Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Quickie hearing 5/12 presages even slower WI waters' phosphorus cleanup

Soon after Walker took over and ordered the Wisconsin DNR to behave with a "chamber of commerce mentality," the Legislature followed suit with a bill than unwound years of citizen/industry cooperation by greatly extending the time frame for the removal of the waterway-choking, algae-feeding chemical phosphorus. 

Now the Walkerites are at it again - - springing a quick hearing next week, so you know the skids have been greased - - on yet another plan to further ease phosphorus regulation and slow down waterway pollution.

This new scheme will create new permits and procedures developed by DNR and Department of Administration officials to achieve compliance, "but in a much more economically viable manner," they claim.

In other words, on industries' terms, not the public's. You know which of those interests were consulted, and which were not.

The DNR dropped a note about the plan in a newsletter, as if that's the way to let the public know there will be further delays in cleaning up rivers, lakes and streams which belong to all the people of the state, not to the industries which are polluting them.

Don't forget that Green Bay's waters already have a huge dead zone caused by runoff pollution, so the state's waters are already in bad shape.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wisconsin has a lot of clean, clear water that we just don't give a crap about. California is about to embark on massive desalinization because they have no water. We take for granted something that California is going to pay billions for. In 20 years, we are going to be sorry.

http://news.yahoo.com/california-considers-rules-making-seawater-drinkable-amid-drought-175150790.html