It won't surprise me if right-wing GOP WI Gov. and perpetually-campaigning Scott Walker signs the groundwater privatization bill that's sitting on his desk with a freshly painted dairy barn or prepped-for-planting potato farm in the photo op frame.
He's known for such special interest flourishes.
Walker signed his 2012 wetlands de-regulating and development bill crafted with the enthusiastic help of state builders at a convention of cheering Realtors - - just in case someone were to forget at election time who had sealed that deal:
And now that Walker and the 'chamber of commerce mentality' Department of Natural Resources he's stage-managed since January 2010 finally announced bottled water deliveries - - a gesture, not a fix- - for families with persistently - - contaminated wells near big dairies and groundwater-sucking farms - - he and his newly-designated 2018 re-election campaign apparatchiks can scout out a blue sky, farm fresh location to put official bill-signing pen to paper and, for the first time, give permanent control to private owners over massive amounts of Wisconsin groundwater without regard to effects on the water table, neighboring properties or downstream rivers, lakes and streams.
It's the way they do water rights in Western states - - first come, first served- - and the unintended consequences can be irrational in such an unregulated marketplace with water as the hot commodity.
For example Middle Eastern family-run economics like Saudi Arabia are buying huge farms sitting atop already-stressed aquifers in drought-ravaged Arizona and California to grow wheat for export to feed diary cattle thousands of miles away.
An extreme example, you say?
We already know that big pumping withdrawals in central Wisconsin even before the water withdrawal bill Walker will sign are associated with falling water levels in lakes and streams like the Little Plover River.
Did you ever believe while the state constitution says Wisconsin's waters belongs to everyone that a GOP-led Governor's office, Attorney General, State Legislature and State Supreme Court would manipulate the law to allow at least 13,000 high-capacity wells - - each capable of pumping 100,000 gallons or more every a day - - to receive less oversight and even be transferred when a farm is sold as if those permitted wells and their newly-minted rights were just another tractor, driveway or out-building?
He's known for such special interest flourishes.
Walker signed his 2012 wetlands de-regulating and development bill crafted with the enthusiastic help of state builders at a convention of cheering Realtors - - just in case someone were to forget at election time who had sealed that deal:
Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation Wednesday to loosen state regulations on development in wetlands.
The Republican governor approved the controversial legislation before an appreciative audience from the Wisconsin Realtors Association. Realtors, builders and property rights advocates pushed for the legislation, saying current law hamstrings development and the changes would better balance environmental interests and the rights of property owners.With that surface water rights' giveaway program in the books, Team Walker can turn to groundwater gifting:
And now that Walker and the 'chamber of commerce mentality' Department of Natural Resources he's stage-managed since January 2010 finally announced bottled water deliveries - - a gesture, not a fix- - for families with persistently - - contaminated wells near big dairies and groundwater-sucking farms - - he and his newly-designated 2018 re-election campaign apparatchiks can scout out a blue sky, farm fresh location to put official bill-signing pen to paper and, for the first time, give permanent control to private owners over massive amounts of Wisconsin groundwater without regard to effects on the water table, neighboring properties or downstream rivers, lakes and streams.
It's the way they do water rights in Western states - - first come, first served- - and the unintended consequences can be irrational in such an unregulated marketplace with water as the hot commodity.
For example Middle Eastern family-run economics like Saudi Arabia are buying huge farms sitting atop already-stressed aquifers in drought-ravaged Arizona and California to grow wheat for export to feed diary cattle thousands of miles away.
An extreme example, you say?
We already know that big pumping withdrawals in central Wisconsin even before the water withdrawal bill Walker will sign are associated with falling water levels in lakes and streams like the Little Plover River.
Did you ever believe while the state constitution says Wisconsin's waters belongs to everyone that a GOP-led Governor's office, Attorney General, State Legislature and State Supreme Court would manipulate the law to allow at least 13,000 high-capacity wells - - each capable of pumping 100,000 gallons or more every a day - - to receive less oversight and even be transferred when a farm is sold as if those permitted wells and their newly-minted rights were just another tractor, driveway or out-building?
