There are two important public meetings this coming week where records will be made on corporate threats to Wisconsin land and water.
1. An out-of-state sand mining company wants to fill wetlands and destroy rare timber stands for a sand mining operation in Monroe County.
You can attend a hearing on the proposal beginning Monday, at 9:00 a.m., at the F&M Bank, 1001 Superior Ave. Tomah, Wisconsin 54660.
This is the proposal on which a state legislator intervened legislatively with a bill amendment at the 11th hour.
You can attend a hearing on the proposal beginning Monday, at 9:00 a.m., at the F&M Bank, 1001 Superior Ave. Tomah, Wisconsin 54660.
This is the proposal on which a state legislator intervened legislatively with a bill amendment at the 11th hour.
For more details, consult the DNR's web page which lists hearing calendars, here, and for up-to-date reporting about the matter, see this story, here:
A note in the drafting documents for the amendment states, “Permit was issued, no discharge yet (because) stayed for contested case hearing. Bypass this by saying no permit required.”
2. The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board - - the DNR's oversight body - - takes up a separate proposal on Wednesday morning at its Feb. 28th meeting in Madison to allow a Walker-donor-developer to obtain acreage in Kohler Andrae State Park for a privately-owned, upscale golf course.
Registration to speak there closed Friday, but the discussion is open to the public.
The DNR has already approved a wetland filling permit in a nature preserve adjoining the state park where the bulk of the golf course is planned.
The meeting will take place in Room G09, State Natural Resources Building (GEF 2), 101 South Webster Street Madison, Wisconsin, and the specific item in question is 2.B.3 on the agency's 2/28 agenda: Land Exchange and Easement – John Michael Kohler State Park – Sheboygan County.
Both the golf course land grab and the legislative intrusion on behalf of the out-of-state mining company to upend an ongoing wetland permit review procedure are case studies in private-sector favoritism and insider-influence which Scott Walker invited into environmental oversight in Wisconsin when he installed what he called "a chamber of commerce mentality" atop the DNR.
It's instructive and lamentably ironic that an effort to derail an ongoing wetland permit review process in February, 2018 for a Monroe County sand mine mirrors an identical upending initiated by Walker and the Legislature almost seven years to the day of a wetland permit review so a Walker donor-developer could more quickly begin filling a wetland near Lambeau Field.
All the while knowing that wetlands soak up the state's increasingly heavier and documented rainfall.