Wednesday, March 7, 2018

At the Foxconn hearing, public clarity, special interest chaff

In the wake of Foxconn's 7 million gallon daily ask for Lake Michigan water under an agreement intended for public purposes, not a private firm's benefit, two things:


*  I'm impressed with the strong, informed turnout and statements at the Foxconn diversion hearing reported Wednesday. 
"I’m worried that by fudging compact provisions and by allowing clear definitions to slide, it really does set a harmful precedent," said Jodi Habush Sinykin, with Midwest Environmental Advocates.
The Walker administration keeps trying to stamp out democratic process - - in the legislature for a sand mining company and at an important state board for a Walker donor/golf course developer - - so it's great to see the people Wednesday night having none of it.

*  I am not impressed with the public relations blitz launched on the eve of the hearing by the company, also reported Wednesday, in part:
"Foxconn is fully committed to complying with all appropriate rules and regulations that apply to our operations and to being a responsible corporate citizen. Environmental sustainability is a priority and that includes compliance with the Great Lakes Compact..."
Saying the company "is fully committed to complying with all appropriate rules and regulations that apply to our operations" and also pledging that the company says "environmental sustainability's a priority," after the State of Wisconsin contractually and legislatively under GOP/Walker rule exempted the company from standard environmental site reviews and/or obtaining routine permits to protect wetlands, lakes and streams is like expecting praise for following a diet rewritten to  approve all the cheeseburgers, ice cream, hot dogs and candy bars you want.




4 comments:

Jake formerly of the LP said...

Foxconn is fully committed to following the law...which has allowed them to extract more resources and spew more pollution into the waterways.

The more we know about the Fox-con, the worse it gets.

Anonymous said...

State of Wisconsin wished away water protections?

Republicans did. And Peter Barca of course with a few other collaborators.

But the Fox Con is a Republican operation.

Let's acknowledge this and lay the Fox Con around the necks of every Republican in the upper half of Wisconsin.

Fox Con is less popular than the 36 percent approval it garners up-state, as indicated in the Marquette U Law School poll.
https://law.marquette.edu/poll/

James Rowen said...

Of course Foxconn is principally a product of Republican Party power and I edited the post to reflect that.

Anonymous said...

Last fall I was reading an article about the water FoxCon would be using and it was then that an analyst projected 14 million gallons a day would be needed. I think, for now, FoxCon is underestimating the truth.