Madison Legislators Leap into 2016 with Assault on Natural Resources |
News - Articles for State & Local |
Written by Wisconsin Conservation Voters, Jonah Hermann |
Tuesday, 05 January 2016 10:48 |
Seven Bills Rolling Back Natural Resource Protections to be heard on Tuesday and Wednesday. MADISON - The Legislature is holding hearings on at least seven bills that roll back protections for air, land, and water and gut local government authority – and that’s just in the first few days after the holidays. Kerry Schumann, Executive Director of Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, said, “From developing on lake beds to filling in wetlands to taking away local governments’ authority to protect the health of their communities, the Legislature is starting 2016 off with a pretty loud message to Wisconsinites: that they are putting the wishes of big developers, factory farms, frac sand mining companies, and other polluting interests above the needs of their constituents.” Of the bills being taken up early this week, the most concerning are the Polluter Grab Bag, AB 600/SB 459, and the Developer Grab Bag, AB 582/SB 464. Lowlights of The Polluter Grab Bag, AB 600/SB 459, include:
Lowlights of The Developer Grab Bag, AB 582/SB 464, are:
According to Schumann, “The Polluter and Developer Grab Bags open the floodgates for developers, frac sand mining companies, factory farms, and other special interests to make our water dirtier, fill in our wetlands, and run roughshod over local communities and private citizens.” The full list of anti-conservation bills being taken up Tuesday and Wednesday include:
“We are stunned that the Legislature would schedule all of these attacks on natural resources just days after the holidays, when citizens have little warning and no time to make arrangements to come to Madison. We know that these bills – especially the Polluter and Developer Grab Bags – don’t reflect Wisconsinites love of the places where we live, work, and play,” concluded Schumann. # # # Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to electing conservation leaders, holding decision makers accountable, and encouraging lawmakers to champion conservation policies that effectively protect Wisconsin's public health and natural resources. You can follow legislation impacting natural resources on our Conservation Vote Tracker, a real-time accountability tool that provides you with a complete picture of what conservation issues are in play and how legislators are performing: http://conservationvoters.org/vote-tracker/. |