Wisconsin Is Water; Protect Us

'If Wisconsin is looking for a growth industry, tourism is it.'

Wasn't disappointed in the Wisconsin gubernatorial debate last night, expect noise and a void.

Mary Burke did point out Scott Walker selling out pristine northern Wisconsin for a few million dollars in exchange for legislation to rip an open pit mine in Iron County.

But it's citizens who bring information. Thankfully, Wisconsin newspapers are still alive and local coverage is not dead.

One can look at the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune letters section on a given day and get the truth of where we're heading as a state. For example:

"I’m OK with a politician occasionally embellishing the facts, but tourism is the growth path for the Rome area (in central Wisconsin) and I want to know my representative (Scott Krug) is actually and proactively working at it. My experience says otherwise and unless I see a plan from him, I’m not sure he deserves my vote. This makes me question everything else (Krug) says," writes Don Ystad of Rome.

Ystad's concern with the environment is not confined to central Wisconsin, nor with lakes and aquifers.

Rivers are the canary in the coal mine, and they are under assault with Scott Walker selling out our rivers as well. See the River Alliance of Wisconsin (Facebook).

A healthy environment is good business, something Ystad appreciates as a retired successful business consultant.

"Studies show that tourism generates $17.5 billion in economic impact in Wisconsin, more than 185,000 jobs and $2.3 billion dollars in annual tax revenue. In 2013, visitors to Wisconsin spent $10.6 billion," writes the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin (TFW).            

A healthy environment is much more than good business, it's a legacy we owe our children, our grandchildren and all future generations. We are water creatures, part of a complex system of  which water is central.

Residents in a high-end tourist destination, Door County, know this well.

Check out the Peninsula Pulse up in Door County; that's local coverage.

So as Republicans kill local control and the capacity of the DNR to control polluters, on the current trajectory that Scott Walker is sending us, we will find that befouling Wisconsin's waters is killing our state's most precious resource.

This is bad business too.