Wisconsin: Care about protecting our water? DNR is accepting comments now. Add your voice.

[Scuba]

from my email ....

Why Do They Keep Stripping Away Our Water Protections?


Dear Scuba,

Our waters just can’t seem to catch a break: Once again, rules that protect our shorelands are being attacked.

It was just a few years ago that we got the first major update to NR 115, the state rules that set minimum standards for county shoreland zoning ordinances that protect water quality. The result of a seven-year negotiation among shoreland owners, environmental groups, business interests and others, the updated rules protect our shores while reasonably outlining what property owners can do on their land. These additional protections were a hard-fought but critical win for our waters.

But just four years later, the DNR is bending to political pressure and seeking to undo that compromise.

Submit a comment to the DNR today: Leave NR 115 alone.

Many groups worked long and hard on this compromise, and that bipartisan agreement needs to be honored by DNR. Email your comments to DNR today and ask them to stop watering down our water protections and protect our shores.

Thank you,
Amanda Wegner
Clean Wisconsin

PS: We're currently fighting a number of rollbacks of our water protections. Please make a secure, online donation today to support our ongoing work for clean, safe water in Wisconsin!

[midnight]

1. This discussion will involve our states Public Trust Doctrine...

http://news.wpr.org/post/meet-constitutional-provision-lawyers-will-use-mining-bill-fight
Scanlan, who previously ran the group Midwest Environmental Advocates, calls it an “extreme” example of attempting to turn over the state's water to a single industry: “That's something that was attempted when Wisconsin was in its early stages of development.”

Scanlan thinks supporters of the new mining law will have a hard time defending it in court. But business lobbyist Robert Fassbender, who heads a group called the Great Lakes Legal Foundation, says he thinks the mining law is consistent with the original intent of the Public Trust Doctrine: “Navigability was the crux of it. The waters were to be free for commercial purposes.”

Fassbender argues the lakes and streams that stand to be filled by a mining company under this law are too small to be considered navigable. Also significant, Fassbender says, is that in the Public Trust Doctrine, state lawmakers are the trustees: “The legislature holds it in trust for the public. And they can delegate that on occasion.”

Fassbender says that makes the intent of the legislature relevant. In this case, Republicans wrote the law specifically to say that iron mining is safe and a priority for Wisconsin.



http://wixx.com/news/articles/2013/jul/17/clean-wisconsin-believes-court-ruling-could-hurt-efforts-against-mine/


Scott Manley of the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce hailed the ruling. He says it’s now clear that the water doctrine applies only to navigable waterways like streams.