The $11,508 Foxconn question of the day

So Foxconn finally made a promised, good-faith $60 million deposit - - a week late.

Contracts...deadlines...you know, details...

I'm remembering spotting former Wisconsin State Treasurer Charlie Smith literally running across the Capitol Square years ago, and I said, "Hey, where are you headed?"

He said, "I've got a big check to deposit and a day's nterest is important "

I have no idea if the money is in a checking account, a savings account, a money market account or some super-special instrument, nor do I know if interest is credited either forward or going back.

There are checking accounts in Wisconsin paying right now as much as 3%, and others less.

So, conservatively, as I figure it, if the $60 million deposit was made into a checking account paying one percent interest per year, a seven-day delay cost local taxpayers for whom the $60 million is ticketed $11,508:

$60 million times one percent = $600,000, divided by 365 (days) =$1,644, times seven (days) = $11,508.

I'll bet a municipality could fill a bunch of potholes or run a fleet of emergency vehicles for some time with a found $11,508.

If I screwed up the math, let me know.

But with Wisconsin and other taxpayers (local, perhaps federal through highway funding) on the hook to Foxconn for more than $4 billion, does anyone give a fig for $11,508?

No WI war on Christmas. Just against the poor.

 Look who's got the Christmas spirit. "R" is also for repulsive.

Walker:

Gov. Walker moving forward drug testing some food stamps recipients. 

Ryan:

Ryan says Republicans to target welfare, medicare, medicaid spending in 2018

Vukmir: 

Leah Vukmir signals support for entitlement cuts championed by Paul Ryan

 

Help clean Lac Courte Oreilles, other Wisconsin waters

This has been, regrettably, a year of attention to water pollution in Wisconsin.

And there is an approaching December 29 comment deadline on a pollution matter which needs more publicity, particularly as it involves the need for a strong public response to spur the clean-up of a key waterway system - - Lac Courte Oreilles in Sawyer County - - by pressuring officials to aggressively facilitate clean water there.

In a nutshell: the DNR, as I noted some weeks ago, here, has proposed adding 240 more waterways to the official list of impaired waterways in Wisconsin, while proposing the removal of a lesser number, 35. 

These impairments are principally due to the discharge or runoff of phosphorous that leads to the growth of algae which rots, clogs the water, harms fish and otherwise degrades the water and its surroundings.

The DNR in a news release last month put a positive spin on the growing number of impaired waters statewide without mentioning that Walker in 2014 signed a bill extending for many years a previously-agreed-upon schedule for aggressive phosphorous discharge prevention:

The legislation gives a municipal permit-holder the option to delay stricter limits on phosphorus if it can show financial hardship. That delay or variance could last as long as 20 years, but during that time, the permit-holders would have to gradually reduce their discharges.

But the DNR release did explain that the up-side of a phosphorous-impaired designation is that it makes the polluted river or stream or lake eligible for crucial improvement funding. 

And the agency showed how the public could comment on the new listings:

Public comments may be submitted by December 29, 2017, and can be emailed to DNR at DNRImpairedWaters@wisconsin.gov, or sent by U.S. mail to Ashley Beranek, DNR, Water Evaluation Section (WY/3), Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707. 

Comments postmarked or received by December 29, 2017, will be considered before submitting the final draft list to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval. 

The 2018 list and other materials can be found by searching the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov, for keywords "impaired waters" and clicking on the link for the "2018 impaired waters list."

Which brings us to the Courte Oreiiles Lakes Association, (COLA) and the Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa band, (LCO), which are urging comments before the December 29 deadline specifically aimed at making more than 5.100 acres of Sawyer County waters' eligible for needed improvement funding.

Of note: this is not a new issue. 

From a COLA email:

On November 15, 2017, the WI Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) issued a notice soliciting public comments on its proposed 2018 list of Impaired Waters. 

The WDNR is proposing to list all of Lac Courte Oreilles as impaired—which is a good thing. But, they are proposing to list “low dissolved oxygen” (DO) as an indicator of that impairment without citing Total Phosphorus as the cause of the impairment. 

We just need a final push from COLA members to get that correct cause listed as well. Most of the other 240 impaired waters have a cause listed, but not Lac Courte Oreilles. Letters from COLA members can help correct this.

Here is the full email. Read on,and follow through: 

Courte Oreilles Lakes Association

COLA and the LCO Tribe Need Your Help RE: Need Your Help Getting Cause of “Impairment” listed for Lac Courte Oreilles Action Requested: Send letter to WDNR Deadline: December 29, 2017 Dear COLA Members, COLA really needs your help, which is why we are sending this message to you once again. If you've already sent your comments to the WDNR, many, many thanks! If you haven't sent your comments, please read on! On November 15, 2017, the WI Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) issued a notice soliciting public comments on its proposed 2018 list of Impaired Waters. The WDNR is proposing to list all of Lac Courte Oreilles as impaired—which is a good thing. But, they are proposing to list “low dissolved oxygen” (DO) as an indicator of that impairment without citing Total Phosphorus as the cause of the impairment. We just need a final push from COLA members to get that correct cause listed as well. Most of the other 240 impaired waters have a cause listed, but not Lac Courte Oreilles. Letters from COLA members can help correct this. *The deadline for this “public comment” is December 29, 2017. See details under “What you can do” below. Why it’s GOOD to be designated as impaired This is also a good time to repeat that COLA welcomes the designation for Lac Courte Oreilles as an impaired water because it qualifies the lake for both attention and improvement by the U.S. EPA and WDNR under both federal and state law. Now this focus will apply to the whole lake, not just Musky Bay. What happens in Musky Bay happens to the lake as a whole. We know this, and now the WDNR acknowledges it as well. For background, in 2014 Musky Bay was included on the list of Wisconsin impaired waters based on phosphorus levels exceeding state standards. As we know, this was a partial solution to a much bigger problem. Now the full solution is in the works. See the 2018 WisCALM Assessment for Lac Courte Oreilles. One remaining issue – and how to fix it Again, while the WDNR will list all of Lac Courte Oreilles as an impaired water, it still will not identify Total Phosphorus in the lake as the cause of the low DO impairment. Instead, WDNR proposes to list “low DO” as an indicator of impairment. But, if the WDNR does not list the correct cause of the impairment, it cannot act to correct it. It is documented and verified that too much phosphorus, a nutrient, discharged into the lake is causing the massive growth of algae and algal mats and excess aquatic plant growth, including invasive species like curly leaf pond weed. Dissolved oxygen is then “depleted” from the water when the algae and other plants die and “consume” all the DO in the decomposition process. When this happens, fish species—particularly the cisco and whitefish—literally suffocate and die off. Remember the huge fish kill in Aug/Sept 2016 and the algae bloom in November. What you can do: . Send the WDNR the attached letter or email This letter does two things: (1) Supports the WDNR proposal to list the entire lake as impaired and (2) Asks the WDNR to list the real reason our lake is impaired—Total Phosphorus. . Meet the Deadline—Send your letter or email by December 29, 2017 The following is from the WDNR: “Public comments may be submitted by December 29, 2017, and can be emailed to DNR at DNRImpairedWaters@wisconsin.gov, or sent by U.S. mail to Ashley Beranek, DNR, Water Evaluation Section (WY/3), Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707.  Comments postmarked or received by December 29, 2017, will be considered before submitting the final draft list to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval.” If you have any questions Please contact Gary Pulford, COLA Vice President, at garylindapulford@charter.net. P.S. Let’s double our success from the first time! COLA members sent emails to the Wisconsin Department of Resources in 2012 to get Musky Bay declared as an impaired water. This was a great success—it got us to this next important step. This time let’s double that. Send the attached letter or email to the WDNR at the addresses listed above to request that impairment of—and attention for—our lake include Total Phosphorus as the leading cause. Contact: Jim Coors COLA Communications Dir. Email: communications@cola-wi.org Mobile: 608-628-0694 RE: Need Your Help Getting Cause of “Impairment” listed for Lac Courte Oreilles Action Requested: Send letter to WDNR Deadline: December 29, 2017 Dear COLA Members, COLA really needs your help, which is why we are sending this message to you once again. If you've already sent your comments to the WDNR, many, many thanks! If you haven't sent your comments, please read on! On November 15, 2017, the WI Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) issued a notice soliciting public comments on its proposed 2018 list of Impaired Waters. The WDNR is proposing to list all of Lac Courte Oreilles as impaired—which is a good thing. But, they are proposing to list “low dissolved oxygen” (DO) as an indicator of that impairment without citing Total Phosphorus as the cause of the impairment. We just need a final push from COLA members to get that correct cause listed as well. The other 240 impaired waters have a cause listed, but not Lac Courte Oreilles. Letters from COLA members can help correct this. *The deadline for this “public comment” is December 29, 2017. See details under “What you can do” below.

COLA Mission: 1) to protect, preserve and enhance the quality of Lac Courte Oreilles and Little Lac Courte Oreilles, their shorelands and surrounding areas, while respecting the interests of property owners and the rights of the general public; and 2) to consider, study, survey and respond to issues deemed relevant by COLA's membership. This notice was sent to jer45y@yahoo.com  Unsubscribe from future COLA notices COLA P.O. Box 702 Hayward, WI 54843 communications@cola-wi.org

Walker has 'friend Cathy Stepp' to help with wetland filling

To this posting - -

Familiar environmental hater in charge of WI, Great Lakes EPA

- - I'll add today's Walker says-it-all Tweet, though the Journal Sentinel copyrighted photo on Walker's feed about Stepp here makes her look like she just realized someone reposted that deleted and very unflattering consultant's video of her imperious management 'style.'

And if Stepp is Walker's friend, she's also the dream EPA regional pick for Wisconsin businesses, Walker donors and developers who are eyeing a million acres of wetlands to fill.
--------------------------------------

Scott Walker‏Verified account @ScottWalker 52m52 minutes ago

Congrats to my friend Cathy Stepp!

Here's another photo, this one posted by the DNR itself after Stepp successfully completed her first deer hunt.

Rising tide v. against massive WI wetlands grab

State Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, (D-Milwaukee), does a good job in an op-ed for Urban Milwaukee noting the widespread opposition against the unprecedented, coordinated and self-interested push by GOP legislators and well-funded special interests to remove protections for a million acres or more of Wisconsin wetlands. 

In fact, this legislative effort comes with such a high ecological risk that many environmental groups are lobbying against it, including: Clean Wisconsin, Midwest Environmental Advocates, the Nature Conservancy-Wisconsin Chapter, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Association of Lakes Inc., Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association Inc., Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, Wisconsin Wetlands Assoc., the Wisconsin Conservation Congress and Gathering Waters. 

Because they are a valuable habitat for plants and animals, wetlands are also prime grounds for Wisconsin’s hunters and fishers. As a result, there is widespread opposition to this bill from the sporting community: Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, Wisconsin Trappers Association, Wisconsin Wildlife Association, and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

A legislative hearing on the bill begins at 11 a.m. today as year-end holidays tamp down attendance and visibility, and as with so many environmental matters in Wisconsin these days, the outcome may have already been decided behind closed doors with GOP, one-party rule locking down decision-making across all three branches of government.

Case in point: The DNR gave preliminary approval to the Kohler golf course proposal and its wetlands fillings on a bluff above Lake Michigan, and announced the finding on the eve of a public hearing to get public input into the permit application.

And Kohler interests had already secured the help of Walker's Department of Administration to speed through a quick annexation of the golf course property to the development-friendly City Sheboygan and away from the smaller, conservation-minded Town of Wilson.

And remember that the US Supreme Court may next year find that Wisconsin's current, GOP-dominated State Legislature is unconstitutionally gerrymandered, and if new district maps are drawn and fresh, fair elections are ordered, you could be looking at this wetlands grab and related privatization of groundwater by major dairy-donors, and the precedent-setting giveaway of state legal and waters to the Foxconn project as the last hurrah of the Walker era's intentional disregard of state constitutional public water rights. 

Wisconsin's Waters Belong to Everyone

Or, the wetlands grab will pass, and stand as another dagger in the fast-disappearing Wisconsin environment, and the state's clean water legacy.

I've been raising the alarm about these GOP-led depredations against wetlands, groundwater and the wider environment, noting in particular the unbelievably short-sighted scheme on which Brostoff is focusing to turn over a million acres of irreplaceable Wisconsin wetlands to right-wing political control and private-sector 'development.'

*  More recently, Republican legislators proposed a sweeping removal of regulatory protections that would reduce air quality and put a million acres of state wetlands at risk for filling.

*  And they'll have a new front group to lend a hand, notes the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign:

A new group that says it supports policies to protect the state’s waters appears to be a front group with ties to powerful business, agriculture and manufacturing interests. 

The Wisconsin Water Alliance, which describes itself as a diverse group of state businesses and landowners, announced its formation on Tuesday. 

The alliance says water is a “vital natural resource” that must be protected for “current and future generations of families, cities, businesses, and others...”

*  This time, it's Senate Bill 387, as amended by GOP State Sen. Tom Tiffany, (R-Hazelhurst). 

He's the Wisconsin legislature's leading special-interest-water carrier-on-water - - then, on behalf of a failed open-pit iron mine that would have blown apart the Bad River watershed, for example, and more recently to bring back more mining which discharges acidic waste.

Are you surprised that the mining efforts also have the aid of a new business front group? 

The Natural Resource Development Association said in a statement that changes in current mining laws "can create a new generation of mining jobs that will help employ thousands of people across Wisconsin through not only mining, but other industries that contribute to mining operations, like construction."

Nathan Conrad, executive director of the group, is a former spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He declined, for now, to say who is behind the effort or providing financial support.

Which bring us to SB 387, and Tiffany's new attack for special interests on the state constitution's Public Trust ('the water belongs to everyone') Doctrine...

Remember the State Supreme Court's warning that is out on this blog's front page about fillings here and there...

"A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist. Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its 1960 opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC and buttressing The Public Trust Doctrine, Article IX of the Wisconsin State Constitution.

Paul Ryan and his exquisite bootlick

Should Paul Ryan run for re-election, and even if he doesn't, we need to have chiseled in stone somewhere very public that today on behalf of rich Republicans and donors and all that is rotten in the GOP he 

praised Donald Trump for his "exquisite Presidential leadership."

I am sure no one ever put the habitually dishonest/self-absorbedAccess Hollywood/Mar-a-Lago overlording Donald Trump and the word "exquisite" in the same sentence, thought, day dream or sick joke, given what the word means:

adjective

1.

of special beauty or charm, or rare and appealing excellence, as aface, a flower, coloring, music, or poetry.

2.

extraordinarily fine or admirable; consummate:

exquisite weather.

3.

intense; acute, or keen, as pleasure or pain.

4.

of rare excellence of production or execution, as works of art orworkmanship:

the exquisite statues of the Renaissance.

5.

keenly or delicately sensitive or responsive:

an exquisite ear for music; an exquisite sensibility.

6.

of particular refinement or elegance, as taste, manners, etc., orpersons.

7.

carefully sought out, chosen, ascertained, devised, etc.

Walker's WI, Sheboygan lose 185 jobs to Iowa

But, Foxconn, Foxconn?

Local furniture-maker Mayline-Safco is preparing to leave Sheboygan for a new home in northwest Iowa in a move that could endanger 185 local jobs, local officials and a corporate spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

No wonder Walker keeps trying to sell Foxconn far from the site. A fool's errand, perhaps?

Footnote: On Walker's watch also, Madison-based Oscar Mayer closed and its 1.000 jobs left for...Iowa.
 

The GOP is now the Pollution Party

Party rebranding: The GOP of Trump and Walker has remade itself into the Pollution Party.

How else to frame the return of former McDonald's manager, Trump campaign rally cheerleader and anti-science ideologue Cathy Stepp as director of the key, five-state EPA region and Great Lakes ecosystem?

How else to frame the further degradation of the US EPA under Trump and climate change denier Scott Pruitt?

How else to frame the selloff of the Wisconsin environment which Stepp carried out in the name of Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality' and his big business bellhops in the Legislature and Attorney General's office as they sped up the give away of the state's rivers, wetlands, clean air and streams to any mining company or developer or manure manufacturer who wants them?

Put that elephant emblem on the shelf. It's disrespectful of a dignified, living creature whose existence is threatened by the Donald Trump Jr's of the world.

Here's the logo of the new Pollution Party.

Familiar environment hater in charge of WI, Midwest EPA

I didn't think things could get worse for the Walker-degraded Wisconsin environment. I was wrong.

Former Wisconsin DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp to take charge of EPA's Midwest regional office

Bad enough that she demeaned and mocked the DNR before Walker put her in charge there for almost seven years to hassle union workers whom she could not completely control like the McDonald's burger-flippers she could move around the premises with ease:

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.

But use her time, she did, to delete climate change data and information, evade responsibility for agency failures, dismantle the science bureau and endorse polluter self-regulation, help fill wetlands, disregard health & clean water inspections, enable watershed-crusing mining and lay the groundwork for the water-hogging, land despoiling Foxconn development within a stone's throw of the Great Lakes she can now oversee degrade for corporate interests from a regional public-sector perch she should never have been let near.

Though, in fairness, she brought Halloween party cheer to DNR offices. And remember, desserts were on the 7th floor!!!

This is like appointing the Marlboro Man as US Surgeon General, or Donald Trump, Jr., as head of the Humane Society.

A couple of reminders of the bad recent old days here and here as we un-retire the photo that said it all and begin our public interest surveillance anew.

Walker, Trump eat coal leader's dust on climate change

We have a new definition of eating dust, as Scott Walker and Donald Trump are now positioned on climate change behind one of the world's largest coal companies.

Our pro-pollution Governor stands with his donor-backers and fights clean air policies 

and even had his DNR scrub facts and links off agency web pages about the relationship between human activity and climate change.

Not to be outdone, our know-nothing President stands with climate change enablers like the US Chamber of Commerce against the Paris climate change accords.

But check out this report today from one of the world's largest coal companies to measure just how out of step are Walker and Trump: 

B.H.P. Billiton, the British-Australian mining company, said in a reportTuesday that it planned to withdraw from the World Coal Association, an international lobbying group, because of differences in climate and energy policies. The report also noted that B.H.P. would review its relationship with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in light of the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

The conservative Washington Examiner's Daily-on-Energy newsletter puts it this way 

COAL GIANT SHAKES UP INDUSTRY GROUPS OVER CLIMATE CHANGE: 

BHP Billiton, one of the world’s largest coal mining companies, said Tuesday morning that it is considering ending its membership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the World Coal Association and the Minerals Council of Australia because of differences of opinion on climate change. 

The company says it accepts the UN climate change panel’s finding that climate change is happening and is being caused by humans. 

The company issued the final results of a review it began in September to examine its membership in a number of trade associations based on climate change policies. 

Gov. Pothole and his Foxconn infatuation

Fool us once...well, you know the rest.

Walker knows that we know he's a) delaying the funding-deprived Zoo Interchange, and b) has no money to begin widening I-94 past Story Hill, and c) is shoveling hundreds of millions of road-building dollars into the Foxconn project, d) is begging the feds for even more Foxconn road-building millions - - all of which short-changes the rest of the state and does nothing to improve Wisconsin's second-worst road-repair rating.

Which is why I said last week that a campaigning - - and when isn't he? - - Walker would deny and distract taxpayers from his huge transportation funding tilt towards Southeastern Wisconsin, because at some point people in Northern or Western Wisconsin are going to be rightly ticked off that their money is being drained from transportation planning and construction so Walker can feed and fuel his fevered Foxconn folly.

Hence, Walker's politicized and propagandistic pose on Twitter about road-building:

Governor Walker‏Verified account @GovWalker 5h5 hours ago5 hours agoMoreA strong infrastructure is important for the people and businesses of Wisconsin. We’re proud to invest in our roads and bridges, all while cutting taxes and finishing projects on time. We’re moving Wisconsin forward. #WIWorking