Walker's Republicans Attack, Plunder our Supply of Drinking Water.....

Um, Democratic Party of Wisconsin…hello in there? Anyone?

There are so many issues to take aim at, it’s almost breathtaking. From Scott Walker’s disinterest in prisons to veteran’s care to transportation to WEDC to hurting rural schools to gun violence…yet Democrats have done nothing to cut through Walker’s mind bending positive spin cycle. Even Walker’s low unemployment numbers have more to do with the national economy than anything he’s done.

This is all basic pocketbook stuff that will eventually cost everyone more money. 

The buck stops with Walker on every one of the issues above. Walker is part of the freeloader class of career Republicans who strongly believe they can cut spending and taxes for themselves because roads, clean water and schools were already in there for the plundering. I think the comment below summed it up quite nicely:   

Bill Davis, the head of the Wisconsin Sierra Club-John Muir Chapter, said "We put a lot of investment in the '70s, and '80s, early '90s into infrastructure and then, I think, kind of had this sigh of relief. It's like, 'Ah, we're done, we don't have to pay attention to it anymore.' And that's just not the way it works," Davis said. "All systems need to be maintained and they also need to be updated based on growth of population and land use."

And just like the transportation system that keeps getting more and more expensive to fix the longer we push replacement off, drinking water is on that same trajectory. That's right, life sustaining water: 

A 2017 infrastructure report card by the American Society of Civil Engineers suggests Wisconsin will have $1 billion in drinking water infrastructure needs and more than $6 billion in wastewater infrastructure needs in the next 20 years.

Instead of cutting taxes, shouldn't we be using it to maintain our water supply and wastewater? Yet reports like this mean nothing to Walker and the Republican legislature who are supposedly "balancing" business interests with environmental concerns. Thus we're seeing headlines like this:

Since October, Wisconsin has approved requests from businesses for a billion gallons per month in new groundwater withdrawals from locations where the state’s own experts warned that higher pumping levels could be expected to harm vulnerable lakes, streams and drinking water supplies.

The increase was added by revising dozens of permits for high-capacity wells after regulations were relaxed in June at the urging of business groups and Republicans who control state government.

Meanwhile, the state Assembly is poised for a final vote on removing yet another layer of groundwater protection next month by ending the limited environmental reviews still allowed for certain existing wells.

This is the complete collapse of water protections at every level in Wisconsin. Goodbye to fresh clean drinking water. You can thank a political scheme that got a "legal opinion" from Walker lapdog, AG Brad Schimel. It's not a law and even contradicts a State Supreme Court decision:

Three-quarters of the wells are owned by farms in the Central Sands region where heavy pumping has been closely linked to dwindling — and in some cases dried up — surface water.

The DNR had been imposing pumping limits based on its reading of state law and court rulings that included a 2011 case in which the state Supreme Court said the agency must consider the cumulative impact of high-capacity wells on water, which the state is constitutionally bound to protect for the benefit of the public.

Industry groups chafed at pumping limits, and said the DNR was overstepping its authority. In 2016, a committee of GOP legislators led by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, asked Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel to issue a formal opinion on well regulation. Schimel said the DNR had overstepped the authority, and the agency stopped making well permitting decisions based on environmental impact of all wells in an area.

Now permits are decided based on the affect of wells on the well owner’s property, without regard to how much is being withdrawn by surrounding wells.

Walker's AG Brad Schimel removed DNR oversight, giving away Wisconsin's Drinking Water to Big Business.

It looks like Scott Walker and AG tool Brad Schimel have pulled off the perfect heist; our water.

It would be hard to imagine even one “stand with Walker” drone thinking this is a good idea: 

Wisconsin Republicans won an elusive victory Friday as the DNR quietly agreed to narrow its oversight of high-capacity wells that have been blamed for drying up rivers and shrinking lakes.

Following guidance provided by state Attorney General Brad Schimel in an opinion issued May 10, the agency will no longer consider the cumulative impact of nearby wells on the aquifer or surface water when deciding whether to permit a well, and it will no longer impose monitoring requirements on well operators.

I know, it’s all pretty breathtaking. Easing regulation is one thing, but eliminating almost all regulation…scary but standard Walker policy now:

And the department said well operators could seek reconsideration of conditions placed on permits issued since June 8, 2011, the date a state statute was enacted sharply reducing the power of state agencies to decide how to implement laws.

High-capacity wells … (have the) ability to dry up public waters and (encourage) the desire of farmers, food processors and others to drill more of them.

Usurping decades of court decisions, Schimel took one case and wiped out the DNR’s responsibility:

Several court decisions in lawsuits over DNR actions had indicated that the department could and should consider cumulative impact … the state Supreme Court in a 2011 ruling told the DNR it had a responsibility to consider cumulative impact of high-capacity, the agency began including that consideration in its review of well permit applications.

But because of Schimel’s decision, DNR oversight disappeared, and was quietly changed with no public notice:

The change in DNR policy could be seen on an agency web page for business operators seeking to drill the wells. The page included a notation that it was updated on Thursday, but a DNR spokesman said the change was made Friday.

DNR spokesman Jim Dick said in the statement, “Historically, the DNR has followed all formal legal opinions issued by an Attorney General, as we are doing in this case.”

The DNR’s move means an estimated 161 high-capacity well applications that have been awaiting agency review will not receive the scrutiny called for by several court decisions and precautions included in permits issued since 2011 could be thrown out.

Schimel issued a formal opinion on high-capacity wells on May 10 at the request of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester … complained about delays in state permits for the wells.

Conflict of interest no longer Looks Bad: 

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp asked then-Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen for an opinion clarifying the DNR’s authority … Van Hollen said his office couldn’t because it was representing the DNR in cases involving questions about its authority to regulate high-capacity wells.

In February, Schimel’s office conceded that his attorneys were also involved in such cases, but his spokeswoman said the office’s conflict-of-interest guidelines are not binding.

It’s that easy. 

All of this happened on Friday, a few days after Rep. Cory Mason asked Great Lakes governors to block any deal that would send water to Waukesha. As it turns out, Mason's opposition was prophetic. 

AP: Rep. Cory Mason is urging Great Lakes governors to reject a Milwaukee suburb's request to draw water from Lake Michigan, pointing to shortcomings in state enforcement. A letter he sent Wednesday highlights a legislative audit released last week that found the Department of Natural Resources wasn't following its own policies for enforcement of water and pollution regulations … the DNR is "unwilling or unable to enforce many of Wisconsin's water laws" and Great Lakes representatives should therefore reject a proposal from Waukesha to tap Lake Michigan for drinking water.

With the draw down of our states aquifers, thanks to Schimel's decision to remove enforcement of high capacity wells, we'll see more water shortages and contamination, like Waukesha:

Peter Annin, author of “The Great Lakes Water Wars,” says the city’s policies actually encouraged lawn watering. “Because you got a credit on your water bill if you had water that was used but didn’t end up back in the sewer system,” Annin says. 

The aquifer beneath the city recharges slowly, and years of over pumping had lowered the water table hundreds of feet … “we’ve drawn down the aquifer to the point where we’re pulling up the water that’s contaminated," says Dan Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility.

Getting regulation government overreach out of the way: I feel no sympathy for Waukesha…none, because what they did 20 years ago in now Scott Walker’s DNR policy:

The state ordered Waukesha to fix its radium problem. But the city resisted. It fought regulators and ultimately sued the Environmental Protection Agency. Fixing the problem was going to be expensive, and city leaders believed the government was overreaching. Nearly two decades later, after a federal appeals court ruled against the city, Waukesha finally decided to stand down. “Waukesha is this poster child of what can happen when you assume that water will just always be there,” Peter Annin says.

How can I say Schimel is Walker's legal lapdog? Can I prove it? Watch Schimel's mind blowing admissions when he ran for AG against the more qualified DA Susan Happ:

Leader of House Republicans said Obama and Liberals created U.S. Water Shortages.

It's breaks my heart that Republican Representatives know so little about average American life.

John Boehner doesn't even know that a lot of us with a decent yard kinda look forward to the time when our lawns go dormant, where believe it or not, the lawn turns brown and we don't have to mow it twice a week.

This amazing out-of-touch disconnect with real middle Americans, won't cut it in 2016. And yes, Boehner is blaming water shortages on Obama and liberal policies: