Friday, July 9, 2021

Worst budget in a decade

For Immediate Release: July 9, 2021

Media contact: Gregg May, 1000 Friends of WI - Transportation Policy Director, 402-707-7379, gregg@1kfriends.org

State transportation budget is most harmful in a decade

Transportation advocates condemn unprecedented cuts to Milwaukee and Madison transits stems while green-lighting the unnecessary I-94 E/W highway expansion project Governor Evers signed the 2021-23 biennial budget (2021 Wisconsin Act 58) on Thursday, which included a one-time 50% cut to the transit systems in Milwaukee and Madison over the next two years. 

While the shortfall in transit funding may be filled by federal COVID relief funds, it is not guaranteed. 

Additionally, the budget also funded the proposed $1.1 billion I-94 highway expansion in Milwaukee. This project will have significant impacts on the region’s population by creating new congestion and adding air pollution, while failing to help those who do not own a personal automobile or who are unable to drive.

Organizations from the Coalition for More Responsible Transportation (CMRT) issued the following statements:

“This transportation budget is devastating for all Wisconsinites,” said Gregg May, Transportation Policy Director at 1000 Friends of Wisconsin. “Wisconsin cannot continue to expand highways while gutting public transportation. It is bad for the environment, bad for transit riders, and bad for Wisconsin’s economic recovery. At a time when we should be making historic investments in transit to get people too jobs, we are doing the opposite. If these cuts cannot be filled with federal funds, it will lead to the largest disinvestment in public transit in a generation.”

“The majority of this budget maintains the status quo, which means lead in drinking water, public lands strapped for funding, air pollution, barriers to clean energy and energy efficiency, and a transportation system that is not working for Wisconsin residents. However, the budget does even more damage than inaction. The transportation budget in particular is adding insult to injury,” said Elizabeth Ward, Chapter Director at Sierra Club - Wisconsin. “Public transportation is critical for stopping a climate catastrophe and is an essential form of transportation that provides access to jobs, recreation and other opportunities.”

“The budget signed yesterday will slash transit funding in Milwaukee by 50% and fully fund a $1 billion, unnecessary highway expansion of I-94 (from 16th to 70th Streets). This budget is contrary to public opinion, damaging to the climate, and exposes our communities and environment to increased air and water pollution,” said Cheryl Nenn, Riverkeeper with Milwaukee Riverkeeper. “We should be working toward a greener, healthier, and more climate resilient future; this budget takes us backwards.”

“The cuts to transit are a devastating blow to people of color, low-income people, the elderly, the disabled, and anyone who, for whatever reason, does not drive”, said Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, Executive Director of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice. “Cutting transportation funding is short-sighted, as access to public transportation is one of the determinants of access to jobs, education, health care, and recreation, and therefore is a key driver of a robust economy. It is further short-sighted in reducing efforts to deal with climate change.”

“Wisconsin needs better public transit, not bigger highways," said Tony Wilkin Gibart, Executive Director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, "The new transportation budget cuts public transit funding in Milwaukee and Madison and, instead, funds the I-94 highway expansion project which has not yet been thoroughly reviewed, updated to reflect recent data, or subject to meaningful public input. This proposal would increase our dependence on cars, add to greenhouse gas emissions, disproportionately hurt Milwaukeeans of color and cause significant harm to surrounding neighborhoods. We are disappointed that the biennial budget misses an important opportunity to prioritize climate-friendly solutions.”

“Global warming is the most important challenge of our time and no investment should be made without considering it,” said Megan Severson, State Director for Wisconsin Environment. “Transportation is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our country, and we need a comprehensive approach to reducing transportation’s impact on the global climate crisis. We can only do this by getting people out of their cars and onto cleaner options, like public transit or a bicycle.”

“It’s clear from this latest budget that Wisconsin still has a misplaced appetite for costly, polluting and ineffective highway expansion projects,” said Susanna Cain, Transform Transportation Associate for WISPIRG. “COVID-19 has highlighted how stark our transportation needs truly are, especially for essential workers and low-income households without access to a car. Rather than cutting funding for public transportation and wasting money on highway boondoggles, we need to start using our taxpayer dollars more wisely by investing in public transit, walking and biking instead.”

Thursday, July 1, 2021

July Newsletter

 

Kid-Friendly Black River Paddling Weekend is BACK! July 24-25    After a hiatus last year due to COVID restrictions, the local Black River family paddling/camping trip is back! This kid-focused trip is offered to encourage young families, adults with kids, and the young-at-heart to join us on the water. We’ll stop to play and explore, hike up a hidden waterfall, cook-out and sleep in tents on a sandbar. For more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/SCBlkRvrTrp21

July 20: Highway Cleanup    Please join us on July 20 at 6 p.m. for our first IN PERSON highway cleanup in more than a year! We’ll meet at the pumping station just northwest of the
intersection of Gillette Street and River Valley Drive. There, you will get gloves, bags, and
vests. We’ll pick up trash along the roadway and then, meet up at Rudy’s Drive-In on La Crosse Street for some post-cleanup refreshments! If you have questions, please call Pat at 608-788-8831.

July 27: Farming While Black   The Wisconsin Sierra Club Water Team is hosting an important online discussion on Tuesday, July 27 at 7 p.m. about Sustainable Farming. The evening will begin with “Uprooting Racism, Seeding Sovereignty,” a keynote address delivered by Soul Fire Farm’s Co-Founder and Farm Manager, Leah Penniman. Her book, Farming
While Black, is, “the first comprehensive manual for African-heritage people ready to reclaim their rightful place of dignified agency in the food system.” Read more at www.farmingwhileblack.org and sign up for the screening and discussion at tinyurl.com/
WSCFarmingProg 

CAFO Updates and Actions   If you missed the excellent June 5 Farm/Factories/Future program, you can watch online at https://youtu.be/TadukhpIGwE

From Crawford Stewardship Project: Nearly 100 people made their voices heard on June 10th at the Wisconsin DNR hearing regarding the Roth Feeder Pig II operation in Crawford County. Many more have written in to the DNR directly. Noted concerns mentioned in the hearing
included water quality, water quantity, air quality, tourism, property values, and much more. There was only one person in favor of the factory farm, the operator himself.

We’re expecting the DNR to make a decision in the next couple weeks on whether they’ll be conducting an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which has been widely called for, or if they continue to move forward with the permitting of this facility. Despite the comment period officially ending for the permitting of the facility on June 17th, because the EIS request is a distinct determination, there should be continued requests to the DNR to complete an EIS. The Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA), a foundational environmental statute, mandates a broader scope than what’s being reviewed through the Roth permitting documents. 

Currently, topics like odor, air quality and socioeconomic effects would only be reviewed through an EIS, and is not something the DNR has considered up to this point. To ensure the DNR is reviewing the proposal holistically, please write to the below individuals to request an EIS. Let them know that they cannot permit Roth Feeder Pig to grow into the largest hog CAFO in the state on one of the most sensitive landscapes in the state, without a more thorough study and analysis to inform their decision, and add conditions to protect water, air,
soil, and our communities. If the DNR does not have the resources to adequately study potential impacts, they should simply not permit this operation.

Find the original request for an EIS, submitted in November by Midwest Environmental Advocates on behalf of CSP and over 200 local landowners and residents, and supported by many environmental, agricultural, good governance, and hunting/fishing organizations at https://crawfordstewardship.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Roth-EIS-Request.pdf Email your request for an EIS to David.Siebert@wisconsin.gov, Todd.Ambs@wisconsin.gov and
Preston.Cole@wisconsin.gov. 

GRANTS FOR TEACHERS, STUDENTS   CRSC will again award grants for environmental
education projects involving young people at the elementary and middle school level to school or community organizations. In addition, a new Stewardship Grant, will be added for high school seniors who demonstrate leadership, action, public engagement and understanding of the importance of environmental stewardship
.
Those in Crawford, Grant, Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Richland, Trempealeau and Vernon
counties are eligible to apply. Watch for application information and links in our August and fall newsletters! 

JULY EVENTS
July 20 - The Sustainability Institute will host an online Sustainability Chat at 3 p.m. featuring a virtual tour of sustainability projects at La Crosse’s Hamilton Early Learning Center/SOTA I, which include a solar array and food forest. Ben Burns, Hamilton-SOTA principal, and community partner, SOLS, will share their stories. Register (free) at tinyurl.com/SusChat0721

July 22 - La Crosse Area Transit Advocates will host a Ride SMRT to Viroqua day trip. Participants will ride the mid-morning Scenic Mississippi Regional Transit bus from La Crosse to Viroqua, spend the day seeing the sights, and return via SMRT to La Crosse in late afternoon. Jackie Eastwood, Transportation Planner with the La Crosse Area Planning Committee, will talk about the SMRT program during the morning ride. Read more: LaCrosseTransitAdvocates.org

The La Crosse County Comprehensive Planning Committee will focus on Farmland Preservation in July and plans a public event with area farmers to hear of their concerns and ideas. We will post the date on our social media as soon as it’s available. 

PFAS   Many communities across the country, including La Crosse, are dealing with PFAS contamination in drinking water. But PFAS are found in many more things from makeup to househood goods to bottled water to compost. The Center for Environmental Health has a single use foodware database at ceh.org/products/single-use-containers/ and Consumer Reports talks about bottled water PFAS at tinyurl.com/CRPFASWater.