Table of Contents

Thompson's DNR Creates Biased Advisory Body
Development Conflicts in Door County
Thinking Wholistically: The Natural Step
Powerline Threatens Wisconsin
The Value of Water
Simplicity
Progress Kills Two Out of Every Five
Health and Home
What You Can Do

Thompson's DNR Creates Biased Advisory Body

another example of DNR corruption

by Rebecca L. Katers

 In response to corporate lobbyists, Gov. Thompson's DNR has created
a new "Contaminated Sediment Advisory Committee" which consists of
corporate representatives, their consultants and lawyers, harbor
representatives, Thompson's staff and 2 federal officials.

 The committee's topic is closely related to the controversial Fox
River PCB contamination cleanup, and dozens of other river or lake sediment
projects across the state.      The DNR's charge to  the
committee is "to develop a comprehensive vision on how to best proceed with
approaching future sediment contamination issues."    DNR said they
intended to "react to and satisfy issues raised by this committee."

These are the  23 invited members of DNR's new Sediment Committee:

Wisconsin Manufacturer's and Commerce  (industrial lobby umbrella group)
Fort James Corporation  (one of 7 key Fox River polluters)
P.H. Glatfelter Corporation - Bergstrom Division   (one of 7 key Fox River
polluters)
Foley & Lardner Lawfirm   (represents some Fox River polluters)
Godfrey and Kahn Lawfirm   (represents some Fox River polluters)
Superior Special Services   (provides sediment dredging and landfilling
services)
Wisconsin Public Service  (power utility -- sediment polluter)
Northern State Power   (power utility -- sediment polluter)
Brown County Port and Solid Waste Dept.  (needs disposal for harbor dredgings)
Foth and Van Dyke   (industry consultants involved in sediment remediation
sites)
Montgomery Watson   (industry consultants involved in sediment remediation
sites)
Kestrel Management   (industry consultants)
Fox/Wolf Basin 2000   (Environmental front group created by Fox River
polluters)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency   (one representative)
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers   (one representative)
Thompson Administration   (eight reps.--- six from DNR, one from Division of
  Health, and one from Dept. of Transportation.)

Who's Missing?

 The committee does NOT include any independent experts, academia,
Native American tribe representatives, farmers, homeowners affected by
sediment disposal options, or public interest organizations (environmental,
conservation, fishing, boating, swimming, or angling organizations).   All
of these interests could be greatly impacted by contaminated sediment
issues, yet Thompson's DNR apparently doesn't care to hear or respond to
any of their concerns.

Political Favors

 At the first meeting DNR staff admitted the committee was created
in response to a visit and request to DNR Secretary George Meyer, by
corporate lobbyists Mark Thimke, of Foley and Lardner, and Patrick Stevens,
of Wis. Manufacturers and Commerce.

 At the first committee meeting, Mr. Thimke was encouraged to make
introductory remarks and describe his "vision" for the committee.

 Foley and Lardner representatives donated $47,485 to Gov.
Thompson's campaigns between 1993 and 1998, according to the Wisconsin
Democracy Campaign.     Members of Wis. Manufacturers and Commerce
also donated a significant share of the overall total $9,529,212 raised for
Thompson over the same period.

Enviros Invited After Meeting Ended

 We received a tip that the first meeting was occuring in Madison,
and I attended as an observer without an invitation.   A Sierra Club rep.
also attended as an observer.

 Though we were the only two people in the audience, the DNR never
asked us why we were there or to comment.

 It was only after I confronted the DNR staff after the meeting
about the gross imbalance of the committee that they hurriedly offered to
let us join or suggest other participants.  This raised several concerns:

1.  We shouldn't have had to ask for citizen representation.   DNR should
have created a balanced committee in the first place.  We shouldn't need to
catch them red-handed.

2.  We shouldn't be asked to recruit people now to balance the committee
and make it an honest process. That's DNR's job.   That's what we all pay
them for.

3.  When I suggested that DNR needed at least a dozen new participants to
balance the industry reps., DNR objected.   But without balance, why would
we agree to token citizen representation?  One or two citizen reps. would
be completely outnumbered and run-over by the experienced
corporate lobbyists.

4.  DNR's new invitation was heard only by those already invited and
present.  No news media attended.

5.  Any citizen group would have to think twice before insisting on joining
such a committee, when Thompson's DNR has already shown a clear preference
for addressing industry concerns exclusively.   It would be an exercise in
futility for us.  This industry preference by DNR has become standard
practice since Thompson took control of DNR in 1995 and eliminated the
Public Intervenor Office.

6. We don't want our organization's name to be used to legitimize bad
results from this biased committee.   We've learned the hard way not to get
sucked into bad government processes.

 As just one example, DNR staff told the news media that this
committee was "balanced" because environmentalists had been invited to
join, and that Fox-Wolf Basin 2000 and Sierra Club had agreed.   But
Fox-Wolf Basin 2000 is an industry front group, and the Sierra Club had not
agreed to join.  We are tired of environmentalists being used and
manipulated in this way.   Even if two legitimate environmental groups did
join, this would still not be a respectable, unbiased committee
representing the public interest.

We Chose NOT to Join

 Given the blatant corruption shown by this DNR set-up, we have
refused to join until it is fully balanced and has a clear positive
purpose.   Instead, I'm attending meetings to document DNR's actions and
keep an eye on the industries.

 Despite our complaints, DNR has made no effort to add other
interests to the committee.   Three meetings have been held with no
changes, though even Fox-Wolf Basin 2000 has stopped attending.

DNR's Stated Purpose

 The original DNR invitation letter stated that the committee is
charged with considering:

*  Sediment Quality Criteria, includ-  ing calculations and
application
*  Risk Assessment
*  Natural Resource Damages
*  Role of Modeling
*  Exposure Routes
*  Water Quality Criteria
*  Process for Developing Sediment   Cleanup Objectives
*  Landfill Disposal of Contaminated   Sediments

 There's no mention of treating or detoxifying sediment, which shows
the DNR's bias for simple, cheap landfill disposal in all cases.
The Real Purpose?

 DNR staff wrote that "existing sediment site cleanups will not be
specifically discussed and any products of the committee (guidance,
documents, administrative rule proposals, etc.) will not be applied to
existing situations, unless it is determined to be appropriate for any
existing situations."  [emphasis added]

 We've observed 3 meetings now where virtually everything's been
discussed.  In fact, DNR staff repeatedly state that "everything's on the
table."

 Yet, DNR told the media that the committee will have no impact on
existing DNR sediment action sites.  How is this possible?

 After three meetings, the purpose of the committee is still
confused, but the meetings provide great access for industry lobbyists to
complain about state efforts and to make veiled threats in response to
certain government proposals.

 The state staff also prepare extensive presentations and briefings
to help the polluters understand the state programs.   Such briefings have
never been given to the public.

Expensive Services

 This committee is meeting monthly with no clear end in sight.
Three meetings have been held so far.

 This represents a huge expenditure of state resources to serve
polluters.    At both the second and third meetings, a total of nine
Thompson Administration staff gave up their regular work to attend.   Fully
half of the attendees were state employees.

 Many of the industry representatives have arrived late and left
early, which shows an amazing lack of appreciation for the state's efforts
to serve them.

Where's Our Share of DNR?

 Over the past 10 years, the state has never made a similar effort
on behalf of concerned citizens in the Fox River Valley affected by
contaminated sediments.   They've never provided so many high-level DNR
staff during such long and open-ended meetings to ask the public what we
think about the state's sediment programs, or to give citizens time to
talk.  The DNR has certainly not treated concerned citizens with the same
polite deference, though our taxdollars pay their salaries.

Denigrating Public Input

 During the third meeting, I finally lost my temper and had to speak
up as an outside observer.

 The committee had spent a hour hearing a DNR review of last summers
travelling fiasco, as DNR tried to find a PCB sediment landfill disposal
site for their Deposit N dredgings and they ran into citizen resistence.
First DNR tried to sneak the sediments over to western Wisconsin to a
landfill in Rusk County, but citizens were outraged and ran them out of
town.   Then, DNR went to Eau Claire and tried the same thing, but with
similar results.   In Eau Claire, DNR actually cancelled the public hearing
two days before was scheduled, when they learned that hundreds of irate
citizens were well-prepared with technical and social comments which could
be very embarrassing for DNR.   And it was right before the Governor's
re-election.

 The DNR staff's comment to the committee was "I guess nobody over
there [in Eau Claire] uses toilet paper" --- as if the people in Eau Claire
were somehow selfish or shortsighted for not accepting PCB sludges, though
none of the governments in the Fox Valley were willing to accept the sludge
either.

 I would have expected such a rude comment from a paper industry
lobbyist, but it was absolutely outrageous coming from a DNR public
employee.  It showed terrible disrespect for citizen concerns.

 After Eau Claire, the DNR tried to get Winnebago County to accept
the high-level PCBs, and they were finally forced to ship the sediment at
high cost to a landfill near Detroit Michigan.

 When the committee proceeded to complain about 'NIMBY's" (citizens
who, in effect, say "Not In My Back Yard"), I finally spoke up and told
them I thought it was ridiculous for them to sit on a one-sided committee
trying to understand the concerns of NIMBY's --- when no-one was invited
from any of those communities to explain their concerns.   I warned the
committee they would continue to face opposition as long as such biased
committees destroyed public trust, and they refused to address citizen
concerns.

 DNR staff responded that they thought this committee was balanced
and they had provided plenty of public input opportunities.

 (We haven't had a true DNR public hearing on the overall Fox River
situation in 8 years.)

Lack of media coverage

 We've had a disturbing response while talking with the media about
this issue.

 No news reporters have attended any of the committee meetings,
though we've notified many news outlets of the 2nd and 3rd meetings.    The
Green Bay Press Gazette and a few radio stations carried good stories, but
the Appleton Post Crescent article quoted DNR's excuses at length and an
editorialist at that paper aggressively criticized us for complaining, and
specifically gave me personally a "Thumbs Down" rating for refusing to join
the committee  (,,,a confused case of 'shoot the messenger.")   They
refused to print my letter-to-the-
editor in response.

 We've seen no follow-up stories in any of the news media to track the actions of this committee --- though the media  seem to have plenty of space, time and money to give us excessive details of dozens of irrelevant glamour stories.

 Is it because the news media are too closely tied to the paper
industry and other corporate lobbies?   Is it because the media get large
advertising dollars from the corporations --- such as numerous full-page
newspaper ads which cost up to $6,000 per day?

 Two reporters told us this story was too "boring" and "the public
wouldn't be interested" --- but in a democracy, the media must report and
citizens must monitor government activities and detect cases like this
where polluters are given influential access and special service from the
government.

 It's not boring when it can influence hundreds of millions of
dollars which may or may not be invested in sediment cleanup.

 This is an extremely important issue in Northeast Wisconsin.  The
newsmedia should be watchdogging the DNR and this committee, and asking
tough questions, not simply printing DNR responses without checking the
accuracy of DNR's statements.

Conclusion

 We're featuring this issue in our newsletter because it is
symptomatic of so much that is going wrong throughout DNR's programs (and
with the news media coverage of the DNR.)

 This agency has been seriously compromised by political influence
and is not carrying out its original purpose of protecting the citizens and
natural resources of this state.

What You Can Do:

 Please contact your local news media, especially your local
newspaper.  Ask for the "News Editor" and tell them to give you more news
coverage of DNR activities and corporate
lobbying.  (Refer to our past newsletters or Internet Webpage for more
issue ideas --- www.cwac.net)

 Just look in the Yellow Pages under "Newspapers," "Television
Stations" and "Radio Stations."

 Even if they say they've covered an issue once, that's no reason
for them not to have a follow-up story.   Afterall,  look at the Monica and
O.J. stories.

 It's up to all of us to demand high quality, in-depth news
coverage.   We shouldn't allow the media to think we're satisfied with only
entertainment in place of hard news.

 A democracy requires good news coverage.

Up to Top

Development Conflicts in Door County

 Landuse, greenspace and urban sprawl are hot issues, with major
impacts on water quality and other measures of environmental quality.
 The following guest article shows the difficulties citizens can
have trying to ensure wise landuse:

from the Door County Environmental Council

 Development pressure is intensifying in Door County but the current
approval system for land
development is proving inadequate to safeguard the interests of the public
and the environment.

 A new chapter was recently written in the ongoing conflict between
those with a vested interest in development and those who subscribe to
reasonable and controlled growth.

Major Change in Leadership

 The latest skirmish occurred earlier this summer, when the county
administration chose to remove the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBOA) chair
and to replace her with a former County Board member ousted in the last
election. A letter in the Advocate newspaper described the action as a
"collective temper tantrum."

 ZBOA Chair, Nancy Skadden, a former Southern Door teacher, lost the
support of the county board
after having for many years conducted ZBOA meetings in a fair and
nonpartisan manner.

 A recent decision by the ZBOA to overturn a Resource Planning
Committee (RPC) approval of a large development on the Idlewild Peninsula
along with a previous decision against a county landfill
project provided the ammunition which led to her ouster by the county board.

 Even though this was an unusually public expression of conflict, a
look behind the scenes in Door
County shows that this was only the latest example of a series of battles
over proposed developments.

Confusing Authorities

 There are five main parties in these conflicts: the Court, the
Resource Planning Committee, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the county
Zoning and Planning Department, and the Public.

 A Gordian Knot of regulations and ambiguous language fosters a lack
of agreement among the governing bodies in matters of procedure and
authority.

"Conditional Use Permits"

 The absence of clear-cut regulations and the lack of an
authoritative county land use plan mean that most development is approved
by granting conditional use permits. In the normal procedure the developer
must submit a conditional use application to the County Zoning and Planning
Department. After examining the application and determining that it is
complete and in order, the Zoning Department sends it along to the RPC for
action. The decision by the RPC may be appealed to the ZBOA.

 Applications are supposed to
be complete before the Zoning Department sends them to the Resource
Planning Committee. A Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, the case of Weber
vs. the Town of
Saukville, ruled that the file for a planned development must be complete
at the time that the public notice of the Hearing is first published.

Public Not Given Full Information

 However, in Door County, the Zoning Department frequently accepts
incomplete applications and
sends them on to the Resource Planning Committee for a decision. Important
items which should be
in the file and available for public scrutiny are not included.

 For one example, storm water
runoff and erosion control plans may be left to the discretion of the
developer for completion.
 Thus the public remains ignorant of the true impact of developments
which may have a huge impact on the neighborhood and surrounding area.

Fragmented Permits ---
Full Scope Unaddressed

 Public ignorance of the scope of development plans is further
aggravated by a second major
problem: "fragmentation" of developments by presenting only portions at a
time for permits.

 Even when it is common knowledge that a proposed development has
many phases, only that portion that is being presented for a particular
permit can even be considered. This sometimes results in
large subdivisions slipping by without a public hearing at all - when the
portion presented by the developer falls outside the requirements for a
pubic hearing.

Public Comments Restricted

 This leads to a third problem: the county reliance on "Site Plan
Review" instead of public hearings. Under a Site Plan Review, the
people within a specified distance, usually 300 feet, are invited to
participate in a session with the developer.  (People outside the
300-foot limit may attend, but not participate.)

 The object is to come to a "settlement" with the people affected by
the project. This can present
a rather forbidding atmosphere to the few neighborhood residents who do
participate since the developer is usually well represented by counsel and
assorted experts.  Neighbors may never have been to a hearing before and
have no previous knowledge of their rights or how to exercise them.

 Site Plan Review can result in major decisions that affect the
health and safety of the public
being made by the developer and few of the nearest neighbors. Or, if the
parties in the first Site Plan Review cannot reach a settlement, the matter
goes to the Resource Planning Committee for a formal Site Plan Review,
where, by statute, the RPC has no option but to approve the developer's
plan and add extra conditions.

 An illustration of the weakness of Site Plan Review is the Wave
Pointe Marina project at Little
Sturgeon Bay. This project had been approved by a Site Plan Review
conducted by the County Zoning Department Planning Director. Later, the
developer was issued citations by the Wisconsin DNR after citizen
complaints alerted them to flagrant water quality violations.

Conclusion

 In Door County, when we ask "is the public health, safety and
welfare the prime consideration in
all decision-making?" --- too often the answer is not the resounding yes
that it ought to be.

(for more information, contact the Door County Environmental Council, Jerry
Viste, Executive Director, 1916 Viste Road, Sturgeon Bay, WI  54325.
Phone: 920-743-6003.)

Up to Top

 The Natural Step (TNS) is a new way of looking at the economy and
business decisions.   It is getting increasing attention worldwide from
people desperate to find alternatives to the negative downward spiral we
seem to be on.
 
In a recent interview, The Natural Step founder Karl-Henrik Robert
offers some unique insights:

 For example he perceives that humans have reversed evolution:  Most
people are not aware that it took living cells about 3.5 billion years to
transform the virgin soup of the atmosphere -which was a toxic, chaotic
mixture of sulfurous compounds, methane, carbon dioxide, and other
substances - into the
conditions that could support
complex life.

 "In just the last DECADES humans have reversed this trend. First we
found concentrated energy like fossil fuels and nuclear power.  As a
result, we can create such a high throughput of resources that natural
processes no longer have the time to process the waste and build new
resources.

 "Dispersed junk is increasing in the system as we lose
soils,forests, and species. So we have reversed evolution. The Earth is
running back towards the chaotic state it came from at a tremendous speed."

Into a Funnel

 Robert describes our situation as moving into a funnel, with the
walls of the funnel closing in on us dangerously. "I think most people in
business understand that we are running into a funnel of declining
resources globally. We will soon be 10 billion people on Earth - at the
same time, as we are running out of
forests, crop land, and fisheries. We need more and more resource input for
the same crop or timber yield. At the same time pollution is increasing
systematically and we have induced
climate change. All that together creates a resource funnel."

 To avoid hitting the walls of the funnel, businesses need to turn
away from activities that violate the four "system conditions" which are
essential for life, essential for the common good, and which form the basis
of The Natural Step.

The four system conditions necessary for life:

#1: Substances mined from the Earth must not systematically increase in
air, water, soil, or living things; this means that sustainable businesses
need to decrease their dependence upon heavy metals and fossil fuels,
substituting renewable sources of materials and energy.

#2: Substances produced by society must not be allowed to systematically
increase in air, water, soil, or living things. This means that sustainable
businesses need to avoid using
persistent unnatural compounds such as brominated fire retardants,
chlorinated plastics and solvents, and persistent pesticides.

#3: The physical basis of productivity and the diversity of nature must not
be systematically diminished. This means we must live off the interest of
what nature provides and we must not use up nature's capital. This means
sustainable businesses must not derive wood or food from ecologically
maltreated land, and must not use materials that require long-distance
transportation. (Think of what this means for the "global free market"
religion that has enraptured Wall Street and Capitol Hill in recent years.)

#4: We must be fair and efficient in meeting basic human needs. This means
we must stop wasting resources.

Benefits for Business

 Businesses that comply with the four system conditions will
successfully flow through the hole in the funnel and thrive.   Their
ignorant competitors will run into the walls of the funnel where they will
incur increased costs for resources, waste management, insurance, loans,
international business agreements, taxes, and public fear. Competitors who
direct their investments away from the walls of the funnel will be rewarded
by their customers and will do well. Those who benefit in the short term by
violating the system conditions, the essential requirements of life, are
firms that have no future, Robert says.

 The fourth system condition is as fundamental as the first 3, and
flows directly from them, Robert says. He explains it this way:

 Fairness is an efficiency parameter if we look at the whole global
civilization. It is not an efficient way of meeting human needs if one
billion people starve while another billion have excess. It would be more
efficient to distribute resources so that at least vital needs were met
everywhere. Otherwise, for example, if kids are starving somewhere, dad
goes out to slash and burn the rain forest to feed them - and so would I if
my kids were dying. And this kind of destruction is everyone's problem,
because we live in the same ecosphere."

Voluntary or Not?

 Will businesses voluntarily make the transition to sustainability?

Robert does not think so. "My
belief is that free will of individuals and firms will not be sufficient to
make sustainable practices widespread - legislation is a crucial part of
the walls of the funnel, particularly if we want to make the transition in
time."

 Despite the need for legislation, businesses acting voluntarily
have a tremendously important role to play. "The more examples we get of
businesses entering the transition out of free will, the easier it will be
for proactive politicians. In a democracy there must be a 'market' for
proactive decisions in politics, and that
market can be created by proactive businesses in dialogue with
proactive customers.

 For example, in Sweden, some of these proactive business leaders
are lobbying for green taxes. In that triangle of dialogue:
business-market-politicians, a new culture may evolve, with an endorsement
of the values we share but have forgotten how to pay attention to," says
Robert.

 How will the transition to sustainable behavior evolve? "A
deepening intellectual understanding is a good starting point for change of
values."  And, he says, "The Natural Step introduces a shared mental model
that is intellectually strict, but still simple to understand. These are
the rules of sustainability; you can plug them into decision-making about
any product."

 "The first thing that happens is that this stimulates creativity,
because people enter a much smarter dialogue if they have a shared
framework for their goals.... A strict shared mental model can really get
people working together," Robert says.

 What does the future hold? Will we successfully make the transition
to sustainable practices? Robert is not sure. He says the world is probably
in for very difficult times in the years ahead, perhaps even collapse. He
says,

 "What worries me the most is the systematic social battering of
people all around the world, leading to more and more desperate
people who don't feel any partnership with society because of
alienation, poverty, dissolving cultural structures, more and more
'molecular' violence (unorganized and self-destructive violence that pops
up everywhere without any meaning at all).

 "The response of the establishment is too superficial, with more
and more imprisonment and money spent on defense against those feared,
leading to a vicious cycle."If this goes on long enough, a constructive and
new sustainable
paradigm in the heads of governments and business leaders will
not necessarily help us in time. We will have more and more people who are
so hungry to meet their vital human needs that it will be hard to reach
them," Robert says.

Fairness is Key

 Thus - though Robert does not say so - we can see that the fourth
system condition is ultimately the most important because if the "fairness"
condition is not met, then society will not be able to organize itself to
comply with the first three system
conditions and sustainability will not be achievable. The world's slide
into chaos, which has become increasingly evident in the past 25 years,
will accelerate.

 Thus environmental groups and government agencies (including the
President's Council on Sustainable Development) who refuse to address the
essential issues of economic opportunity and economic fairness are
whistling in the wind, wasting our time, and misleading their supporters.

  For the most part, the U.S. environmental movement isn't
working toward sustainability because it has never developed a complete
view of what sustainability entails: sustainability requires more than
salvaging ecosystems. It requires major efforts to assure economic fairness
(in many countries, especially the U.S., this
means confronting racism head-on) and to assure the survival of cultural
diversity.   Anything less is merely environmental hand-waving.

from information provided by Peter Montague, in  RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT &
HEALTH WEEKLY #668, Sept. 16, 1999

Up to Top

Powerline Threatens Wisconsin

by Alice McCombs

 Two private power companies, Wisconsin Public Service Corp, of
Green Bay and Minnesota Power of Duluth, are planning a 345-kilovolt,
high-voltage, transmission line called "Power Up Wisconsin" across the
northwoods.   It will run from  Duluth to Wausau, with several alternative
proposed routes being considered   It will be a 250 mile long easement
forced on unwilling landowners, impacting thousands of homes,
businesses,farms, and recreational sites.    The easement would damage
approximately 4,500 acres directly, but, of course, Gov. Thompson's
appointees to the Public Service Commission claim the project is
"environmentally sound."

 Each route is sited almost exclusively on private lands,  Existing
power corridors, public right-of-ways and public lands have been avoided
because this method will gain quicker permit approval and be cheaper if
they condemn private property.

 The project will require a 150-feet wide cleared right-of-way on
which no trees may be grown or buildings built.   The steel towers will be
90-150 feet tall depending on the location.   The towers along Hwy. 8 will
be 115-125 feet tall.  No row of trees will hide them, they'll be visible
for miles.

Is There a Need?

 No!  Wisconsin has no serious power shortage.  According to
independent experts, the power needs of northern Wisconsin, none of which
are urgent, can be satisfied by reconductoring and upgrading existing
lines, conservation, and energy efficiency improvements by consumers.   A
new generation plant has been approved for construction in Dane County
which needs to operate for only 5 months a year.   The power needs of the
Fox Valley can be met with much less destructive solutions.
Crandon Mine Will Benefit

 Existing energy needs are not the driving force behind this
project.  Potential industrial projects, such as the Crandon Mine are the
real targets, as described in company documents.   (No, the Crandon Mine is
definitely NOT dead!)

 The primary purpose of this line is to transport cheap hydro power
from Canada to Chicago and to other eastern cities across Wisconsin so the
power companies can profit.   Wisconsin residents will receive very little
benefit from this line and Northern Wisconsin will receive even less
(especially when the mine is seen as the negative environmental impact it
will unavoidably be.)

Look to the Future

 With this line will come more power development in our beloved
northwoods --- such as high voltage feeder lines, substations, new power
plants which will want to hook onto this handy line to sell more power to
points out east, and new mines along the mineral rich highway 8 area.
These lines will bring a whole host of new development over which citizens
will have little control.   Along the corridor, property taxes will
increase to compensate for lower taxes on transmission line devalued
properties.

Public Resistance is Growing

 A new organization has formed, called SOUL (Save Our Unique Lands),
whose mission is "o promote the orderly growth of power in Wisconsin and to
oppose this transmission line project.   They're speaking to Town and
County Boards, organizing letter-writing campaigns, raising funds and
hiring lawyers.  They're also extremely busy getting the word out across
the state.

 For more information, contact them at: SOUL, P.O. Box 171, Catawba,
WI 54515.   Phone:  715-474-2271.

Up to Top

The Value of Water

 The one billion people lacking access to clean water today will not
be suffering alone in the years ahead.
 The John's Hopkins University School of Health has issued a report
estimating 2.8 billion of the world's projected 8 billion people will
encounter water shortages by the year 2025.   A country's ability to
conserve water, decrease pollution, limit population and effectively manage
supply and demand is going to increasingly affect the availability and
quality of the world's water, the report concludes.
 Author Don Hinrichsen, consultant with the United Nation's
Population Fund, says, "In many developing countries, lack of water could
cap future improvements in the quality of life.   Meanwhile, there is no
more fresh water on Earth than there was 2,000 year ago, when population
was three percent of its current size."   Contact:  Johns Hopkins
University, School of Public Health, 111 market Place, Suite 310,
Baltimore, MD  21202-4012.  Phone: (410)659-6266.  from E Magazine

Up to Top

Simplicity

 Does buying more give our children less?   Seeds of Simplicity
(P.O. Box 9955, Glendale, CA 91226,  Phone: 818-247-4332) believes the
answer is yes.  "Voluntary Simplicity" offers the chance to get children
and their families "off the vast consumer treadmill."   Seeds of
Simplicity, a project of Cornell University's Center for Religion, Ethics
and Social Policy, offers educational materials for parents and curriculum
guides for kids.

Progress Kills Two Out of Every Five

 A study published in the October issue of BioScience concludes that
40 percent of the world's human deaths are attributable to environmental
problems tied to industrial activity and population growth.  The lead
author, Cornell University Ecology and Agricultural Life Sciences Professor
David Pimintel, noted that air pollution compromises the health of four to
five billion people, that 10 percent of the 80,000 pesticides and chemicals
released into the environment are known carcinogens, and that climate
changes will only compound the effect of infectious diseases.   The
researchers recommend "comprehensive, fair population control policies
combined with effective environmental management programs.

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Health and Home

 The Seventh Generation Guide to a Toxic-Free Home is a treasure
trove of useful lore on such issues as what makes a chemical a poison, when
a cleaning product is considered toxic, which carpets and floors slowly
release chemical vapors and the 10 most important organic foods.
 The booklet is free for writing, emailing or downloading.   From
Seventh Generation, One Mill Street, Suite A26, Burlington, VT  05401,
recycle@seventhgen.com, www.seventhgen.com

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What You Can Do

Contact Your Elected Officials

Contact Wisconsin Governor Thompson

Governor Tommy Thompson 
Room 115 East, State Capitol 
P.O. Box 7863 
Madison, WI 53707 
Ph: 608-266-1212 
FAX: 608-267-8983 
wisgov@mail.state.wi.us

Representatives: Email & Web Page Addresses and Toll-Free Numbers
Senators:  Email & Web Page Addresses

State Senator 
P.O. Box 7882 
Madison, WI  53707 

State Rep.    (Last Name, A thru L) 
P.O. Box 8952 
Madison, WI  53708 

State Rep.    (Last Name, Mc thru Z) 
P.O. Box 8953 
Madison, WI  53708 

(If you don’t know who your elected state representatives are, 
call the Legislative Hotline 1-800-362-9472  on weekdays.)