Walker, Republicans trying to turn Wisconsin Scenery into Frac Sand Mining Hellscape.

It can't be this easy for the Scott Walker campaign to go unscathed after what he's done, especially to his rural voting base. Walker's environmental teardown? What the hell do rural voters see in him?

The Walker Hurt-List Grows: Environmentally, Republicans will stop at nothing to privatize, destroy, and turn state land over to any and all business interests. This is ugly:

Road Side Attraction off 94?

DNR Staff Felt Pressure To Approve Wetland Fill For Frac Sand Mining Project. Emails Show Frustration Over Lack Of Information From Company And Tight Deadlines Set By DNR Administration:

A judge will decide if the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources followed the law when it approved the project last year. Atlanta-based Meteor Timber bought 50,000 acres of Wisconsin forestland and became the largest private landowner in the state. After discovering 137 million tons of frac sand on property it purchased the company proposed building a mine.

Emails ... show staff felt rushed to issue the permit even though they didn’t have basic information about the site of Meteor Timber's planned mitigation project ... staff were told to approve the company's permit no matter what and were even told what questions they could ask and what data they could collect. 

The DNR approved Meteor Timber’s application ... That day former DNR Wetland and Waterways Section Chief Martye Griffin sent an email congratulating his team for writing permits for the wetland fill and a creek realignment just two days after getting new information from the company.

What was in the email? You won't believe this...but under Walker, maybe you will:

"For these staff to set aside the questions, uncertainty, and confusion stemming from the new information and cope with the stress and expectation of delivering high performance resulting in not one but two heavily complicated permits written in 48 hours is an achievement that I don't think can be equaled and that achievement should be properly recognized as such," wrote Griffin.

Late-night Behind the Voters Back Scheme: Sneaky trick on constituents?

A real rural friend? 

State Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, slipped in an amendment to exempt the frac sand project from state wetland regulations into an unrelated wetland bill in a late-night maneuver ... but state Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Green Bay, blocked it from moving to the Senate floor ... On March 28, Tusler tried again to get an exemption for Meteor Timber. This time he tacked his amendment to a Senate bill aiming to make it easier for convicted criminals to get jobs. That bill also died in the Senate. Tusler didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story. Cowles told the Associated Press the attempt to exempt Meteor Timber from state laws was "outrageous."