League of Conservation Voters Meeting

Ann, Debbie and I went to the listening session. I found it quite helpful for learning about plausible environmental legislation for this legislative session. Everything they discussed is at the state level. The League of Conservation Voters is working with a whole group of WI environmental orgs to come up with a focused conservation agenda for the year. After listening sessions with citizens and discussions between reps from the participating organizations, four issues will be chosen. It seemed to me like we might have a lot to offer them by bringing a strong student force into the effort for one (or several) of the issues. Here are some of the issues they suggested. Many already are being worked on. They will wait until after the elections to pick the issues.

1. Restriction on Phosphorus in lawn fertilizer (a bill went through the senate last year, but died in the assembly).
2. Global warming- reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. This would be based around the recommendations of Doyle's task force.
3. Encouraging private land conservation (getting rid of tax disincentives for conservation, and perhaps adding a few incentives)
4. Hunter-angler-trapper bill of rights (making the head of the DNR an appointed, not elected position, requiring that Natural Resources Board nominees be voted on in a timely fashion, and requiring that money paid in hunting fees for conservation is used for just that)
5. Groundwater protection (quantity)
6. E-waste recycling (requiring that sellers of electronics like TVs and computers accept and organize recycling for electronics. There is a bill on this I think)
7. Pollution runoff in vulnerable landscapes (increasing management of manure in areas where it gets into wells due to geological features)