3/15 hearing kicks off permanent WI groundwater privatization

Shakespeare warned us that bad things could happen on 3/15 - - the Ides of March - - and sure enough, 3/15 is when a joint Wisconsin Assembly/Senate committee hearing in Madison will launch Big Ag and Big Dairy's

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long-sought push to finally win permanently-held rights to massive amounts of Wisconsin ground water through an expanding munger of wells which pump at least 100,000 gallons of water a day.

The organization Wisconsin Lakes has a fine summary of the hearing details, issues and bill language, here:

It would prohibit the state from reviewing a high capacity well’s permit when it is repaired, reconstructed, replaced, or transferred. Because this would leave such wells with no time in which their permits are reviewed, the bill creates a virtual right to withdraw water that would never expire.

This blog has followed this issue for years, as corporate control of public resources like water drive the Walker, 'chamber of commerce mentality'/ Wisconsin GOP playbook, - - now assisted at the request of the GOP-run Legislature by a unsurprisingly favorable opinion from GOP attorney General Brad Schimel.

And has accelerated special interests' access to water that began in the early days of Walker's rule:

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

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

As to campaign donations and environmental issues?

* Major Walker campaign donor Herb Kohler is working with the DNR on a plan to allow Kohler to turn a 247-acre wooded/wetland/artifact-rich nature preserve into a golf course along Lake Michigan.

The plan would even require four acres of an adjoining, popular state park to be included in the privately-owned, high end golf course project...

Also, the DNR, with assists from Wisconsin's corporately-attuned GOP Attorney General and State Supreme Court majority whose campaign committees have received millions of dollars in donations from Walker-sympathetic business and conservative advocacy organizations, has loosened the rules governing high-volume well pumping permits which supply water to diary and farming and frackers sand operations - - but which can deplete nearby waters, as is well-known.

Records show Walker's campaign has received more than $30,000 from two of the most recent big-volume ground water permit winners:

One of the permits was granted to James Wysocki, of Bancroft, for a well located in Pine Grove in Portage County. Wysocki and several members of his family own the Wysocki Family of Companies, which operates large vegetable and dairy farms.

The owners of the Wysocki Family of Companies contributed about $31,000 to Walker between January 2010 and August 2016...

The consequences of over pumping groundwater are known and documented.

The consequences of using massive amounts of water to irrigate more acreage and support dairy cattle are known and documented.

The campaign contribution connections are known and documented.

So now the end-game in our one-party state is in sight as state power may allow big volume groundwater permits to be handed out like party favors and, if the legislation is approved, be transferred and held forever in the owners' - - not the public's - - control.

Downstream neighbors, drinking water quality, effects on the environment, impacts on the water table and, through enabled, inevitable runoff into Lake Michigan - - all be damned.

Here are the hearing details:

The Senate Committee on Labor and Regulatory Reform, along with the Assembly Committee on Agriculture will hold a hearing on SB76/AB105: