I would say the real story here is the absolute giveaway this deal is to Foxconn.
The subsidy given to a giant corporation is now past $4 billion, to a company with revenue in the range of $140 billion. Specific exemptions are being cut to allow the company to not produce an environmental impact statement for any emissions or pollutants discharged. It's clear Scott Walker and co want to set a precedent for future deals.
This sort of corporate coziness between a mega corporation and a state not only is unfair to other businesses not getting the tax deal, but unfair to the citizens who had these regulations enacted.
Additionally the Great Lakes have a legacy of industrial pollution we're only starting to recover from. It's hard to understate how dead these lakes were and still are in many places. Tributary rivers once regularly caught on fire from pollutants sitting on the surface. Hundreds of thousands of acres surrounding the lakes are contaminated with heavy metals, PCBs, radioactive waste - uninhabitable without extreme treatment. These lakes are 1/5th of the world's fresh water.
This stemmed not just from the era of no pollution regulation, but even during the EPA era, there was an unwillingness for the government to enforce regulations on the big polluters and employers. Of course when the factories close and the full extent of pollution comes to public light, the companies who made the profit often have merged or evaporated beyond responsibility, leaving taxpayers on the hook with poisoned land and water.
Do you think the politicians making this deal will have any incentive to follow up and take action if Foxconn does start exceeding their already relaxed permitted emissions?
What is the effect of one bee sting? A minor pain and a bit of swelling.
What is the effect of 10,000 bee stings?
What's at issue is the perceived violation of the Great Lakes Compact. That is, the Foxconn side says they went through the proper procedures while those opposed argue that it uses a false front to make it seem like a legitimate use of lake water.
If this is judged to be legitimate then what will likely happen is about 10-20 years of companies using this method to get access to lake water, while a new compact is eventually put into place to disallow it.
dashundchen|7 years ago
The subsidy given to a giant corporation is now past $4 billion, to a company with revenue in the range of $140 billion. Specific exemptions are being cut to allow the company to not produce an environmental impact statement for any emissions or pollutants discharged. It's clear Scott Walker and co want to set a precedent for future deals.
This sort of corporate coziness between a mega corporation and a state not only is unfair to other businesses not getting the tax deal, but unfair to the citizens who had these regulations enacted.
Additionally the Great Lakes have a legacy of industrial pollution we're only starting to recover from. It's hard to understate how dead these lakes were and still are in many places. Tributary rivers once regularly caught on fire from pollutants sitting on the surface. Hundreds of thousands of acres surrounding the lakes are contaminated with heavy metals, PCBs, radioactive waste - uninhabitable without extreme treatment. These lakes are 1/5th of the world's fresh water.
This stemmed not just from the era of no pollution regulation, but even during the EPA era, there was an unwillingness for the government to enforce regulations on the big polluters and employers. Of course when the factories close and the full extent of pollution comes to public light, the companies who made the profit often have merged or evaporated beyond responsibility, leaving taxpayers on the hook with poisoned land and water.
Do you think the politicians making this deal will have any incentive to follow up and take action if Foxconn does start exceeding their already relaxed permitted emissions?
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/bro...
eesmith|7 years ago
What is the effect of 10,000 bee stings?
What's at issue is the perceived violation of the Great Lakes Compact. That is, the Foxconn side says they went through the proper procedures while those opposed argue that it uses a false front to make it seem like a legitimate use of lake water.
If this is judged to be legitimate then what will likely happen is about 10-20 years of companies using this method to get access to lake water, while a new compact is eventually put into place to disallow it.