Awareness of Walker's water stewardship dismissal spreads to Great Lakes states

I'd noted that the heavily-resisted push for a Lake Michigan diversion for Foxconn adds to Wisconsin's status as a Great Lakes environmental outlier.

So give a read to this explanatory piece posted by the non-partisan, non-profit site WisContext about Wisconsin, the Great Lakes Compact and what could happen as Walker and Wisconsin claim that the Wisconsin DNR and state laws he has weakened can enforce the Compact's spirit and letter:

There are already indications that other Great Lakes states are worried about the depleted and politically constrained Wisconsin DNR's ability to enforce environmental regulations. The Waukesha diversion agreement received unanimous approval from the eight governors, but Minnesota officials insisted on including language reaffirming other states' ability to hold each other to account under the compact.

If another state in the Great Lakes Basin becomes convinced that Wisconsin isn't properly enforcing the compact — whether in the case of Waukesha, Racine (and Foxconn), or any other withdrawal or discharge — it can raise a complaint.

"Any Person aggrieved by a Party action shall be entitled to a hearing pursuant to the relevant Party's administrative procedures and laws," the Compact reads.

Just to remind everyone, despite all Walker's sabotage of the DNR and state water policy, those waters

belong to all the people of the state, says the DNR:

Wisconsin's Waters Belong to Everyone

Wisconsin lakes and rivers are public resources, owned in common by all Wisconsin citizens under the state's Public Trust Doctrine. Based on the state constitution, this doctrine has been further defined by case law and statute. It declares that all navigable waters are "common highways and forever free", and held in trust by the Department of Natural Resources.