Wisconsin Environmentalists: EPA - Asleep at the Wheel

MADISON, Wis. - The Environmental Protection Agency has a legal obligation to update toxic air pollution standards every eight years, yet in many cases for certain industries in Wisconsin, the agency has not done so since 2002.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regularly review the health and environmental hazards faced by people who live near major industrial pollution sources.

Clean Wisconsin, the state's largest environmental group, along with the Sierra Club and two other organizations have filed a federal lawsuit demanding that the EPA do its job.

Katie Nekola, general counsel for Clean Wisconsin, says the EPA is "asleep at the wheel."...   ...more

Ken Notes: This strategy may backfire. If we force the EPA to get substantially stricter a conservative legislature may reduce their ability to do their job even further. We need a bipartisan pro environment plan backed by business. If the current election does not suggest we have lost touch with the voters I am not sure what does.

POLICY FOR THOUGHT

The Clean Ohio Fund is a state program that funds greenspace conservation, farmland preservation and trail construction.  Since its inception, it has benefited all 88 counties in Ohio and has leveraged millions of dollars of private support.  The Conservancy seeks continued funding levels of $50 million per year in the state budget.
Could Wisconsin do this???