Blowing the whistle on Sen. Ron Johnson, (R-State Secrecy)

Russia might want to reissue Ron Johnson's travel visa 

now that he's proven himself a reliable authoritarians' water-carrier at this pivotal moment in Trump's 'presidency, and because no one appreciates a Ukraine short of defensive weapons more than Trump's best pal, Vlad:

Critics of Trump's call to Ukraine leader really 'just troubled' by his presidency, Sen. Ron Johnson says

Johnson said what deeply concerned him was that the whistleblower complaint about the call was leaked, pushing it out into the public domain.... 

“We never should even have known about this. The world would be a better place had we never known about this....

Was he bothered with the way Trump during the call put the squeeze on Ukraine's President? Nah. 

"I know how President (Trump) talks. That’s who he is,” said Johnson 

And now that the world now knows more about the way Trump talks, would Johnson would ever reconsider his judgement-free/no-second-thoughts' embrace of Trump and his speaking style?

 “I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information because that’s close to a spy,” Mr. Trump said. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

Nah. 

Yard sign campaign aimed at keeping state park 'development'-free

The grassroots organization Friends of the Black River Forest is out with a new yard sign urging protection of Kohler Andrae State Park from transferring land to a private developer for the construction of a privately-owned, high-end golf course complex.

For a $15 contribution, you can get this sign - - 

- - that will help keep a signature state park intact.

The group has won a round in court to block the construction after showing that the DNR's approval for the project of wetland-filling permit was outside the rules, but the matter is not settled.

And the bigger question is: given what we know about the relationship of old growth forests to climate change and a warming, less habitat environment, should the DNR be doing anything to enable the destruction of a nature preserve adjoining the state park which would loose public acreage for private gain.

Remember, this is more than a local issue impacting eastern Sheboygan County. It's a statewide matter because clean water, public land, fresh air, wildlife protection and rare dunes all hang in the balance.

Simply put, it's your park, too. 

As now that the DNR itself is signaling that it takes climate seriously when the Walker-era agency did not - - after demonstrating that it had not when it inappropriately gave the developer its wetland-filling permit - - 

Former DNR employee: Staff pressured to OK Kohler golf course on rare Wisconsin wetlands, park

-- it's time that the DNR take affirmative steps to make sure the golf course project remains blocked and helps the nature preserve's owner save that unique, 247-acre parcel rather than clear-cut, bulldoze and otherwise change its special character.

Evers, Cole inserting DNR in env. justice and back into climate science

Glad to learn that the WI DNR is embracing a new and assertive climate science role.

I noted last week that Gov. Evers' refocused Wisconsin DNR had not yet updated a critical climate change information web page which Walker's DNR staff had scrubbed nearly three years ago of science, data and links to propel his sweeping dismissal of science and implement his dumbed-down 'chamber of commerce mentality.' 

So I was pleased to learn of two documents:

* First, an agency-wide email sent Monday by Secretary Preston Cole - - 

- - which said the agency was in tune with the issue and its imperatives, and was moving forward with climate change programming based on science.
----------------------------

This message is being sent to all staff

There is a great deal happening at this very moment as it relates to climate change from Friday’s global climate strike by students, United Nations Climate Action Summit to National Clean Energy Week. 

As the climate discussion grows, on behalf of myself, Beth and Todd, I wanted to share with you the Department’s role in addressing climate change and clean energy in Wisconsin.

For starters, thank you for all that each of you do for building resiliency in our state as we strive to adapt to the profound impacts of climate change on our citizens and natural resources. Everyone is affected by climate change, but some people are more affected than others because of factors like where they live; their age, health, income or occupation; or how they go about their day-to-day lives.

The department’s mission requires us to ensure the right of all people to use and enjoy Wisconsin’s natural resources, so we must also recognize that people of color and low-income communities are often the hardest hit by the effects of climate change and act to remedy such injustices.

Please see the attached memo so you are aware of Gov. Evers’ clean energy and climate change goals and our direction. Continue to engage in discussions regarding the policy and management issues that should be considered through the lens of changing climate trends and modeled forecasts for the state.

As always, thank you for hard work throughout the year and your continued service excellence.

Preston D. Cole
Secretary
---------------------

* And, secondly, the screen shot below contains the heart of the memo Cole referenced in his email. It indicates that the DNR is taking concrete actions to move far beyond the dead Walker years, and will assertively advance an agenda on these issues into the realm of environmental justice as a right.

Which is absolutely breath-taking.

E. Kenosha County may have to further reduce ozone pollution

Think of clean air enforcement over SE Wisconsin and Northern Illinois like you would a gerrymandered map, where partisanship, favoritism and insider influence skew unscientifically drawn lines.

You may remember that Walker won from then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt a controversial exemption from toughened Federal clean air attainment standards in the Lake Michigan shoreline counties.

 

The immediate impact of the change: Foxconn would be able operate without having to spend a relative boatload of money to meet air pollution standards which were being toughened nationally.

 "Unfortunately, the people living around Foxconn in Racine and Kenosha counties in Wisconsin are the big losers," said Michael Mikulka, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 704. "They will have to breathe in more air pollution every day because of Pruitt's gift to the governor...." 

In addition to completely exempting Racine County from the smog standards, Pruitt scaled back the EPA staff recommendations for other parts of Wisconsin, leaving only strips of land along Lake Michigan in Door, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties on the list of areas that need to take more aggressive steps to improve air quality.

Now it seems as if those "aggressive steps to improve air quality" are about to begin.

The Wisconsin DNR said Monday that non-attainment for ozone pollution in Eastern Kenosha County had been reclassified from "moderate" to "serious," and emission permits might have to be reworked.

The reclassification will take effect September 23, 2019 and will affect how air permitting is conducted in the eastern portion of the county. DNR is working with impacted facilities to explain any changes to the permitting process and to adjust existing permits as needed. 

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - Air Program September 23, 2019 Kenosha County’s ozone nonattainment status reclassified  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) finalized a reclassification for a portion of Kenosha County from “moderate” to “serious” nonattainment for the 2008 ozone standard. The affected portion of Kenosha County, shown shaded on the map, is the area inclusive of and east of Interstate 94. This area is the Wisconsin portion of the three-state (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) Chicago ozone nonattainment area for the 2008 standard. The reclassification does not mean ozone pollution is worsening in Kenosha County. In fact, the long-term, three-year ozone design values in the county have been improving, from 84 ppb in 2010-2012 to 79 ppb in 2016-2018. This reclassification is required by the Clean Air Act because the area’s ozone levels did not meet the 2008 standard of 75 ppb by the required federal deadline (July 20, 2018). The reclassification will take effect September 23, 2019 and will affect how air permitting is conducted in the eastern portion of the county. DNR is working with impacted facilities to explain any changes to the permitting process and to adjust existing permits as needed. It is important to note that much of the ozone measured in Wisconsin is due to emissions originating from outside the state. Wisconsin’s lakeshore counties experience the highest ozone concentrations on warm days with southerly winds, which transport the compounds that cause ozone, especially volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), into the state. VOCs and NOx react over Lake Michigan to form high concentrations of ozone, which is transported onshore by the lake breeze. Overall, ozone levels statewide have decreased over the past 15 years and emissions of ozone precursors like VOCs and NOx have decreased by 50 percent since 2002. For more information on ozone, EPA’s federal ozone standards and how ozone is measured in Wisconsin, visit the Air Program’s ozone webpage at - https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/AirQuality/Ozone.html.

Foxconn easily won air pollution permits from the WI DNR last year.

Bottom line: clean air enforcement in SE Wisconsin now takes place under a politically-drawn, crazy quilt map. 

As if air pollution didn't cross county lines.

People wanted climate science Monday. Walker released more political smog.

While the world focused Monday on climate change science, it won't surprise anyone that Scott Walker's Twitter contribution promoted the right's ideologically-based contempt for data, reality and history.

Scott Walker Retweeted Sep 23 Communist China emits more carbon dioxide than the US and EU combinedso maybe capitalism isn’t the problem...

Walker forfeited any credibility on climate change by presiding over an eight-year, attack on climate change science, budgets and expertise, so of course he would gloss over known facts (below) because he's interested only in the game:

Why the US bears the most responsibility for climate change, in one chart

The wonderful folks at Carbon Brief have put together a great visual of how different countries have contributed to climate change since 1750. The animation shows the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions of the top emitters and how they’ve changed over time. Take a look:

Carbon Brief@CarbonBrief

Animation: The countries with the largest cumulative CO2 emissions since 1750
Ranking as of the start of 2019:
1) US – 397GtCO2
2) CN – 214Gt
3) fmr USSR – 180
4) DE – 90
5) UK – 77
6) JP – 58
7) IN – 51
8) FR – 37
9) CA – 32
10) PL – 27

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

Cumulative emissions are the critical factor behind the warming we’re experiencing

It’s not simply the rate of our output of heat-trapping gases that changes the global climate; the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted is a critical factor as well. 

While atmospheric carbon is gradually absorbed by the ocean and plants, a large fraction, about 20 percent, lingers for millennia. That means a big chunk of the greenhouse gases emitted at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution is still heating up our planet today. If we were to magically cease emitting all greenhouse gases at once, the planet would likely continue warming for a period of time. This leads to the next point....

What’s abundantly clear is that the United States of America is the all-time biggest, baddest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet. 

That’s true, despite recent gains in energy efficiency and cuts in emissions. These relatively small steps now cannot offset more than a century of reckless emissions that have built up in the atmosphere. Much more drastic steps are now needed to slow climate change. And as the top cumulative emitter, the US bears a greater imperative for curbing its carbon dioxide output and a greater moral responsibility for the impacts of global warming.

21st WI hound since 7/7 sent into fatal fight with wolves. Check, please.

The Wisconsin DNR reports that a 21st wildlife-chasing hunting hound in less than seven weeks has been released into a fatal confrontation with wolves.

09/22/2019

Douglas

1 Hunting dog killed (Plott, 1-year old female)

Douglas depredation location map [PDF]

Other relevant numbers:

* The last seven hunting hounds sent to their violent deaths in what amounts to state-sanction-and-subsidized wolf-dog fighting in Wisconsin were all Plott hounds, perhaps like this one.

The most recently killed Plott was a year-old.

Each dog's owner is eligible for a $2,500 reimbursement by the DNR, so just in the last few weeks, thoughtless hunters can claim $52,500 for their trouble.

GOP Congressional candidate has ground-breaking new idea

Who saw that coming?

Good thing it's not related to a personal campaign for higher office, is it?

Wisconsin Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald, who is running for Congress, floats new tax cut

Apparently the state has repaired all its aging bridges, filled all the potholes Scottholes, replaced all the lead water pipes, gotten the manure out of rural groundwater, extended broadband services to under-served areas, stopped the spread of chronic deer wasting disease and added back all the K-12 and UW system funding which Walker and the GOP-run legislature stripped out in their bad early years.

Awaiting also the list of state program cuts which the GOP-controlled legislature will have to regrettably announce when the recession takes hold and there just isn't enough money in the cookie jar to fund them.

Who saw that coming?

Sen. Johnson? Houston and Florida are on line 1

You might want to peruse these recent news stories:

* From Bloomberg news:

America’s Great Climate Exodus Is Starting in the Florida Keys 

Mass migration begins as coastal homes are bulldozed in the state facing the biggest threat from climate-driven inundation.

* From the Houston Chronicle in that flood-weary-and ravaged city, Anerica's 4th largest:

Repeat flooding has residents asking: Is Houston worth it?  

A Rice University study published earlier this month found that nearly 20 percent of flood victims surveyed in the wake of Hurricane Harvey reported post-flood PTSD, depression and anxiety....

Harvey was the third “500-year” rain event to hit Southeast Texas in three years. This week, Tropical Storm Imelda also earned that distinction, as some areas received more than 40 inches of rain, paralyzing the area as highways morphed into parking lots and first responders performed more than 2,000 rescues Thursday alone. And many residents are now asking themselves: Is Houston worth it?

And while young people in Wisconsin and worldwide were demanding climate change action - - and as I noted earlier today - - Wisconsin GOP Senator and Oshkosh plastics magnate Ron "Sunspots" Johnson 


had a few words of encouragement for people fearing or already experiencing climate change in, say Houston or the Florida Keys:

However, elected officials such as Sen. Ron Johnson question climate change fears. 

"The world isn't going to end in a dozen years," Johnson said. "I'm not an alarmist. I would much rather spend our dollars adapting to something that I don't think we can prevent anyway....what can you really do about it?"

* Given that people are telling media that a warming, wetter climate is making it impossible to live in Texas and Florida, Johnson may want to rephrase this glib talking point:

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson Downplays Climate Change

Says ‘mankind has actually flourished in warmer temperatures’

“How many people are moving up toward the Antarctica, or the Arctic?” he asked. “Most people move down to Texas and Florida, where it’s a little bit warmer.”

* Johnson chairs the Senate Homeland Security committee which is purportedly reacting to and planning for more refugees at the US Southern Border, but he seems unaware that climate change-spurred hunger and drought has caused the mass exodus of Guatemalens to the US Southern Border.

* And, finally, Johnson ought to pay a little more attention to the bigger picture in his home state/our state: 

Series: EXTREME PRECIPITATION AND WISCONSIN'S CLIMATE

Climate change is already beginning to affect Wisconsin in subtle but important ways. As the average global temperature creeps upward, climatologists have projected that the upper Midwest will experience heavier precipitation. This shift means not just a greater volume of water in the form of rain or snow, but also more intense storms happening more frequently. 

While climate change on its own isn't necessarily the culprit behind a given storm, its effects can intensify existing weather patterns and make long-running climatic cycles more unpredictable. 

While researchers work to understand how climate change interacts with seasonal cycles like El Niño and how human activities affect the outcome of catastrophic floods, communities across the state face new challenges protecting people, infrastructure and their economy.

An example:

Will CushmanWisContextAug. 15, 2019

Washed Away: Northwest Wisconsin Copes With The Costs Of A Changing Climate

Ron Johnson, Senator 'Can't Do Nuthin' About It'

Deep into his second term, WI GOP Senator Ron Johnson has perfected that Ultra-Libertarianesque 'what's the-use?' shoulder shrug.

We saw it a few weeks when Johnson opined after the latest mass slaughter-by-assault rifle he didn't see much of anything useful to do in response.

Two weeks after two mass shootings occurred in less than 24 hours, Congress and the White House have not moved closer to passing any kind of gun legislation to address what many are calling a crisis, and some Republican senators, including Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, don't think any new gun legislation is likely to pass...."The debate really hasn't changed much at all."

Any other pressing issues we can't do anything about?

Well, there's that all that global warming and storming sunspot activity which science guy Ron says the kids should stop complaining about and begin focusing  "adapting to things I don't think we can prevent anyway."

Jonson is talking about about adapting, but I think the word he was searching is capitulating.

Climate Change Capitulation, the kind of CCC program a guy like Johnson could get behind.

No doubt Johnson will point to the recent repeat road washouts and other flood damage in many Wisconsin communities, and Houston's second record-setting deluge since 2017 as successful case studies of adaptation following calls for doable changes to infrastructure more than 15 years ago.

Some good news: the local high-tech firm Foxconn may have some expertise to offer. 

Storm water runs in 2018 ran off the Foxconn site downstream and into Illinois

So, Mt. Pleasant residents not yet moved off your not-blighted land, death-defying motorists and anyone across the border Illinois, please adapt. 

Foxconn Water Runoff Reportedly Flowed Into Pike River  

Officials from as far as Lake County Illinois are concerned about the environmental impacts of Foxconn developments.

The bottom line: Johnson didn't get himself sent to Washington for two Senate terms to do anything.

Well, except for that tax code change for certain business people whom Johnson said needed more backing, and for whom he cast a key vote for the bill only after extensive work to get what he wanted: 

What Mr. Johnson needs, he said in an interview from Wisconsin on Friday, is for the bill to treat more favorably small businesses and other so-called pass-through entities — businesses whose profits are distributed to their owners and taxed at rates for individuals. Such entities, including Mr. Johnson’s family-run plastics manufacturing business, account for more than half of the nation’s business income, and the senator says the tax bill would give an unfair advantage to larger corporations. 

“I just have in my heart a real affinity for these owner-operated pass-throughs,” he said. 

Walker's science-scrub remains key WI DNR climate 'content'

I've been posting on this blog since 2016 about the way Walker's DNR deleted science, data and links from its lead web page about climate change. 

Here is one recent such posting.

The deliberately-inadequate, anti-science and denialist-pleasing page remains just as Walker and his key ideological tool Cathy Stepp concocted it on December, 21 2016 - - which is also the day I noticed and posted about it.

Evers' team has been atop the agency for months.

I'd assumed the page with its five sentences and two links to outside sites would have been updated and expanded into an intellectually-honest offering before Friday's climate change marches.

Here's one post that shows how good information which was was removed and edited into misleading mush. Follow the color-coding.

Look: Walker is gone. The people threw him out.

His climate science deletion was widely reported in scientific websites: 

Under Wisconsin’s Walker, a Climate Website Scrubbed of Climate Science

And in mainstream media: 

Why Was Climate Change Language Stripped From DNR Web Page?

Let's throw out his fake, ideologically-drive 'science' and get some real information about our rapidly-warming, Arctic-ice melting, storm-ravaged planet relevant to the Great Lakes region and everyday life.

Now.

Milwaukee, Ozaukee Counties under ozone alert Friday evening

From the WI DNR:

Advisory for Ozone (Orange)

Start Time:	5:00PM CT Friday, September 20, 2019
End Time:	9:00PM CT Friday, September 20, 2019
Counties:	Milwaukee, Ozaukee

---

AIR QUALITY INDEX CHART

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values	Levels of Health Concern	Colors
When the AQI is in this range:	...air quality conditions are:	...as symbolized by this color:
0 to 50	Good	Green
51 to 100	Moderate	Yellow
101 to 150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Orange
151 to 200	Unhealthy	Red
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy	Purple
301 to 500	Hazardous	Maroon

To the WI right-wing GOP agenda of No & Never, add Stall

[Update - - add medical marijuana to Fitzgerald's rejection list. Sorry, PTSD and cancer suffers. Fitz has his 'principles.'] 

Fitzgerald and Vos are implementing across Wisconsin the go-negative Mitch McConnell strategy that routinely blocked President Obama's publicly-minded appointments and agendas.

So in Wisconsin, we now have the GOP State Steve Nass 'stall' on overdue clean drinking water rule-making updates:

CAFOs, large row crop and vegetable farmers, and other agricultural industry businesses such as consultants, agricultural cooperatives and fertilizer retailers with conceivably something to lose, appear to be very concerned about what could come out of the rulemaking process. For this reason, it appears members of the majority party in the state legislature are taking what steps they can to slow the process down. 

The message to people in Kewaunee County and elsewhere who have waited years for action to keep brown water out of their kitchen taps: wait some more.

This is on top of the Fitzgerald & Vos 'no' to public health gun safety initiatives - - per the NRA's wishes - - and these 'leaders' rejection of expanded Medicaid coverages summed by the blunt Vos tantrum: #never.' 

An iron-grip strengthened by the Wisconsin GOP's most-recent legislative power seizure after it lost all five statewide constitutional contests in 2018 - - 


- - and which was validated by a State Supreme Court majority that regularly displays an injudicious, pro-GOP partisanship.

Besides the obstructionist tactics, note the common disregard by the Party of No/Never for citizen health and safety to please special, monied interests.

Grand Old Party? 

No, never.

Evers behaved like Wisconsin Governor, Foxconn says

I'd have put that headline on this dog-bites-man story. 

Foxconn says Gov. Tony Evers visited one of its Generation 6 plants during a trade mission to Japan

It'd be more newsworthy if Evers


had been caught photographing an iPhone prototype with a spy camera or pocketing a souvenir from the gift shop.

SEWRPC whitewashes Foxconn environmental impacts, and other matters

Granted that I was not at this Racine County presentation, but from this media report - - 

Many unknowns about Foxconn's environmental impact

BURLINGTON — When it comes to the environmental impact of Foxconn’s development in Mount Pleasant, there are more questions than answers right now, according to a regional planning group. 

- - it looks like the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, as I said 11 years ago, is scared of its own shadow and pretty much glossed over a few things, including:

* The significant wetland-filling already underway.

* The substantial loss of prime Racine County farmland at the project site, like this acreage planted with cabbage in 2017. Was this what the agency's master land use plan envisioned?

* Or recently-weakened clean air standards in the Foxconn zone.

* And the project's already-documented downstream surface water contamination, not entirely surprising given Racine County's flooding history and SEWPC's previous documentation of same.

* Transit funding deficits which the Foxconn reality is likely to worsen - - a matter already raised by SEWRPC itself. But were they raised at the meeting as the fast-tracked and troubled I-94 expansion for Foxconn with its human costs, air and water quality consequences rolls on without companion transit enhancements?

* And why no mention of the words 'climate change,' only this work-around: 

...forecasting stormwater management is tricky because of unpredictable factors, including rainfall and weather patterns, that could affect past models.

Looks like a missed opportunity, and an example of why younger citizens are turning to direct action Friday to change the conversation and policy-makers to get engaged. 

Running out of time

Wisconsin’s youth are leading activism against climate change

Yes, I know SEWRPC is principally an advisory agency, but its financing to operate in the seven-county SE region comes entirely from taxpayers, so there's he agency could at least put some teeth into its public presentations.

Also - - SEWPC has the authority to allocate certain federal transportation funds, and, of course, went out of its way to recommend the entire regional freeway rebuild and expansion plan without either designated financing identified in advance or for dedicated transit components.

I'll be glad to publish the presentation should SEWRPC post it, or any response to this blog item which I will also add to my comprehensive Foxconn achive.