Keep an eye on this WI CAFO manure spill

Before we take a look at last week's manure wash into a Fox River tributary, let's just remember another high-profile waste pollution case which shed important light on the kid-gloves way Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources political managers handled it:

DNR appointee resolved massive waste violation internally instead of referring case to DOJ

OK: Now let's take a closer look at the manure which ran off during a rainstorm from a hay field last week into a Fox River tributary, according to a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources news release:

DNR officials, with land and water conservation staff from both counties, responded Monday to a complaint along the stream at Holland and Wayside Road and traced the source. An environmental contractor was called in by the farm responsible and approximately 10,000 gallons of manure-tainted water was pumped out of the creek.  

The investigation is ongoing.

And you wonder why there are facts and headlines like this:

Dead zones haunt Green Bay as manure fuels algae blooms

Anyway: The DNR news release did not disclose that the original source of the manure was one of those large, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, (CAFOs), so often in the news when it comes to land use and water quality issues - - one example among many, here - -  nor did the news release identify it by name, but some media reports did:

The DNR says Shiloh Dairy spread the liquid manure, and is responsibe for the clean-up...

Leaders at Shiloh Dairy did not want to go on camera, but General Manager Gordon Speirs issued a statement saying, "The farm and the DNR continue to try to determine the cause and effect. Shiloh Dairy has a healthy working relationship with the DNR and will continue to work with the agency through the process..."

Once the investigation is complete, the owner of the farm could be fined.

Shiloh Dairy has grown from 800 animals to 4,200, the business's website says.

Google further and you learn that Gordon Speirs is also President of the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association - - a major Big Ag lobbying operation - - and Speirs has donated $10,250 to Walker since 2012, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

The Wisconsin Dairy Business Association signed on to a letter in the last legislative session hand-delivered to legislators which demanded that groundwater regulation in the state be rolled back by law to give big corporate water users easier access to large amounts of groundwater - - a legislative plan likely to be taken up by legislators later this year because the Attorney General issued an opinion recently at the request of GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos which smoothed the way for such large-user control.



What the big water users want embedded in the law is the DNR and Walker's disinterest in regulation - - a so-called 'philosophy' which has led to the intentional reduction of pollution prevention inspections and after-the-fact enforcement of violations documented since the agency's remake and direction under Scott Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality' managers, according to a non-partisan state government report:

Audit: Wisconsin DNR ignoring its own water pollution rules

Wisconsin’s overworked pollution regulators failed to follow their own policies for dealing with violators of water pollution laws more than 90 percent of the time, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau said on Friday. 

Notices of violations were issued to polluters in just 33 of 558 instances serious enough for such citations under DNR policies, the audit found. 

And the DNR inspected 17 — or 6.5 percent — of the state’s large livestock farms, called concentrated animal feeding operations, to ensure they were complying with the law after reissuing their pollution permits instead of before, a violation of state and federal law.

Which takes us back to last week's CAFO manure spillage, and justifies close public monitoring to see whether the DNR has any interest pollution enforcement action.

Walker's WI DNR goes extra mile to please his big donors

Neither wind, nor rain, nor snow, nor the the appearance of gross favoritism, nor the overt reality of a double-standard during Scott Walker's "chamber of commerce" regime when compared to what is denied to everyday people who live near big feedlots to whom the GOP-controlled Wisconsin DNR, Governor's office, Attorney General or Legislature are beholden will stop our special-interest beholden 'leaders'  from going the extra mile to ensure that key Walker donors can have their hearts'  desire: lakefront access for their northwoods condo project:

The Department of Natural Resources has reworked details of a high-profile land transaction in northern Wisconsin that involves a major political supporter of Gov. Scott Walker after an initial deal drew sharp criticism and complaints of favoritism.

Even if this second proposed new land deal is better than the first, why aren't the people living near the big, manure-spewing feedlots who are denied government intervention to assure their right to clean drinking water...

...or the citizens battling the proposed Kohler golf course on the Lake Michigan shoreline that will clear-cut or fill major portions of a 247-acre nature preserve assured of receiving the same kind of attention and advocacy that the bellhops running the DNR provide to the powerful and wealthy whose special needs get reworked to their satisfaction? 

By 20 points, Wisconsinites still disapprove of Gov. Scott Walker

Seems no one is persuaded by those phony Scott Walker 'listening sessions'.

A new poll released Wednesday finds the far-right Wisconsin GOP governor's disapproval rating in consistently negative territory - - and while the numbers further diminish his failed Presidential run last year along with his heft within the Republican Party going forward - - the poll finding is pure salt in the wounds of a general public he has just as consistently disrespected while advancing his unpopular personal agenda:

Media and delegates on their way to Cleveland should stop in Wisconsin to get a closer look at The Walker Story - - and these Walker-inspired high lowlights  - - broken roads, and broken promises, and broken schools, and poisoned water, and corrupted government, and dishonest governance, and insider money, and jobs' fail, and jobs' bail, and environmental disregard, and raw power, and polluter power, and more polluter power, and more polluter power... 

Heavy flooding in NW WI near proposed 26,000-hog feedlot

[Updated from 7/12/61] A source reports that ongoing flooding in NW Wisconsin is spreading, so imagine what would be happening to drinking water supplies, tourism, local business and the environment if that proposed 26,000 hog feeding operation exported from Iowa and its massive manure retention storage units were in the way of the floodwater - - and with Lake Superior and Chequamegon Bay so close by.

Tuesday Update - - An Iron County Commissioner has been killed in the flood.

Wednesday update - - Two deaths and are now reported, and rain is in the forecast/

A huge infusion of state and federal Big Government aid is going to be needed, and now.

I was told this was the situation this morning:

UPDATED ROAD CLOSURES: 

U.S. Highway 2 near the Ashland-Iron county line, State Highway 13 near Highbridge, U.S. Highway 63 near Grand View State Highway 137 near Ashland, State Highway 169 near Highway 2, State Highway 122 near Highway 2, State Highway 77 east of Minong. 

The closures to Highways 2, 13 and 63 mean major-road access to the Ashland, Washburn and Bayfield areas is largely cut off from the south and 
Glenn Grothman's caulk-it planeast - as of Tuesday morning only Highways 2 and 13 to the west remained open.

And imagine if all that water were flowing down clear-cut hilltops, then out into the Bad River watershed carrying acidic rock waste from the long, deep and wide open pit mine that nearly got sited in the area. 

Or if was Glenn Grothman's caulk-it expertise were in effect.

Update: Look at the rise in the Bad River, and, again, think if it were carrying acidic mine waste:

To the east of Ashland, the Bad River near Odanah rose over 15 feet within six hours to its third highest level before the river gauge stopped reporting Tuesday morning.

More:

ReadyWisconsin @ReadyWisconsin
Storm damage Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Price, Sawyer Co. Hwy 63 N of Grand View washed out. #wiwx pic.twitter.com/6q7APXVVtX 8:36 AM - 12 Jul 2016 Twitter By: ReadyWisconsin @ReadyWisconsin

Walker's do-little DNR about to do even less, agency says

Not content with flushing away the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources historic mission, slashing its staff, degrading its science focus, deliberately leaving positions unfilled - - hence the staff shortages which mean that environmental protection is being sacrificed - - giving breaks to polluters and favors to insiders and wiping out state park operating funds which hit The Average Wisconsin Family with steeper fees and even scheming (unsuccessfully) to wipe out long-standing citizen oversight of the whole operation - - here's one link covering it all with half a dozen or so links - - state Republicans through their lead "chamber of commerce" operative Walker put atop DNR are about to drop another bomb on the agency and the public the DNR formerly represented:

Current DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp has said that in August the department expects to unveil a plan to curtail unnecessary department activities and shift resources to bolster the agency’s core mission, which she said includes environmental protection.

Unnecessary department activities…bolster the agency's core mission…?

A core mission which she says includes environmental protection? Well, that's bold, though let's be honest: under this administration, a pledge to define unnecessary activities is worrisome, and further pledging to protect - - sorta - - the environment is just more manure.


Problem is, that's according to Stepp, who, in the past has attacked the agency's core mission and denigrated its staff, agreed with the budget and staff cuts while confirming that the mission under Walker's "chamber of commerce" agency construct now allows regulated firms to write their own permits and set the rules of their permit's pollution tolerance.

Insiders tell me internal work assignments at the DNR are beginning to happen, and without civil service protections which the Walkerites also threw away, a fresh wave of gloom is washing through its offices.

We, and the dedicated staff still doing the people's work, await Stepp's definition of unnecessary department activities and the agency's core mission.

Paul Ryan to cite Lincoln's Party 'common principles' at TrumpFest

Paul Ryan had recently branded Donald Trump a racist, but the Janesville, WI congressman and Speaker of the House of Representatives  - - but Ryan is comfortable enough with the presumptive GOP presidential candidate that he'll lend the prestige of the House Speakership to Trump with a convention speech next week:

Ryan told Politico he wants "to talk about our ideas, our solutions and how our party should unite ... Our agenda, our solutions and how we ought to unite around our common principles and how we apply those principles to problems."

Also joining both former Presidents Bush, the party's two most recent presidential standard-bearers and others not present at the Cleveland convention - -  this man:

Monarch Butterfly habitat restoration set for Sunday

Happy to pass along this reminder - - as I've done before - - that there are people of good will doing good work to address big problems for future generations.:

Greetings Monarch Butterfly Supporters,  The date is re-set for our event!  Sunday July 17th, noon pm to 3 pm! We need MANY volunteers to help plant 1,200 milkweeds and nectaring plants at the County Grounds Monarch Trail. The site is ready to go, the holes will be drilled, come out and plant 5 or plant 50!  EACH plant will help restore this beautiful home of butterflies and so many other creatures! What: Monarch Butterfly Habitat Restoration Planting Event for All Ages! When: Sunday July 17th 2016 Time: Noon – 3:00 pm Where: Meet at the Trail Head, 9810 Eschweiler Dr., Wauwatosa (map on attached poster) or visit www.theMonarchTrail.org Bring: Gloves, a sun hat, your favorite trowel, and a few friends and family!  The more the merrier! Why: Monarch butterflies need our help.  This local treasure is a work in progress.  With your help, we are making great strides in bringing back the monarch population and migration to this site.  Since development began, many areas were disturbed for construction but are now open for planting.  We are working on our 4th large area—it’s all adding up! .  Every plant you put into the ground will make a difference!  This is a way to help the monarch population and their imperiled migration.  Spend time out in nature and take part in restoring our treasured link in the lifeline for the monarch butterfly. Please give one, two or three hours on Sunday, July 17th! to help plant another section with 1,200 new milkweeds and nectar plants. See you Sunday! Barb Agnew Friends of the Monarch Trail www.themonarchtrail.org    12326 W Watertown Plank Rd Wauwatosa WI 414-454-0222

After ruling by disrespect, Scott Walker discovers 'respect'

For some time on this blog I had been cataloguing the fundamental disrespect which candidate and GOP Governor Scott Walker had repeatedly shown a citizenry he had manipulated, pounded and even punished for his own personal and partisan advancement.

So it caught my attention yesterday when I read that Walker had paused for a few minutes before a motorcycle ride while the country was in mourning over infuriating and demoralizing killings in three states among the full fifty which he still fantasizes overseeing as chief executive and moral leader to urge everyone to show greater respect for each other.

Hardly a deep response to violence rooted profoundly in a country founded on racism and repeatedly damaged by broad, historic inequalities, yet Walker's record of actions - - less audible than, say, Chris Christie or Donald Trump's combativeness or insults - - hollows out the credibility of otherwise reasonable language about respect even if his sentiments were heartfelt.

Walker cannot call for or command respect after having misled voters in 2014 into thinking he was focused on serving out a second term and was disinterested in running for President before almost immediately entering the presidential race after winning re-election with a national operation he and his organization had long been planning.

A take-us-for-granted pattern he is repeating right under out noses, again.

And having financed his 2012 recall campaign with some secret fund-raising and tied up that campaign with a high-pitch dog whistle in exurban Waukesha County for votes to prevent, as he said, the state from turning into another Milwaukee.

And having managed his 2010 campaign with a secret system set up in his taxpayer-paid Milwaukee County Executive suite which defeated the intent of the Wisconsin Open Records law and which led to the criminal convictions of six staffers, associates or campaign contributors, and which also led to one ongoing probe still before the US Supreme Court.

Or after having whispered but audibly to his biggest 2010 donor that he had a "divide-and-conquer" union-busting plan which would work to her business advantage.

And - - and here comes a partial list - - having signed legislation to help retain school logos and nicknames which stereotype Native Americans, blasted away without warning collective bargaining for public employees, signed bills which made it easier to end private sector unions and cut the pay of workers on public works projects, overturned local government controls or practices on land development, wetland protection, shoreline incursions, public employee residency and public union contracts, raised - - despite promising never to raise taxes - - three taxes on low-income Wisconsinites to fund a tax cut for the wealthy, reduced food stamps for the poor while few states did so, added drug testing for public aid recipients without any indication that drug use was occurring and knowing that such legislation was unconstitutional, chopped public assistance by a flat $20 a month across the board just to make the point, added barriers to voting, including mandated photo ID effecting principally low-income citizens and college students, and reduced early voting hours statewide, cut off health services to low-income women and others by defunding Planned Parenthood clinics and adding onerous clinic restrictions knowing they would be declared unconstitutional, sued to block federal initiatives to clean up the air we breathe, raised state park entrance and camping fees, recreated the Department of Natural Resources into a business-friendly agency intentionally disregarding the US Clean Water Act, and more.

That's not governance by respect. It's governance by surprise, intolerance, favoritism, and power play.

To Walker, respect is but a word in a talking point tossed out before his Harley rolled out on, of course, another self-promotional ride.

He'd get more credit for sincerity if had a record of respect to back up Saturday's remarks.

More here:

So let's not let Walker skate by, again, since much reporting last year fell for his self-promoting aw-shucks, not-Christie, 'son-of-a-preacher' Midwestern nice persona which was and is seriously at odds with his record.

Which I'd summarized recently this way, for the record:

Media and delegates on their way to Cleveland should stop in Wisconsin to get a closer look at The Walker Story - - and these Walker-inspired high lowlights  - - broken roads, and broken promises, and broken schools, and poisoned water, and corrupted government, and dishonest governance, and insider money, and jobs' fail, and jobs' bail, and environmental disregard, and raw power, and polluter power, and more polluter power, and more polluter power...

Scott Walker benefits politically from outsiders' misinformation

In Wisconsin, we understand that Scott Walker's flip-flops and maneuvers in advance of the GOP convention in Cleveland are calculated by a super self-promoter to get publicity and, should lightning strike, walk off with his party's presidential nomination should it be wrested from Donald Trump.

Don't think that Walker and fellow Wisconsites Rience Preibus, the party chairman, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, the convention co-chair and senior party national elected official, aren't working overtime to throw the nomination to Walker. 

But a faraway pundit overthinks the issue, crediting Walker as a party unifier and even managing to use the words "unscathed and' "pristine" regarding Walker's record among Republicans.

Pristine? Or invisible? 

He was running low on campaign cash, sliding sharply in opinion polls, losing potential donors to rivals and unnerving supporters with a stream of gaffes, like saying he would consider building a wall along the Canadian border... 

And Mr. Walker’s message — a tale of conservative triumph over labor unions and other entrenched Democratic interests in a Midwestern swing state — plainly failed to connect. He drew support from less than one-half of 1 percent of Republican primary voters in a recent CNN national poll.

And unscathed? Take a look at this 2015 New York Times story:

Scott Walker, Set for a Bigger Stage, Faces G.O.P. Revolt in Wisconsin

And this blog posting from about the same time:

WI Assembly Republican calls Walker's submission "a crap budget"

And this takedown by Wisconsin GOP businessman, John Torinus, who blasted Walker's budget, its priorities and methods as they produced these results:

• Whack the University of Wisconsin budget by $300 million and turn its governance over to an undefined “authority?”

• Zero out the Stewardship Fund that has been supported by both parties for more than 60 years?

• Strip the Natural Resources Board of its policy-making authority after eight decades in that role?

• Cut out bonding for public buildings in favor of $1.3 billion in new highway bonds, which will be paid off by taxpayers down the road?

This is government by surprise. 

So let's not let Walker skate by, again, since much reporting last year fell for his self-promoting aw-shucks, not-Christie, 'son-of-a-preacher' Midwestern nice persona which was and is seriously at odds with his record.

Which I'd summarized recently this way, for the record:

Media and delegates on their way to Cleveland should stop in Wisconsin to get a closer look at The Walker Story - - and these Walker-inspired high lowlights  - - broken roads, and broken promises, and broken schools, and poisoned water, and corrupted government, and dishonest governance, and insider money, and jobs' fail, and jobs' bail, and environmental disregard, and raw power, and polluter power, and more polluter power, and more polluter power...

Walker flips to endorse the bigot he'd 'disavowed'

Tough recent talk from Gov. 'Unintimidated' explaining why he wouldn't endorse Donald Trump:

"I want to make sure he[Trump]  renounces what he says with regards to this judge -- that flies directly in the face, and on the religious test alone, that's directly in conflict with the Sixth Amendment," Walker said in Madison, Wisconsin..."I completely disavow what Trump said..."

Well, not completely disavow, it turns out, since a speaking slot which plenty of principled Republicans rejected opened up at the Trump coronation for Gov. Situational - - who just shelved and flipped away from his no-endorsement rhetoric:

Scott WalkerVerified account‏@ScottWalker

Last August, I said I'd support the GOP nominee. It's now clear who the RNC delegates will vote to nominate. And he is better than

WMC launches contest to distract from Walker's job fail

[Updated] The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce is a leading financial and public relations promoter of GOP Governor Scott Walker, so how embarrassing is it that Walker's big promise to create 250,000 new private-sector jobs by January, 2015 had been a high-profile failure - - and after 5.5 years in office, he's only 67% there - - while the state consistently registers low on indices as varied as business startups - - dead last - - to the condition of the roads - - 47th nationally.

Another recent survey showed investment capital fell 40% from last year.

Basically things are not cool here.

So what's the WMC's answer?

Looks to me like some fun and games, such as a contest to find the coolest thing made in Wisconsin!!

How about Hypocrisy, as the tone-deaf contest planners are offering up a Trek bike as a Coolest Thing possibility - 

A Trek bicycle, a Marquis yacht, an Oshkosh Defense tactical vehicle, a Kohler bathroom fixture — the possibilities for nominations are endless, WMC said in its news release.

- even though the Walkerites dumped on 2014 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, attacked and denigrated her service to the firm and took existing footage touting Trek out of a WEDC video promoting Wisconsin. 

But back to fun and games.

Reminds me of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary, business-devotee and party planner Cathy Stepp's all-agency Halloween party to distract from her boss's Act 10's worker hostility and her own special, public contempt for the people she eventually would manage.

What's next? 

We can't have a contest for the Coolest Thing Wisconsin Deliberately Threw Away, as that award in perpetuity goes to Walker and the Federally-financed train between Madison and Milwaukee he successfully blocked.

Ditto for fully-funded, complete medical coverage for low-income citizens, also thrown away so Walker could make the same anti-Obama, anti-federal policy argument he 'ade' with the Amtrak funding FUBAR.

So, instead, how about:

*  A WisDOT contest to find the state's deepest pothole, since our roads rank fourth worst nationally?

* A DNR contest for most minimal fine for overspreading human waste near residential wells?

* Or another DNR contest for slushiest, no-citation industrial-scale feedlot runoff? One recent possibility - - showing manure after a heavy rain that had been trucked into Portage County from a Juneau County CAFO - - below.

WI DNR boss Stepp wishes staff were like burger flippers

[Updated] This blog has been tracking the forced decline of the once-proud, no-longer-science-based Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as directed by Scott Walker's hand-picked team of "chamber of commerce" bots.

That group of private-sector bellhops is led by tiny deer-slayer,

ex-developer, Halloween treats organizer and openly hostile DNR ranter Cathy Stepp.

There was even a management firm's video of Stepp's hostility which captured her dismissal of staffers she griped that she couldn't easily fire - - employees too tied into an Earth Day mentality and who refused to share her appreciation for "inspired" Scott Walker - - but the video was taken down.

So add this revealing excuse-making Stepp stepped in to before the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board - - the public oversight board which Walker with her approval unsuccessfully tried to budgetary turn into a mere advisory body - - as reported by The Wisconsin State Journal:

Stepp recalled her days as a McDonald’s restaurant manager as she talked about how state employment rules have hobbled the DNR. Stepp said she could quickly mobilize her fast-food employees when a busload of customers arrived unexpectedly, but the DNR can’t react that nimbly to retirements.

There you have it, career DNR employees - - those not wiped out in the last budget's termination of scientists.  Your boss would rather you were minimum-wage burger flippers she could order around.

Thanks to Kewaunee County farmer and activist Nancy Utesch for her strong opinion piece on these matters and her continuing fight for - - wait for it - - clean drinking water guaranteed by the DNR - - in the Year 2016. 

More props to Lynn Utesch for taking that activism to the next level.

WI Cong. Glenn Grothman, (R) helps Hillary at hearing

Well done, Wisconsin Congressman and Tea Party poster-person Glenn Grothman 
for forgetting your entire UW-Madison Law School witness-examination training to elicit FBI Director James Comey's statement on live television just a few minutes ago that former Secretary of State's Hillary Clinton's email deletions showed "no evil intent."

That will no doubt be one of the takeaway quotes from today's circus where Grothman proved predictably comfortable.