This Weeks Articles...

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A blog by Megan Severson, Director of Wisconsin Environment:

As people in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, and across the United States brace for weeks of school closures and social distancing, I am searching for ways to make the most of this challenging period. While our own health, essential needs, and family care arrangements are top of mind, we are also staring down the inevitability of long stretches of boredom.

• Learn about solutions to climate change

• Learn about ways to reduce waste

• Learn about plants

• Learn about plants

• Learn about and protect birds, bees and other wildlife

• Create a healthier home and community

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Ken Notes: If you have children at home READ THIS, share this, Post this...

“Inspired by the cultural change happening all around him, Gaylord Nelson had a vision for teachers and learners to set aside a day to consider human impacts on the environment,” said PBS Wisconsin Education Executive Producer Megan Monday. “This idea took off worldwide, becoming an annual event and a touchstone for a larger sustainability movement we are still seeing develop today. We’re excited to add this changemaker and his story of environmental impact to the Wisconsin Biographies collection.”
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Ken Notes: WATCH THIS` In fact watch both, this about Gaylord Nelson and daughter Tia`s film as well. What a great way to celebrate Earth Day this year. A special note to teachers and parents who have had to become teachers. These new productions will give you a great deal to talk about and the pbswisconsineducation.org has much more as well....

With warnings that dumped farm milk could pollute streams, resulting in fish kills, state officials have posted rules for farmers forced to dispose of their product as the result of the coronavirus pandemic.

But, practically overnight, the likelihood of dumping increased as dairy cooperatives urged their members to curb production in response to plummeting markets.

Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, in Ellsworth, has urged its members to reduce their milk production by 7% through culling cows and other measures. Other cooperatives have stressed even higher numbers up to 20%.

"Should we become unable to process all our milk, we will need to begin dumping," Ellsworth said in a letter to members this week...
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Ken Notes: Arghhhhhhh!!!! We need to produce cheese and shelf stable dairy products 24/7 and feed the world... We can also take the waste whey and produce protein powder as an additive for countries that have trouble getting enough in their diets. We have the potential to send the world food rather than all the other stuff we send them now that is wasted or weaponized... If the government wants to really make a difference it need look no farther than our farmers...

Imagine if we spent just a small portion of the 2.2 trillion dollars for Covid-19 relief building factories to take dairy and agricultural products and make them shelf stable and then used these products to feed the world. Cheese, dehydration, cereals, caned or bottled products. The US would be seen as the most caring nation in the world. Share this idea with someone. Let you elected officials no there are options to not waste food.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday ordered Wisconsinites to stay in their homes starting this week to slow the spread of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

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Ken Notes:

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Film reclaims the original vision of Earth Day and sends an urgent bipartisan message during a time of national crisis

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Ken Notes: It is sad that Earth Day this year will need to be a virtual event, but I have seen this film and it presents a message of hope that is on target for today in light of all we must deal with. I will keep you updated but consider a virtual event on or after the 15th of April where you all watch the film and them meet online to discuss it. WDNGreen will be hosting one and so should you...

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Ken Notes: Here Tyler Huebner talk with me on My radio show Development Matters, He understands the delicate balance between the environment, business, and the utilities. I believe he will do a good job.

Fifty years before Greta Thunberg inspired youth across the globe to demand immediate action on climate change, students at the University of Michigan formed Environmental Action for Survival (ENACT) and organized a massive four-day Teach-In on the Environment from March 11-14, 1970. These campus activists popularized the slogan “Give Earth a Chance” and held more than 125 rallies, symposia, workshops and protests on the campus and in the surrounding Ann Arbor community. The ENACT Teach-In successfully focused public attention on the environmental crisis, paving the way for the national Earth Day demonstrations that mobilized 20 million participants on April 22, 1970...   ...more

Ken Notes: Interesting read, the question is how far are we willing to go and I think when business and the utilities are not at the table you do more harm than good. I would suggest that Senator Nelson did suggest working together on these issues and currently we can`t work together on anything!

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Ken Notes: Make sure you take in Tia`s new film in addition to several online events.

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Ken Notes:KA is leading by example...

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Ken Notes: Yea!

In a fast-moving response to COVID-19, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities are joining forces to help slow the spread of the disease. And they need your help.

What can you do? Take a 20-minute survey, and ask your friends to do the same. What do you know about social distancing? What are you willing to do? What motivates you?

Based on your responses, the UW–Madison team will design a social media campaign to successfully encourage healthy behavior. The survey will help researchers better understand how everyone — from students to faculty, city dwellers to rural residents — is reacting to COVID-19, including the benefits and barriers to physical distancing...

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An environmental advocacy group is suing Dane County and the Madison Water Utility over their refusal to release public records relating to hazardous chemicals.

Midwest Environmental Advocates filed the cases last week in Dane County Circuit Court on behalf of Citizens for Open Government, an anonymous group of citizens who are seeking documents relating to PFAS.

MEA alleges the county and water utility violated state law by delaying or denying access to the records and is asking the courts to order their release.
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Ken Notes: This is difficult because without a clear understanding of all the issues this data could do more harm that good. We currently can not but toilet paper -- I see a run on bottled water in the near future, and for the record since bottled water is only filtered water there is no guarantee that it would not contain PFAS as well...

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Ken Notes: There is good news, we are driving far less, using less energy, burning less coal, eating better, looking for nature to escape to, flying less, disposing of less waste, and gaining a new respect for our environmental resources. Our goal should be to keep these things in their new found perspective after this passes.

April 22 will be the 50th annual observance

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Ken Notes: Good read, be sure to catch Tia`s Movie and the PBS show about her dad...

      Help stop coronavirus

1. HANDS Wash them often

2. ELBOW Cough into it

3. FACE Don`t touch it

4. SPACE Keep safe distance

5. HOME Stay if you can

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The 50th annual event is expected to activate millions.

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As we confront the reality of COVID-19, the idea of living self-sufficiently in the woods, far from crowds and grocery stores, doesn`t sound so bad. Lynx Vilden has been doing just that for decades, while teaching others how to live primitively, too.

There is no easy way to reach Twisp, a blink of a town in north-central Washington’s Methow Valley. You could fly into Spokane and cut northwest for 175 miles. Or you could take a turboprop from Seattle over the mountains to the world’s apple capital, Wenatchee, and then get in a car and follow the Columbia River north for two hours. Or you could drive, as I’m doing, from Seattle through the electric moss of the North Cascades, slowing to a crawl through the ice-menaced range.

It’s November 2019, and I’m on my way to meet Lynx Vilden, a 54-year-old British expat who, for most of her adult life, has lived wholly off the grid. The slick roads don’t help my apprehension about what lies ahead: a three-day, one-on-one experience of “living wild.” The details are hazy. I’ve been advised to prepare for bracing climes and arduous excursions. “Wear sturdy shoes,” Lynx told me. “Bring meat.”...
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Ken Notes: Not exactly and environmental story, but if you kids are home, have them read this story about a lady who both live in nature and teaches others how to do the same. You can then discuss all the aspects of our environment and why we need to take care of it. I used to love to backpack in nature and take in the stillness of it. I love being in a tent when it rains, but I must confess I love the quality of the tent that I am in just a much.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is gaining national attention for continuing to step up its game in sustainability efforts. 

The university has earned a gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education — the fifth Wisconsin school to get the top rating. The UW-Stevens Point, UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls and Northland College also have won gold ratings in the last five years. Seven schools have earned silver ratings.

This is the second gold rating UWM has received and its third high rating overall, with a gold rating in 2016 and a silver in 2013. No other Wisconsin school matches that record.

The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System — known as STARS — is the most widely recognized yardstick for measuring a college or university’s sustainability performance. ..

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SCS Engineers Search

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SCS - At the forefront of sustainable environmental solutions for over 40 years

Celebrate the past fifty years of environmental stewardship while planning for the future at the free, online Nelson Institute Earth Day Conference on Monday, April 20, 2020. Join leading climate scientists and community leaders for an inspirational day of collaborative learning and exploration that will highlight the confluence between the traditional conservation and restoration of the planet and new, ecological innovations taking place.

Hosted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, which is named after Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, this conference titled, Earth Day@50: Aspiring for Sustainability, Striving for Justice, Crafting the Planet will feature a range of speakers who will discuss how we can leverage the best aspects of the past environmental movements while incorporating an increased sense of social justice...

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Wisconsin has had a proud history of protecting our natural resources. Wisconsinites including John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson have been national leaders in the movement to protect our planet. In the past, Wisconsin has recognized the value of its water resources. Through the Public Trust Doctrine, the state declared that all navigable water was “forever free” and held in trust. Over time, that public trust has been broadened to include protected rights to water quality, recreational activities, and scenic beauty.

Today, protection of our water resources is under attack by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since 2017, the EPA has targeted 95 environmental regulations to be rolled back for the express purpose of empowering commercial exploitation at the expense of our environment. This month, a new EPA rule change becomes operational that will dramatically weaken the landmark Clean Water Act of 1973 and threaten our water resources...
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Ken Notes: I will continue to suggest that the long term non political solutions will come from business and environmentalists sitting down and discussing solutions both can support. I work with and talk to both groups often and suggest that we would be very surprised by the amount of agreement there is among these groups. Imagine pursuing the worst offenders when then no longer have big business and a political agenda to hide behind...

CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.  Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

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Ken Notes: Time to cowboy up I guess. This is not to protect us as much as it is to protect others around us...

PRNewswire -- The timely short film When the Earth Moves is set to premiere via back-to-back screenings at the EarthX Film Festival on April 22^nd and the Smithsonian Earth Optimism Summit on April 25^th and will then immediately be available on YouTube and at www.outrider.org. When the Earth Moves reclaims the authentic story and original vision of Earth Day as a bipartisan and socially just environmental movement and highlights the need for people across generations and on both sides of the political aisle to play an active part. The premiere coincides with the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day – an event that is expected to activate over a billion people worldwide around environmental and climate action.

Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWqUjQw2Jl0&feature=youtu.be

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Ken Notes: Make sure you find a way to see this film...

Whether you’re a committed activist or looking for new ways to get involved, there is an Earth Day event for you.

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Ken Notes: Of course many events will be canceled but EVERYONE should see the new film by Tia Nelson and Outrider.com. I will have a link shortly after the premiere.

Rob Greenfield is on a mission to bring a sustainable living message to the world using unusual approaches from wearing the trash he produces and foraging for food to cycling penniless across the US on a bamboo bicycle.

Rob Greenfield bounds over to a plant growing amidst the makeshift garden plots on the grounds of Berlin`s defunct Tempelhof Airport. He rips off a leaf and munches on it.

"It`s either a radish or a mustard. It`s in the brassica family. There are a lot of edible greens around," he says.

He`s looking for the edible dandelion he had spotted earlier but is sidetracked by some nettle, which you can eat raw without stinging your mouth if you fold it correctly. It`s good for you, he explains.

Read more - Can a minimalist mindset help save the planet?

Greenfield should know. He recently spent a year growing and foraging his own food, while living in a 100 square foot "tiny house" built from reclaimed materials in a backyard in Orlando, one of the fastest growing cities in the US...

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Ken Notes: This was interesting!

Minnesota’s high court will review a lower court’s ruling that ordered a new environmental review for a proposed $700 million natural-gas plant in Superior.

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to look at a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision from December that found the state’s Public Utilities Commission should have considered the likely environmental effects of building the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy center in northwest Wisconsin when it advanced the project in October 2018. The ruling could result in a significant delay in the project and would force Minnesota regulators to conduct a new environmental review of the project.

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Ken Notes: In my next life I will definitely be an environmental lawyer.

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Stay at home orders, thousands of flight cancellations, and an overall decline in global trade and commerce due to the COVID-19 pandemic may be having a positive impact on the environment. 

This trend was first observed earlier in the year when the COVID-19 outbreak impacted residents in Wuhan, China. Quarantine protocols were put into place, such as businesses and transportation to and from the area being shut down, to help stop the virus’ spread...

FYI:

12 of the world`s ruins that have been reclaimed by nature

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Ken Notes: It will be interesting to see how much and fast the environment recovers as we slow our carbon output.

The final environmental impact statement (EIS) on basing F-35 fighter jets at Madison’s Truax Field states that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA, or Superfund), will guide PFAS investigations and cleanups at the base.

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Ken Notes: I am only the messenger...

MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- With all the chaos and unknown surrounding COVID-19, is the environment trying to tell us something, and what can Wisconsinites learn from it? The global pandemic has limited all kinds of travel for people in Wisconsin and around the world.

Images released by Nasa show a visible reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions (NO2). These are the gases released by cars, power plants and factories. “I read there is about a 25 percent reduction in their carbon dioxide emission and that pretty substantial. Now we are seeing it in cities in the U.S., For instance, New York and soon we will see it in other cities too,” says Steve Vavrus, Senior Scientist, Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research. 

While the corona virus’s environmental impact in Wisconsin is still premature, it shows how closely it ties to economic conditions, says Vavrus. “The last time we had a global decline in carbon emission was 2009 - during the great recession,” he says....

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Ken Notes: Silver lining???

A St. Louis firm specializes in getting environmentally challenged properties ready for reuse, including coal plants.

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Ken Notes: This is brilliant...

Fitch Ratings - Austin - 01 Apr 2020: Fitch Ratings has assigned a `AAA` rating to the following bonds issued by the state of Wisconsin (the state) through its Environmental Improvement Fund Revenue Obligations Program Resolution (the EIF program or the program):

--Approximately $80 million environmental improvement fund revenue bonds, 2020 series A (Green Bonds).

The bonds are expected to sell competitively the week of April 13. Bond proceeds will be used to provide financing to municipalities within the state for water and wastewater infrastructure projects and to pay costs of issuance.
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Ken Notes: Now you can invest in our environment...

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Ken Notes: What if we used this time to prioritize and find bipartisan solutions to all the issues we should focus on after Covid-19 passes....

You may be familiar with the concept that people have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Have you ever considered the rights of a river?

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin recently asserted that the Menominee River has the right to exist naturally, flourish, evolve, remain unpolluted and carry out its natural ecosystem functions.

The Menominee River, at the border between Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin, is at the center of a controversy over a proposed open-pit sulfide mine known as the Back Forty Project. Aquila Resources, a Canadian mining company, wants to extract zinc, gold, copper, silver and lead 150 feet away from the river...

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Ken Notes: I could actually side with the tribes on this, I just do not know of any statute or law that this could stand on. It is a beautiful thought though...

A Wisconsin environmental conservation alliance asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Seventh Circuit`s ruling that the National Park Service had the legal authority to allow dog training with guns, off-road motorcycle riding, and military helicopter drills on land converted into a state recreational use area...
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Frac sand miner Jordan Sands in North Mankato was pushed into receivership recently after its banker declared a loan default. A few months earlier, Minnesota’s largest frac sand producer by far, the Kasota mine near St. Peter, was idled.

In western Wisconsin, 10 frac sand processing plants have closed over the past 18 months. That’s one-third of the industry’s dry sand milling capacity, said Kent Syverson, a geology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a sand-industry consultant.

Many other Wisconsin frac sand operations were operating well below capacity at the beginning of March, he added...
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Ken Notes: Remember sand is a bankable commodity with a million year shelf life. The industry can shut down for years and quickly restart when oil prices rebound.

The following are five new air developments from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that impact Wisconsin businesses: 

1. DNR Air Guidance Documents

The 2017 Wisconsin Act 369 requires state agencies to repost all existing air guidance documents for public comment and certify that the contents of the documents include no pronouncements that otherwise should proceed through rulemaking....

2. The EPA announces reversal of “once in, always in” policy for major source treatment for hazardous air pollutants...

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WGBA has combined forces with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and together we will pilot a new model for USGBC chapters and local market engagement...

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Notes: There was a fair amount of interest in touring this facility so WDNGreen is looking for a partner to help orgnize an promote this. Please call me at 608.334.2174 if interested....

A talk on the hazards to health and the environment from wireless technologies brought nearly 50 attendees to the Dwight Foster Public Library in Fort Atkinson on March 3...

...According to Kleiber, the coming 5G microwaves, “small cell” antennas and the Internet of Things (IoT) will add additional frequencies untested for safety to the radiofrequency (RF) radiation already saturating Earth’s atmosphere.

Thousands of research studies, including the $30 million National Institutes of Health National Toxicology Program’s Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation Study, have shown that wireless radiation poses a serious environmental and public health hazard...

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Ken Notes: Wow, 5G is a trillion dollar technology and I can not imagine anything stopping it. In fact I was disappointed to see Wisconsin not advocate for using the technology to help provide broadband to rural areas.

To spur action, progressive voices of warning on climate change have heightened the alarm. Benji Backer wants young conservatives to know that there’s room in the conversation for them.

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Attorneys for a group opposed to basing F-35 fighter jets at Truax Field say the Air Force’s review of environmental impacts is deficient and are calling for additional study before a final basing decision is announced.

In a March 27 letter, attorneys hired by the Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin coalition say the environmental impact statement (EIS) published Feb. 28 has “numerous flaws” and does not meet requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Among other concerns, the group said the Air Force failed to address concerns about groundwater pollution that could result from the project and didn’t do enough to engage the low-income and minority populations who would be most affected.
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Miron Construction News Search

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Miron specializes in providing innovative pre-construction, construction management, design-build, general construction and industrial services.

(WLUK) -- A meeting to gather public input on removing the Lower Menominee River from the list of the Great Lakes` most polluted waterways is going online.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the April 9 meeting will be held by webinar from 5-7 p.m. CDT. Those who would like to participate can register online.

Environmental agencies in Wisconsin and Michigan announced the effort to delist the Menominee River in February. Environmental harm from historical pollution from coal tar, paint sludge, and arsenic earned the lower three miles of the river and the Green Bay shoreline -- three miles north and south of the river mouth -- an Area of Concern designation. All six of the impairments contributing to the problem have been remediated, so Michigan and Wisconsin want it removed from the list...

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WI Sustainable Business Council Search


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The WI Sustainable Business Council is a network of Wisconsin businesses and organizations that are interested in, or actively responding to, the challenge of sustainability.

The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

This amendment, Donald Kettl, a professor of public policy at the University of Texas, Austin, reminds us, established “federalism” as a core component of government in the United States. In “The Divided States of America: Why Federalism Doesn’t Work,” Mr. Kettl argues that this approach has had “far-reaching implications,” including significant “dark-side” variations in policies from state-to-state...

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Ken Notes: I talk every week to leaders in business and government and I believe we need to change the way we communicate. We need to understand the views and concerns of the other side - We do not. Until we figure out how to talk we will never fix the problems that prevent environmental excellence planned economic development and great jobs.

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Jeff Endres of Endres Berryridge Farms started composting manure six years ago. Their composting system has gone from basic beginnings to the more advanced system it is today. Endres shared a few details about his manure composting process at the Yahara Pride Farms annual meeting held in DeForest, Wis.

Endres farms with two brothers near Waunakee, Wis. They milk 600 cows, and manure from the herd is trucked to a local community anaerobic digester. Separated solids return to the dairy and are mixed with manure scraped from the freestall barn and bedding pack material that comes from their heifer barns.

The manure is emptied from the spreader and placed in pyramid-shaped windrows. Some of the windrows are under a covered roof, while others are located on a pad outdoors. “We can make it work in both places,” he said, noting that a lot of rain can slow down composing in the outdoor windrows.

They build one new windrow each week, and remove one windrow each week, working on an eight-week cycle. Eight weeks is the amount of time it takes for the manure to finish composing...

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Ken Notes: Another great idea.

The future of Baum Revision’s proposal to place micro-lodging on the Garver Feed Mill property on Madison`s near east side is under question again after the developer failed to meet a March 5 deadline.

Madison signed a development agreement with Baum Revision in 2017 to overhaul the crumbling, dilapidated mill between South Fair Oaks Avenue and Olbrich Gardens. The project, which is now open to the public, included redeveloping the former sugar beet mill into a food production facility and hub for local businesses.

The second phase of the project planned for five acres to the northeast of the mill, known as Lot 2, included plans for up to 50 micro-lodges, or small, short-term rental units. City economic development director Matt Mikolajewski said Baum Revision did not submit proof of financing for this part of the project by the deadline last week...
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Ken Notes:en Notes: This is a great opportunity to develop a demonstration micro village with a diverse population from homeless to Air B and B renters and everything in between.

Use a "TIF like" program and agreements to value the units at 50K regardless of actual value. Then sell the lots to those who submit a unit and plan approved by a controlling board for $1.

You will generate a property tax income based on 2.5 million in assessed value (based on a development agreement). Non profits could raise funds for homeless dwellings and entrepreneurs could develop high end rentals. Limit any "idea" to 5 units and use the board to ensure diversity. You will get between 10 and 50 projects and a demonstration of how it can be done.

A month ago, in a ballroom at a hotel conference center in a Madison suburb, social distancing wasn’t even in the vocabulary of most people.

The coronavirus wasn’t yet a threat to Wisconsin.  Hundreds of people packed into a convention to talk about, and hear about, a different threat to health--PFAS.

“It is the hot ticket issue right now,” conceded Bridget Kelly, the Wisconsin DNR’s Program Coordinator for Emerging Contaminants.

The topic is only growing hotter.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of manmade chemicals found in drinking water across the country, including in Rhinelander.  They’re linked to health risks like thyroid disease, high cholesterol, and even cancer...
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Ken Notes: No doubt that Covid-19 will change our perspective on issues that once were high on our priorities scale. What I hope we learn is that we work better together as a team...

Badger Minerals, a subsidiary of a Canadian mining company, wants to begin exploratory testing in eastern Oneida County near the headwaters of the Wolf River. The area sits on an ancient volcanic deposit that often contains high concentrations of zinc, lead, copper, gold, and silver. Recently, a group met in Mole Lake, which sits a few miles from the site, to express their concerns over the proposed mining.

Forest County Potawatomi Tribal Member Nick Shepard began his speech by saying, “I’m here today in support of protecting the Wolf River, again.”...

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Links we like supporting Wisconsin`s Environment and Business. More will follow each week...

USGBC Wisconsin	Focus on Wisconsin	The Water Council	Restore
WI Sustainable Business Council	Sustain Dane	Midwest Energy News	Focus on Energy
Renew Wisconsin	Clean Wisconsin	MADISUN SOLAR ENERGY PROGRAM
Search News	Natural Heritage Land Trust	University of Wisconsin Sustainable Management	USGBC Wisconsin

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Ken Notes: Share this and if you want to be included:
Call us - 608.334.2174 or Editor [at] WDNGreen.com....

Communities across Wisconsin are looking to develop clean energy plans to do their part against global warming, and La Crosse is getting in on the action as well.

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Ken Notes: I will keep this link for awhile...

We try to include links to help you consider your GREEN economic development options in Wisconsin. Businesses feel free to send us your information here.   ...more

Ken Notes: Feel free to include this link and logo on your website. Our Tools and Resources are always a click away. Also a new easy to use address:

www.WDNGreen.com/tools/

Please share WDNGreen with a friend...   WDNGreen Network of Links... or Search WDNGreen...
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• Mining

• Explore the restoration of the sulfide mining moratorium or...
  
• Work with counties to create and enforce new mining regulations, restrictions and enforcement.
  
• Delay approval of any new mines until counties have their regulation policies in place.
• Restore DNR environmental staff and expertise to levels that can review any requests in a timely manner.
• Require a site reclamation fund be established from the onset of any approved project with a plan in place for complete site reclamation.
• Allow municipalities to enact special utilities in lieu of or in addition to regular taxes for issues like impact on roads, utilities, infrastructure, and public safety.
  

• Renewable Energy and Fuels

• Work with the utilities, business and communities to encourage the use of renewables, reduced carbon output, and better reporting and measurement.
• Establish a PSC willing to work with business and power companies while progressing to a lower carbon renewable future.
  
• Do not impose legislative mandates on renewables but rather incentivize use of new technologies while maintaining an open dialogue among all parties involved.
  

• Our Watersheds and the Great Lakes

• Become a strong partner in Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.
• If water is removed from the watershed, require that it be returned cleaner that it was taken. Again make sure DNR has the resources to monitor and ensure this policy.
  

• Land Use and Transmission / Pipe Lines

• Require the need and or profit for new systems to Wisconsin citizens. If a system like tar sand or electricity is for other states or regions, require that the land uses benefits all citizens in our state in lower utility costs, additions public facilities and reduced air and water pollution.
• Require that any new system create an environmental offset equal to or greater than the land they take. This can be done in two ways: One additional Parks, Public Lands, Trails, Access to Waterways, Etc. OR Two reduced carbon emissions through the elimination or older less efficient production facilities or the conversion to renewable or exponentially lower emission fuels.
  

• CAFO`s and Agricultural Issues

• Address and regulate CAFO`s like the "cities" that they are.
  
• Develop regulations and controls to address the scale of effluent that these facilities produce.
• Consider using CAFO`s as a model for new waste treatment like digestion and pasteurization.
  
• Preserve the small farm in Wisconsin by encouraging sound environmental practices in a cost effective way.
  
• Work with all farms, businesses, and communities to improve watersheds, runoff and source point pollution focusing on results rather that penalties or mandates.
  

• Transit and Mass Transit

• Improve our transit and shipping corridors like rail and interstate access to encourage Wisconsin to become an efficient  distribution hub for the Midwest.
• Encourage communities to adopt new and more efficient mass transit systems.
• Encourage the use of more efficient buses, trucks and vehicles in the state.
  

• ECO Tourism

• Explore ECO Tourism as an option to preserve our vast agricultural heritage and natural waterways and woodlands.
• Allow ECO TIF financing to pair tourism development with land and watershed preservation.
  

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Ken Notes: Just a few ideas, please feel free to pick and choose then share with those on both sides of the isle that will be making decisions.

We now have an opportunity to grab the pendulum in the middle and make a real long term difference in how we manage our resources and what kind of Wisconsin we leave to our grandchildren!

These are personal viewpoints shaped by your feedback. They are not the positions of my sponsors or partners.

Coverage of local and national eco news for commercial development, home, transportation, food and community. We search for environmentally friendly news that makes economic sense for Wisconsin. ONLINE HERE. Please share with a friend. To receive WDNews GREEN on Monday of each week as an email you must subscribe - secure link to subscribe is here.

Want to comment, or have an idea: Ideas[at]WisconsinDevelopment.com

We may now need to build a coalition that is willing to lobby from a "greener" yet pro business perspective. Lots of HUGE issues: Sand Mining, CNG, LEED Alternatives, Focus On Energy, LED Lighting R&D, Cleaner Power Generation, Recycling, Power Lines, Electric Cars, Wind, Solar, Bio Fuels, Digestors, Green AG, Business Incentives...And of course the Greenest and Happiest of Holidays to you!

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WDNews GREEN will be emailed on Mondays, included in WDNews on Thursdays, and online all the time at: WDNGreen.com Each week we will find 10 to 20 articles from Wisconsin and across the Nation dealing with environmental issues. Our goal is to promote environmental excellence from a sound business perspective.

Our resource guide at the bottom of this publication will continue to grow, and you may add links, suggest articles, include your press releases, or comment by eMailing Me. As always thanks for reading, and if you would like to sponsor or get involved call 608.334.2174...   ...more

Ken Notes: Please forward this to friends and colleagues who have an interest in our economy and environment. You may eMail Me Here.

or online at Talk927FM.com

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