesters who might have downsized to a Wales village condo or a unit in downtown Waukesha may stay in the old family homestead if it selling taking a nasty loss into an ugly, down market.

And first-time home buyers, with tighter money and credit in their pockets, may also stay out of the new housing market, too - - continuing to shrink the demand for homes in Waukesha County corn fields or cow pastures that come with an hour-long commutes to city jobs, with gas around $3 a gallon.

All of which could leave the Village of Wales and its property taxpayers holding a TIF District on its books with insufficient development and tax payments to support it.

For the record, earlier posts in my occasional series about Sprawlville, are here, (on the road to Ft. Atkinson), here (in Dousman), and here (somewhat of a detour - - on the $25 million "diamond-design" I-94 interchange planned to service the planned upscale shopping mall at Pabst Farms, Sprawlville's Capital City).

Looks Like This Internets Thing Is Catching On

So NBC will offer direct program downloads to consumers who want to watch shows on demand and on a device that is not your traditional TV.

The service will be free for a while, but then will cost money, the way music downloads are on a paid basis.

All in all, the NBC move is more evidence that the media world is changing rapidly, with Internet alternatives supplementing traditional newspapers and entertainment programming

Supplementing, not replacing.

Not yet.

National Conservation Leaders Praise MMSD: Right-Wing Radio And Blogs To Go Nuts

The Conservation Fund, Eastman Kodak and the National Geographic Society are giving the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District an award for conservation measures, specifically its program to acquire 1,400 acres of open land to absorb storm runoff and improve water quality.

This is more evidence that despite what you might hear on talk radio, the MMSD is actively helping to improve the environment, and is a net asset in the community.

And leading national conservationists - - middle-of-the-road, establishment types - - are agreeing.

I can just hear inveterate MMSD-basher Mark Belling now;

"Dam* you, National Geographic! And your commie pals at The Conservation Fund, with its NASCAR tie-in!"

More Evidence Of Global Warming - - Will Right-Wingers Chuckle At Its "Irony?"

A few days ago I called out a local righty blogger for his know-nothing superficiality when it came to climate change.

Chalking it all up to his sense of humor, the self-described musing conservative had managed to find something he called "irony" in a weather situation, ignoring the big picture with a blog posting he called "Thank God For Global Warming."

That is so funny.

I know it's wrong of me to drive up the hit count at silly sites like that, but it's always good to understand the people who are standing in the way of knowledge.

You have to wonder what these residents of the right fringes of the Lesser Blogosphere actually think when they see the evidence of genuine climate change, like the meltoff of Greenland?

More irony (sic)? Some more laughs?

Murphy Oil Expansion In Superior, WI, Hits Major Blog

The proposed Murphy Oil expansion at its Lake Superior refinery has landed on treehugger, a international political and environmental blog.

Spread the word.

More On Milwaukee Talk Radio - - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Paul Soglin stirred up the hornets when he found Milwaukee's relentless AM rightwing talk radio a net negative for the region.

As I pointed out in a blog response, there are alternatives, even on the AM dial, such as WMCS 1290.

Wednesday morning, when I was the way home from the airport, I went up and down the AM dial and found my analysis comparing the rightists on 620 (Charlie Sykes) and 1130 (Jay Weber) to the reasonable entertainers on 1290 (Joel McNally and Cassandra Cassandra in the mornings) to have been prescient, maybe even brilliant.

(There's a little joke in there, for you talk radio devotees, but for those of you who are not regular listeners, the righty hosts often describe themselves with Limbaughlic/hyperbolic praise.)

Charlie was discussing an incident at a suburban high school football game, where a coach shoved a player, maybe justifiably, maybe not. The only reason it was being discussed as 'news' at all is because it was caught on video.

No video, no story. While the incident has some local currency, Charlie and some of his callers fell into that right-wing radio trap where everything suddenly has huge social import, and everything has a political context - - in this case, was it right for the parents of the shoved child to bring in the government by asking the authorities to press charges.

Yawn.

(Wednesday night update: It appears as if there will be no charges, and without a legal case to keep this synthetic story alive, maybe it will go away and local media will stop treating it as if Lindsay Lohan had been involved.)

While Charlie was blowing up this trivial episode into a major cultural brouhaha, Jay Weber was droning on about whether Fred Thompson was being unfairly criticized by Dick Morris, the oddball gadfly pundit.

There's another rightwing talk radio flaw, right there: discussing in great detail every stray thought or intellectual burp by or about a Republican. Talk radio inhabits a one-party world, except when one of the Clintons can be dragged in as a straw man/woman.

More yawning.

Then I went up the dial farther to WMCS, and there was Joel interviewing Prince Fielder. Live by phone from Houston. And at some length.

This is when talk radio is at its best: Finding something that the community is indeed talking about - - in this case, the Milwaukee Brewers' pennant run and best baseball in these parts for a quarter-century - - and letting the guest actually talk.

So much talk radio is all about the host. They will cut people off, and forcibly direct the 'discussion' with the admonition to a caller: "It's my show."

Which it is, of course, but to what end?

Joel knows his baseball: I've sat with him at many a game and I know he could talk at length about it.

But he wisely let Prince Fielder speak uninterrupted about playoff baseball, which allowed Prince to talk about the players in post-season games he watched when he was kid, and about the minor league championships he and his teammates and coaches went through just a few years ago.

So you got hear it directly from the expert, who happens to be a national fan favorite. You got a real sense of who Prince Fielder is, how he thinks at the plate, and in the clubhouse.

The interview was professional. The program sounded like fun. It wasn't forced, or about some irrelevant political subject.

So call Joel and Cassandra and their morning show radio relief pitching, 6-10 AM mornings, on WMCS 1290 AM.

And Eric Von's 2-6 PM afternoon show, too, where I have failed lately to show up as a Thursday "Backstory" media roundtable guest.

Corn, Corn, Everywhere? But For How Long?

Farmers in the Midwest are enjoying a great corn harvest, they tell the Daily Reporter, feeding the ethanol boom, rising food prices and farm prosperity, too.

Not that I'm a glass-empty person, but you have to wonder where this is all headed, given that boom-and-bust has been seen in rural America before, and that even with sufficient rainfall, corn-growing and ethanol-making requires a lot of water and energy as inputs.

Population Trends Do Not Favor Northern and Central Wisconsin

Check out the national county map from the Daily Yonder. All sorts of implications for Northern and Central Wisconsin, and along the Mississippi River, too.

Such as what's happening with those counties' work forces, school budgets, land values and public revenues - - both incoming and outgoing - - and a host of other demographic and public policy questions factors that are important far beyond the specific counties borders.

Environmental Law Firm Expands To Milwaukee

Support for environmental issues in Wisconsin and Milwaukee just got stronger, as Midwest Environmental Advocates, (MEA) a public interest law firm founded in Madison, announced its expansion into Milwaukee.

MEA has played a leading role in a number of high-profile environmental issues statewide; its presence in Milwaukee meets a real need.

So welcome to Milwaukee, Melissa Scanlan, MEA's founder and former executive director, and best wishes also to Karen Schapiro, who replaces Scanlan as head of the Madison operation.