Lake Michigan

Lifelong Lake Michigan Advocate Sounds Fresh Alarm Over Disappearing Fish

September 29, 2011 by The Political E...

Months Later, The Record About Waukesha Water And Growth Is Clarified

September 26, 2011 by The Political E...

Last year's discussion about a possible Lake Michigan water diversion to the City of Waukesha got a little-noticed clarification in the record after UWM consultants hired by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, (SEWRPC) had released a water and related issues of economic justice.

In digging through minutes of recent meetings of SEWRPC's Environmental Justice Task Force. (EJTF), I noticed a section in the January meeting minutes, and because I missed that meeting due to illness I add the information to the documentation about water, Waukesha and social justice that is gathered and archived on this blog.

The bracketed ID information is mine to help out readers with names and titles, and I have turned a reference to a newspaper story into a link to a URL:

Could Wauwatosa Dip Into Federal Water Project Funding Stream?

September 21, 2011 by The Political E...

The City of Wauwatosa is facing up to $84 million in sewer infrastructure work, and a lot of it means installing expensive new pipes:

For $34 million to $39 million, the city could install bigger pipes and a storage tank...

That's a big chuck of change, but the good news is that the city's Congressman, Fifth District Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, is already helping to prepare a federal grant plan to provide southeastern Wisconsin municipalities up to $100 million for water projects that include new pipes.

Note that the City of Waukesha, which hopes to get a big piece - - perhaps $50 million - - of the money to defray some of its possible Lake Michigan diversion expense, has said that other communities are eligible, too.

Said Daniel Duchniak, Waukesha's water utility general manager:

Follow The Waukesha Diversion Process On The DNR's Web Site, Pages

September 14, 2011 by The Political E...

Here is the link. Each bulleted item in the first paragraph - - Proposal, Background, EIS Process, etc. - - is a actually a button that takes you to a separate, detailed page.

Is Picking A Fight With New York State The Best Way For Walker To Get Waukesha's Diversion Application Approved?

September 13, 2011 by The Political E...

I can't imagine that they are turning handstands today at the Waukesha Common Council and Water Utility offices after reading that Gov. Walker and two Republican gubernatorial allies have picked a fight with Andrew Cuomo, New York state's Governor.

Cuomo has put into place tough rules to control the movement of invasive species that hide out in Great Lakes freighters' ballast water.

Everyone agrees that something must be done to halt the onslaught of invasive species entering the lakes via contaminated ballast tanks on overseas freighters sailing up the St. Lawrence Seaway. But the states can't agree on just how much regulation the shipping industry should be forced to endure.

New York took the lead when it developed a state ballast discharge rule far more stringent than any other Great Lakes state, and now a group of governors -- including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- is calling on New York to relax its regulations, which aren't scheduled to take effect until the middle of 2013.