Contact: Staush Gruszynski, Northeast Organizer, 920-429-9008, 920-216-3793 (cell), staush@conservationvoters.org
Northeast Wisconsin Citizens Support Strong Conservation Protections
Green Bay – Today, conservation leaders representing thousands of their members, hunters, fishermen, and voters from Northeast Wisconsin urged area elected officials to oppose The Polluters Over People Bill (SS ABSB24). The bill constitutes a sweeping rollback of conservation protections that have been on the books for decades. The Polluters Over People Bill:
Rewards bad actors and polluting special interests;
Cuts the public out of decisions that impact their waterways;
Guts Wisconsin’s water quality protections;
Threatens water quantity in Wisconsin’s lakes, streams, and wells;
Undermines Wisconsin’s clean air protections;
Serves as a backdoor attempt to weaken Wisconsin’s mining laws.
On the final point, Northeast Wisconsin residents are clear. “Everyone saw the devastating piece of mining legislation from last spring that was stopped because of an extreme amount of public outcry from across the state. State legislators can call this bill whatever they like. We are calling it a mining bill because when we see glaring similarities, we are not fooled,” said Randal Rake, Vice President of Green Bay Trout Unlimited.
Last week at the state Capitol, legislators heard from citizens who oppose the bill for nearly nine hours. “Today, we are in Green Bay to tell our local legislators that we too oppose The Polluters Over People Bill. In fact, a recent poll shows that we oppose it more than anyone. We want to make sure legislators are hearing Northeast Wisconsin citizens loud and clear. We support strong protections for our lakes, streams, and rivers,” explained Staush Gruszynski of Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters and Green Bay resident.
A joint hearing on The Polluters Over People Bill was held in the Assembly and Senate Natural Resource Committees last week. 229 people testified or registered against the bill from across Wisconsin. No further action is scheduled on the bill at this time. However, because it is a “special session” bill, it could move with little notice.
For more information, please visit the dedicated mining page of our website and/or this analysis of The Polluters Over People Bill.
