Wisconsin: BAD groundwater bill scheduled for a hearing this Wed, Oct 7 in Madison

[Scuba]

from my email ...

Hello Friends of Water,

A bad groundwater bill is going to hearing this Wednesday, October 7th at 2:30. If you can, please consider going to Madison to help see that this bill does not gain traction. A good summary and what you can do is below, sent to Central Sands Water Action Coalition from River Alliance of Wisconsin. There are some car pools being organized for Wednesday, so if can trek to Madison with us, please let me or others know.

Additionally, here is Dr. Kraft’s blog that explains the proposal http://wiswaterguy.com/2015/09/14/bill-introduced-to-ease-high-capacity-well-transfers-and-replacement/

Good afternoon Central Sands Water Action Coalition partners,

Senator Gudex's bill is going for a hearing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Small Business and Tourism next Wednesday, October 7th at 2:30. As folks have been discussing recently, this bill does nothing to fix the problems you are facing with groundwater overpumping in the Central Sands and the committee should know that voters are unhappy about it.

The committee chair, Senator Moulton, has co-sponsored Gudex's bill but I don't think he anticipates a lot of public opposition to this bill. So it's important he realizes this is a hot potato. The hearing on Wednesday is just that, a hearing. The committee will not be voting on moving the bill to the floor yet so a strong public response can influence how willing the committee will be to move this thing forward.

How can CSWAC members best weigh in?

1. Contact the Ag Committee members to voice your opposition

2. Pack the hearing on Wednesday

3. Testify against the bill

1. Contact Ag Committee Members and your legislators:

This is the first and most important step for the coalition to move on. You are a coalition comprised of hundreds of individuals who collectively can send a very strong message. If you can reach out to the group you represent to ask them to call or email their legislators and the committee to voice their opposition, it's the most immediate and tangible impact you can have on this bill.

In case anyone needs contact info for their legislator, they can find it here (just type in your address): http://maps.legis.wisconsin.gov

The Senate Ag Committee list and contact is found here: http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2015/committees/senate/1365

Ideally you would contact all members but at the very least, the Chair's office and Sen. Lassa, especially if she is your senator.

Talking Points:

Be brief, state your name, your address and why you care about the issue and how it impacts you personally;

Indicate that you oppose SB239;

SB 239 does not solve the growing water crisis in the state, it only locks down the a system that has led to the problem in the first place;

Any law to manage groundwater pumping needs to be fair, science-based and needs to address current and future water conflicts in the state. SB239 does none of this.

We have re-attached our analysis of SB239 if you would like additional information, but really, just stating your opposition is the main goal.

2. Testify against the bill on Wednesday

Many of you have first-hand experience about how over pumping is harming your property, quality of life and access to water. Others of you have paid out of pocket to seek recourse for unchecked pumping. Legislators need to hear over and over again that the problem is not the future of agriculture in the state, the problem is a growing water crisis that is playing out right now. The committee needs to hear these stories. As Scott mentioned, Big Ag will be out in full force telling their version of the story, so we really need to counter-balance that with thoughtful citizen testimony about how groundwater over pumping is harmful.

Testimony should be no longer than 3 minutes. Focus on personal stories. Several of you have already let us know you are planning to testify.

We would love to know how many of you are planning to testify. We will be sending out a follow-up email on Monday with some tips for preparing testimony.

We have reserved a hospitality room for CSWAC folks coming to the hearing on October 7. We will be in Room 425 SW from 11am-3pm. Come by early, we will have sandwiches and snacks in the room and can coach you on testifying if you're new to this. Also, it would be great to plan a few legislative visits that day since you're already coming to Madison and we can help arrange all the details in advance.

3. Even if you don't testify, consider attending the hearing and registering your opposition

This is important! Legislators need to get a clear message that they cannot roll back groundwater protection without a huge fight. A packed hearing room full of folks who oppose the bill will let Senator Gudex (and Senator Cowles, too) know that people are watching and ready to make a big deal of bad groundwater legislation.

Thanks for all you do and please do not hesitate to contact me or Allison with questions.

Talk to you on Monday!
Helen