Environment
U.S. House GOP would make it easier for feds to give public lands away to states
U.S. House Republicans included in the new rules for the chamber they passed this month a provision meant to make it easier for Congress to give away public lands. The provision is a fairly technical piece of the 55-page rules package. It affects internal House accounting and requires that anytime Congress were to give any […]
Gov. Evers appoints southwest Wisconsin farmer to Natural Resources Board
Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday that he was appointing Viroqua dairy farmer Paul Buhr to the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board in a step that will further the Democrats’ newfound control over the body responsible for guiding the state’s environmental policies. Buhr is being appointed to replace Republican appointee William Bruins, who resigned from the board […]
Lower Fox River PCB cleanup project officially complete
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced that it has finished the Lower Fox River PCB clean-up project. The clean-up focused on polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs). Although the clean-up itself was completed in 2020, a final stage known as a state closure was only recently approved. State closures can only be issued once […]
Conservation groups lament policy damage of Prehn’s extra time on Natural Resources Board
During the 20 months that Wausau dentist Frederick Prehn refused to give up his seat on Wisconsin’s Natural Resources Board, environmental and conservation groups say he repeatedly put the interests of polluters and industry ahead of the needs of Wisconsinites. Prehn was initially appointed to the board for a five-year term by former Republican Gov. […]
DNR extends wolf management plan public comment period
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is extending the public comment period on its proposed plan for wolf management in the state through February. Initially set to end Jan. 10, the allotted time for the public to weigh in on the first update to the plan since 2007 has been extended until Feb. 28 after […]
PFAS plume found in Green Bay, Lake Michigan waters
A plume of per- and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS) has made its way into Green Bay, Lake Michigan, according to a new study. The study, conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, tracked the movement of the so-called “forever chemicals” through Wisconsin’s groundwater and found chemical evidence linking it to a […]
After substation shooting, federal regulator orders review of security standards
Less than two weeks after gunfire damaged two Duke Energy substations in Moore County, N.C., knocking out power to about 45,000 people, federal regulators ordered a review of security standards at electric transmission facilities and control centers. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which sets and enforces […]
Environmental enforcement has fallen off under Biden, report says
Federal environmental enforcement, as measured by Environmental Protection Agency civil cases closed against polluters, hit a two-decade low in 2022, per a report released at the end of December by a national environmental group that blames budget cuts, staff shortages and the U.S. Senate’s failure to confirm key leaders. The Environmental Integrity Project said the […]
Happy cows, good food, more profits for farmers
For more than a century Kentucky’s Henry County relied on tobacco to keep its farmers and its economy going. For most of the second half of the 20th century a federal program stabilized the price of tobacco, guaranteeing those farmers a steady, predictable income. That all changed in the new century after Congress ended tobacco price […]
Natural Resources Board allows groundwater PFAS standards to move forward
The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board approved a scope statement Wednesday that would allow the state to regulate harmful chemicals known as PFAS under Wisconsin’s groundwater law. The board voted unanimously to regulate the chemical’s presence in groundwater 10 months after it had failed to reach agreement on the issue. In February the board voted to […]
Scientists announce a fusion breakthrough with big implications for clean energy
Scientists at a U.S. national laboratory announced Tuesday that they achieved fusion ignition, a breakthrough decades in the making that could have major implications for clean energy. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco said that on Dec. 5, for the first time anywhere in the world, they managed to produce more […]
Tribes seek U.S. help to curb Canadian mining threats to Northwestern states
Indigenous leaders from the Northwest renewed their call last week for the federal government to pressure Canada to stop additional mining activity in British Columbia, which they say contaminates waters and threatens Native American ways of life in Alaska, Montana and Idaho. As British Columbia plans to expand its profitable coal, copper and gold mining […]