Wisconsin Republicans just can't stop being the Pollution Party.
Now right-wing GOP Gov. Scott Walker and his 'chamber of commerce mentality' administration are playing pollution enabler again.
Not content with speeding along and otherwise endorsing ruinous open-pit iron mining in the Bad River watershed, unchecked clean air and water pollution from sand mines, massive groundwater privatization for Big Ag & Dairy, eased wetlands fillings, hundreds more impaired rivers, greater shoreline development, fewer pollution inspections and enforcement actions, expansions of big feedlots, decades more phosphorous pollution in state waterways, widespread nitrate contamination in rural drinking water, the dead zone in Lake Michigan, and smokestack emissions from power plants - - one Wisconsin GOP special interest practitioner who is also a state legislator has come up with yet another way to give polluters freer rein to contaminate the land and water:
Now right-wing GOP Gov. Scott Walker and his 'chamber of commerce mentality' administration are playing pollution enabler again.
Not content with speeding along and otherwise endorsing ruinous open-pit iron mining in the Bad River watershed, unchecked clean air and water pollution from sand mines, massive groundwater privatization for Big Ag & Dairy, eased wetlands fillings, hundreds more impaired rivers, greater shoreline development, fewer pollution inspections and enforcement actions, expansions of big feedlots, decades more phosphorous pollution in state waterways, widespread nitrate contamination in rural drinking water, the dead zone in Lake Michigan, and smokestack emissions from power plants - - one Wisconsin GOP special interest practitioner who is also a state legislator has come up with yet another way to give polluters freer rein to contaminate the land and water:
The bill, introduced Monday by Rep. Andre Jacque, of DePere, would extend the current 90-day deadline for correcting violations found through the DNR environmental compliance audit program.
Violators would be allowed 180 days for most violations, and would be allowed 360 days if modification of pollution prevention equipment is required.
The bill also would eliminate the current legal requirements that businesses notify the DNR at least 30 days before beginning a compliance audit, and that the public be notified and be allowed to comment on timetables for bringing a business into compliance.Jacque