The Political Environment

Unhealthy air alert Friday for WI, lake shore counties

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 15:11:00 +0000

A heads-up Friday for people in the lakeshore counties. Highlighted links may contain useful information, updates, etc.

Advisory for Ozone (Red)

Start Date/Time:	Friday, April 14 - 12:00 pm CDT
End Date/Time:	Saturday, April 15 - 12:00 am CDT
Counties:	Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan
Comments:	The air quality index is expected to reach the UNHEALTHY level. People with lung disease (such as asthma), children, older adults, and people who are active outdoors (including outdoor workers) should avoid prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion; everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion.

Details about this advisory are available on the Wisconsin Air Quality Monitoring Data site.

Air Quality Index Chart

Learn more about the Air Quality Index (AQI) on the AirNow website.

More Information

About Earth Day, 4/22...And everyday

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 15:24:00 +0000

(Updated on 4/21/22 from 4/21/18)

A word or two about Earth Day 2018.

We were all fortunate to have lived in Wisconsin when Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day's originating inspiration served the people as Governor, then as US Senator, and left additional legacies as varied as the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program and a strengthened Wilderness Society.

(4/21/22 update: Don't miss Bill Christofferson's excellent Nelson biography ):

The Man from Clear Lake
Earth Day Founder Senator Gaylord Nelson

The contrast with how far away from his legacies and through how much toxic and partisan mud we've been dragged - - and for whom - - is as obvious as is the need to begin repairing all that on election day, November 6th, 2018, or what we in Wisconsin should be calling Earth Day 2018 2.0.

On a personal level, it's taken me a while to regularly practice an appreciation for the natural world which is right in front of me.

And I've had some help with getting there.

So, respect to the iconic environmental historian and author, UW-Madison professor William Cronon, for his extensive examination of our relationship with the world around us that I come back to time after time.

This is the perfect time to get to know his work; here is but one instructive book chapter, and, hoping I do not stumble into trivializing his effort, I'll copy out a few sentences that have helped point me to some everyday truths and a useful Earth Day perspective, too:

Idealizing a distant wilderness too often means not idealizing the environment in which we actually live, the landscape that for better or worse we call home...

That is why, when I think of the times I myself have come closest to experiencing what I might call the sacred in nature, I often find myself remembering wild places much closer to home...the wildness in our own backyards, of the nature that is all around us if only we have eyes to see it.

Part of why that "if only we have eyes to see it" stays with me is that my late friend and Milwaukee Journal newsroom colleague Tim Cuprisin had said much the same thing when he found out in 2010 that he had the cancer which took his life the next year at age 53.

"If I'd known I was going to have cancer, I'd have paid a lot more attention to the beauty all around me," he said. "I would have just looked up at the sky more often."

Which is why I try and get to the Lake Michigan shoreline everyday, rain or snow or shine - -

- - and if I can't, I take a walk around my neighborhood where, yesterday, we were treated to cardinals singing, crocuses breaking through the snow and crows alerting their friends that we were on their turf below.

And it's why I have so much respect for people fighting uphill battles against big money and insider influence, like, for example, the citizens trying to force public officials to get smarter, keep their word and leave alone what remains on the already-decimated County Grounds of the Monarch Butterfly Trail and Sanctuary Woods near the Medical Complex in Wauwatosa.

And for the Friends of the Black River Forest, the good people in and around Sheboygan who are working from the grassroots to keep Kohler Andrae State Park intact for the public and free of building and vehicle storage and pavement and bulldozing to enable the destruction of scores of acres of trees, wetlands, rare dunes and wildlife habitat for proposed upscale golf course construction in a nature preserve next door.

Similarly, props to the efforts to preserve rare hardwoods and wetlands in Monroe County from sand mining digging and shipping.

And for the Menominee Indian Tribe's dedication to saving their ancestral land and river from open-pit metal mining that uses sulfuric acid.

And for the awareness being raised about wetland and lake bed filling permissions granted last year by law for the state-subsidized Foxconn project, and also about the specter of industrial-scale manufacturing waste finding its way from Foxconn's chemistry into Lake Michigan.

Yes, for some these sites are all "closer to home" than perhaps for you and me.

But remember that the clean air above we all breathe and the waters below that give everyone life are all connected - - as the Wisconsin DNR continues to highlight - - and we to it..

Which is why it's good to find yourself, as, fortunately, have I, some sort of daily affirmation or activity that keeps those connections fresh and sustained.

So: Happy Earth Day, Sunday, April 22nd.

And let's have a pact to celebrate Earth Day 2.0 on Election Day, November 6, 2018.

Saving wetlands, dunes and WI State parkland is lauded

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 08:08:00 +0000

It was a pleasure to see this report in The Sheboygan Press about a local group's battle to protect acreage within Kohler Andrae State Park and in an adjoining pristine nature preserve along Lake Michigan from golf course construction:

'We’re still here. The golf course isn’t.’: Local group receives Sierra Club award for work to protect Sheboygan coastal ecosystem

Kohler Co. applied to remove the trees on more than half its property and fill about 4 acres of wetlands for its 250-acre proposed golf course. Deforestation, as well as the application of pesticides and fertilizer on the golf course, are likely to have further impacts on wetlands, groundwater and other water sources, according to testimony from DNR staff.

I have been writing about this struggle since 2014. And given the climate crisis which is burning and flooding Planet Earth right before our very eyes - along with advances in scientific knowledge especially about the value of trees - it behooves governments to follow and encourage groups like Friends of the Black River Forest to make natural resource preservation a defining imperative.

In other words: tens of thousands of trees, wetlands, rare sand dunes, wildlife habitat and Native American artifacts should not be clearcut -

- bulldozed, paved or otherwise 'developed.'

Regrettably, the proposed golf course is just one of several high-profile projects in Wisconsin that runs contrary to what we need right now: strengthened forests, cleaner air and protected waters which all living things on a sustainable planet cannot do without.

So props to Friends of the Black River Forest and to the Sierra Club for grassroots achievement on behalf of a healthier and greener Lake Michigan, State of Wisconsin and planet.

Time's up: Wisconsin should break its chainsawing habits.

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 18:03:00 +0000

Tree hugging is in vogue these days - though in key circles belatedly and lackadaisically -

COP26: World leaders promise to end deforestation by 2030

Experts welcomed the move, but warned a previous deal in 2014 had "failed to slow deforestation at all" and commitments needed to be delivered on.

- as our endangered planet is now regularly losing life-sustaining forests at an alarming rate:

California's Dixie Fire is burning its way toward the record books as it nears the devastating milestone of one million acres scorched.

So back at home, is it too much to expect the WI DNR and WI Natural Resources Board -

Some of actual acreage in Kohler Andrae State Park on which state officials agreed a proposed privately-owned golf course can construct a road and maintenance building.

- plus other governmental agencies statewide and the State Supreme Court get serious about protecting trees and woodlands instead of cutting them down?

Trees are nature's air & water filters, but a WI project could cut down thousands

And so I return again to the proposed grading and cutting proposed for the privately-owned 247-acre nature preserve adjoining Kohler Andrae State Park along Sheboygan County's Lake Michigan's shoreline dunes.
.
Because that's where the number of trees scheduled for removal during two years of projected construction - trees not beset by disease or pests or any natural event - has been estimated roughly at between 30,000-to-45,000, according to a November, 2018 document created by Roger Miller, a local engineer.
Letter explaining the Biological Aspects of the proposed golf course, by Roger Miller
Based on a quick density count viewing into the edges of the upland forest area of Kohler Company’s 247 acre parcel in Section 14 along the Lake Michigan shoreline in the Town of Wilson, I estimate the number of trees of greater than 6” trunk diameter to be roughly in the range of 50,000 to 70,000.

Kohler’s grading plan for the golf course included on DNR’s website shows that about 63% of that upland forest gets re-graded, which would necessarily remove about 30,000 to 45,000 trees, as a rough estimate, having trunks greater than 6” diameter....
There’s also another aspect that seldom gets recognized; bulldozing the rhizome (shallow soil-microbe— fungi-root zone) of the wooded uplands disrupts a complexly interacting environment that takes a long time to develop. This provides virtual “communication” via enzymes, carbohydrate, and mineral exchanges amongst all components of the living surface of the land that ultimately affects plants and tress as well as the mobile insect, animal, and bird components of an ecosystem.

This forest is now about 150 years past it being last lumbered out, although I recall there are some specimen oaks and white pines that may be older. So this area has likely acquired much of the functionality of “old growth....”
So the primary adverse effects on the environment of upland deforestation is the loss of quantity and diversity of habitat. This includes the loss of upland ecologic functions critical for the ecologic function of the adjacent wetlands that are not being filled. The golf course plan shows massive grading and deforestation and replacement with fairways right along the edge of great lengths of wetland along the Black River.
You can find the letter at a website belonging to Friends of the Black River Forest, here.
Miller is also the current chair of the Town of Wilson planning commission.

10 elements in Wisconsin's already-degraded Big, Basic Supply Chain

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 23:27:00 +0000

We are hearing about problems in the supply chain.

Goods are tied up in ports, on ships, and through component and labor shortages.

Not to minimize any of that.

And I would argue that Wisconsin, and others, continue to abuse and further jeopardize an even more-critical supply chain - the clean air, fresh water and life-giving lands we should be guarding and repairing to improve, attract and ensure life here itself.

A lot of what is tied up in the transportation and manufacturing supply chain isn't going to be worth much if people buying these products don't have clean water, fresh air and adequate open space to enjoy and live their lives.

And unless we pay closer attention to this Big or Basic Supply Chain we'll have less of what has given definition and meaning to Wisconsin and its antecedents because selfish special interests aided by complicit government are increasingly breaking, paving, filling, polluting and otherwise handing it over to the rich and powerful for their control and narrow benefit.

Here is a quick list of 10 foundational and interwoven elements of The Big, Basic Supply Chain which needs our fuller attention.

The grandkids are already watching.

Feel free to add more:

1. Clean air. SE Wisconsin's smoggy air would not improve with the nearly 800 annual tons of pollutants quickly awarded Foxconn.

2. Safe rural groundwater. Kewaunee County and the Central Sands water continues to be toxified by nitrate-laden CAFO discharges.

3. Lake Michigan water. Foxconn still has the right to a massive daily draw of Lake Michigan water. Wisconsin continues to award diversion requests while the other Great Lakes states remain mute. And Wisconsin is so used to diverting Great Lakes water that the latest effort began without the required prior authorizations. Who is surprised?

Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee. @James Rowen photo.

4. Urban well water. Eau Claire's is contaminated, for sure. Madison's wells have their problems, too. The so-called 'forever contaminants,' know as PFAS compounds, are ubiquitous and Wisconsin legislative Republicans are obstructing rules and regulations that are the legal antidotes.

5. Clean Rivers. The Menominee River could become a mining pollutant-laden supplier of drinking water because Wisconsin intentionally weakened its mining controls.

6. Wetlands. Foxconn has the right to take and fill wetlands more or less as it pleases.

7. Public land. Popular Kohler Andrae State Park may will see acreage inside and at its entrance handed over to a golf course developer. What kind of precedent is that?

8. Endangered species. More Milwaukee County Grounds public green space is slated for 'development,' threatening the sliver of Monarch Butterfly habitat which is all that's left to help this species hang on to a tenuous migrating site here.

9. Threatened species. The state's recent science-snuffing-wolf-killing binge is an abomination. Wolves are the most important forest predator which keeps the natural order in balance. Trapping and shooting the adults during breeding season after teams of dogs have been set against them as was sanctioned by the state less than a year ago was pure cruelty.

10. Respect for elder, Native cultures. You can't miss the pattern of what's under pressure and outright attack - whether it's the vital Menominee River, ancestral artifacts and burial mounds inside Kohler Andrae State Park, or at the expense of wolves considered sacred by Ojibwe tribes who had spent years protecting from seizure their treaty rights to walleye and life-affirming wild-rice estuaries.

You could de-congest all the ports and unload Wisconsin's share for super fast delivery to businesses and homes in the Badger State, but Wisconsin and our future as the climate crisis unfolds will continue to degrade until policy-makers put Public Trust water, air, land and wildlife first.

WI judge: flawed DNR rule-making dating to Stepp era bars WI wolf hunt

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 02:53:00 +0000

It is exceedingly ironic and downright karmic that the Dane County judge who blocked the DNR-approved wolf hunt set to begin in two weeks based his ruling on the agency's reliance for wolf hunting planning and implementation -

- on an outdated emergency rule in force for nine years - though that emergency (read: temporary) rule was created and used when Walker appointee Cathy Stepp ran the agency after having publicly blasted emergency rule-making in a blog posting she wrote not long before her appointment by Scott Walker.

Her posting is no longer online, but....

I'd cited it several times because it showed her unapologetic and sneering contempt for the very agency she would run.

And note that the same rule-making procedure Stepp had objected to on partisan grounds - yet was fine with when the DNR needed a sharp tool to craft and run wolf hunts with quota-busting overkills between 2012 - 2014, and repeated last year in 2020 after she had retired, too - was at the center of DNR policies which a judge said Friday rendered wolf hunting - for now - an unconstitutional Wisconsin activity.

I'd copied out Stepp's blog item several times. Here's one example, with her item reproduced, verbatim:

JUNE 26, 2009
And Another "Do As I Say" Moment...
Those of you that haven't had the pleasure of peeking behind the scenes of our state agencies like DNR, Health and Family Services, etc...need to know how some of the most far-reaching policies come down on our heads.

The most crushing/controversial rules that businesses have to follow in our state are--most times--done through the "rule making process" of our state agencies. Without bogging everyone down with some really boring procedure talk, suffice it to say that many of these great ideas (sarcasm) come from deep inside the agencies and tend to be reflections of that agency's culture.

For example, people who go to work for the DNR's land, waste, and water bureaus tend to be anti-development, anti-transportation, and pro-garter snakes, karner blue butterflies, etc...This is in their nature; their make-up and DNA. So, since they're unelected bureaucrats who have only their cubicle walls to bounce ideas off of, they tend to come up with some pretty outrageous stuff that those of us in the real world have to contend with.

I could go on and on with examples of some of the most ridiculous stuff I've seen come down the pike, (no pun intended), but for the purposes of this post, I am going to pull out a quote from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's summary report on the outcome of the "budget negotiations" that legislative democrats had with each other. (Note: I said with "each other." There were no republican ideas or motions accepted AT ALL during the Conference Committee process. No surprise there.)

When an agency sees an urgent need--example would be Chronic Wasting Disease management plans--they're allowed to implement an Emergency Rule. Understandable, since these ideas get an urgent run through the Joint Committee to Review Administrative Rules (affectionately known as JCRAR) without much public notice or scrutiny. The process is there to address emergencies ONLY.

Well, sometimes agencies try to use this process as an end-around the legislative process to implement Rules, which end up having the same affect as Laws. (Those of you who have piers in lakes or culverts at the end of your driveways have probaby experienced these Rules.)

O'k, I went waaay wordier than I intended, but here's some language that was inserted into this BudgetPig that should scare everyone--regarding one of our agencies, the Department of Commerce: "it may promulgate the initial rules as emergency rules without the finding of emergency."

Why should this scare you? When (not if, I said WHEN) they give this authority to the DNR there will be more of a whooshing sound as businesses run for the borders.

It's always the fine print in these things that have the heaviest hit.

Just another example of the democrats game plan: Change the Rules to Fit the Players.

Shout it with me, now: HYPOCRISY, THY NAME IS DEMOCRAT.

WI DNR cuts fall wolf kill. Expect litigation to boost the toll.

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 05:21:00 +0000

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Paul Smith does a fine job explaining the interagency battle between the WI DNR and its oversight Natural Resources Board, (NRB), that led the DNR Monday to substantially reduce the state's upcoming and sanctioned wolf-killing.

It's the first time the DNR has altered a quota after the NRB had voted on one, according to long-time DNR employees, past board members and the agency itself.
The action underscores the contentious relationship between top department officials and a majority of the current board.
It's also the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute over wolf management in the state.
The NRB, the seven-member citizen board that sets policy for the DNR, voted at its Aug. 11 meeting for a 300 wolf quota.
The decision by a 5-2 vote overruled a DNR recommendation of 130.

Note that both Native American tribes and environmental groups have sued to prevent the upcoming Wisconsin wolf kill - and props to the opponents for standing their ground and fighting to minimize if not end this state-sanctioned barbarism - but I expect the NRB and hunter/gun rights groups to sue to overturn the DNR's move.

And whether it's the DNR's 130 or the NRB's 300 - and while the tribal allotments will save some wolves - a lot of these important natural forest regulators are going to be trapped, shot and killed.

I would add below a few additional facts and matters, especially about DNR kill quotas:

* There have been four state-sanctioned Wisconsin wolf hunts since 2012 and the kill totals in every one exceeded the DNR's quota, with the February, 2021 slaughter being the most brutal.

At least 216 wolves were killed in less than 60 hours, exceeding the state quota of 119 and prompting Wisconsin to end what was meant to be a one-week hunt four days early, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

It's important to understand that these so-called quotas have been repeatedly broken. I've been writing about these realities since 2014:

The DNR says...it's impossible to hit the number precisely because hunters are allowed 24 hours to phone in their sniping, trapping and head-shot successes, and, to date, DNR officials have not closed out a season by erring on the side of caution.

It's more or less a 'sh** happens' scenario.

Further undermining state quotas: the illegal killing (poaching) that has killed scores of wolves, making the February hunt carried out during wolf-breeding season especially vicious and in no way science based.

* The refusal of Walker-appointee Fred Prehn to step down as NRB chairman when his term expired in the spring, and the GOP-led State Senate's refusal to hold a vote on a replacement member nominated by Gov. Evers continues GOP power-grabbing which began immediately after Democrat Tony Evers defeated Walker in November, 2018 and GOP legislators began removing or weakening gubernatorial powers which Walker and other governors had exercised routinely.

(This pattern was extended when GOP legislators 'convinced' a friendly Wisconsin Supreme Court in May to restrict Evers' ability to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.)

* One more item: While it's unclear if or at what level Wisconsin's November wolf hunt will unfold, the state's tolerance and support for wolf-hound sanctioned fighting - eight hounds depredated alone in Bayfield County since August 8 - continues under the guise of bear-hunting field training.

And when hounds run off-leash through wolf territory to a gruesome death, Wisconsin pays the hounders $2,500. Even to scofflaws.

With so little concern for dogs, do we really expect the state to value its wolves?

Foxconn jilts Wisconsin, re-routes electric vehicle plant to Ohio

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:10:00 +0000

'I'm shocked that Mt. Pleasant, nestled in the fake Racine County region of Wisconsin Valley will not be home to an electric vehicle plant' -

Foxconn to buy Ohio plant to make electric vehicles, future for Wisconsin facility uncertain

said absolutely no one - as the financially and environmentally costly four-year+ Foxconn fantasy fiasco detailed at this archive slogs on:

A Foxconn Fever primer
[Updated continuously from June, 2017]

This 400-item archive has tracked, explained and provided context and commentary for Wisconsin's publicly-awarded and record-breaking package of environmental favors, legal privileges and $4.5 billion in state and local funds to subsidize and assist a Taiwan-based Foxconn factory in rural Racine County, Wisconsin.

Weigh in Tuesday for transit & against I-94 expansion in Milwaukee

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 21:47:00 +0000

Milwaukeeans and residents statewide can take an action step Tuesday to confront two crises: burgeoning climate change-driven calamities which are flooding media and large swaths of the country, and systematic transportation service deficits in Southeastern Wisconsin which continue to fuel environmental and workforce injustices, too.

Tuesday's public participation opportunity aims to pressure WisDOT to abandon its billion-dollar boondoggle to widen I-94 across Western Milwaukee residential neighborhoods, and create with those public dollars a project which emphasizes transit needs whose neglect has held back countless individuals, families, businesses and an entire region, as the Brookings Institution noted in a major, 2008 report about the entire Great Lakes region.

These few sentences from the report summed up then what cities like Milwaukee needed and still need now, and presciently shed light on why the proposed I-94 widening adds only retrograde concrete, pollution, stilted 'planning' and lost opportunities, writ large:

To strengthen the economies of the region’s metropolitan areas, the Great Lakes states and the federal government should:

• Design and embrace a new competitive vision for transportation policy that includes high speed rail, greater access to ports and freight hubs, and better maintenance and preservation of existing highway and transit systems

• Rebuild the region’s crumbling water and sewer infrastructure based on a thorough assessment of regional needs and a “fix-it-first” funding strategy that prioritizes existing systems in established communities.

• Reinvest in cities and older communities by targeting infrastructure and economic development funding toward catalytic urban projects and revamping federal policies that concentrate the poor in decaying urban neighborhoods

A redefined WISDOT project would force historically unresponsive public agencies to broaden their horizons and correct their harmful, neglectful policies in our region which I have repeatedly catalogued and blogged about:

I am adding to this [2019] post about environmental justice and government-enabled discriminatory planning in SE WI the schedule of an important television documentary about the destruction of African-American homes, business and neighborhood cohesion by I-43 construction from Milwaukee to the northern suburbs....

And had addressed earlier in a January, 2015 item, here.

Say "No" to WisDOT's Billion-Dollar -I-94 Boondoggle

And had expanded up several months ago, here:

There is no constituency or true priority for, and zero fit with environmental justice and climate science facts and agendas to justify rebooting the Story Hill-area I-94 expansion which even road-building-boosting Walker had abandoned.

Why are we still dreaming about adding expensive 'freeway' [sic] lanes?

So please note that on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 a coalition of community organizations will hold a Zoom news conference to release an alternative proposal that would force WisDOT to make investments into long-ignored transit agendas and put the agency's weight into the fight against climate change which its preferred, one-dimensional lane expansion 'option' continues to choke.

At great short and long-term costs.

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

Media advisory: Groups to unveil alternative to I-94 expansion

In response to the proposed expansion of I-94 East West in Milwaukee, a coalition of environmental, faith and transit advocates will hold a virtual press conference on Tuesday, September 14 at 10 a.m. CT to release an alternative, transit-oriented plan that better meets the transportation, accessibility, equity, economic and environmental needs of the greater Milwaukee region.

Leaders from the coalition will share their unique perspectives related to the I-94 expansion and why they are calling for a better solution for Milwaukeeans. The report comes out as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) begins the public input process for a supplemental environmental review of the proposed highway expansion.

The event will include the following speakers:

Gregg May, Transportation Policy Director, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin
Caressa Givens, Milwaukee Community Programs Manager, Wisconsin Bike Fed
Cheryl Nenn, Riverkeeper, Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Victoria Gillet, Physician and Member, Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action

When:

Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 10:00 AM CT

Location:

This event will be held via Zoom. Zoom event login for Tuesday, 9/14 at 10:00 AM CT: Click here to attend and use passcode 611467.

Or join by phone by dialing: +1 312 626 6799
Meeting ID: 967 2842 6598 Passcode: 611467

Contact Cassie Steiner, 262 930 3963 or cassandra.steiner@sierraclub.org with any technical questions.

Climate crisis alarms are blaring everywhere. Anyone listening?

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 17:29:00 +0000

This story and headline hit me between the eyes:

Air pollution shaves off 2.2 years of average life expectancy worldwide

The average person is losing about 2.2 years of life expectancy due to air pollution, according to new research by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.

Worse, the obvious dangers of a worldwide addiction to fossil fuels are fed and dealt by big corporations and their servants in public offices are old news as shown by the same Chicago research institute's 2018 report:

EPIC's new Air Quality Life index measures single greatest threat to human health

Fossil fuel-driven particulate air pollution cuts global average life expectancy by 1.8 years per person, according to a new pollution index and accompanying report produced by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, [EPIC].

That's a 20%+ jump worldwide in just three years.

* And do you remember that the Wisconsin DNR -

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

and the US EPA - separately quickly, and knowingly - had approved allowing more air pollution over Southeastern Wisconsin - where air quality is regularly degraded.

The US EPA's politically-driven loophole created during the previous administration was closed by team Biden, while the Wisconsin DNR's emission permits remain in Foxconn's hands despite production at the Racine County site that 'justified' the permits - or production of any kind - having never begun.

We are so blasé, we are in such denial about the state of the state and the world that publicly-issued permits to add 800 or so tons of air pollutants annually gather as much concern as a potato chip bag lying in the gutter.

* And air quality harmful to people, businesses and life it self is also a byproduct of an expanding wildfire season raging in the US West -

The Rim Fire burned more than 250,000 acres (1,000 km²) of forest near Yosemite National Park, in 2013. (US Gov't. photo, via Wikipedia)

- that right now is as close to Wisconsin as the Minnesota portion of the Boundary waters:

Progress made on northern Minnesota wildfires, but burning could last until snowfall

Climate change is a human-driven crisis, and humans don't have too much time to make a meaningful impact on the head start we've given it.

And people across Louisiana are out of time, thanks to superstorms - wildfires' climate change catastrophic cousin.

These images tell some of that story, and we can only expect next more of this as the Hurricane season, like the west's fire seasons, become more than mere seasonal disasters.

WI manure contaminates our groundwater - and the US Gulf, too

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 21:33:00 +0000

Long-suffering WI well water users from Kewaunee County -

Previously-reported manure flow from a Kewaunee County farm

- to citizens in the state's Central Sands who have been systematically ignored by corporately-captured GOP politicians -

Vos, Fitzgerald go to bat for 'existing and expanding CAFO operations'

- will not be surprised by a blockbuster report's data and conclusions:

Water atlas links water pollution to heavy fertilizer use in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin

In Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 80 percent of surface water monitors and 83 percent of groundwater monitors with elevated phosphorus levels of at least 100 micrograms per liter, or ug/L, were located in counties where more than 70 percent of cropland is fertilized.
Excess phosphorus in freshwater feeds algae blooms. Not all algae outbreaks are toxic, but those that are can harm humans and animals. And even algae blooms that are not toxic can make waterways unfit for fishing and swimming.
The water atlas confirms previous [Environmental Working Group] investigations revealing that drinking water nitrate contamination is a serious and worsening problem. In the four states, 86 percent of the water systems contaminated with nitrate levels at half or more of the federal legal limit are located in counties where at least 70 percent of the cropland is fertilized.

But I hadn't realized we were part of outsourcing this nasty blend of 'Midwestern Nice' from the US South to the Gulf of Mexico:

Nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from agriculture in [Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois] is the primary cause of a notorious annual hypoxic zone off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. During the summer, that part of the Gulf of Mexico is effectively dead, with devastating effects on Gulf fisheries and ecosystems – and the maps show the pollution problem persists.

And then I remember this as recently as 2018:

Dead zones in Green Bay show signs of lasting longer, raising long-term questions

The challenge: Industry and municipal wastewater systems have made big cuts in pollutants that have fed the dead zone. But the lion's share of runoff pollution comes from farms, which face less regulatory pressure to cut back.
"We are definitely moving in the right direction, but it’s still going to be a pretty big lift," said Kevin Fermanich, a professor of environmental science and geoscience at UW-Green Bay. He did not participate in the study.

WI 'educators' could add kids to GOP 'yearn, learn and earn' food plan

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 20:53:00 +0000

Wisconsin Republicans cannot let this teachable moment courtesy of educators slip unexploited past the party's opportunistic best pundits and policy-makers.

I mean, this could be the GOP's most powerful and expanded contribution to education in Wisconsin since Act. 10.

And, finally, the party can get busy implementing that old adage that used to mean something: "There's no free lunch," so good on you, Waukesha school board.

The GOP has long been making the poor, disadvantaged and plain unlucky among us work for their calories and survival - going back to Walker's first budget and straight through to the former guy's Presidency - so this is the chance for Wisconsin's most successful publicity-seeking school board -

Waukesha The Only Wisconsin School District To Deny Free Meals For All Students

- where state Republicans get their biggest pile of in-votes to grab ahold of this ideology-first teachable moment and put some real shine on that apple a day -

- by telling the kids:

'You want some of that good government surplus to fuel your food addiction? Get out on the playground and parking lot, pick up some trash, and earn you way to the cafeteria line.'

Besides, free food courtesy as taxpayer-paid perk is a privilege controlled by top GOP power-brokers, so listen up, you little ingrates: who do you think you are, state legislators?

So respect yer elders and get to work, food addicts. I think I see some garbage near the board members' parking spaces.

Do not take it from a mule. Do not take it from a fool.

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 18:08:00 +0000

Wisconsin's highest-ranking hawker of a hooved animal dewormer as a preferred pandemic treatment for people also suggests taking anti-Covid-19 treatments according to that established pharmaceutical measurement - "a bunch."

Johnson pushes Ivermectin and vaccine conspiracies despite federal warning

“I don’t care what drug will work. Try a bunch of them.”
Trumpista Forever Ron Johnson

Reminds me of that old-timey pharmacists' credo Johnson must have in the drugstore when growing up in Minnesota:

'Milligrams, kilograms, graham crackers - pretty much the same to me.'

And as viral flu season rolls around - I just got an email reminder that flu shots are available - I'm expectantly waiting for Dr. Johnson to come out with his list of alternative flue treatments.

Google tells me these include burned potato peels, salt and aluminum strips - and the best news is that none involve an upper arm owie or stupid sciency advice from by CDC buttinskies.

Along with this snotty slap at Johnson from 'experts' over at the Federal Drug Administration determined to steal my freedom to award your school kids lots of extra sick days - a fact which this Journal Sentinel headline glosses over:

You are not a horse. You are not a cow': FDA issues blunt warning on taking ivermectin, drug promoted by Ron Johnson to treat COVID-19

Which echoes another doctor who only practiced with a literary license and, were he alive today, might have said something like this about Johnson's horse-of-different-color Covid-19 treatment plan:

Do not take it with a cow
Do not take it with a sow
Do not take it with a mule
Do not take it from a fool.

Another WI wolf-killing binge generates formidable opposition

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 19:01:00 +0000

Every fair-minded Wisconsin resident who understands why there is even a northern Wisconsin on the map should be outraged and embarrassed that repetitively ugly actions by powerful, partisan and self-serving politicians who continue to intentionally erase 'conserve' from their so-called 'conservative principles' have brought us to this unacceptably retrograde point in 2021 -

Tribal leaders in Wisconsin feel ignored over wolf hunt decision

Ojibwe tribal leaders in Wisconsin feel like they’re being ignored in their concerns about wolf hunting in the state.

“It seems like our voices are never heard,” said John Johnson, chairman of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Nation and Voigt Intertribal Task Force....

“We’re supposed to have 50% say over the resources, and that’s never happened, especially in the Ceded Territory,” Johnson said.

My question: where's the best place to send a donation to help overcome this history of justice denied, and its latest outbreak?

Photo copied from a November, 2020 report from Wisconsin Greenfire which policy-makers should have adopted.

WI science-basher irked when scientists don't meet his perfection standard

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 19:09:00 +0000

Voters in Tom Tiffany's northwoods congressional district need to know the level of repetitive and dangerous misinformation - and related b.s. - that their elected representative has been feeding them.

This May, 2021 posting was a start.

Yet Tiffany continues his camouflage-the-facts campaign.

In this recent release, Tiffany bashes the CDC for not providing 100% instantly complete advice about the unprecedented and fast-mutating COVID19, and then makes an unbelievably misleading and politicized statement:

The lack of transparency by the highest-ranking medical officials in our federal government has created confusion and uncertainty. Americans have faithfully followed public health directives and recommendations for eighteen months, based on the premise that compliance would result in the resumption of normalcy. It seems now that guidance was illusory.

It's true that plenty of Americans have "faithfully followed" health directives and recommendations for eighteen months, but Tiffany is not one of them.

What gall, as we consider his record:

* On August 17, 2021, when speaking at a Rhinelander school board against a masking mandate:

Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) spoke against masks at the meeting, equating the CDC guideline on masks to its one on eating raw cookie dough.

Does that sound like respect for and compliance with CDC recommendations to you?

* On March 31, 2021:

Wisconsin Congressman Tiffany Says He Advised His Adult Daughters Against Getting COVID-19 Vaccine
At Town Hall, Republican Representative Made False Statements About COVID-19 And Contradicted Public Health Guidance

Is that what faithfully following CDC guidelines sounds like?

* On October 6, 2020:

Tiffany's Unmasked, Indoor Campaign Event Slammed As 'Completely Reckless'
Gathering Featured Arizona Sheriff Who Previously Caught COVID-19 At A Campaign Event

Is that how a public official sets an example for compliance with CDC recommendations - during a killer pandemic?

His attitudes and public position abuses contradict much-needed work by agencies and scientists trying their best to keep people, homes, and communities safe, and for Tiffany it dates to his years in the Wisconsin State Legislature.

US Cong. Tom Tiffany, (R-WI)

* In 2015:

Sen. Tom Tiffany says he asked governor for DNR job cuts

State Sen. Tom Tiffany has owned up to asking for job cuts to DNR scientists, who he has said focus too much on climate change.
On Friday’s Devil’s Advocate radio show, the Hazelhurst Republican said he asked Gov. Scott Walker and his staff to include a provision in the state budget axing approximately 17 positions from the Department of Natural Resources’ Science Services Bureau.

* Noted on June 18, 2017, and which you might keep in mind as Wisconsin is among the states experiencing sizzling temperatures and destructive storms which are long-predicted consequences of human-assisted climate change:

The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Walker is further weakening through disconnecting transfers - - an age-old bureaucratic ploy - - the work of the few science staffers whose positions he had not already eliminated. Work in the public interest which his GOP legislative allies have sought to and will additionally further restrict at the direction of Cathy Stepp, the former developer whom Walker appointed in 2011 as agency's business-friendly Secretary:

The story quotes outspoken climate change denier and eager corporate captive State Sen. Tom Tiffany, (R-Hazelhurst), in support of even more limitations on what remains of DNR science:

Stepp should be able to ensure that research benefits sportsmen and the DNR should be better able to prevent further research that takes climate change into account, Tiffany said.

Tiffany doesn’t accept the findings of 97 percent of working climate scientists that the climate is changing rapidly in large part because of human-caused pollution....

[Also] recall that he was the state legislator whose view of fishing and hunting in the Bad River watershed - - which, by the way, is not in his district - included an active public relations role promoting a possible 35 years of mountaintop blasting, forest-clearing, open-pit iron ore mining, contamination runoff and wetland filling:

News that State Sen. Tom Tiffany, (R-Hazelhurst) is aiming to wipe out local jurisdictions' controls over mining-related dynamiting, road use, air and water regulation so GTAC mining is freer to engage in 35 years of mountain-top open pit iron mining up North is not the first time he has put the company's interests before everything and everyone else. The bill would also place similar restrictions on local controls over frac sand mining.

* There was his failed attempt to close 3,500 acres of publicly-accessible forest land because mining might take place there. The effect was to bar scientists working for the nearby Ojibwe band from cataloguing wetlands in harm's way - - and right before state geologists found asbestos-bearing rock on potential mine property.

* One set of URL's and citations about his close relationship to the mining company is here.

* Another URL, thanks to the League of Conservation Voters and that connects the Governor's office to blatant special interest strategizing for the mine, is here.

A sample:

Begin by taking another look at this Facebook posting from last year by the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters about Tiffany's relationship to a Gogebic's lobbyist:
Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters · 15,050 like thisJune 27, 2012 at 5:42pm ·

David Storey, lobbyist for Gogebic Taconite, sent e-mails to then-Rep. [and now State Sen.] Tom Tiffany, and Walker policy adviser Eileen Schoenfeldt, that discussed forming a "response team" to combat negative PR once the final mining bill was released. Read the emails here:http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/Storey_Emails.pdf ...

Tiffany is either unaware or dismissive of published work by DNR researchers posted by a UW-Madison program from which Walker's DNR has now distanced itself that showed the dangers a warming climate posed to Wisconsin's lakes, rivers and streams - - the very 'sporstmen' arenas Tiffany allegedly is trying to assist.

Few Wisconsin wildlife species are more sensitive to changes in their environment than trout. They depend on a particular set of conditions to survive, including a narrow range of cold water temperatures. Climate change poses an extraordinary challenge to this critical state resource.

Department of Natural Resources researchers John Lyons and Matthew Mitro have spent years studying the impacts of environmental change on 50 fish species in Wisconsin. They track how things like changes in land use, stream characteristics and warming temperatures affect fish populations...

Incorporating Wisconsin specific climate data in the fish researchers' models produced startling results: all but four of 50 species they studied would be affected. About half of them, warmwater species such as bass, could benefit from the change. But coldwater species are at risk as air and water temperatures increase. Brown trout and wild brook trout in particular have narrow temperature ranges in which they can successfully live, feed and reproduce.

Under the most extreme summer warming conditions projected by the models — where air temperatures would increase by about 9°F and water temperatures by 7.2°F — brook trout may not survive in Wisconsin at all, and brown trout may decrease by 88 percent. Even under more moderate conditions of air temperature increasing by 1.8˚F and water temperature by 0.8˚F, brook trout distributions may shrink by 44 percent and brown trout by 8 percent.

Bayfield Co. hounders again throw cautions & hunting dogs to the wolves

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 04:36:00 +0000

This was the headline on a blog post of mine one week ago. You can file it under 'the more things change, the more things stay the same.'

WI hunters keep throwing hounds to wolves in Bayfield Co.

This is the message line and detail in an email from the Wisconsin DNR Monday afternoon:

Hunting Dogs Depredated in Bayfield and Douglas Counties

On August 21, 2021, USDA-Wildlife Services verified that wolves killed a 3-year old female Plott trailing hound in the Town of Delta, Bayfield County.
On August 22, 2021, USDA-Wildlife Services verified that wolves killed a 7-year old male Plott trailing hound in the Town of Highland, Douglas County.

This is what a Plott hound looks like:

This is the headline on a blog post of mine from Aug. 3, 2020:

Hunters keep releasing hounds into fatal wolf encounters; WDNR compensation available

Here are a few paragraphs from that post:

I have followed this sad sacrifice for years; while Wisconsin is not the only state with legacy hunting traditions, it is the only state where so-called sporting lobbies had convinced the Legislature decades ago to include reimbursements to hound owners by the DNR of up to $2,500 per hound killed or injured by wolves.

As of April 20, the state has paid out more than $845,000 to hound owners requesting reimbursement for hounds killed or injured by wolves, records show.

(The DNR program also compensates livestock and pet owners for similar losses.)

Media have noted that state reimbursements are made to hound owners who are repeat payment collectors - or scofflaws, and to owners who released their hounds into known wolf activity areas mapped out and posted online by the DNR.

Several of 12 hounds injured or killed this summer in recent encounters with wolves were Plott hounds, perhaps like this one, DNR records show.

These are the recent hound-wolf encounters listed by the DNR:

This is the headline and some text from a blog post of mine from September 2, 2016:

28th hound killed in '16 WI bear hunt 'training' by wolves

On Aug. 31 - - the last day of the state's legal, off-leash bear hound 'training' period - - the Department of Natural Resources said by email today that the year's 28th bear hound was killed by wolves in Wisconsin [and] the 25th bear hound killed just this month by wolves in Wisconsin.

More unhealthy air over SE Wisconsin's lakeshore counties

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 23:31:00 +0000

Remember when the WI DNR quickly gave Foxconn permits to expel nearly 800 tons of air pollutants every year? Only the company's failure to begin any production keeps today's degraded air quality in the region from getting worse:

Advisory for Ozone (Orange)

Start Date/Time:	Monday, August 24 - 3:30 pm CDT
End Date/Time:	Monday, August 24 - 11:00 pm CDT
Counties:	Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, & Sheboygan
Comments:	The air quality index (AQI) is expected to reach the UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS (USG) level. Sensitive groups, including children, elderly people, individuals with respiratory and cardiac problems, and anyone engaged in strenuous outdoor activities for a prolonged period of time, should avoid extended outdoor exposure.

Details about this advisory are available on the Wisconsin Air Quality Monitoring Data site.

Air Quality Index Chart

Learn more about the Air Quality Index (AQI) on the AirNow website.

Sanctions shred Senatorial sanctimony, but do voters care?

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:45:00 +0000

At first glance it's an open-and-shut Badger State case study in how not to hold public office, let alone run for re-election.

We're referencing Wisconsin's senior GOP US Senator, who faces a plunging approval record -

Trumpista Forever Ron Johnson

- while weighing a third-term run which he promised he would not make.

And if poor polling and a broken promise wouldn't already have derailed an incumbent bent on re-election - especially one whose recent self-serving maneuvers shattered his earlier sanctimonious self-accounting - consider that Johnson is also deep into an expanding political minefield of his own creation:

* Begin here, with one Andril Derkach, a Ukrainian legislator who was just sanctioned by Ukraine:

Ukraine sanctions lawmaker accused of meddling in U.S. election

* This is the same person - designated by US officials as a "Russian agent" - whose associates and others were already sanctioned by the US Government during the Trump administration for interfering in American politics:

January 11, 2021
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional action against seven individuals and four entities that are part of a Russia-linked foreign influence network associated with Andrii Derkach.

Russian agent Derkach was designated on September 10, 2020, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13848, for his attempt to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election....

Since at least 2019, Derkach and his associates have leveraged U.S. media, U.S.-based social media platforms, and influential U.S. persons to spread misleading and unsubstantiated allegations that current and former U.S. officials engaged in corruption, money laundering, and unlawful political influence in Ukraine.

* Now here's why this might ring an alarm bell for Johnson, and Wisconsin voters:

State Dept. provides House Dems docs previously given to Ron Johnson's Biden probe

Democrats have raised concerns that material gathered by Derkach, who met in December with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, has been laundered into Johnson’s material.

Johnson has strenuously denied the allegations, but Democrats sought the documents he obtained from the State Department to understand the direction his probe is taking.

POLITICO first reported that Derkach mailed information about the Bidens to Johnson, but Johnson’s office has denied receiving anything from Derkach.

Derkach has pushed many of the same claims against Biden that Johnson, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is pursuing. Johnson’s probe centers on allegations that a Democratic public-affairs firm sought to leverage Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma in order to influence the Obama-era State Department.

* Not to mention this report which ran in the Wisconsin State Journal Aug. 9, 2020:

A national intelligence document released Friday by the Trump administration revealed Russia is using pro-Russia Ukrainian officials to slander presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, undermining a key pillar of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s ongoing investigation into the former vice president.

Johnson, who is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has drawn criticism from Democrats and foreign policy experts for what they see as an attempt to smear Biden as he challenges Republican President Donald Trump.

* As well as this related August, 2020 lengthy item, which includes Johnson's denial of any wrongdoing:

Earlier this month, Johnson defended himself on a local Wisconsin news station saying, “What have I published, what have I reported on, that is not true, that is any form of Russian disinformation? There has been nothing....”

We provide a roadmap for understanding this disinformation operation currently in progress, using U.S. elected officials as a vehicle.

You'd think all this would have led Johnson months ago to announce there'd be no third-term run, but maybe it's all too complicated for voters to digest.

And remember that he won two elections which plenty people said he wouldn't win, so maybe his Teflon is actually advanced, impenetrable Kevlar.

Tiffany 'greets' traumatized Afghans w/unfounded fears & smears

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 00:15:00 +0000

Afghans already traumatized after escaping the Taliban's violent takeover have begun arriving at Ft. McCoy where the best of America and Wisconsin will offer them an Emma Lazarus greeting.

But as he ~~coincidentally~~ consistently does when discussing people of color who already shoulder outsized burdens - be they southern border refugees, citizens of Asian descent or historically-marginalized African-Americans - Northwoods US GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany -

US Cong. Tom Tiffany, (R-WI)

- wasted no time giving these newest immigrants - many of whom aided the American war effort at great personal risk - his signature fear-mongering, ignorant and empathy-free attention:

"I am deeply disturbed by reports that as many as 5,000 Afghans per day are headed to the United States – many without valid visas or even basic identity documents. Biden administration officials have said they plan to transport many of these individuals to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin – but have declined to elaborate on how many will come, what screening will be carried out prior to arrival, or what will happen after they land here."

"Alarmingly, the White House has also declined to say whether these individuals will be held in custody during vetting, or if we will see the same kind of catch-and-release policy we’ve seen on our southern border. Adding insult to injury, President Biden has not bothered to seek the approval of Wisconsin leaders, or the local communities that will be affected by this haphazard plan..."

"The White House should abandon this dangerous, ready-fire-aim plan and mitigate risk by transporting Afghans to safe third countries for vetting before bringing thousands of unknown people into Wisconsin or other U.S. states. Our national security has been deeply degraded in the months since January 20 and allowing the mass entry of foreigners from a known hotbed of terrorism will only make this situation far worse."

Note that sixteen Republican House members voted against funding a speed-up processing paperwork which key Afghan refugees need to legally settle in the US, so maybe Tiffany should take his phony, unfounded fears about "what will happen after they land here" to his colleagues.

Removing Walker lame-duck resources official would revive WI elections' value, too

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 06:50:00 +0000

WI Republicans are trying to freshly extend at taxpayer expense their broad and persistent power-grabbing - a partisan strategy implemented immediately after Gov. Evers was elected in November, 2018 - by blocking Evers' appointees from serving on the very powerful - but now tainted - state Natural Resources Board so it can continue to protect and serve Walker and GOP agendas.

Walker, the DNR and its oversight agency the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board sacrificed clean water, exposed public trust wildlife like wolves to repetitive, science-free slaughter and continually promoted corporate policies, not broader public agendas.

So it's good to see a) that Wisconsin Atty. General Josh Kaul is trying to remove a key Walker Board member who refuses to step down from the Board and relinquish its chairmanship - though his term has expired - and, b) that top-shelf citizen organizations and attorneys have joined the fight, which is also a fight to restore fairness and credibility to the Board and Wisconsin elections:

WI Environmental and Conservation Organizations Support Legal Action to End NRB Chair’s Holdover Past the Expiration of His Term
For immediate release: July 22, 2021

On Tuesday, attorneys for the law firm Pines Bach, LLC directed a complaint to Attorney General Josh Kaul that outlines the reasons why Frederick Prehn is unlawfully occupying a seat on the Natural Resources Board (NRB) and requests the Attorney General take action to obtain a writ of quo warranto under Chapter 784 of the Wisconsin Statutes.
Midwest Environmental Advocates, Wisconsin's Green Fire, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Clean Wisconsin, River Alliance of Wisconsin, and Sierra Club - Wisconsin Chapter jointly make the following statement:
Our organizations hold a variety of interests and positions on matters that come before the NRB. Our own positions as organizations are not always fully aligned with the groups that filed the complaint, Humane Society of the United States and the Center for Biological Diversity. On many issues, we in fact hold opposing viewpoints. However, on this issue our organizations agree strongly: Frederick Prehn’s continued presence on the NRB undermines the “sound, responsible, and accountable management of natural resources held in the public trust.”1
The NRB is part of Wisconsin’s tradition of limiting the influence of politics in natural resources and conservation decision-making. Frederick Prehn’s continued refusal to vacate a seat on the NRB after the expiration of his term is doing great damage to that tradition.
1 Westerberg, Christa. Request for Quo Warranto Action, Wis. Stat. s. 784.04(1)(a), Regarding Dr. Frederick Prehn, July 20,2021. Letter.

1
The NRB was created by the Kellet Reorganization Bill in 1967, which merged the then Department of Conservation with the then Department of Resource Development.2 At that time, many in the conservation community were concerned that development and business interests would hold disproportionate power over the resulting agency, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).3 The structure and composition of the NRB was the result of a critical compromise: it preserved for Wisconsinites a direct role in setting natural resource and conservation policy and was meant to insulate DNR decisions from undue political influence. Critically, NRB members are to act as citizen-representatives for their six-year term. During that time period, they are stewards of the public interest. The notion that any former NRB member may attempt to maintain power after the expiration of their term, when a duly nominated and qualified member is able to serve, is inconsistent with legislative intent and is anathema to both the role of an NRB member and the long tradition of the NRB.
These unique aspects of the NRB’s history and function provide context for the legal points made in the complaint. At the time of the NRB’s creation, the Legislature chose not to include a holdover clause in statute creating the NRB,4 even though the statutory model for giving appointees the ability to holdover had been established by previous legislatures.5 This decision by the Legislature, reflected in the text of Wis. Stat. § 15.34(2)(a), is consistent with the intent and spirit that motivated the creation of the NRB. The drafters of the Kellet Bill did not permit what Frederick Prehn continues to do because the NRB was created not as a body comprised of political actors seeking to maximize their power but as citizen-representatives who serve in the public interest for a set period of time.
We emphasize that our support for the complaint is neither about a particular policy issue before the NRB nor the particular political party of the governor who made the most recent appointments. George Meyer is a former DNR Secretary who served in Republican Governor Tommy Thompson’s administration. Mr. Meyer was recently quoted as saying that Frederick Prehn staying in his seat, “overturns the will of the people that was voiced through the election of the new governor, and I would say this regardless of the parties here. It makes no difference whether the Democrats are in charge or the Republicans....Either way, this would be contrary to the way the system is set up...."6
Over the next months, the NRB will be setting policy for the people of Wisconsin on a wide range of issues, including wildlife management, PFAS water quality standards, addressing nitrate contamination in drinking water, land acquisition, among many others. Our respective organizations may have differing views on these issues, but we agree that the people of Wisconsin have a right that these matters be addressed by an NRB that is accountable and comprised of members who are lawfully acting in the people’s interest.
###
2 Sinykin, Jodi Habush. "At a Loss: The State of Wisconsin After Eight Years Without the Public Intervenor's Office." Marquette Law Review. 88 (2004): 648.
3 Thomas, Christine L. "One hundred twenty years of citizen involvement with the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board." Environmental History Review 15, no. 1 (1991): 75.
4 Wis. Stat. § 15.34(2)(a)
5 See, e.g., 1961 Wis. Act 507, § 8 (“All appointed trustees [of the Wisconsin Investment Board] shall serve until their successors have been appointed and have qualified.”).
6 Kaeding, Danielle. “Evers Seeks Fresh Faces On Natural Resources Board, But Current Chair Isn't Stepping Down Yet.” Wisconsin Public Radio, May 25, 2021. https://www.wpr.org/evers-seeks-fresh-faces-natural-resources-board-current- chair-isnt-stepping-down-yet.

2

Two more WI Republicans extend GOP's COVID coddling

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 19:39:00 +0000

Polling data show a stark division between Wisconsin Republicans and Democrats on many matters pandemic:

A new statewide poll shows a partisan divide in vaccinations and more negative perceptions toward last year's shutdown

Here's up-to-date-data highlighting another straight line to follow in COVID-slammed Wisconsin -

Cases	1,391	+45%	709,504
Tests	10,357	–14%	—
Hospitalized	671	+124%	—
Deaths	4	–34%	8,336

- that you can trace from this ideological insanity -

Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) spoke against masks at the (Monday night Rhinelander School Board) meeting, equating the CDC guideline on masks to its one on eating raw cookie dough.

* To this even more serious and unfolding story:

GOP Senator Railed Against Vax, Caught COVID, Then Hid It From Dem Colleagues

A Republican state senator who has proven to be one of Wisconsin’s most virulent critics of mask and vaccine mandates became sick enough to be hospitalized last week after contracting COVID-19, his office confirmed to The Daily Beast.

What’s more, a possibly infectious Sen. André Jacque, who testified maskless during a Joint Senate and Assembly Education Committee meeting last Wednesday at the statehouse in Madison, neglected to inform his colleagues about their potential exposure—and they’re not happy.

I wish State Sen. Jacque -

- and his family full and speedy recoveries; let's also hope COVID19 and its super-infectious Delta variant was not spread to constituents, other legislators, Capitol staffers, medical workers and random contacts.

No more suffering!

But let's be honest:

* The seeds of this dangerous resistance to science and common sense were planted last October, for example, by Sen. Jacque's Racine County GOP colleague Sen. Van Wanggaard -

...three weeks-and-a-day-ago on October 8th, Racine's GOP State Senator and unofficial lead state COVID shoulder shrugger Van Wanggaard said Wisconsin's cases could multiply ten-fold and he still wouldn't support a statewide making order.

* And to an even earlier display by WI GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos -

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, wore a mask, gloves and other protective gear as he sought to assure voters it was "incredibly safe" to vote in person for Tuesday's election amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"You are incredibly safe to go out," Vos told The Journal Times in a Facebook livestream. Vos said he was serving as an election inspector and that wearing the personal protective equipment, or PPE, was mandatory.
Standing in front of cars lined up for curbside voting, Vos said people working at polling locations and those voting in person face "very minimal exposure."

To others:

* On May 5th, 2020, The Wisconsin Supreme Court - meeting virtually and respecting COVID19 distancing guidelines - heard arguments in a case brought by GOP Legislative leaders to overturn Democratic Gov. Tony Evers 'Safer-at-Home' order extension. The Justices overturned the Evers order several days later by a 4-3 vote.

During the May 5th argument, Chief Justice Patience Roggensack (the Court is officially non-partisan, but has a 4-3 majority which usually supports conservative and GOP positions) opined that a highly-publicized outbreak of COVID19 in Brown County (the Green Bay-area) meatpacking plants which employed large numbers of migrant workers in close quarters had not hit "regular folks."

The food and commercial workers union called it "shocking and deeply offensive that Roggensack would suggest that workers in meatpacking plants aren't 'regular folks' who deserve protection."

On May 5th, state data showed a total of 1,966 confirmed COVID19 cases and 13 confirmed deaths in Brown County. Using the latest, December 18 data, those Brown County numbers had soared to 25,042 confirmed cases and 155 confirmed deaths, with both categories having jumped by more than by a factor of 10....

* On August 3rd, 2020, GOP Senate Majority Leader [and now-US Rep.] Scott Fitzgerald urged the Senate to overturn a statewide mask-wearing order issued by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

“I just said I think it’s a mistake,” Fitzgerald said of the mask order. “I think things are going well right now. People are complying if they want to.”

On August 3rd, the confirmed COVID19 case number in Wisconsin was 55,328 and the death toll was 949. By December 18, the confirmed case number had soared to 451,676 and the death toll to 4,345....

Which brings us to Wisconsin's senior GOP US Senator and all-in Trump enabler Ron Johnson.

* In fact, in the very early days of the pandemic on March 18, 2020 - note that Wisconsin did not report deaths until March 20th, state data show - Johnson was sugarcoating COVID19's risks and framing them in business-like/balance-sheet statistics, as The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:

"...97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this. But we don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It’s a risk we accept so we can move about. We don’t shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu,” Johnson said.

Johnson acknowledged that coronavirus has a far higher fatality rate than the seasonal flu, but said, “getting coronavirus is not a death sentence except for maybe no more than 3.4 percent of our population (and) I think probably far less,” he said...

By the way, 3.4 percent of the US population is more than 11 million people.

Tom Tiffany, cookie monster

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 17:27:00 +0000

I'd noted Tom Tiffany's penchant for using his Congressional perch and perks - like a taxpayer-paid newsletter - to spread bad information.

Or through public remarks that downplayed the Jan. 6th violent attack on the US Capitol - his workplace - as "one isolated event" while also voting against the legal certification of Joe Biden's legal election win.

US Cong. Tom Tiffany, (R-WI)

Regrettably, he's at it again.

Tiffany appeared before a school board meeting Monday night in Rhinelander where he a) spoke against a proposed mask mandate made reasonable by the ominously dangerous and rapidly-spreading COVID Delta strain:

C.D.C. Internal Report Calls Delta Variant as Contagious as Chickenpox

The amount of virus in a person infected with Delta is a thousandfold more than what is seen in people infected with the original version of the virus, according to one recent study....Infection with the Delta variant produces virus amounts in the airways that are tenfold higher than what is seen in people infected with the Alpha variant, which is also highly contagious, the document noted.

and, b) compared Centers from Disease Control about COVID prevention to its advice against eating cookie dough to avoid what are occasional cases of food poisoning.

From a Wisconsin radio station report, this:

School District of Rhinelander Board Adopts Optional Mask Policy with Room for Admin Changes

Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) spoke against masks at the meeting, equating the CDC guideline on masks to its one on eating raw cookie dough.

Why would a Member of Congress trivialize risk to constituents and children during pandemic times?

COVID is not the seasonal flu and it is certainly not food poisoning, as seriously nasty as it can be.

For the record, more than 640,000 Wisconsinites have contracted COVID19 - that's more than 10% of the state's 5.85 million residents - and the virus has killed nearly 7.500 Wisconsinites, current state data show, while illness outbreaks caused by what may be in tainted cookie dough are infinitesimally smaller.

And whether this useless Covid-to-cookie dough conflation came from Tiffany's personal Internet browsing, Republican talking points or incompetent staff work, his bit wasn't even original, as this recent news report from North Carolina seems to suggest.

North Carolina reverses course, urges masks in all schools

Top North Carolina Republicans worry the abrupt shift in recommendations from state and federal health officials will prompt fewer residents to come in for a vaccine because they’ll still need to wear masks indoors.
“All we’re getting from public health authorities are shifting rules and perpetual panic,” Republican Senate leader Phil Berger’s office said in a news release. “The CDC offers more consistent guidance on consuming raw cookie dough than on masks. That’s a problem and here’s why: If the CDC erodes its credibility on masks, then it risks eroding its credibility on the far more important message of vaccines.”

Honestly, I don't see much difference between Tiffany's advice on masks and vaccines, (even to his own family) and some nameless parent at a school board in Anywhere, USA endorsing driving the carpool to school without buckling the kids in their seat belts.

WI hunters keep throwing hounds to wolves in Bayfield Co.

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 03:58:00 +0000

Every summer and fall, it's the same nasty story:

So-called 'hounders' - presumably releasing their GPS-collared hunting dogs as training for the fall bear season - keep running some of their dogs despite warnings posted online by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources straight into the jaws of wolves in Bayfield County where known wolf activity is mapped and posted online

Between July 9 and August 13, five hunting dogs have been killed - four of them Walker hounds like this one -

- and two additional Black and Tan hounds were injured by wolves, according to WI DNR data and maps.

One reason for this gory sloppiness:

A unique Wisconsin state reimbursement program wherein the owner of hound killed during hunting training by a wolf - even if killed in known wolf territory, or released into a fatal encounter with a wolf by an owner who has done so in the past and is even a scofflaw has even run afoul of the law - is entitled to a $2,500 state check.

I have written often about this shameful state-subsidized wolf-dog carnage; a sample post put up nearly two years ago to the day is here -

2 more WI hounds thrown to wolves. Total DNR reimbursements to owners will exceed $800k

Life continues to be cheap for too many Wisconsin hunting hounds, but their sacrifice sure is remunerative to their owners, even to repeat state check applicants. Even to scofflaws....

Two more hunting dogs have been reported killed by wolves during this summer's continuing bear hound 'training season' - - a two-months period during which bears and wolves are needlessly chased, harassed, and traumatized, while anyone out in the woods not running hound packs gets no relief.

That brings to twelve the number released off-leash this summer to their deaths by owners now eligible for $2,500 state reimbursement checks. That's $30,000 down the drain, too.

- And this state-enabled practice and payment plan operates in a state that otherwise outlaws dog fighting and cruelty to animals. Talk about your double-standard, as I noted in 2014:

In Milwaukee, a man involved in dog-fighting for money got five years in prison....

Elsewhere in rural Wisconsin - - right now - - other dogs are being allowed to chase bears as part of hunting dog training.

And should a dog get killed by wolves in the bear-hunt training, even if the dog was let loose in a known wolf activity area - - not to worry - because the same state and taxpayers now housing the Milwaukee dog-fighting perpetrator will pay the hunter who let his dog get torn apart by the larger wolves up to $2,500 - so the hunter can go get another disposable dog.

This Wisconsin DNR chart shows that state payments for so-called wolf 'depredated' dogs is approaching $850,000 since the program began decades ago.

The state, as the chart shows, also pays farmers for wolf-related livestock losses and pet dog owners for animals killed by wolves, too.

More about the whole sad, sick and worsening Wisconsin FUBAR wolf 'policy' is here, as I wrote Friday:

Another Wisconsin wolf policy announcement came by email Friday, below.
It needs close examination because:

1. The state's Natural Resources policy [sic] board - chaired by a Walker appointee who refuses to relinquish his now-expired appointment, influence and seat - just arbitrarily threw out a DNR staff recommendation for a fall wolf kill of 130.
2. And substituted instead - against the recommendations of DNR staffers, scientists, Native American and allied advocates - the authorized and unprecedented science-free wolf-slaughter of 300 wolves. It's a number pulled from a Republican special interests' grab bag of bloody treats that echoes the winter, 2021 all-too-predictable Wisconsin quota-busting overkill, so...
I urge the DNR and the WNRB to add this simple disclaimer to future invitations for public participation in decisions which effect the people's water, land, clean air and wildlife:
*Note: Any decision by the Department of Natural Resources or its oversight body Wisconsin Natural Resources Board is subject to partisan tampering, special-interest manipulation or outright cancellation regardless of documentation, facts or other pesky evidence and/or commonsense.

Wisconsin climate crisis deepened by damaging GOP mischief, denial

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 18:13:00 +0000

After welcoming back our electricity and tossing our fridge-and-freezer-loads of food - minor inconveniences compared to downed trees and even a lightning-destroyed home not far away - I noted this for-Journal Sentinel-subscribers-only headline and story:

Severe storms and tornadoes pummeled Wisconsin in August. Climate change could make them more frequent

The headline a) understates the obvious, and, along with the text, b) omits the Walker-era's malignant neglect of science and realities which guarantee that Wisconsin's climate change burden which has already has harmed people, businesses, budgets, waters, forests, land and longevity will be needlessly painful.

I'm listing below just some of evidence I'd previously gathered, so let's expand the record:

* From October, 2018:

Walker's eight-year attack on the environment, in 21 parts

...the political environment and natural environment absolutely are in trouble. Hence this 21-part series, "Walker's 8-year war on the Wisconsin environment" - covers climate science, clean water, fresh air, critical wetlands, public trust wildlife, science, information, expertise, budgets, transparency and fairness.

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

Also:

* From March, 2018:

About that wildfire season the DNR says is 'heating up.'

Academics have been studying the projected impacts of climate change and temperatures increases on Wisconsin forests for years.
In the coming century, forecast climate changes caused by increasing greenhouse gases may produce dramatic shifts in tree species distributions and the rates at which individual tree species sequester carbon or release carbon back to the atmosphere. The species composition and carbon storage capacity of northern Wisconsin (USA) forests are expected to change significantly as a result. Projected temperature changes are relatively large (up to a 5.8°C increase in mean annual temperature) and these forests encompass a broad ecotone that may be particularly sensitive to climate change.
The Union of Concerned Scientists sees a link between a warming climate and greater wildfire danger- As the world warms, we can expect more wildfires

* From August, 2018:

Wisconsin landscape flooded with water, dismissal of science, too

Wisconsin was hit earlier this year by flooding that scoured away cars, pavement, and land. Now it's happened again.
We've also got Scott Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality' management that scrubbed away important information about why the flooding is likely to get worse, having ignored expert, public warnings about insufficient stormwater management and funding since 2003.

The rains in SE Wisconsin did stop and flooding from Dane County to Ixonia to Watertown to I-43 in Milwaukee County has receded, but water levels will continue to rise and more rain is in the forecast.

So I wonder: is there a bigger picture to this?, since parts of Wisconsin - - Watertown, 2016, Racine County,2017, Racine County, 2008, Madison, 2018, historic flooding in NW Wisconsin in 2018 and 2016

etc. - - have been hit by rains routinely labeled heavy, historic, worst ever, and so on.

* From August, 2017:

Wisconsin dismisses climate science as farms, roads and people suffer

For perspective - - Many Western Wisconsin roads and other infrastructure washed out in 2016 floods are still not rebuilt; one NW local official says he has seen a dozen 100-year-storms in the last 30 years, while a state official says road-building standards have not caught up with "evidence...pointing towards increasing frequency of large" storm events.

* From May, 2017:

Climate change threatens WI walleye, yet WI DNR denies climate change

Probably no fish is more dear to the state's recreational economy and thousands of anglers - - "highly prized," says the Wisconsin DNR - - than walleye.

So maybe that same Wisconsin DNR will rethink its decision to scrub climate change from its websites now that climate scientists are saying measures should be taken because climate change will lessen the ability of some state lakes to support walleye.

* From December, 2016

Many ways WI ideologues killed climate science, data

I've noted several times on this blog - - here or here and most recently, here - - that Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker's "chamber of commerce mentality" Department of Natural Resources had deleted information and links to outside sources about climate change which had been posted on a DNR climate change website before Walker took office.

Walker also wiped out DNR science positions as part of his effort to weaken the agency and its research, inspection, enforcement and information-gathering roles.

Let me also excerpt additional information I'd posted in a comprehensive review of Walker's damage to the DNR which was supplied from current and former Wisconsin DNR staffers about internal methods other than outright website scrubbing that DNR decision-makers and Walker budgeting have used to downgrade, obstruct or otherwise minimize public, scientific information in the agency's possession:
-------------------------------------------------------------
* A third former staffer said:
The most alarming issue to me is the great waste of decades of sound science, compiled overtime in on-going studies and data collection. WI had more information about our natural landscape than most states. Abolishing science services put an end to decades long studies vital to maintaining and recovering rare and endangered plants and animals as well as understanding natural communities as information on resilience for climate change.
* A current employe on personal time echoed many of the lobbyists and former staffers' observations:
Under Walker and Stepp, science is not a priority. Scientific knowledge is ever-changing but in Wisconsin our staff are being left behind. We no longer have a statistician to help interpret data, a library to provide journals or books, or researchers that monitor fish counts, wildlife health, air quality, water quality and etc….employee scientific knowledge and data specific to WI is stagnant...we cannot do the best job possible for our state.
The DNR is currently run by people who understand public relations spin but not the complexity of the natural resources they are responsible for...Communications staff, generally not trained specifically in resource communication, answer questions with talking points..usually developed by upper management - political appointees - and legal staff. The information provided is biased and superficial.
And here's a summary of the devastating impact that Walker is having on the Wisconsin environment through the DNR he has damaged with the cooperation of our corporate-obeisant State Legislature:
------------------------------------------------
It was just a few days before he took office in late December, 2010 when GOP Governor-elect Scott Walker suffered a rare outburst of transparency by saying he'd chosen Cathy Stepp - - Racine-area developer/ex-state senator/former McDonald's manager and openly sarcastic, partisan critic of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - - to head up that very agency because he wanted a "chamber of commerce mentality" in charge there.

* Note the relevancy of the conclusion of this item and string that dates to 2003:

The Bush EPA urged states, cities to prepare for climate change in 2003:

Then-Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist and I attended a conference in Chicago in 2003, hosted by Mayor Richard Daley, where officials from the EPA told Midwestern elected leaders that climate change models predicted heavier rain events.

The EPA officials were urging the Midwestern leaders to adapt their planning and spending to more aggressively confront storm water and related services because heavier, intense rains were going to be come more frequent.

Part of the message was: forget the notion of the "100-year-storm." They'll come more often than that in the Midwest as the atmosphere warms.

Again - - this wasn't advocacy science or partisan scare tactics.

This was basic municipal planning/dollars-and-sense advice from people in the George W. Bush administration to Midwestern mayors offered as an inter-governmental service because climate change was going to hit cities' budgets and constituents in difficult new ways....

Seems pretty relevant this weekend, no?

And, finally, this from August, 2018:

A few comments on Dylan Brogan's must-read piece in the current Isthmus about flooding in Madison....

Brogan's reporting gets Walker on the record about climate change - - a rare feat in itself -- and exposes Walker's defensive, talking point superficiality on a matter he's dismissed that is contributing to tens of millions of dollars in repetitive events, and has again killed state residents.

Brogan wrote:
Marston Avenue resident Bob Spoerke spent the last week watching the Tenney Park lagoon creep up to the sidewalk in front of his house. He says he questioned the governor about the state Department of Natural Resources purging language on its website attributing climate change to human activities and rising levels of carbon dioxide. He also told the governor that climate change was real.
“[Walker] looked at me and said ‘that’s your opinion.’ But climate change isn’t my opinion, it’s established fact,” says Spoerke. “I’ve been agitated ever since. There’s been two catastrophic floods in northern Wisconsin the past three years. These 100- and 500-year events are happening every few months.”
I was also happy to see Brogan bring the UW-Madison's Center for Limnology lab into the discussion, given its status in lake science and karmic proximity to the Madison area's flooding problems....
Like the DNR he has weakened, and the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts he disconnected from the DNR's climate change web page which Walker had censored, the Limnology resource is another state asset his corrosive lack of curiosity leaves unexamined to our collective harm.

I noted a bit of this a few months ago after Walker had posted what was essentially a tourist's photo of Lake Mendota on his twitter page:

And it was on the Limnology school's blog just over a year ago that UW professors blasted Walker's DNR for having scrubbed ciimate change data and science - - facts impacting Lake Mendota and other bodies of water in Wisconsin which Walker does not see or appreciate from official state websites - - and I will italicize what is most relevant right now among eight connected scientific and economic findings the experts had listed:
* Increases in extreme rain events are increasing runoff from farm fields into downstream waterways and lakes, reducing water quality.
But the real gem, the must-memoralize keeper in Brogan's report, is how Walker tried to sucker a citizen into cursing the governor that would have been immediately amplified by the right-wing noise machine to distort and deflect the story away from climate science and flooding to 'bad liberal insults hard-working governor.'
Tom Kasper, a resident of Elizabeth Street, held a sign behind Walker that accused the governor of staging a photo op while ignoring climate change.
Another man biked up to Walker to confront him: “Gov. Walker, I want to say that your time and energy would be much better spent enacting policies to counteract climate change rather than shoveling sand into bags. Would you agree?”
“Glad you’re here. Thanks for watching,” replied Walker. “You can say what you want. You can call me a F-word if you want.”
“I’m not doing that,” the man countered. “I’m just saying climate change policy would be more effective than shoveling sand. Otherwise, you’ll be out here next year, too.”
Props again to Dylan Brogan and Isthmus for the outstanding report.
Man on an island. Judith Davidoff photo also credited here.

Latest WI DNR wolf policy invite needs an asterisk. I'll supply it.

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 20:03:00 +0000

Another Wisconsin wolf policy announcement came by email Friday, below.

It needs close examination because:

1. The state's Natural Resources policy [sic] board - chaired by a Walker appointee who refuses to relinquish his now-expired appointment, influence and seat - just arbitrarily threw out a DNR staff fall wolf kill recommendation of 130.

2. And substituted instead - against the recommendations of DNR staffers, scientists, Native American and allied advocates - the authorized and unprecedented science-free wolf-slaughter of 300 wolves. It's a number pulled from a Republican special interests' grab bag of bloody treats that echoes the winter, 2021 all-too-predictable Wisconsin quota-busting overkill, so...

I urge the DNR and the WNRB to add this simple disclaimer to future invitations for public participation in decisions which effect the people's water, land, clean air and wildlife:

*Note: Any decision by the Department of Natural Resources or its oversight body Wisconsin Natural Resources Board is subject to partisan tampering, special-interest manipulation or outright cancellation regardless of documentation, facts or other pesky evidence and/or commonsense.

This will add some truth-in-advertising to the way Wisconsin continues to do business despite elections, procedural norms and basic democratic fairness, and may help cut down on the amount of time which citizens have been wasting as they are reminded again that the deck is stacked in favor of special interests and their expanding and partisan embrace of death cult politics.

Here is the DNR's Friday invitation:

Wolf Management Plan Committee Virtual Meeting Aug. 19 – Open To Public
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will hold the second of four Wolf Management Plan Committee meetings on Thursday, Aug. 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The meeting will be held virtually, and the public is invited to attend and observe the proceedings. No pre-registration required, and public comments will not be taken during the meeting.
Those wishing to attend can use this link to watch a livestream of the meeting.
The Wolf Management Plan Committee has been formed to discuss important issues related to wolf management in Wisconsin and to provide input as the department updates the state’s wolf management plan. More information on the wolf management plan update process and timeline, including the formation, membership and work of this committee, is available on the DNR wolf management plan web page.

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