It appears influence peddling is alive and well in Wisconsin.  See the article below about one of the Governor Walker's top appointed officials at the WDNR stepping in to let a polluter off the hook for over $37,000 in fines.

Governor Walker has praised his appointees’ approach, stating that, “increasing compliance and decreasing the number of… violations is a good thing for Wisconsin’s valuable natural resources…[and] our economy…”

Milwaukee Riverkeeper disagrees, believing if we are to deter future violations (a good thing even according to Governor Walker), then penalties must be sufficiently large to punish the polluter.  For more information see the article below.

A recent Journal Sentinel article, the "Fate of Wauwatosa's Historic Buildings in Flux" describes the sorry state of the existing Eschweiler Buildings on the Milwaukee County Grounds and their uncertain future.

They are part of the 89 acre parcel of the County Grounds that Milwaukee County sold last year to the UWM Real Estate Foundation for development of Innovation Park - a project to include a university research building as well as privately owned technology-oriented companies and other uses.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper Cheryl Nenn recently had an editorial published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel regarding Waukesha's Water issues.  The comments are in relation to a letter sent from the Mayors of Milwaukee, Racine and Oak Creek which was also published in the Journal Sentinel.  To view that letter click here.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper's letter to the editor is below:

[excerpted from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

by Cheryl Nenn, Milwaukee Riverkeeper

An April 22 article detailed how Milwaukee officials are getting closer to negotiating with Waukesha to sell Lake Michigan water if Waukesha's application for a Great Lakes diversion is approved by Wisconsin and seven other Great Lakes states.

Milwaukee is right to proceed cautiously when making a decision to sell water to Waukesha. The decision affects not only our waterways but also our economy. This is why Milwaukee passed a resolution in 2008 that requires consideration of housing, transportation and other socioeconomic factors when making decisions about water sales and the true "costs" of selling water.

The numbers are in, and....duh-da-duh...The 17th Annual Spring River Cleanup is our biggest yet!

Over 4,150 volunteers came out to 52 sites throughout the Greater Milwaukee area on Saturday, April 21st.  Citizens picked up all kinds of river trash from car tires to sofas to computer monitors. 

Milwaukee Riverkeepr thanks everyone who lent a hand (or two) to make our waterways and river parkways more beautiful, and a special thank you to our tireless volunteer coordinators who put in the hours recruiting volunteers and coordinating the day!  This wonderful event could not have been done with you.  

Milwaukee Riverkeeper, through its attorneys Midwest Environmental Advocates, has sent a notice of intent to sue under the Clean Water Act to ChemWorks Inc. (also known as Advanced Waste Services), a Milwaukee-area centralized waste treater.

The notice asserts that ChemWorks, which discharges its wastewater into the sewer system operated by MMSD, has dumped excessive amounts of a variety of toxic chemicals into the sewer. This is a problem for area waters because MMSD’s sewer system is not designed to remove these chemicals, but instead relies on companies like ChemWorks to not release them into the sewer in the first place.