Scott Walker Is as Bad as Michigan Gov in Abandoning Water Protection

"There are approximately 160,000 public
drinking water systems and more than
16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment
systems in the United States, (DHS)." In
Michigan and Wisconsin, clean water
is under siege by Republican governors
as desperate citizens look to the federal
government for relief and protection.

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder (R-Michigan) is getting huge amount of lurid publicity for ignoring (indeed causing) the water crises in Flint, Michigan in which toxic lead was effectively vectored into the children and families of Flint, (Lederman, In These Times).

The coverage is spot-on, as Snyder now pushes back against the EPA efforts to mitigate a disaster.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker has ignored (indeed caused) the water problem in Kewaunee, Juneau, Adams, Wood counties, inflicting the same polluter-friendly, anti-family health agenda he has pursued since he was elected.

But the national U.S. media is giving Walker a pass though Walker and his policies vacating his responsibility ensuring clean and safe water has already resulted in tragedy, (Mal Contends), including the poisoning of children, as Walker has circumvented the law to carry the toxic water of special interests.

We are in crisis mode in Wisconsin and Michigan as the level of health and environmental toxins vectored into Wisconsin's waters often exceeds safe levels, yet Scott Walker moves boldly for less protection against the polluters, and the abandonment of our state Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine.

This comes as the Walker adminstration changes the language in the DNR and Legislative Reference Bureau's (LRB) public explanations of the state's water protection roles and responsibilities.

The London Guardian notes: Flint water crisis: governor's brand of corporate politics set stage for disaster. Snyder and Walker's anti-water policies and "imperial manner" are clear and present dangers to America's lifeblood, water.

Notes the Guardian's Joanna Walters: Both Snyder and Walker's virtually handing over state governance to the "American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ... supported by the like-minded, Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and backed by the ultra-conservative Koch brothers," have resulted in environmental disaster. The Wisconsin-based Bradley Foundation, big tobacco companies like Altria/Phillip Morris and the State Policy Network have inflicted the same crimes against families through politicians, and policymakers are legally immune, (Fischer, PRWatch).

Appeals to the EPA are a last resort, and Wisconsin families remain alarmed calling for a Sanders or Clinton adminstration to vow to protect families, and reel in the polluters' anti-social industries, (Walton, Circle of Blue), (Ikerd, Ethics, Not Economics, Key to Climate Change Fight).

Water is a national security issue, consider the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security: "Water and Wastewater Systems Sector-Specific Plan (PDF, 88 pages – 1.39 MB) details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the [Water] sector. ... The Environmental Protection Agency is designated as the Sector-Specific Agency for the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector."

As with natural disaster planning and emergency preparedness, Scott Walker is asleep at the switch.

Concludes the Guardian's Walters:

A Snyder candidacy could not have survived the Flint water catastrophe, which developed under his brand of corporate-culture politics while, at best, he stood by.

Whether Snyder will survive as governor remains to be seen.

Walker's political fate appears more certain, as he remains mired in the 30s-level approval rating.

More significantly, citizen groups have sprouted around the state, as a desperate Walker moves to destroy local control of municipal and county government and renew furtive efforts to destroy the Wisconsin Idea, transparency in government and independent government watchdog agencies.
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Bizarrely, the Walker adminstration has gone so far as to include a copyright warning included in the LRB's public webpage on the Constitution Article IX, Section 1: Public trust doctrine page stating:

WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use" that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Never noticed this before in a public document.

The LRB's website includes a link to Robin Kite's—a former LRB staff atty—disquisition on the Public Access Doctrine.

Water Crisis Isn't Looming, It's Here

Note: Our friends in Wood and Adams counties are reminding us what's at stake, (Anderson, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune): Jan 16; 1 p.m. Saturday with the Rome Town Board to discuss the possible implications of the proposed Golden Sands industrial farm. Rome, located in Adams County, is adjacent to Saratoga.
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Thanks to our friend Charles P. Pierce at Esquire.

Big Ag is, in an act of lunacy unhinged even for these scoiopaths, working with Republicans at the state and national level to eviscerate the Clean Water Act.

Writes Pierce:

The commodification of something as fundamental to human survival as water already has begun. It's tied into climate change. It is the battle of the next 100 years and, unlike the oil wars, you can always decide not to drive a car or use gasoline. You can't decide not to drink any water.

Notes Pierce in his lede:

It has long been the opinion here at the shebeen that we are dooming ourselves to nearly endless political, cultural, and perhaps literal fistfights over water over the next several decades. We're seeing a particularly grotesque example of this underway in Flint, Michigan, at the moment. (Most recently, Governor Rick 'Accessory Before The Fact' Snyder has called out the National Guard to help hand out bottled water and other supplies. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the need for possible 'pacification' duties if the residents of Flint finally get completely fed up with being poisoned.) But there are things happening in the Congress as well. 

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker has already handed over clean water to the polluters. Time for Wisconsin's sleepy rural municipalities to wake up, and protect their water ... by any means necessary.