Scott Walker, Legislature altering Wisconsin's way of protecting natural resources
Some days I just want to cry
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/scott-walker-legislature-altering-wisconsin-s-way-of-protecting-natural/article_d9d1f345-3be6-5a8a-94db-72cdb8d62240.html
STATE NATURAL RESOURCES | THE EFFECT OF REPUBLICAN RULE
Scott Walker, Legislature altering Wisconsin's way of protecting natural resources
STEVEN VERBURG sverburg@madison.com, 608-252-6118 6 hrs ago 45
Nearly five years of one-party Republican rule has significantly altered the way Wisconsin protects its bounty of forests, lakes, streams and other natural resources, and more change may be on the way as the Department of Natural Resources reassesses the work its employees do.
In the 2010 campaign season that brought Gov. Scott Walker and a Republican Legislature to power, he promised to tame an out of control DNR, complaining that regulators and scientists had slowed job growth and failed to keep hunters happy.
Since then, budget cuts, loosening of pollution rules and changes in wildlife management have been no secret, but elected officials have also made less-noticed changes reducing the role of DNR professionals and scientists in decision-making.
The highest-profile move was a highly controversial 2013 state law written by a mining company to loosen environmental rules for iron mines. But other new laws:
Make it easier to destroy wetlands if new ones are established, although critics say artificial wetlands may not adequately protect groundwater and wildlife..............lots more.........
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