How Low Should It Go + Whose Problem Is It? 

Right Back to Business   

With the state inauguration festivities all done, it's back to work for our state senators and representatives. And with their majority reinstated in both houses, Republican leaders lost no time in announcing that passing a mining reform bill is at the top of their to-do list. Assembly leader Robin Vos indicated that the Assembly will introduce a bill as early as next week. They have also made it clear that that bill will be based on the disastrous Assembly mining bill passed in the last session. While we haven't yet seen a bill, all indications suggest that the damaging changes they make to water protection and public participation are still there.

The River Alliance of Wisconsin does not oppose mining that would follow current environmental regulations, not exempt itself from the law, nor weaken environmental laws. But we oppose any changes to current laws and regulations that cut out public involvement, including limiting citizen suits and contested case hearings.  

 

When bill language is released as early as next week, we will need you, our members, to call or write your elected leaders and let them know Wisconsinites don't support the destruction of clean water, air and land to benefit one mining company who doesn't like our rules. Keep an eye out for our electronic alerts and watch for our posts on Facebook and Twitter. Things may move fast and we will have to as well.      

 

Putting Conflict to Rest on Rest Lake Dam       

We've written in the past about resource conflicts surrounding the management of Rest Lake Dam on Manitowish River in northern Wisconsin. The dam established water levels on a popular and highly developed chain of lakes, but also controls downstream flows on a high quality river with a sturgeon population and downstream residents. Since the 1930s, the dam has been operated entirely for the benefit of lake users at the expense of the river.

Growing concern over damage to wetlands, fisheries and the backyards of downstream landowners led the DNR to undertake an eight-year study of the system in order to created an updated flow order  --the final set of rules governing dam operations. DNR recently completed an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the dam.  The EA is an excellent assessment of the natural resource and social issues surrounding the management of Rest Lake Dam.

River Alliance submitted comments to the DNR both praising the analysis and emphasizing the need for a final flow order that provides for more holistic flows and not just a minimum amount of water that needs to be passed over the dam. (Read the River Alliance comments on the EA.) This is an important opportunity for DNR to formally recognize that healthy rivers need more than just a minimum amount of water to be resilient: a flow order should look at how much water is released, for how long and at what time of day to balance the needs of people and creatures above and below the dam.

DNR will use the EA to draft the flow order in the coming months. This is sure to be a controversial topic, given the many divergent stakeholders around the lake and the lake district's unwillingness to make even slight changes to the operation of the dam.