Wisconsin Governor Walker's Record (funded by Koch Brothers) on Clean Energy, Environment

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06/06/2012 03:16 PM      ShareThis
Wisconsin Governor Walker's Record on Clean Energy, Environment

SustainableBusiness.com News


There's more than one reason Wisconsin Governor Walker made it through his
recall election last night, but no one can doubt the huge funds that poured
in from out of state had a major impact on the results.

Much of those funds came from very wealthy individuals, a number of them
associated with the Koch Brothers "million-dollar donor club."

The League of Conservation Voters were among the many progressive groups on
the ground in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin chapter says:

"During his first legislative session, Scott Walker proved to be the most
anti-conservation Governor in Wisconsin's history. From air to water and
land to wildlife, he left no stone unturned when it came to desecrating what
makes Wisconsin a great place to live, play, and work."

In his 15 short months in office, he:

Hampered green technology and green job development Repeatedly restricted
wind energy development Fast-tracked the filling of wetlands Rejected
science in wildlife and natural resource management Weakened clean air
standards Decimated transit opportunities Gave a pass to polluters
threatening our water Failed to enforce the conservation laws that remain on
the books Attempted to eliminate local recycling programs
Example: Three wind farm developers with a combined investment of more than
$600 million and 1,100 jobs stopped operations in Wisconsin because of what
they call a "hostile business environment for green energy."

Wisconsin only has 5 megawatts of wind under construction, compared to its
neighbors: Illinois (614MW), Iowa (470MW), Michigan (348MW) and Indiana
(202MW).

Example: Phosphorous pollution in waterways. Grist explains it this way: The
Kochs own Georgia Pacific paper, which spent years dumping excess
phosphorous into Wisconsin waterways. In 2010, the state's natural resources
board was working on regulations to stop the dumping. But Walker's first
budget bill included a passage that reduced the board's limits on dumping
and in separately put a two-year moratorium on the 2010 phosphorous rules.

He's outlined a plan to de-regulate open-pit mining, the most toxic kind of
mining that's usually tightly controlled.

But the worst, among many aggregrious measures, is a new product that is
essential for natural gas fracking, which most people haven't even heard of
yet: sand frac.

Wisconsin sits on a bed of sandstone, the remnants of an ancient ocean.
About 30 sand frac facilities were approved or operating as of July of 2011,
but seven months later, there were over 60 mines and 45 processing
facilities. And that number is now old news.

The fracking industry would grind to a halt without sand to prop open
fractures in the shale. In 2009, sand from all US sources amounted to over
6.5 million metric tons - about the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza. In
Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources says corporations are hauling
over twice that now - at least 15 million metric tons a year.

"Crystalline silica is a known carcinogen and the cause of silicosis, an
irreversible, incurable disease. None of the very few rules applied to sand
mining by the state's Department of Natural Resources limit how much silica
gets into the air outside of mines. That's one many concerns of those living
near the facilities."

Read the full article about sand frac:

Website:
http://grist.org/natural-gas/against-the-grain-fracking-companies-mine-rural
-wisconsin-for-sand/

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