WI DNR approves another huge dairy CAFO, despite...

[Updated 1:00 p.m. 4/29 with a bigger picture analysis].

[Updated 7:00 p.m. 4/28]...the out-of-state owner's troubled record operating another such operation, because - -

...the state doesn’t take a company’s pollution record into account when deciding on a permit for a new site.

More on this permit, here.

[Updated 7:40 p.m, 4/28 Another fresh news report on the battered Wisconsin small dairy farming operation.] 

Feel free to add this major, Kewaunee County-style CAFO's greenlight for a 5,800 dairy cow milking-and-manure operation 40 minutes from Madison
to these recent Walker/DNR pro-business, anti-environmental 'highlights,' here and here.

Sorry this week to have been distracted by the Lake Michigan water giveaway to Foxconn.

And by the way, maybe the DNR will update this 2014 web chart and page about CAFOs in Wisconsin last edited 45 months ago.

Wisconsin CAFO WPDES permits by animal type over time

[Update] Additionally, this relentless CAFO expansion is coming while smaller dairies are being driven out of business:

Wisconsin now leads the nation in small farm bankruptcies.

As dairy crisis crushes farmers, Wisconsin's rural identity in jeopardy

And more than a year ago, I noted that Walker's DNR has been reducing pollution inspections while also promoting more and more dairy production, which hurts the smaller operators in a time of over-supply and public health, too: 

It's not surprising that the smaller farming operations are at the greater risk when the supply chain take a sudden hit, yet Wisconsin government in the Walker years of one-party, corporate-obeisant rule has been applying its official authority in a coordinated way to increase milk production to over-supply conditions while disregarding the consequences on small dairy farmers - - and the water supply, drinking water contamination and other issues.

Clearly there is a lot wrong with this picture;  the common thread -- - those with the least power are being ignored and abused by those with more power, or access to it. 

So consider that:

 Walker in 2012 began financing a state plan to boost milk production in the state:

Walker hopes to grow Badger State milk production to 30 billion pounds annually by 2020. The effort to do that has been dubbed "30x20" and is part of the Grow Wisconsin Dairy program.

Walker unveiled his proposal in Madison on March 13. He chose the twentieth annual business conference of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) for his announcement.

Walker, WI DNR actions undercut their Arbor Day/Forest Week words

Nice words about trees and forests have little meaning when Wisconsin is encouraging wetland-filling, forest-cutting and wildlife habitat destruction.

As I said the other day, Wisconsin's DNR needs a new mission statement that reflects the 'chamber of commerce mentality' Walker installed and enforces there.

To wit:

The DNR highlighted in a news release Walker's Arbor Day and Forest Appreciation Well words about the importance of trees and habitat with some of its own:

Wisconsin celebrates trees and forests this week

MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker issued a proclamation recognizing Friday, April 27, 2018 as Arbor Day in Wisconsin and April 22-28, 2018 as Forest Appreciation Week. Arbor Day is an annual observance celebrating the role of trees and forests in our lives and promotes tree planting and care. Wisconsin has celebrated Arbor Day on the last Friday of April since 1883.

And from Walker's proclamation, these phrases detached from reality and his record:

...trees are a valuable resources, creating a myriad of wildlife, habitats...economic, social, cultural and ecological values...."

These words may come as a surprise to anyone following Walker's eagerness from Day One to dismiss the DNR's wetland-permitting processes:

...[he] has accelerated special interests' access with state government assistance to water that began in the early days of Walker's rule:

Walker was sworn in as Wisconsin Governor on January 3, 2011 - - five days after announcing his selection of [developer and DNR-basher Cathy] Stepp to run the DNR - - and nine days later he suspended the review of a wetland filling permit application so one of his campaign donors could more quickly begin building a project near Lambeau Field... 

A year later, Walker signed in front of cheering Realtors at their convention a bill which weakened environmental protections for wetlands.

Also surely surprised by Walker's words and the DNR's platitudes:

*  Wisconsin residents trying to prevent the loss of trees and habitat on the 247-acre Lake Michigan shoreline nature preserve and inside an adjoining state park for golf construction which the DNR has moved closer to bulldozing

with the award of a key wetlands-filling permit.

Details from a DNR review of the site, here:

*  Page 50: The Kohler Property is almost 100 percent contiguous forest. Up to 50 percent of the forest would be removed if the proposed project is constructed. The remaining fragmented forest would provide some habitat during songbird migration. Invasive species management and restoration of native trees and shrubs in invasive removal areas would help control exotic and invasive species in the retained forest. The forest edge along turfgrass and human use areas created from fragmentation of the forest would probably increase the challenge of exotic and invasive species management. 

The edge would likely provide some habitat for species that inhabit transitions between forest and openings. Habitat value would likely be diminished. 

Tree clearing would occur on the Property for each hole, the access road, the clubhouse/parking lot complex, the practice range, the maintenance facility, the restrooms, and the irrigation pond. Tree clearing may also occur in forested areas between tee and fairways to provide lines of sight. Interior forest bird nesting habitat is likely present within and adjacent to the Project boundary and would essentially be eliminated. Wildlife species inhabiting these areas would be permanently impacted by the loss of habitat. 

* Page 63: Some trees bordering the beach would be removed, allowing longer sight lines between the Project and Lake Michigan. Trees present in dune habitat that is utilized by a rare species may not be able to be removed unless additional authorizations are obtained (i.e., an incidental take permit). Additionally, the number and area of trees removed would have to be reviewed to determine the potential impacts on the beach/dune community. 

* Pages 69-70 Summary of Adverse Impacts That Cannot Be Avoided

The site’s nearly 100% forested canopy would be reduced by nearly half. Habitat value will diminish along forest edges near turf grass and human use areas.

Approximately 3.7 acres of wetland would be lost due to filling including impacts to approximately 1.36 acres of Great Lakes ridge and swale wetlands, a wetland type that is considered “imperiled” in Wisconsin. Additional wetland impacts resulting from alterations to wetland hydrology and the influence of increased nutrients could change the wetland type and allow encroachment of invasive species.

Reduction of the forest to 50 percent cover would result in a substantial reduction of available migratory bird stopover habitat on the Kohler Property. Interior forest bird nesting habitat is likely present within and adjacent to the Project boundary and would essentially be eliminated...

*  Wisconsin residents concerned about the wholesale paving of farmland, woodlands and wetlands on the 3,000-acre Foxconn site which the state has exempted from routine environmental reviews and protections - -  including a separate DNR approval-in-advance of the destruction of rare Monarch butterfly habitat for state-paid road-building serving the site - - which the DNR has moved closer to unprecedented levels of bulldozing with the award of four air pollution permits and a daily diversion of Lake Michigan water equal to a line if water tanker trucks 14 miles long.

*  Wisconsin residents contesting the DNR's award of a wetland-filling permit in Monroe County for sand mining operations that will destroy a rare stand swamp oak trees.

*  Wisconsin residents who opposed the removal of state protections for 100,000 wetland acres statewide.

The other Great Lakes states could review water diversion for Foxconn

A few thoughts, a bit of history and a citation to a key document to think about after Walker's Foxconn-subservient 'chamber of commerce mentality' DNR obliterated its mission to become the Department of No Return:

The Great Lakes Compact of 2008, to which the Wisconsin DNR just gave short shift with its quick approval of a diversion from Lake Michigan 

to principally serve a single business's construction schedule and production needs - - rather than, say, to resolve a public water problem - - had been pushed to its complex, multi-layered US and Canadian approvals by former Wisconsin Gov Jim Doyle, then co-chairman of the key body which oversees the Great Lakes Compact of 2008.

Here is a link to the text of the Compact. More about that in a moment.

Those Great Lakes officials' were driven to act because an existing agreement to preserve and manage these shared, world-class Great Lakes waters was weak, and there had already been a disturbing proposal, later abandoned, to remove Great Lakes water to Asia by tanker ship.

So while so-called thirsty Western US states were seen as the possible major domestic US threat to Great Lakes integrity, it turns out that Wisconsin is the region's water management outlier that needs reining in.

[3/12/18 update - - Wisconsin's slippery history with current and projected Great Lakes diversions - - plural - - boost the state's outlier reputation.]

Wisconsin is light years away from the nationally-leading environmental state bequeathed to us by John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Gaylord Nelson and generations of preservationist activism.

The decline and fall of Wisconsin's environmental stature is due to Scott Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality' and pro-polluter record that intentionally turned Wisconsin into a donor-driven and special-interest-favor dispensing and pollution-enabling environmental outlier.... 

As to recent diversion approvals, first there was Waukesha, and now, apparently, the Racine-to-Foxconn bid  enabled in the first place by unprecedented public subsidies and state exemptions from basic environmental reviews, wetland, lake bed and stream protections and routine litigation schedules.

All part of Walker's dismissal of watershed protections that has set him apart from his predecessors.

The Wisconsin DNR has the authority under the Compact to approve the Racine diversion request on its own, and without submitting it to the rest of the states as was required under a different set of rules guiding the review of the Waukesha diversion.

Two things to consider:

1. While the Racine-for-Foxconn request does not have to be given to the other states for their review, there is precedent for such a submission: 

Doyle's DNR did just that for the other states as a courtesy,when a diversion request was made to serve a portion of the City of New Berlin under rules in place which the Compact since superseded. 

Following harsh comments, improvements were made to the application before the WI DNR gave its approval.

2. And the final Waukesha diversion approval came with restrictions long sought by conservationists, so additional scrutiny of these very important proposals can end up saving water if there is the will to put science above special interests.

3. Which brings me to this: the Compact does give the other states the power to ask for a higher-level so-called regional review if it feels the diversion application needs it.

Those standards, procedures and guidelines are spelled out in the Compact, so 
back to that Compact link, and to page 12, below:

Section 4.5. Regional Review.
1. General.

1. It is the intention of the Parties to participate in Regional Review of Proposals
   with the Provinces, as described in this Compact and the Agreement.
   
   
2. Unless the Applicant or the Originating Party otherwise requests, it shall be the
   goal of the Regional Body to conclude its review no later than 90 days after notice
   under Section 4.5.2 of such Proposal is received from the Originating Party.
   
   
3. Proposals for Exceptions subject to Regional Review shall be submitted by the
   Originating Party to the Regional Body for Regional Review, and where
   applicable, to the Council for concurrent review.
   
   
4. The Parties agree that the protection of the integrity of the Great Lakes – St.
   Lawrence River Basin Ecosystem shall be the overarching principle for reviewing Proposals subject to Regional Review, recognizing uncertainties with respect to demands that may be placed on Basin Water, including groundwater, levels and flows of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, future changes in environmental conditions, the reliability of existing data and the extent to which Diversions may harm the integrity of the Basin Ecosystem.
   
   
5. The Originating Party shall have lead responsibility for coordinating information for resolution of issues related to evaluation of a Proposal, and shall consult with the Applicant throughout the Regional Review Process.
   
   
6. A majority of the members of the Regional Body may request Regional Review of a regionally significant or potentially precedent setting Proposal. Such Regional Review must be conducted, to the extent possible, within the time frames set forth in this Section. Any such Regional Review shall be undertaken only after consulting the Applicant.

Page 12 of 27

Fatal EMS helicopter crash in N. WI joins tragic data base

News of three fatalities in the crash near Hazelhurst of a Madison-based helicopter on a medical mission is a reminder that these flights often take place in stressful circumstances and environments, as this NTSB data base indicates.

The safety of these flights has been a source of much study.

A 2016 review found that the operations are getting safer, but problems remain, especially on night flights.

The helicopter believed to have been involved would be similar to this model. All very sad.

Ryan wouldn't rein in Devin Nunes. But the House Chaplain? Gone!

The quitting WI GOP Cong., failed House Speaker

and grotesquely partisan Paul Ryan decided against controlling renegade House Intel GOP Chair and falsely-self-recused Devin Nunes.

Who is still carrying water Trump, now dating back to the transition.

But firing the House Chaplain? Yeah, now you're talking, like other examples of Ryan leadership on his 'resume.'

And let's not forget the last time Ryan didn't care for being schooled by concerned clergy.

Here, also.

Flaming Superior oil depot is key tar sands oil connection

The refinery in Superior on fire today

is part of an oil shipping, refining and piping complex often in Wisconsin's news, and is where tar sands oil distribution expansion is centered.

Early reports said an asphalt tank had exploded, and that fire was out, but there are subsequent reports of an additional explosion, so it is not clear right now exactly what is burning or if there is toxic runoff into the surrounding land and waters.

I'd reported on this blog in 2007 that a planned expansion of the Superior refinery - - then with a different owner - - would require the precedent-setting filling of hundreds of acres of wetlands close to Lake Superior.

The group Madison350 has a lot of information about Wisconsin oil pipeline issues.

More later.

Detroit Public TV raises awareness about at-risk Great Lakes pipeline

Detroit Public TV's documentary on Enbridge's aging Pipeline 5 beneath rough waters near the Mackinac Bridge is definitely worth watching.

In this new half-hour documentary, Detroit Public TV’s Great Lakes Bureau examines the controversy surrounding the Line 5 pipeline built by Enbridge Inc., a pipeline that was constructed and placed on the lakebed between Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsula more than a half century ago. 

It operates under the water near the Mackinac Bridge in a spot that’s considered one of the most scenic areas of the Great Lakes and is known for its strong currents between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. 

 
Regrettably, Enbridge, its spills and tar sand pipeline expansions are known across the Great Lakes and in Wisconsin:

And as the Mackinac Straits pipeline issue broke into the news, Walker's office had no comment, a TV news outlet reported.

Little wonder. Walker has used Enbridge as campaign photo op material, despite its horrible spill and pollution record nationally and in Wisconsin.

Walker and Schimel, with backing from the GOP-run Legislature, have separately or together worked to: evade the intent of the state's constitutional mandate that the waters of the state belong to everyone; privatize the state's groundwater; speed the expansion of a north-south oil pipeline by minimizing the project's environmental reviews; bulldoze wetlands to create sand mines, pull back prevention of phosphorous dumping into rivers, and on pollution enforcement generally, and cooperate with Trump initiatives to remove federal protections for wetlands and other surface waters.

Walker's 'chamber of commerce' DNR needs updated mission statement

[Updated from 4/26/18] This was the week that Scott Walker's Wisconsin's DNR became the Department of No Return.

You'd think that a formerly science-based natural resources agency would post a newly-accurate mission statement if it had:

* Speedily greenlit the release of 700+ tons by Foxconn of air pollutants annually into already smog-challenged SE WI skies;

* Quickly approved for Foxconn a daily diversion of Great Lakes water equal to 1,100 tanker trucks lined up for 14 miles;

* Like other public agencies offered no protection for residents in rural Racine County who can be forced off property which Foxconn wants to acquire for a massive constuction project on a site where wetlands, lake beds and stream courses can be altered, filled or paved without permits.

* Update - - And put out a platitude-laden Arbor Day/Forest Week news release with a link to a proclamation about the benefits of trees, forests and habitat which is under cut by Walker's relentless war on wetlands, trees, forests and habitats he began in the first hours of his first term.

Surely it's time that the DNR added some truth-in-advertising to its mission statement reflecting the defacto Department of Commerce status Scott Walker has embedded there, no?

Wrong.

In light of Walker's two-term degradation of the DNR, its absorption by  Foxconn at Walker's direction and its servitude to various mining, development, corporate Ag and transportation interests which are hostile to the environment, I'm posting the DNR mission statement below which has been shattered into irrelevancy and parody by the actions of its own managers.

Perhaps the DNR could enlist the help of the WMC and the Realtors in writing a more reality-based DNR mission statement, since they did such a good job writing what is essentially a no-fault recusal rule for the Wisconsin Supreme Court into which the organizations' campaign money had flowed.

Our Mission

To protect and enhance our natural resources:

our air, land and water;
our wildlife, fish and forests
and the ecosystems that sustain all life.

To provide a healthy, sustainable environment

and a full range of outdoor opportunities.

To ensure the right of all people

to use and enjoy these resources
in their work and leisure.

To work with people

to understand each other's views
and to carry out the public will.

And in this partnership

consider the future
and generations to follow.

WI DNR adds quick Foxconn water diversion OK to quick air pollution approvals

[Updated from 4:35 p.m.] Former WI DNR Secretary, outspoken business cheerleader and current US EPA Great Lakes regional director Cathy Stepp said last year that Foxconn was everything she and Walker had been hoping for.

Stepp may be gone, but the "chamber of commerce mentality" Walker wanted her to embed there is leading the way, 24/7/365.

To the Wisconsin DNR's unsurprising and speedy approval of Foxconn's air pollution permits yesterday you can add, despite considerable public opposition and concerns from other Great Lakes states an equally unsurprising and lightning-fast Wisconsin DNR green-light today so the company can get diverted Lake Michigan water,
 
the DNR reports in a 3:04 p.m. email notice, below.

Spoiler alert: while comments in opposition predictably fell on deaf ears, the DNR thanks you for your input:

The department has taken the comments under consideration in issuing the approval and drafted a comment and response document available by searching the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov for keywords "Racine diversion." 

"We received approximately 800 comments on the Racine application, which shows the public's strong interest in this topic," said Adam Freihoefer, water use section chief for the Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater. "We appreciate the public's involvement and I thank those who took the time to comment."

File this farce in your Disappearing Wisconsin Democracy file, as will I.

Update: Note that I mentioned earlier this month that Walker had smoothed the way for Foxconn by positioning Atty. Matt Moroney, a former Walker staffer and Deputy to DNR Secretary Stepp for four years as the state's coordinating point man for Foxconn:

And do not forget that he has installed as the state's Foxconn project liaison Attorney Matt Moroney, a Governor's office senior staffer and former DNR Deputy Secretary who, prior to his Walker administration service was a builders' association official who had opposed the Great Lakes Compact's diversion exceptions as impediments to business...

And also understand that a state judge recently made a strong ruling in support of the Public Trust Doctrine, the Wisconsin Constitutional Article IX language which mandates that a) Wisconsin's waters by right belong to everyone and, b) the DNR is duty-bound as the people's trustee to protect that right and preserve access to state waters for the public's benefit.

[Dane County Circuit Court] Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn ruled that the ]groundwater' permits ran afoul of a constitutional provision requiring state government to protect water for the public.

“This Court is bound by nearly 120 years of precedent and a long rich history in the State of respecting the Wisconsin Constitution and its fundamental protection of the waters of the State for the enjoyment of all,” Bailey-Rihn wrote in a decision she issued Wednesday.

So: Stay tuned, and involved. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contact(s): Jim Dick, DNR Director of Communications, James.Dick@wisconsin.gov, 608-267-2773

MADISON, Wis. - The Department of Natural Resources issued an approval today allowing the city of Racine to divert an annual average of 7 million gallons a day of water from Lake Michigan for its customers within the village of Mount Pleasant. The village of Mount Pleasant straddles the divide between the Lake Michigan basin and Mississippi River basin.

For perspective, the total surface water withdrawn from Lake Michigan from all states in 2016 was reported as 9.6 billion gallons per day by the Great Lakes Commission. Racine's requested 7 million gallons per day withdrawal would only amount to a 0.07 percent increase in the total surface water withdrawals from Lake Michigan. This withdrawal would still put the Racine water utility under its existing withdrawal capacity and below its 1995 average day water sales number as cited in its application.

Straddling community diversion applications are regulated under the Great Lakes Compact, which took effect in 2008. The process allows communities that straddle the Great Lakes basin divide to apply to divert Great Lakes water.

The village of Mount Pleasant lies predominantly in the Great Lakes basin, and the Racine Water Utility already serves over 5,000 residential customers in the village of Mount Pleasant. 

The diversion approval allows the Racine Water Utility to extend public water service to the 8 percent of the village that is in the Mississippi River basin, partially including the Foxconn facility site. Because Racine's public water system will continue to serve a group of largely residential customers, including the straddling community of Mount Pleasant, the DNR determined that Racine's proposed diversion is for "public water supply purposes."

As part of the diversion approval, the city of Racine must ensure that the diverted water is returned to Lake Michigan minus consumptive use such as evaporation. The water returned to Lake Michigan will be treated at the Racine Wastewater Treatment Plant to meet all applicable state and federal water quality discharge standards. Any industrial customers, such as Foxconn, will work with the City of Racine to meet pretreatment requirements for wastewater.

Again, for perspective, Lake Michigan rose 56.3 inches between January 2013 and August 2017. (NOAA GLERL Dashboard - exit DNR). By comparison, the annual consumptive use water loss caused by the diversion from Lake Michigan would be about .0025 inches or about the thickness of a lightweight (12 bond) sheet of paper.

After receiving the application in January, the DNR invited the public to provide comments on the application, and received public testimony at a hearing in early March in Sturtevant. The department has taken the comments under consideration in issuing the approval and drafted a comment and response document available by searching the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov for keywords "Racine diversion."

"We received approximately 800 comments on the Racine application, which shows the public's strong interest in this topic," said Adam Freihoefer, water use section chief for the Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater. "We appreciate the public's involvement and I thank those who took the time to comment."

More information about the Great Lakes Compact is also available by searching dnr.wi.gov for "Great Lakes Compact."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You might want to try and square the state and DNR actions with regard to Foxconn, the Kohler golf course wetland permit approval and state park land transfer, the Monroe County wetland filling and timber stand destruction permit and a host of additional environmental travesties - - all catalogued here - - with what the DNR still claims as its mission statement:

To protect and enhance our natural resources:

our air, land and water;
our wildlife, fish and forests
and the ecosystems that sustain all life.

To provide a healthy, sustainable environment

and a full range of outdoor opportunities.

To ensure the right of all people

to use and enjoy these resources
in their work and leisure.

To work with people

to understand each other's views
and to carry out the public will.

And in this partnership

consider the future
and generations to follow.

Tales from the swamp

Might a Ben Carson-ordered rent increase for HUD tenants help out public housing investor and HUD client/borrower Sean Hannity?

Just another win-win day in TrumpSwampLand.

Wisconsin democracy is eroding in plain sight

The latest obvious sign?

That the Wisconsin DNR, having been intentionally directed more than seven years ago by right-wing Republican Gov. Scott Walker to operate with an altered, corrosive "chamber of commerce mentality" just issued for the proposed, massive Foxconn plant four complex air pollution permits only eight days after the public's comment period had closed.

Why should citizens burn up their time and money and energy showing up at a public hearing on something as important as air and water quality (what goes up, comes down in the Lake Michigan watershed) being subjected to more than 700 tons of pollutants annually if such a speedy ruling indicates that decisions had already been made behind closed doors by public officials carrying out Walker's "chamber of commerce mentality" marching orders?

And this kind of sham hearing-and-decision-making in the Walker era is par for the course - - and no pun intended - - as the robotic support by Walker-leg agencies - - the DNR, the Department of Administration, the Natural Resources Board - - for a major Walker donor's bid to fill wetlands and obtain state park acreage to accommodate golf course construction continues to elevate privilege and access over citizen rights and the public interest.

Remember when the DNR recently ran five public hearings on big dairy and cattle herd operations in a single day?

Remember when a very high-profile case was won against one large such dairy operation and the state continues to search or a way to evade the ruling and its obligations to advocate for clean water?

I'm not suggesting that Walker and his appointees discovered the dismissal of citizen rights and public input.

But I am saying this administration has refined and expanded the breadth of its service to special interests and even to donors, without shame, while ignoring the law at the same time.

It was Walker who, in the first days of his first term, personally suspended an ongoing review of a wetland filling permit, then signed a special bill to enshrine what he'd done, so one of his campaign donors could get busy filling a wetland near Lambeau Field for a developer's big box store.

Is it any surprise that during Walker's years in office that there was the relaxing of phosphorous-polluting rules statewide, and an eight-fold increase in the number of polluted waterways in Wisconsin even though state law and Article IX of the Wisconsin Constitution say that state waters by right belong to everyone and must be made available to the public for its enjoyment by its trustee - - the DNR?

It was Walker's GOP which housed computer-assisted gerrymandering specialists in private attorneys' offices and required GOP legislators (Democrats were barred from the process altogether) to sign confidentiality agreements before they could see how their districts' new boundaries were being drawn and mapped?

The goal was to water down Democratic voters' influence - - a companion barrier to the installation by Walker-led Republicans of voter ID and the reduction of early voting hours also aimed at depressing turnout in traditionally Democratic urban and university communities. 

It was Walker ally and State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos who has twice tried to slip though in 11th-hour moves a wetland filling permission for a Monroe County sand mining company even though a hearing before a judge on the legality of the DNR's wetland-filling permit was still taking testimony.

And the out-of-state mining company seeking to fill the wetland probably figures it's due the same sort of legislated environmental and legal and permitting exemptions which Walker and the GOP-Legislature had already showered on Foxconn, and for the owners of about 100,000 wetland acres statewide recently released from state oversight.

In fact, it's hard to expect anyone in Wisconsin to place a high value on respecting the law when Walker had to be forced by the courts to schedule two legislative special elections as required by state statutes.

To fill vacancies he had created by giving sitting legislators jobs in his administration, but wouldn't call the special elections because he was afraid Democrats might win them.

It's hard to say when this guilt-and-consequence-free/out-in-the-open disregard of the public interest and people's rights will end.

But there's no end to Walker's governance by and for special interests; today we read that the Legislature and Walker, with support from the WMC, just exempted industrial slag from environmental regulation. 

So look for more waterway pollution and industrial dumping, despite the toxins being released.

For Foxconn, just another precedent. (Full, 160+ item Foxconn archive, here)

Maybe the US Supreme Court will declare the GOP's power-grabbing gerrymander overtly unconstitutional, and at some point we will have more fair elections statewide.

It's possible that, God forbid, there comes a severe case of fecal contamination in Kewaunee County drinking water tied to either the state's avoidance of regulation, or to dairy herd manure runoff - - or both - - that finally mobilizes Wisconsin public opinion and forces remedial state action, however tardy.

But how foolish the state will look if it takes long-delayed action in a courtroom or a crisis in an emergency room to get some commonsense restored here.

About WI, opioids and '30 bills' - - real thing, or talking point?

Some serious questions about the opioid crisis and Wisconsin's efforts to battle it and save lives:

Is Walker's Monday stand alone tweet - - 

Verified accountApr 23MoreWe have been on the front lines fighting the opioid epidemic here in WI. I have signed 30 bills into law addressing it as governor

- - a reason for hope, or a talking point reaction to this March report which said Wisconsin was #1 in opioid ER admissions among 16 states reviewed by federal health officials - - 

ER visits for opioid overdoses soar in Wisconsin

Emergency room visits for suspected opioid overdoses increased 109 percent in Wisconsin from July 2016 to September 2017, the highest spike among 16 states closely tracked, federal health officials said Tuesday...

The data also highlight the need to enhance mental health services, medication-assisted treatment for addiction and distribution of naloxone, the overdose-reversing drug...

*  Does Walker think 30 bills address the treatment necessities summarized in the reporting, and, across this crisis, is Walker's 30 the right number or a useful number or the best analytical tool by which to assess the matter here?

* And why won't Walker tell AG Brad Schimel to join the states which are suing the opioid makers? 

Does Wisconsin have a science-based strategy, or a politically-driven, media-attuned approach?

Foxconn's 4 air emission permits go through DNR speed-dating

Hey, good news, Racine County asthmatics, seniors, and kids:

The DNR waited a whole eight days after the comment period closed to approve all four, very detailed air emission permits for Foxconn:

Foxconn is applying for at least four permits to emit large tonnages of air pollutants annually. Those emission have been compared to the operation of a large paper mill, and the state is busy trying to weaken air quality standards and monitoring in the area.

Here's how the Journal Sentinel puts it:

The state Department of Natural Resources granted air permits Tuesday for Foxconn Technology Group's planned massive manufacturing facility, setting the stage for a major new source of smog in southeastern Wisconsin. 

This is the same agency reviewing the bid to supply Foxconn with a large daily diversion of Lake Michigan water - - coincidentally close enough to catch some portion of the daily emission tonnages not adding to new levels of smog.

Remember, what goes up comes down, and Lake Michigan is right there.

...an independent analysis of the permits was headlined "Foxconn could increase Racine County's emissions by six percent, and said, in part:

The four facilities, to be built in phases over the next several years, could combine to emit 229 tons per year of nitrogen oxides, 240 tons of carbon monoxide, 52 tons of particulate matter, 4 tons of sulfur dioxide and 275 tons of volatile organic compounds.

There’s only one facility in the state – the Verso Corp. Wisconsin Rapids paper mill – that emits at or above the levels Foxconn is proposing across all five pollutants. 

I'll add this item to the Foxconn archive I have maintained since July.