Great Lakes Environmental Leader Makes Good Use Of A Blog

Cameron Davis, executive director of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, is the guest blogger this week on the Madison-based Biodiversity Project's Great Lakes Town Hall blog.

That's a good sign: some environmental groups have been slow to graft blogs onto their other web activities, even though younger people are routinely choosing blogs as news and information sources, and traditional print media continues its slow decline.

(Twenty-two recently-announced buyout resignations from the Journal Sentinel newsroom are part of an industry trend, as is major papers' emphasis on internet operations.)

Groups that can't get around to a blogging operation are missing opportunities for fund-raising, membership solicitation, grassroots organizing, genuine interaction with page viewers, added clout with opinion-makers, and an everyday, higher and more effective profile.

I've helped some folks get started, and am always available, right here.

Senate Completes Override Of Water Bill Veto

First the House, now the Senate, so Americans will get cleaner water.

The Congress recognized that saving wetlands, restoring the Everglades, repairing water and sewage systems nationally is good public policy.

Pres. George W. Bush, a lavish spender during his first six+ years in office, thought he could galvanize the conservative base with a rare appropriations bill veto, forgetting that conservatives like clean drinking water, too.

Scott Jensen Deserves A Fair Trial

There's really nothing else to say. There's no need or value to opining politically on the Appeal Court ruling. We want laws applied equally, reasonably and correctly. When they are not, we want higher courts to step in and do exactly what was done in this case.

Jury instructions are crucial to proceedings. They have to be done right.

Period.

Michigan Activists Organizing To Protect The Great Lakes

The entire state of Michigan is inside the Great Lakes basin, the only such state, so prevention of Great Lakes water loss has always been a top priority there.

Grassroots pressure is building in Michigan for the adoption of a strong version of the pending Great Lakes Compact: Wisconsin is not yet on board, but may be edging there.

Judge Orders UW To Follow Power Plant Law

Wisconsin's disgraceful plummet from the summit of environmentalism may have hit rock bottom Wednesday and bounced a bit off the deck when a federal judge ordered the UW and state to bring the downtown campus Charter St. power plant into compliance with federal clean air law.

That had been violated for years: more details here.

What an embarrassment, that our sifting and winnowing and regulating officials decided they didn't need to follow the law.

And what gratitude is owed the Sierra Club for dragging the plant's operators into court so that they stop polluting Dane County's air and water.

This blog reported on the Charter St. violations several times a few months ago. One example is here.

Detailed Report On The State of Lake Superior

Something of a primer, and worth bookmarking or keeping otherwise, about Lake Superior, from the Ashland Daily Press.

Wisconsin Needs A Great Lakes Champion

That's the way I see it on today's Capital Times op-ed page.

Milwaukee Gains Estimated Population, Estimate Still Underestimated

It's good that the US Census Bureau has added 30,000 residents to Milwaukee's officially-estimated population - - but these estimates are notoriously low, so Milwaukee probably has another 20,000 or 30,000 residents to be found and counted in the 2010 census.

I know this from personal experience: during the 2000 census, as Deputy Director of Administration for the City of Milwaukee, I was fortunate to be the city's liaison to the official federal count and the city's contracted supplemental effort to find people that the census-takers routinely overlook.

Milwaukee's history is that the official estimates come in low, then the official count is completed, and the count exceeds the most recent estimate by about 30,000 people.

The official census takers are hard-working people, but often were from out-of-state and not completely motivated to canvass neighborhoods and housing units as completely as possible.

Federal estimating methodology, at least in 2000, was archaic and inflexible, and canvassers had inadequate technology in the field.

The city's supplemental efforts, particularly in immigrant communities paid off, and aggressive municipalities do better in this arena than do the passive: appealing existing estimates is a good strategy, and I am sure the city will again spend the dollars it needs, prior to and during the 2010 census, to assist the local federal count.

Congressional representation, federal funds, fair play and an accurate assessment of ourselves as a community lie in the balance.

Mary Lazich, New Berlin Citizens Group, Learn DNR Secretary's Name

The New Berlin chapter of Citizens for Responsible Government enlisted State Sen. Mary Lazich to find out just why the Wisconsin DNR secretary was not responding to an important letter from the New Berlin Common Council.

You know how government bureaucracies are, especially that DNR...dragging its feet, dissing the citizenry...so CRG got Sen. Lazich on the case, and she found out why.

Turns out the letter had been sent to one John Welcher, who is not the DNR secretary.

The CRG in New Berlin has decided to put all this on a blog, here.

Here is the key paragraph, and no, I am not making this up:

"Mary Lazich was informed on November 5, 2007 that Mr Welcher was NOT the Secretary of the DNR. The letter was not forwarded to the secretary in any case. At the present time the letter has not been located."

For the record, the DNR secretary is Matt Frank. The DNR website list no employee named John Welcher.

Thinking Big, Green and Pro-Growth In Chicago

Mayor Richard Daley and the city's business leadership are collaborating on a multi-billion program to further green the city, save energy and transform the city's appearance and transportation system, according to the lead story in Tuesday's Chicago Tribune.

A few key paragraphs:

"The idea is to coordinate large government outlays with private investment and reduce total annual emissions of carbon dioxide -- the key greenhouse gas -- 25 percent from 1990 levels, according to interviews and planning documents for the "Chicago Climate Action Plan," obtained by the Tribune.

"To achieve those goals, though, the plan would require an investment of $2.7 billion in transportation improvements at a time when the CTA has repeatedly floated "doomsday" budget-cut scenarios. The planning also takes place against the backdrop of city and county tax increases, and Daley's own record of falling short on prior efforts to help Chicago go "green.

"The plan also includes a proposal to coax owners of existing homes to spend a total of $1.65 billion through 2010 in a push to reduce their energy consumption 30 percent. To do that, the city would provide programs aimed at reducing homeowners' out-of-pocket expenses, said Sadhu Johnston, Daley's deputy chief of staff and co-chairman of the mayoral task force."

Compare that to what is happening here: some modest environmental planning, with progress in both Milwaukee and Waukesha's downtowns, but when it comes to a big picture, including transit, even for discussion purposes: virtually nothing.

Here there is political gridlock on transit expansion and a suburban-led love affair with sprawl that is fed by talk radio and suburban fear. And is further reinforced by a highway-expansion mentality at the regional planning commission that is fomenting a $6.5 billion freeway plan, even as existing transit withers.

All based on saving commuters a few minutes with their daily commutes, relying on driving predictions pegged to gasoline at an outdated price $2.30 a gallon, without an iota of concern for what our addiction to driving is doing to the planet and our economy.

Worse, the political and business leadership in the region continues to press for more suburban growth at the expense of urban areas, further distancing themselves from contemporary planning and design, such as the Chicago model, which recognizes that a city is the center of the northern Illinois economy.

Even reduced to scale, what the movers and shakers are discussing and planning for Chicago isn't happening in this region and state on any significant level.

Could happen, should happen, but won't, without a commitment to big ideas, real change, risk-taking, and genuine private sector leadership that is aimed at growing the city and not just water-and-auto-dependent suburbs.

Save Trees! Reduce Recycling!! Cancel Those Catalogues!!!

With a simple registration, you can cancel catalogue deliveries to your address using this website.

And as the catalogues come poring into the mailbox during the holiday overspending season, you can go the website and cancel new or unexpected catalogues on the spot.

A hat tip to Dan from New York for this most excellent link.

Congress Finally Asserting Itself: Halfway To Crucial Water Bill Veto Override

When the Senate does the same Wednesday, Congress will have succeeded in funding a national water systems' improvement spending package and overridden a thoughtless presidential veto at the same time.

Imagine if the Congress had enough backbone to take charge of the war in Iraq or through any number of bills to restablish Constitutional government in the country?

Smoking Ban Debate Hits Conservative Blog

James Widgerson lets his readers huff and puff about the cigarette tax increase.

It all began on the blog The Other Side Of My Mouth, which looked at so-called smoker's rights. An excellent post, by the way.

Alot of the debate there on Widgerson's site is choked in ideology, and avoids the health side of the issue, which should be the major focus.

Government regulates hundreds of toxic substances, from lead in gasoline to pesticides in food - - on behalf of the public interest.

Tobacco is a proven killer and its effects waft on to non-smokers, passersby, and so forth.

If it were up to me, I'd keep raising the tax because studies show it deters younger would-be smokers, and that's a good thing all around.

And I'd ban smoking in any public place or around minors.

If people want to smoke, they can do it in the privacy of their own space.

Urbanist James Kuntsler Invoked in Superior, WI

Seems like Superior needs a dose of New Urbanism, according to one local preservationist there.

Or at least some planning with some soul and a sense of place - - things Kuntsler preaches about.

Expanding the size six-fold of the Murphy Oil refinery there sounds like another step away from honoring that city's unique, lakefront qualities.

'Balanced Transportation:' The Same Old Same Old.

Balanced Transportation: You want the details?

Gretchen Schuldt and storyhill.net tell you all you need to know about state transportation plans in the 2007-09 budget that the legislature completed and sent to Gov. Jim Doyle for a signature.

Significant for Milwaukee is a two-year prohibition against expanding I-94 over the national veterans cemetery on the south side of the interstate just west of Miller Park.

The transportation department, as part of the regional planning commission's $6.5 billion freeway reconstruction and expansion proposal, would like to build elevated lanes between Miller Park and the Story Hill neighborhood, where several cemeteries, including Wood National, are hard by the interstate.

The budget also ramps up spending on two more pieces of the I-94 corridor when the Marquette Interchange project is finished in 2008.

This includes money to begin the south segment from the airport to the state line, and also to fast-track reconstruction, lane and ramp expansion in the Zoo Interchange near the Milwaukee/Waukesha County line, where I-894 and State Highway 45 connect with I-94.

Demands to include planning for the Zoo Interchange while the southern leg nearer the Illinois border were included in the budget as a sop to Republican legislators, whose constituents are being sold on the idea that all this freeway reconstruction and expansion will actually knock off about four minutes from their daily commutes to Milwaukee.

WisDOT's website cautions, of course, that no decisions have been made about the design and other elements of the Zoo Interchange project, reminding me of former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist's observation that there were only two phases to Wisconsin highway projects.

"Too early to know" was phase one.

"Too late to do anything about it" was phase two.

All in all, the highway lobby made out like a bandit in the state budget, while transit got crumbs - - bringing to mind another Norquist observation about 'balanced' transportation policy in Wisconsin.

"Balanced transportation in Wisconsin," he said, "is half concrete, half asphalt."

MSNBC Ratings Climb With Liberal Tilt

MSNBC has been smart to feature the witty and outspoken Keith Olbermann, and adding more liberal commentary would be welcome.

Details here.

And if the moves include dumping Tucker Carlson - - great. He can move over to Fox where he belongs.

As to Rosie O'Donnell: I don't know...isn't there an alternative?

Some Good News About the Iraq War: Xoff Is Organizing Against It

US Marine Corps veteran Bill Christofferson, the blogger known as Xoff, is bringing his storied political energies to the movement to end the War in Iraq.

Details on his blog.

Get involved, or send a check, or both.

Downtown Milwaukee's Renaissance - - As Seen From A Canoe

John Gurda brings a fresh perspective to his ongoing Milwaukee chronicles, tracing the downtown and riverfront's history on a downtown canoe trip.

Worth a read.

Comment Moderation, Problems On This Blog

I was out of town and off-line for a few days, so I turned off the comment moderation function as a service to readers. Big mistake, as spammers got comments posted.

I have deleted these, and have turned the moderation function back on. Not much choice.

In that process I inadvertently deleted a comment this morning from someone posting as Dan Collins. I have copied it out and posted it where it was intended - - in the "LA Times..." posting: You are free if you would like to resend it.

Over and out.

Interchange On Hold. Maybe The Same For Defining "Upscale," or "Regional."

Until there is a firm deal for an upscale mall, no I-94 interchange will be built to its site at Pabst Farms, in Western Waukesha County.

This is the latest pledge from the powers that be - - the county, the state and Pabst Farms' owners - - in the wake of the first mall upscale mall developer's withdrawal from the project.

Here are the key paragraphs from the Journal Sentinel story linked above, which begs the question: just what is a "high-quality regional shopping mall." or do you merely know one when you see it?

"Funding for the interchange is contingent on development of a large, high-quality regional shopping mall.

"Retail industry insiders have speculated that Pabst Farms and local officials might have to scale back their vision for a grand shopping mall at Pabst Farms and settle for a cluster of so-called big-box stores - huge, free-standing buildings, each with its own massive parking lot, such as a Wal-Mart.

"But Mayor Maury Sullivan has said the city will not allow big-box stores to replace the mall. And Allison Bussler, chief of staff to Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas, said a big-box development would not meet the county's criteria for release of its funds for the interchange project.

"'Certainly, there won't be county funds if that's the proposal," Bussler said."

But let's not get too giddy assuming that either grassroots' environmentalism and conservative spending had reasserted themselves to slow up the interchange 'schedule', since:

• The interchange proposal got sketched into the road design in record time for government action when the mall developer and county officials noticed that there was no I-94 access to the former farm's mall property- - a testament to bad planning in a so-called planned community, on land that the regional planning commission just down the road had recommended be retained as prime ag property, in a region of smaller towns with established business districts. Some had called all this planning.
• Nearly all the $25 million to pay for the interchange, more than 90% state-funded, was 'found' in existing budgets, then moved around administratively like Monopoly money. Some swore that was actually called budgeting.
• There is no transit connection to Pabst Farms, not even to the City of Waukesha. No one calls that balanced transportation - - but so far, except for 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, no one has suggested running transit, even rail lines, to and from Pabst Farms. Somehow that defeats the upscale definition of the entire project out there.
• Two new subdivisions at Pabst Farms are on hold due to the downturn in the housing market. With one upscale mall development abandoned, is a smaller mall, or a cluster of department stores or big-box stores surrounded with the requisite acres of parking how the site might get developed? We'll see what gets labeled acceptably as interchange-worthy - - $25 million bucks worth?

I suspect that the announcement about the perhaps delayed interchange - - and I say perhaps because we all know that the state transportation department is just itching to get that far western segment of I-94's future expansion jump-started - - is as much PR as it is economics.

After all, Waukesha County is tax-rebellion country: spending tax money to serve one special interest, upscale or not, might not be how the good folks over at Citizens for Responsible Government want their gas and property revenues used.

2008 is an election year for the locals: how tightly tied to "upscale" and "private" do they really want their campaigns to appear?

So don't be surprised if the next plan for that mall site gets labeled "upscale," or "regional," even if it's just a gussied up Wal-Mart or Home Depot, or a collection of undistinguished buildings that ain't much more than what we used to call a shopping center, or just "the mall."

The LA Times Captures The Heart Of The Great Lakes Water Wars

The bellwether event for diverting Great Lakes water from the boundaries of its basin looks like Waukesha, WI, according to the Los Angeles Times.

That's what Wisconsin activists, and this blog, have been saying repeatedly: if a community like Waukesha is allowed to divert water outside of the Great Lakes basin - - in contravention of the standards in the pending Great Lakes Compact or existing federal law (the US Water Resources Development Act) - - the door opens wide to farther-away communities and the US south and southwest.

This is the reason that a Wisconsin elected official like State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) wants to bottle up the Compact by sending it into additional negotiations - - stalling reduces the legal protections against ill-conceived diversions, something Lazich shortsightedly thinks helps her constituents - - even though in the longer run it could cost New Berlin and all of the Great Lakes region its vital water supplies.

The Great Lakes region, long dissed as the rust belt, is on the verge of a waterborne renaissance. Industry and residents are poised to locate close to the Great Lakes, where water is in ample supply - - if it is managed conserved, respected and stewarded effectively.

Waukesha has sent mixed signals when it comes to whether a diversion application would include returning water - - a requirement in the pending Compact, and without it, likely grounds for rejection under the Compact and existing federal law.

In 2006, Waukesha twice confidentially asked Gov. Jim Doyle to grant it diversions of Lake Michigan water without the consent of the other Great Lakes states and without a return flow requirement.

Gov. Doyle did not approve the requests and the Attorney General later that year said the state could not grant any diversion requests from Wisconsin communities that did not pass muster under the pending Compact and existing federal law.

In recent statements, Waukesha officials have said the city would return diverted water to the Lake Michigan basin - - but where and how (is the Root River route acceptable to Racine and other downstream communities?) are unanswered questions. Waukesha has also indicated that the return of water might be only a partial practice, as Waukesha wants to retain its treatment facility that now empties into the Fox River and helps keep the Vernon Marsh wet.

Whether partial return flow would meet the Compact's standards, and win approvals from the other states as required by both the Compact and federal law, is iffy at best.

And the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District would have to give its blessing to any return flow scheme that added to its capacity downstream from Waukesha.

Some discussion of these issues appears in the comment section of a related blog item, here, initiated by "Bill."

All the more reason that Wisconsin needs to get busy with adoption of a strong Great Lakes Compact implementing bill that lays out conservation requirements and other actions that make diversions genuine exceptions, not matters of sprawl-accelerating convenience in Waukesha County or anywhere in southeastern Wisconsin.

Photo Gallery Of Endangered Species Due To Climate Change

Powerful images. Make sure you click through all eleven photos.

Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers Supports Strong Great Lakes Compact

Another Wisconsin organization, Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, has reiterated its support for the adoption of a strong version of the Great Lakes Compact, according to Lynn Broaddus, the group's executive director.

Public officials across the state Tuesday held news conferences in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Bayfield to again urge the legislature to adopt a bill to implement the historic, eight-state, two-Canadian province agreement.

The Compact, crucial in an era of rising temperatures and depleted water supplies, including falling levels in the Great Lakes, would require effective conservation measures and public input prior to any diversion of water from the boundaries of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior or the other three Great Lakes' basins.

Illinois and Minnesota have already ratified the Compact. All eight Great Lakes states must do the same, along with the US Congress, before its protections for the Great Lakes take effect.

Wisconsin is the only state without a bill approved or pending.

Wisconsin Water Experts Rip Sen. Lazich Position On Great Lakes Compact

Midwest Environmental Advocates, a Wisconsin public interest law firm with water experts on its staff, strongly criticized State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) for continuing to oppose Wisconsin's adoption of the Great Lakes Compact.

Lazich is pursuing a strategy to delay Wisconsin's adoption of the Compact: details and her position are here.

Lazich said again on Thursday that she wants the Compact renegotiated - - an unlikely path - - because it has been approved by Illinois and Minnesota, was five years in the crafting and has been under discussion by state legislatures across the Great Lakes region since December, 2005.

Bush Vetoes National Water Projects Bill

Continuing his effort to drive down his approval rate to 0%, and push the GOP to permanent minority status, Pres. George W. Bush today vetoed national spending on water system improvements, including flood control and wetlands restoration.

Maybe the Congress can't override his veto of expanded child health insurance, but look for the water projects veto to be overridden.

Even Republicans legislators need improvements in their drinking water, sewage treatment and flood control systems.

Glendale Developer Clearcuts River, Estabrook Park Site

Another goof, another miscommunication, or a lot more willful indifference - - call it what you will - - but kiss goodbye some habitat along the Milwaukee River in Glendale, north of Milwaukee.

And don't expect any tough action from the Wisconsin DNR: it's not the agency's practice.

Thanks to Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers for raising the alarm.

Lazich Butchers Water Issue, English Language

State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin), is at it again, declaring in an online suburban newspaper column her opposition to the Great Lakes Compact.

The full text is here.

Lazich claims the City of Milwaukee is practicing "extortion" by saying it will not sell Lake Michigan water to a portion of New Berlin that is outside of the Great Lakes basin until the Compact is ratified.

How is that extortion, which, by the way, in common usage has a felonious, legal definition, and libel suits have been filed for far less unpleasantness that suggesting that someone is a criminal.

Furthermore, Milwaukee's position is completely logical and legal: the Compact sets in place formal Great Lakes diversion procedures that are designed to standardize that process, minimize diversions, encourage conservation and preserve the Great Lakes.

A state that jumps the gun and approves a diversion before the Compact has been adopted by all parties runs the risk of either a) triggering a wholesale rush in other states for diversions without standards, or b) a veto of a community's application by one of the other Great Lakes, since unanimous approvals by all eight Great Lakes states is already required by a 1986 federal law and by the Compact itself.

Lazich seems to be the only one in Wisconsin who cannot grasp these simple facts, along with a state legislator in Ohio whose flimsy property-rights opposition to the Compact was shot down by Wisconsin's DNR months ago as irrelevant to Wisconsin law.

Lazich knows that because she forwarded the Ohioan's arguments to the state study committee that met for a year and failed to draft a Compact bill - - in part due to Lazich's obstructionism - - and the DNR told the study committee in writing that the Ohio argument sent its way by Lazich had no merit for Wisconsin.

Here is the DNR's statement, which has been posted on a state website for months, and it contains key phrases like "incorrect interpretations" and "no relevance."

Lazich knows that sending back the Compact for renegotiation is a way to kill it. The negotiations that created it over a five-year period could not be duplicated, and every day that the Compact is delayed is a day of peril for the Great Lakes.

Furthermore, the Compact negotiations produced a compromise package that included diversion exceptions, permissions and procedures specifically carved out for communities like New Berlin and Waukesha that were not included in the first draft of the Compact called Annex 2001.

So New Berlin and Waukesha have already won a crucial victory: all they need to do to apply for water is to follow the rules, and all Wisconsin has to do is adopt them.

Lazich doesn't want to do that, and still wants Waukesha County communities to be able to take Lake Michigan water - - a shared, internationally-managed resources - - away from the Great Lakes basin, and calls other people extortionist?

Finally: the old newspaper reporter and editor in me has to highlight her claim that Milwaukee's position is a "shot across the bough" to the suburbs.

"[Milwaukee Alderman Michael] Murphy’s blunt statement is a direct shot across the bough, a clear indication that the city of Milwaukee doesn’t have any intention of assisting communities like New Berlin or Waukesha in dealing with their need for water," she says.

The term references naval tactics - - a cannon shot "across the bow" was a way that a naval vessel could warn a ship to stop. The bow is the front of a ship.

A shot "across the bough" presumably flies over a branch, perhaps during a squirrel hunt.

Could it be that Lazich knows she is barking up that wrong tree, the one that gets in the way of seeing the rest of the forest?

Belling On Water Boarding, Morality

Foreign policy guru and morality expert Mark Belling opined Thursday afternoon on his WISN-AM 1130 talk radio show that Congressional opponents of water-boarding suffered from "true moral depravity."

Talk about talk radio at its absolute worst.

He also said that the Bush administration was nearly as bad as the Democrats for "hemming and hawing" on the subject, rather than flat-out supporting water boarding as a legal interrogation tactic that saves lives.

Water boarding, which Vice-President Dick Cheney has endorsed as a post-9/11 "no-brainer" for him, was described this way by ABC News:

"The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt."

Of course, respect for the Geneva Convention banning torture has also been a way for the US to protect its soldiers should they be captured, but it sounded like Belling hadn't had that part of the briefing.

And the more that the US justifies using torture tactics like water boarding, along with warrantless wire-tapping, secret courts and the like, the more that terrorists are having their way with us and our democratic traditions.

Throwing that away is real moral depravity, yet there's little surprise in finding Belling as the spokesman and apologist for Dick Cheney No-Brainers.

Group Pledge of $40 Million To Higher Ed Flunks GOP Critics

Remember when Gov. Jim Doyle's administration was signing up Wisconsin students who could maintan at least a "B" average in high school for a guaranteed spot in a Wisconsin college or university - - and Republicans said the program was an empty promise?

Wisconsin philanthropists have now come forward with a $40 million privately-pledged endowment to get the Wisconsin Covenant program off the ground.

Private money...spurring educational commitment...keeping good kids in schools...making college a wider reality...expanding workforce development...stimulating the economy: that kind of success has got to be hard for some GOP talkers and pols to swallow, even though it is precisely the kind of public policy innovation that any political party in Wisconsin should embrace.

One US Town Runs Out Of Water

It can happen.

Wisconsin's "Green Tier" Program Has Built-In Flaws

State government and business leaders tout Wisconsin's "Green Tier" program that gives environmentally-sensitive companies the right to slap the "Green Tier" label on their materials.

But the program has some problems.

Environmental attorney Melissa Scanlan has the story, here.

Belling on Joan Baez

Noted music critic and feminologist Mark Belling opined Wednesday afternoon that while Joan Baez used to have a great voice, he had less appreciation for her now because of her ridiculous messages and "old bag" status.

Sad Passing Of A Milwaukee "Green" Architect

The late Diane Trevarrow Evans, a local architect whose likely suicide was first publicized by Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl, left behind noteworthy writing as well as projects.

Water Rage Claims A Victim

That is not an Onion headline. A fight over garden-watering in drought-ravaged Australia takes a life.

Sham Lead Paint Rules Allow Sales of Lead-Soaked Fake Halloween Teeth

Think of the millions of dollars being spent in Milwaukee and other cities to get lead paint out of homes, or the millions or billions spent to remove lead from gasoline.

Yet the outrages continue over lead contained in or painted onto children's toys, not just because of unscrupulous manufacturers in China and their colluding, profit-driven US importing partners, but because the US has allowable levels of lead in these products and looks the other way on import inspections.

This is the latest disgusting example - - 100 times the allowable (that should read "criminal") level of lead in fake Halloween teeth, a product designed to be put in people's mouths.

Scandalous.

Clean Wisconsin Hosts Superior Meeting On Murphy Oil Issues

Madison-based Clean Wisconsin hosted a community meeting in Superior on Monday, October 29th, to shed more light on the proposed Murphy Oil refinery expansion on up to 500 acres of wetlands near Lake Superior.

Media reports, here, and some earlier blog items are here.

Wisconsin State Senate Committee Adopts Climate Change Resolution

Some progress in the Wisconsin legislature on national and global environmental issues, as a State Senate Committee adopts a climate change resolution and plan, according to Wisconsin Environment.

If the full Senate and Assembly concur, and the Governor executes, state actions would occur to lower greenhouse gas emissions and further conservation in the state.

Local Officials Endorse Strong Great Lakes Compact - - Major Media Blackout

More than a dozen local officials on Tuesday morning publicly endorsed Wisconsin's adoption of a strong Great Lakes Compact implementing bill for the state, but you'd have to read the speciality media to get the details because the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has had no story about it online or in print for more than 24 hours.

Too bad: it was a significant event, organized by the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters and held at Pier Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan.

It proved, that despite pockets of ideological narrow-mindedness centered among some corporate interests in the sprawl areas of Waukesha County, there is growing regional agreement on the need for getting a strong Great Lakes Compact bill adopted now.

The Mayors of Milwaukee, West Allis, Cudahy, Franklin and New Berlin were in attendance, and were joined by several area county board and city councils' members.

Milwaukee Alderman Michael Murphy reported that a Common Council resolution supporting a strong Compact had unanimously passed its first committee vote earlier that morning.

The Small Business Times has a comprehensive article, here, as does the Daily Reporter, here.

The Waukesha Freeman carried a story, with a truncated version available to online readers here.

And the Door County Advocate has run a comprehensive summary of the issues in the wake of the news conferences.

All in all, there was a keen awareness in the room that the Great Lakes are under stress, and that drought and a warming climate will make these international waters a target for diversion and depletion if the Compact's safeguards are not approved.

More than a dozen Wisconsin environmental, civic and outdoors organizations have endorsed the state's adoption of a strong, pro-conservation version of the Great Lakes Compact.

The Daily Reporter piece includes the predictable negative reaction from Compact-basher State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin), who is dedicated to stalling the Compact by re-opening the negotiations among the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces that produced the draft Compact - - after those discussions began nearly seven years ago.

Lazich is incensed that New Berlin's Mayor Jack Chiovatero is working with Milwaukee to move the Compact forward in the legislature.

Chiovatero understands that getting the Compact approved makes it more likely that his community can successfully apply for and win a diversion of water from Lake Michigan.

The Compact establishes first-ever rules, standards and procedures for such diversions, with conservation and planning among key requirements.

Lazich's opposition continues to make it hard-to-impossible for New Berlin to win such a diversion, but there the Senator is, working against the interests of her own community.

And also against Wisconsin's standing with the other Great Lakes states as the only one without a Compact ratification bill adopted or under discussion.

Is that the way to win the other states' approval for a diversion to New Berlin, and down the road, for the additional diversion applications that will come from the City of Waukesha and throughout the area if a new regional water authority is recommended, as expected, by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission?

A similar gathering of public officials was held the same morning in Green Bay, with good media there.

Now 48 hours later and counting, still nothing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state's larget paper, with more readers effected by Great Lakes water issues than in any other market.

Remember - - The Bush Administration Chooses These People For Leadership

The administration could have picked anyone in the country for key positions, and intentionally chose people like Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, or Michael Brown to run FEMA, or various insider lobbyists to manage regulatory agencies.

It wasn't that long ago that US climate change policy, with a noticeable tilt towards Big Oil and away from renewables, was line-edited by a former Exxon lobbyist, Philip Cooney.

But the recent outrage over John Tanner's supervision of the Justice Department's Voting Rights section takes the cake.

Tanner is the guy who recently said that obstructions. such as voter ID requirements, faced by elderly white voters was a more serious problem than it was for elderly minority voters because whites tended to live longer and minorities died earlier.

Don't believe that a Justice Department official could hold that sort of view, and verbalize it?

Here is the Washington Post story.

Pabst Farms Slow Down...So Why Go Forward With The I-Interchange?

More evidence that housing construction is being delayed at Pabst Farms...but the state still wants to spend $23 in tax money to build the Interstate interchange to NoWhere serving the cancelled Pabst Farms upscale shopping mall.

Why The Murphy Oil Refinery Expansion In Superior Will Be "The Biggest"

So let's define our terms when it comes to the planned expansion of the Murphy Oil refinery in Superior, and why you will see the word "biggest" describing the project.

Wetlands Costs:

State Capitol sources report that building a refinery expansion at the Superior site will require the largest filling of Wisconsin wetlands since the adoption of wetlands filling rules and procedures contained in the 1972 US Clean Water Act.

According to briefing materials obtained under the State Open Records Statute, incoming Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Matt Frank was told that the potential impact is 300-400 acres.

The figure of "up to 500 acres" has been mentioned by state officials, sources report.

To put that into perspective, the contentious battle last year over the location of a proposed Menards warehouse in Eau Claire involved about two-thirds of one acre.

After an uproar over the possibility that there would be that small wetlands filling, the company cancelled the multi- million project and said it would distribute the warehouse's 900 potential jobs elsewhere.

Because in Wisconsin, wetlands loss is considered a very bad thing, and saving even small parcels of the state's dwindling wetlands legacy has widespread support from constituencies as varied as urban environmentalists, small-town anglers, and farmers.

One reason for why the substantial impact to wetlands at the refinery site is so huge is that much of the City of Superior, WI is wetlands, given its proximity to Lake Superior.

The briefing document captures the significance of the wetlands filling issue in one simple, understated bureaucratic sentence under "related information:

"Wetlands impacts are a major issue and will likely dictate the scope and direction of the project."

Financial Costs:

A number of documents indicate that the potential cost of the expansion is $6 billion, and that while preliminary scoping and planning is underway with the involvement of several local state and federal agencies, Murphy is still searching for a partner to handle some of the investment cost.

When it happens, the project will be big, actually "the biggest."

"The economic impacts of this project are such that it will likely be the largest project in the history of the state of Wisconsin," says the DNR briefing report to Frank.

So the expansion may end up being framed as environment vs. jobs.

That's an unfortunate construct for debate because recent studies have shown a $50 billion payoff for Great Lakes cleanup (oil refineries have a way of leaking and discharging pollutants), and sustainable employment, in cleaner jobs, through alternative energy development.

(A good piece about these issues, by Clean Wisconsin attorney Melissa Malott, is here.)

And It's More Than A Refinery Project:

The DNR/Frank briefing documents also indicate that while the Murphy Oil refinery would process crude oil coming south from Canada's tar sands regions (this is what the earlier fight over the Enbridge Pipeline was all about), another pipeline will be needed to move refined products out of Superior.

"A products pipeline to the Chicago area and points south will also need to be constructed as part of this expansion project," the briefing document says.

The Enbridge pipeline moves from Superior south to the St. Louis area, and has been plagued by construction permitting violations, including illegal damage to wetlands.

So get ready for another pipeline siting and routing struggle, because there are a lot of wetlands, rivers, streams, farms and additional valuable properties between Superior and Chicago.

Broad Scope To The Study Of Falling Great Lake Levels

A major study is about to be launched to discover why water levels are falling in Lake Michigan, and elsewhere in the Great Lakes system, including whether Army Corps of Engineers' dredging in the St. Clair river has caused unexpected outflows of water to the Atlantic Ocean.

The river is part of the Ontario/Michigan boundary.

While the five-year study horizon is flawed, the study's scope is comprehensive and could lead to some solid findings, according to a decent summary of the issues in the Detroit Free Press.

The piece is worth saving.

Business Experts Predict Boom In US, Other Water Sales

According to one business writer, large-scale water sales from our region to Texas and beyond are predictable and calculable - - just a matter of time and economics.

And water sales that dwarf the exploding market in plastic water bottles that people carry around like security blankets these days, filled with Michigan wetlands water branded as Ice Mountain, or other similar fake names and designer labels.

Bad enough as these bottle-by-bottle diversions of water from our region have become, corporate America has something even more troublesome in mind.

The Chief Executive of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange thinks there could soon be a lucrative market in trading water futures contracts, much the way wheat, copper, coffee and pork bellies are bought and sold.

With billions of dollars to be made from very willing (parched) buyers - - tomorrow Atlanta, next decade China? - - is the relatively weak US Water Resources Development Act effective enough to prevent such sales?

Probably not.

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said a few weeks ago that Wisconsin is "awash in water," so why wouldn't business begin to invest in marketing, pipelines and other delivery mechanisms to move Great Lakes and other fresh water reserves around the country and globe?

For the Great Lakes, and Wisconsin, it's a genuine threat, but still the Wisconsin legislature can't even debate a bill to adopt a pending agreement among the Great Lakes states and Canada to improve on the existing federal law by adding diversion standards and procedures.

The agreement, known as the Great Lakes Compact, would apply standards to restrict bottled water sales and wholesale diversions away from the Great Lakes basin.

Will the Wisconsin legislature move forward and ratify the Great Lakes Compact, or will it continue to be cowed by anti-regionalists like State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), who, along with states' rights allies in Ohio, want to torpedo the Compact and make the Great Lakes even easier to divert?

Wisconsin is the only Great Lakes state that has neither approved the Compact or debated such a bill.

Without the Compact, life-supporting, economy-dependent water will become another commodity sold for profit to the highest bidder without regard to local needs or the public interest.

That would leave the Great Lakes - - the world's largest concentration of fresh surface water - - vulnerable to disasterous depletion.

Madison Blogger "Forward Our Motto" Returns Home To Pabst Farms, Oconomowoc...

And finds the 'development, ' which I call The Capitol of Sprawlville, living up to its reviews.

Franklin Wants To Dissolve Its Environmental Commission: The Road To Sprawlville, Chapter V

The Road To Sprawlville, this blog's continuing series of posts about careless 'development' of land and water resources in the region, heads away from Pabst Farms and Waukesha County this week to the City of Franklin (pop. 34,000), our Milwaukee County neighbor to the south.

This small and growing community (Northwestern Mutual Insurance has opened a glitzy new campus there: don't you just love the language...campus?) has been spared some of the worst aspects of environmental degradation, in part through the actions of a strong, and at times, outspoken city Environmental Commission.

How is the government there responding now, as more and more development battles heat up in Franklin?

And where the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources seems to have set the tone for officialdom by declining to stop recent wetlands fillings so developers can keep right on building?

Mayor Tom Taylor, perhaps taking a cue from the DNR's passivity, has gone one step further by proposing, in his 2008 budget, the elimination of the environmental commission.

Now there's a novel approach: it you have watchdogs right in city hall, and they are serious about their role, and they rub some VIP's the wrong way - - well: just throw those environmentalists out.

That'll take care of those pesky problem people who want ridiculous things, like clean air, managed traffic, wetlands preservation and some balance between construction, business expansion and nature's peace and quiet.

Right?

I doubt it.

You can check on Franklin issues at one local blogger, Sprawled Out.

Scientists Point To Climate Change, Greater Fire Danger

In the wake of California's devastating fires, scientists are reminding us that there were findings published last year indicating that forest fires have been on the increase in the US and Canada for many years, with a longer "fire season" due to persistently dry conditions.

UN Reports On Environmentalal Tipping Points

These reports are piling up, but the questions are:
Will government and industry follow through, and will people demand that they do?

Shippers Losing Millions As Great Lakes Water Levels Drop

Shallower Great Lakes mean multi-million dollar losses for shipping companies whose more profitable, fully-loaded cargo freighters run the risk of running aground.

The New York Times of October 22nd and other media have provided useful formulas to translate the falling water levels in the Great Lakes to economic losses suffered by cargo shippers - - which is also bad news for the buyers and users of the goods moving on those ships, too.

The Great Lakes are under great stress from warming temperatures that have led to water loss through evaporation, and also from leakage from channels, through to the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean, from suspect dredging by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Studies are underway to ascertain the extent of the dredging damage and costs to repair it, though that remediation does not address other causes of falling levels.

As as you read about the Great Lakes falling an inch or more, remember the formulas below and don't get fooled into thinking that an inch here and there is insignificant:

For every one-inch drop in water levels:

• A Great Lakes freighter leaves 540,000 pounds (270 tons per shipload) of cargo on the docks.


• And costs that ship's owners between $35,000-$45,000.

Here are relevant paragraphs from the Times story.

"Water levels in the Great Lakes are falling; Lake Ontario, for example, is about seven inches below where it was a year ago. And for every inch of water that the lakes lose, the ships that ferry bulk materials across them must lighten their loads by 270 tons — or 540,000 pounds — or risk running aground, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association, a trade group for United States-flag cargo companies.

"As a result, more ships are needed, adding millions of dollars to shipping companies’ operating costs, experts in maritime commerce estimate."

A separate report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, citing US shipping sources, comes up with the dollar figure.

This problem has become acute on Lake Superior, where new rock islands are protruding near the shoreline and freighters have to ride higher in the water to avoid striking them.

The full Times story is here, which focused on Oswego, New York, where water level declines have not been as dramatic as they are on Lake Superior, where levels have fallen more than three feet since 1999 and are at historic, measurable lows.

Coal shippers carrying supplies to power plants have also indicated that their Great Lakes loads are running lighter: a workable analogy is the inefficiency of flying airplanes with empty seats, something the airlines are loathe to do.

So it's hardly smart policy and good economics to add new large users to the lakes - - such as an expanded Murphy oil refinery in Superior, or out-of-basin communities looking to divert water - - as water levels are on the decline.

All the more reason to press the Wisconsin legislature to adopt a strong Great Lakes Compact because the eight-state agreement establishes first-even rules and standards for diversions and water conservation planning - - all designed to minimize more water losses in the Great Lakes basin.

Patrick McIlheran's Wrong Turn On Traffic Data

Patrick McIlheran, the Journal Sentinel's in-house conservative columnist and blogger, says Milwaukee rates extremely high on one survey of easy commutes.

He uses the findings to buttress his argument that commuting by train is inefficient.

Isn't the best use of the data to suggest that with such relatively short commuting times, the state and regional planning commission are wrong to shove a fresh $6.5 billion into rebuilding and adding more lanes on the 127-mile regional freeway system?

Rough News About Hales Corners Village President Jim Ryan

The news circulating recently in political circles about Jim Ryan's struggle with cancer produced a nice feature story about the long-time Milwaukee County and Hales Corners leader in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

We all wish Jim and his family the best: he is an uncommonly wise and gracious elected official - - a true public servant and citizen - - and we sure could use more just like him.

Cities Putting Hybrid Cabs On The Road: What Is Your City Doing?

New York City is putting fuel-saving hybrid cabs on city streets: cabbies are making more money and the air is getting cleaner, too.

So why not Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Racine, Kenosha and so on?

Are there proposals before Common Councils? Cab Commissions? Licensing boards?

James Kuntsler 101

If you've never had the pleasure of reading a James Kuntsler essay on cities, sprawl and energy policies, have a look.

The eventual topic in the sample linked is Peak Oil, after a long digression about what it feels like on a hot day in Houston.

Punches are not pulled.

CNN Must-See TV Tonight

Good reviews for CNN's two-part series on our endangered planet that runs tonight and Wednesday. Either DVR/Tivo it, or watch it live, as The Daily Show is in reruns this week.

Waukesha County Board Pledges $1.75 Million To The Interchange To Nowhere

Looks like Waukesha County has officially joined the Tax-and-Spend crowd, voting this afternoon 21-12 in favor of throwing $1.75 million in local dollars at the I-94 interchange serving the cancelled Pabst Farms mall.

I still think the way that the state Department of Transportation pulled $23.1 million share out of the regional freeway budget after a couple of meetings with local politicos and business leaders should be investigated by the State Audit Bureau.

If that's legal, why have a legislative Joint Committee on Finance, or a state budgetary process - - albeit the sluggish one that may have finally spit out a 2007-09 state spending plan.

Michigan Paper Suggests "Lake Looters" May Be In Communities Just Outside The Great Lakes Basin

Though the Ann Arbor News takes New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to task for his suggestion that the Great Lakes states should ship water out to the dry (but water-wasting) southwest, the paper also suggests that the real threat to Great Lakes supplies could come from communities that sit just outside the Great Lakes basin.

That's often code for communities in Waukesha County - - from which some leaders have lobbied Michigan leaders to look favorably on potential diversion applications.

Could be that the message from just west of the basin is not getting through.

Murphy Oil Expansion "Ready To Be Called A Project," DNR Official Says

There's less mystery about whether there will be a giant oil refinery expansion just a stone's throw from Lake Superior, the Greatest of the Great Lakes.

While no permit applications have been received, both technical and senior regulators have met and communicated frequently with Murphy Oil representatives since 2006 regarding the company's efforts to expand refining capacity at its Superior, WI, facility from 35,000 barrels daily to 235,000 daily, according to records obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources under the Wisconsin Open Records law.

The $6 billion expansion would process Alberta, Canadian tar sand crude oil, as exploitation of that vast resource is expanding and North American refineries are needed to process and ship it.

"As you recall, at the kick-off meeting with the Secretary's Office on 10/23/06," said DNR Energy Office Director David Siebert in an April 9, 2007 email to fifteen DNR colleagues, "Murphy said they were seeking a partner before publicly announcing a project. At a meeting with Murphy last week, they indicated the project was ready to be called a project."

Continued Siebert: "While Murphy still says they are developing a "potential project," they also felt comfortable with us moving forward on bringing in key staff to get ready for review."

"Because the project would involve impacts to 300-400 acres of wetlands," Siebert said, there would be involvement with the US Army Corps of Engineers, other federal agencies, company consultants, and that federal and state reviews would occur.

The documents indicate that:

• a federal environmental impact statement will be required as well as permits from the federal and state government.


• bird and plant field surveys on the proposed 425-acre Superior site have already begun;


• federal officials in Illinois and Minnesota have joined in the discussions;


• Army Corps of Engineers regulators outlined the applicable federal processes to Murphy and DNR representatives as early as May 18, 2006.

I'll post additional details later.

Budget Compromise Disses Rail

It's telling that the compromised proposed state budget omitted funding for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail project.

The Daily Reporter offers good background, here.

WisPolitics reports that a move by State Rep. Jim Kreuser, (D-Kenosha) to restore the project to the draft budget in the conference committee was defeated in a party line vote, 4-4, with all Democrats supporting it and all Republicans opposed.

One vote against came from Republican Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald, (R-Juneau), whose district represents a portion of Waukesha County in southeastern Wisconsin.

The same region that would have been the primary beneficiary of the KRM.

So much for regional cooperation, and Republicans who allegedly support economic development and job growth that would occur along the KRM's three-county regional corridor.

Once again, rail falls away as a priority in our highway-happy state, where $23 million in state funding is still committed for an interchange in Western Waukesha County to service a cancelled upscale shopping mall at Pabst Farms.

So a special-interest shopping destination that may or may not get built, in some incarnation of stores or businesses still remains funded - - and got into planners' hands out of sequence in the larger scheme of $6.5 billion in regional highway "improvements"and outright added-lane expansion.

But a regional rail system that has taken years to get on track to serve commuters in three counties that would spur sustainable development and help get congestion and air pollution off the I-94 corridor - - well, that can wait for another budget cycle.

There's only word for this continual distortion, this one-dimensional addiction to highway spending in a region where the air quality fails to meet clean air standards, and job development is a widely-acknowledged problem.

Pathetic

Another Day, Another Report On The Falling Great Lakes

Monday's New York Times keeps the story going.

Wisconsinites, readers of this blog, and activists trying to press our legislature to endorse the pending Great Lakes Compact, know this story well.

Media Discovering Water Issues: An Indifferent Wisconsin Dawdles

It's hard to escape the sudden focus on water and drought.

Atlanta's reservoirs are disappearing. Lake Superior is falling. The Arctic is melting, as is the snow pack in the Rockies, the Andes and the Alps.

A warming earth, along with growing and demanding populations, suggests water shortages with profound consequences around the globe, and certainly in the US West - - summed up in a long magazine story in the Sunday (10/21) New York Times - - that will make the Great Lakes even more tempting to redistribute.

And despite the controversial remarks a few weeks ago by New Mexico's Gov. Bill Richardson that Wisconsin was "awash" in water to send to the parched West, our state's leaders can't muster the will to adopt a modest compact among the eight Great Lakes states to rationally manage the region's water and produce conservation programs.

Having worked in government, I understand that policy-makers focus on one thing at a time, and that the state budget, or lack of one, has consumed our leaders for much of the summer and early fall.

But the pending Great Lakes Compact was created for the region's legislatures to consider in December, 2005, and was four years in the making: Wisconsin, as 2007 ends, is the only Great Lakes state without a Great Lakes Compact implementing bill either adopted or under discussion.

This is primarily because a handful of legislators from Waukesha County have placed shortsightedly what they perceive as their communities' development interests ahead of other considerations - - while encouraging water-dependent sprawl, or "progress," as they like to call it, as normal, even virtuous.

Now it appears that there is an emergent state budget, so one leading justification for delaying action on approving the Great Lakes Compact for Wisconsin can be put aside.

So let the work begin, and end, quickly to adopt a strong, relevant and productive Great Lakes Compact.

We don't need to repeat the lost 2006-07 year at the Capitol when a study committee charged with drafting Wisconsin's Great Lakes implementing bill disbanded due to flawed leadership, phony property-rights' concerns and a host of other diversions thrown into the process by people more interested in watering down the Great Lakes Compact than in approving and implementing it.

Too many people on the committee shared the Rush Limbaugh vision of government and the environment.

We live in Wisconsin. We border two of the five Great Lakes. They drive our economy and define our history. We need policy inspired by Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Gaylord Nelson.

As it exists now, the pending Compact is too loose on bottled water exports from the region.

And it is not strong enough on conservation performance and citizen inputs to guarantee that public interests are served first.

Another weakness: it's too permissive on diversions of water that can be piped out of the Great Lakes basin.

The bar needs to be raised so that diversions and other new losses of water from the Great Lakes are truly the exception and not won as easily sending in a coupon and a UPC label for a free prize.

Wisconsin needs a solid implementing bill that protects the state and region's water, and leads the other states to do the same.

Right now, Wisconsin is not a leader on the field. It is not even a follower. It is something of a spectator, and given our history and responsibilities, that is not acceptable.

The times are a-changin': legislation and practices for our communities and state must reflect the urgency demanded by what Nobel Peace Laureate Al Gore rightly calls a global emergency.

And if our elected officials refuse to keep pace with public opinion and modern science, then we need to replace them (Thomas Friedman makes much the same point in the Sunday Times about elections and energy policy, too) with people who will act as the stewards of the water we have, not as placeholders of the offices occupied.

Short Documentary On Lake Superior's Falling Levels

The Canadian Broadcasting Company has produced a nice 15-minute documentary about the decline in Lake Superior, here.

Minnesotans Define Great Lakes Leadership

Our neighbors to the northwest have a clearer role of mission when it comes to the Great Lakes than our leaders here in Wisconsin.

Speak Up About The Pabst Farms Interchange Boondoggle

So you think it's crazy that the state wants to spend more than $20 million of your tax dollars to build an interstate highway interchange to service the cancelled Pabst Farms shopping mall?

(Background here.)

You think the state needs to focus transportation spending on transit improvements?

You want state and local planners to stop accelerating sprawl and inducing more traffic in Waukesha County?

You know that ripping up the landscape to build roads to nowhere, without an authentic environmental impact statement, should be blocked before a bulldozer is allowed to scoop up a single cubic yard of what remains of prime Waukesha County agricultural lands?

Then do something: get your comments into the interchange review process, through a comment link, here, before October 29th.

Get your friends to participate. Send them the link. Call your alderman and county board supervisor and state legislator and urge them to do the same.

We don't have to settle for the status quo, allowing state transportation planners and local politicos to decide behind closed doors that highway expansion schedules and public budgets can be altered for a special interest on whims and spin and the thinnest of motives.

Maybe this is the tipping point, the moment at which people decided enough was enough, that we want genuine planning and democratic decision-making and have to approach these issues with real urgency and intention.

Or we will look back and say it was an opportunity missed.

Budget Deal Could Trim Highway Spending, Aid Transit - - If There Is The Will To Change

If the proposed state budget deal removes Gov.Doyle's oil company tax, it could force a serious review of highway spending in the state.

Because there could be less money for WisDOT to spend.

The major highway account is already overcommitted to the tune of $4-5 billion; the southeastern wisconsin freeway plan could be substantially trimmed, as it's $5.5 billion in commitments is based on gasoline and vehicle usage at $2.30-a-gallon - - preposterously unrealistic.

Fewer billions on highways - - targeted investments in rail and bus improvements - - and the state can easily adjust to lower transportation revenues.

Faster Fix For Great Lakes Leakage

It's good to see that the pace is accelerating to probe why the Great Lakes are losing so much water daily.

Wisconsin legislators should take their cues from this new sense of urgency and tackle the Great Lakes Compact, adding more conservation planning to Wisconsin's water usage and policy-making.

Looks Like There's Plenty of Water in Las Vegas

Presidential candidate Bill Richardson made waves a while ago by suggesting that Wisconsin export Great Lakes water to Nevada.

He was in Nevada when he made his remarks.

Looks like Las Vegas has plenty of water already: maybe it's just a matter of how it uses it?

Bottled Water Sales Can Be Slowed Further If Wisconsin Approves A Strong Great Lakes Compact

Bottled water sales are still rising, but at a slower pace, The Detroit News tells us.

But it still takes millions of barrels of oil (at 42 gallons a barrel) to produce the plastic in the water bottles that do not get recycled, while tap water, certainly from municipal water treatment systems, is a perfectly acceptable and far cheaper alternative.

That message is getting wider distribution.

The good news also is that bottlers are scrambling to deal with the negative publicity that has begun to seep into the issue and has figured out a way to use less petroleum-derived plastic in their bottles.

The issue is particularly relevant in the Great Lakes region, where bottlers like Nestle will be allowed under the draft Great Lakes Compact to continue to export bottled water from the Great Lakes watershed in containers smaller than 5.7 gallons (20 liters).

Wisconsin activists are pushing to close that loophole; unfortunately, the Wisconsin legislature has no bill before it that would implement the Compact.

Business interests and their political allies in Waukesha County, wanting diversion standards in the draft Compact watered-down or eliminated, kept a legislative study committee from earlier this year from drafting a proposed bill.

Nestle's "Ice Mountain" brand uses water from a Michigan wetlands stream as the supply it bottles in the Great Lakes area, and the bottles can be shipped far from the Great Lakes.

That means water from the Lake Michigan basin is lost permanently to a bottle-by-bottle diversion - - which is why that loophole needs to be closed.

That will happen only if the legislature adopts a strong Compact that closes the loophole - - an outcome that will require the legislature to put regional water conservation at the top of its priorities.

Whitney Gould's Prescience On Pabst Farms

More than four-and-a-half years ago, when Pabst Farms was being converted from farm land to subdivisions, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Columnist Whitney Gould predicted the project would add to the automobile-induced degradation of Western Waukesha County's landscape.

As local and state governments continue to pledge millions for a new interchange into Pabst Farms for an upscale mall project the developers have abandoned, you have to hand it to Gould for foresight.

"The development may not be textbook sprawl, since Oconomowoc will provide sewer and water, thanks to $24 million in tax-incremental financing," she wrote in January, 2003.

"But it will almost certainly encourage sprawl nearby, dumping thousands of additional cars onto I-94 and fueling the push for freeway expansion." 

Gould said the project was going to teach us all some lessons about land use, preservation, tax policy and transportation.

Here's a political lesson: Governments with too much tax money to spend will throw it at developments that are not sustainable on their own, even in purportedly conservative Waukesha County.

Another Day, Another Climate Change Warning

And as these stories go, this one is alarming.

Building Green Homes In Milwaukee

Julilly Kohler is putting her principles into practice by designing a small grouping of green homes in the heart of Milwaukee.

The Daily Reporter has nice story about it, here.

A Commentary On Scott Walker

From today's Capital Times.

No Big Box Stores, No Mall, "We Can Just Wait," Says The Mayor - - So Why Rush The Interchange?

City of Oconomowoc Mayor Maury Sullivan tells the Journal Sentinel that the Pabst Farm site from which a mall developer pulled out will not be converted to a big box center, despite speculation to the contrary earlier this week.

"'That ground has been idle for years. We can just wait and see what comes along," Sullivan said.'"

Empty? Remember: this was farm land.

Also empty: some projected Pabst Farms' subdivision developments, now postponed due to the diving housing market.

So why is a $25 million interstate interchange - - actually a complex of interchange ramps and roundabouts, some of which is a considerable distance from the former mall location - - still moving forward?

4th St. Forum Thursday at Turner Hall Deals With Local, World Environment

Get there early for a good seat. Lunch is optional. Hear local, state and international experts, or watch the program on television.

Details below:

"OUR GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT AND WISCONSIN."

There's no hiding from worldwide environmental issues. Will we work locally toward global solutions? Could the today's problems become tomorrow's opportunities?

Each forum is taped in front of a live audience for later broadcast on Milwaukee Public Television, Channels 10/36. The forums are free and open to the public.

Come and be a part of the discussion. Participate by asking questions of the panelists. Bring your lunch or purchase it from Historic Turner Restaurant.

OCTOBER 11, at Noon: Milwaukee Turner Hall, 2nd Floor, 1034 N. 4th Street (4th and Highland),

WATCH: Milwaukee Public Television will broadcast this forum on Friday, OCTOBER 12 , Channel 10, 10:00 PM and Sunday, OCTOBER 14, Channel 36, 3:00 PM.

It will also run on Time Warner's, "Wisconsin on Demand," (WIOD), Channel 1111. Podcasts of the programs will be posted two weeks after broadcast at http://www.4thstreetforum.org/. Some of the programs will webcast at http://www.wispolitics.com/. All programs will be available for checkout from your local public library.

MODERATOR DENISE CALLAWAY, director of communications, Greater Milwaukee Foundation

GUEST PANELIST:

SUDO SIMONIS is a professor and researcher of global environment and international environment policy. His appointment is at the Social Science Research Center of Berlin, Germany. For the past three years, Professor Simonis has co-chaired the Task Force on Environmental Governance for China. For almost a decade, he was a member of the United Nations' Committee for Development Policy, which included working on development and the effects of climate change. Professor Simonis' visit is sponsored by the Goethe House.

MEL BROMBERG has worked on global and national water issues for twenty years. She is the coordinator of a large grant awarded to the Institute of Environmental Health at UW-Milwaukee. The goal of the grant is to educate science teachers and their students on the effect toxins have on the environment and, in turn, on the health of the community. Ms. Bromberg works with the Milwaukee United Nations Association to help determine the environmental and water goals for the next millennium.

KARYN ROTKER is a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin, where she directs the Poverty, Race and Civil Liberties Project. In her work, Ms. Rotker applies environmental justice to important regional issues to protect low income and minority people.

MICHAEL HOWARD began working on environmental issues after reading a City of Chicago report that described his neighborhood, Fuller Park, as the most lead contaminated area in the city. He founded Eden Place Nature Center, which is dedicated to educating children and their parents about how to better protect themselves from environmental pollutants and hazards. A Clean Wisconsin activist described Mr. Howard's center as a "good example of how an urban neighborhood, stuck between rail lines and a highway, can make a difference for ecology and the world environment."

How Will Climate Change Deniers Deal With An Historic Acid Rain Admission?

It wasn't so long ago that some people called acid rain a hoax.

Now a huge settlement on the eve of a trial delayed for eight years has been agreed to by the plaintiff - - one of the nation's largest acid rain polluters.

Will this $4.6 billion admission help the climate change deniers grasp that human activity does influence what goes on in the atmosphere?

City Spends To Repair City Hall: Walker Lets County Courthouse Fall Apart

Call it emblematic of the differences between the way that the City of Milwaukee goes about its basic business, and Milwaukee County lets it slide.

The city has ponied up the money that has to be spent to repair and preserve its historic City Hall.

The County is letting its historic courthouse disintegrate, evidence here.

Scott Walker will no doubt claim that Tom Ament was spotted in the rafters with wire cutters and a hacksaw.

Ethanol, Corn and Corn Candy

The air is leaking from the ethanol bubble, but Monsanto is forging ahead with seed production, Forbes magazine tells us.

OK, I hear you: can't you lighten up this blog?

Well, how about this segue way?

Q. How many actual corn kernels does it take to make the corn syrup in a single kernel of candy corn.

A. Three.

Q. What is the ratio of the calories in that candy-corn kernel to the calories in a real corn kernel?

A. 8:1.

Happy early Halloween.

(Diet crushing information courtesy of the Harper's Index, October, 2007)

Mary Lazich Rambles On About Water, Wants Separate Peace Wiith Ohio

State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin), tells the Waukesha Freeman in an 'update' on the work of a now-defunt legislative committee she helped to obstruct that Wisconsin should join Ohio in essentially wrecking the Great Lakes Compact.

Lazich's interest in water is more about carrying it for the Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce and less about conserving the Great Lakes in coordination with the seven other Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces.

The Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce opposes adoption of the Great Lakes Compact, according to its website, still suggesting inaccurately that a foreign county (Canada) has decision-making power over diversions of water to Wisconsin communities.

Lazich also calls Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett an "extortionist," putting her own special spin on regional cooperation and efforts by New Berlin city government to make a water sale deal with the City of Milwaukee.

Little wonder that Gov. Jim Doyle left Lazich off the working group he put together to pick up the pieces left behind by the moribund legislative committee.

If the goal is to draft a bill to implement, not demolish the Compact, then Lazich had no place on the Governor's bi-partisan working group.

It does, however, still contain members who do not support a strong Compact for Wisconsin, such as Matt Monroney, the executive director of the Metropolitan Builders Association.

Among his positions forwarded to the legislative committee was this memo.

Another person on the working group, water law expert Lawrie Kobza, had also sent information and opinion to the legislative committee taking similar positions that opposed a strong Compact.

Kobza is a paid consultant also to the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's water supply advisory committee - - supplying SEWRPC with the legal foundation for creation of a regional water authority.

Such an authority, if creatively drawn and headquartered, could conceivably end-run the Compact's water diversion procedures by making a large region, including all of Waukesha County, eligible for Lake Michigan water under easier rules intended for individual municipalities like New Berlin that straddle the boundary of the Lake Michigan basin.

And that would satisfy Mary Lazich and her allies in Ohio, all of whom want relatively easier access to Great Lakes water.

Former Bush Advisor Rips The GOP Field

Dan Bartlett has little good to say about most of the possible GOP successors to the incumbent president, Bartlett's former boss.

Is Tommy still available?

Daily Reporter On-Line Poll About Pabst Farm Interchange

The Daily Reporter, voice of the Wisconsin construction industry, is running an online poll about whether an interstate interchange should be built, as recently-planned on a fast-track schedule, to a Pabst Farm mall whose developer has pulled out of the project.

Vote here.

And a few related remarks, here.

New Conservative Core Value: Secret Shopping?

Apologies in advance if I've missed it, but why haven't our government-bashing talk radio jocks been ripping the plan to spend more than $23 million in public funds to build that interstate highway interchange to nowhere out at Pabst Farms?

The Pabst Farms planned (sic) community was to include an upscale mega-mall, but no one thought about providing its shoppers with appropriate easy-on-and-off access from the interstate in Western Waukesha County.

(Forget a transit line linking Pabst Farms to downtown Waukesha or points farther away in, gasp, Milwaukee: the deliberately tonied-up Pabst Farms has nothing to do with transit.)

So the state, Waukesha County, the City of Oconomowoc and the then-mall developer rushed forward a plan last month to break ground on the fast-tracked interchange by next spring.

And even though the mall developer bailed out of the Pabst Farm picture a few days ago, the subsidized interchange plan is still on track - - to a now-mallless site that might have a big box store or stores instead.

Does that justify a taxpayer-paid interstate interchange, slapped onto the drawing boards with little public input, or awareness of what it will do to nearby lakes, streams, and underground water reserves?

Talk about big government moving at Warp speed, and in denial at the same time - - the state transportation department had enough fat in its budgets to commit and keep committed more than $20 million, while Waukesha County has pledged $1.75 million and the City of Oconomowoc pledged another $400,000, too.

All this is tax money, mind you: you'd think conservatives on the air and in political organizations would be howling about bloated government throwing subsidies at a private business, but there's been a virtual blackout from the Right on the entire subject (save for the blogger James Widgerson).

I keep expecting to hear from the Waukesha County contingent in the once-visible, anti-tax group Committee for Responsible Government, but I guess it's less interested in cutting taxes and more interested in clipping coupons.

Is this a case of the emperor wearing no clothes, or hiding out in case Brooks Brothers moves in?

John Torinus Gets the Region's Water and WATER Opportunities

Business leader John Torinus, in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opinion piece, correctly identifies UW-M's WATER Institute as a potential Great Lakes regional asset.

Great minds think alike - - check out this March blog item about the need for UW-M to build the visibility and role of its WATER Institute.

Investigate The Pabst Farm Mall Interchange - - Now

It's time to bring in the investigators.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee and its partner, the Legislative Audit Bureau, exist to double-check state spending, and they need turn their attention immediately to the emerging fiscal fiasco at Highway P off Interstate 94 in semi-rural Western Waukesha County.

That is where the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, (WisDOT), administratively decided to commit at least $21.3 million in state funds to create a full-scale "Diamond Interchange" for a shopping mall at the Pabst Farms project in Western Waukesha County - - mall construction now abandoned by the developer.

WisDOT made this commitment in discussions with Waukesha area government and business interests at Pabst Farms without any hearings, and before the legislature approved funding for the potential expansion of that segment of interstate.

If WisDOT officials didn't know that the mall was on life-support, and the developer was about to drop its project, then WisDOT's people, especially those at the department's District Two offices in Waukesha County, were not doing their jobs.

And if they knew, but continued with the interchange commitment while guessing/hoping that the site would fill in with something - - man, oh man - - they have some explaining to do, because betting on the come with $21 million of other people's money should not be how state bureaucrats manage our business.

And did they even consider a transit connection to Pabst Farms, for workers, residents and shoppers?

Did they forget that transit planning and assistance is also part of the WisDOT mission?

Were they told to forget about it?

Is anybody minding the store at WisDOT, or is it back to the bad old days when Tommy Thompson pal Chuck ("no relation") Thompson was WisDOT secretary, and said the agency's job was just to let contracts?

The public needs answers to these questions, and that's why the legislature has trusted mechanisms to get them answered.

If there is no inquiry, and no hearings, then WisDOT can continue to spend money and make land use policy in the region without the control of elected officials and the public's authentic participation.

And the same questions need to be asked of local officials and governments in Waukesha County, where more than $2 million additional public dollars were committed in the same hurried fashion for the interchange, despite allegedly tight budgets everywhere, and public pressures for lower taxes and reduced spending.

Remember: the interchange financing pressure became something of an 'emergency' because the state, Waukesha County and City of Oconomowoc didn't coordinate planning at Pabst Farms with the project owners.

For some time, a huge, regional, upscale mega-mall was on its drawing boards, but no one penciled in the interchange financing.

Now the mall has come and gone, but the interchange planning continues.

The state's fiscal watchdogs need to get to the bottom of this mess, and if the local governments are smart, they will take their shares out of their budgets before final adoption later this fall.

For the locals, the budgets schedules are in their favor. Money can be saved.

Face, too.

But WisDOT operates with such insularity and arrogance that it can't be counseled to do the right thing with any expectation of a reasonable outcome - - which in this case is simply to pull the plug on having earmarked money for a road to no where without permission.

So quick and unambiguous pressure delivered by legislators and watchdog auditors at the State Capitol is a necessity to get WisDOT's attention, and action.

How To Brake Our Driving Addiction

Steve Hiniker, executive director of the land use organization 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, lays out the costs of our "autobesity," and says we need a lifestyle change.

His remarks are on Monday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel op-ed page, and deal directly with the folly of spending $25 million - - 93% of which is still ticketed as public funds - - to create an Interstate Highway Interchange to Nowhere at Pabst Farms' abandoned shopping mall site.

Commentary on Talk Radio Stirs Up Its Base

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's media columnist Tim Cuprisin wrote last week about the recent, strong backlash against some big-name national right-wing talk show hosts.

Not surprisingly, some intemperate name-calling came Cuprisin's way on his "Inside Radio and TV" blog from the talkers' angry devotees.

My, how the worm has turned for the talkers and the ditto-heads (I am using this description of Limbaugh's passionate listeners somewhat generically, fyi).

For years, conservative talkers had a pretty free hand to rip and mock whomever they wanted, as liberal responses were inchoate and ineffective.

But now there's a functioning echo chamber on the left and it seems that the right's big boys have frail egos and weak chins.

I've heard Limbaugh and Savage suggesting that free speech as we know it (even in this era of rightist government snooping and other Constitutional abuses), is imperiled by the left's talker attack.

The squawkers' grandiosity aside, the ironies in the brouhaha aren't hard to miss.

Noted Cuprisin on his blog:

"The bottom line on my point in the column is that the opponents of conservative talk radio, spearheaded by Media Matters, have adopted the talk radio strategy of attack, attack, attack. I didn't attack Limbaugh or O'Reilly or Michael Savage. I simple said I don't have a lot of sympathy, since their style of discourse is being turned on them."

My take on this:

Right-wing hosts like Michael Savage (real last name "Weiner"), Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh are getting weaker because their mean-spirited, high-decibel rants of war, more war and anti-liberal anger, anger, anger have turned cooky from cocky.

The permanent Republican Majority, which supports talk radio, is crashing to earth because of the endless war in Iraq.

And disintegrating because the Federal Government under the GOP can't do what most people really want from it: a stable foreign policy, bridges that don't fall, and health-care costs that don't skyrocket.

In other words, O'Reilly, Savage and Limbaugh (and I have suggested elsewhere on this blog, even some of our local talker mini-me's) are receiving true feedback, getting back some of what they have been dishing out.

#79: As Xoff Would Ask, "How Many More?"

The latest Wisconsin war fatality in Iraq is a 24-year-old soldier from Madison's east side.

Texans Discovering Downtown Living

Seems even Texans in conservative areas, according to USA Today, along with their counterparts in neighboring Arizona, are liking downtowns with light rail lines, as opposed to fading southwestern sprawl.

Why?

"As people pour in," says USA Today, "the state is starting to rein in its historical outward spread and venturing into un-Texan territory: high-density development, downtown living, mass transit and neighborhoods built not just for cars, but for walkers and all things urban."

Yet here in Wisconsin, Milwaukee can't get rail past its narrow-minded County Executive and his mouthpieces on certain AM radio stations, while state and local governments continue to throw billions into more freeways.

Who'd have thought that Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix would set the progressive bar so high, while one-note, concrete-happy southeastern Wisconsin falls even farther behind?

Excellent Summary Of Global Warming Facts, Solutions

The Minnesota Star Tribune covers a conference on global warming, making it relevant to its readers.

Special thanks for the lead to Dave Dempsey and his ever-valuable blog.