The latest issue of the WI DNR magazine "Wisconsin Natural Resources" carries a retrospective 50-year-timeline that barely gives former Secretary Cathy Stepp's almost seven-year tenure its due.
She gets these credits:
* Had climate change information and links deleted from the DNR's Great Lakes climate change webpage - - discovered by this blog. The story gets wide circulation.
* Dragged her feet complying with federal clean water obligations.
* Though holding what is traditionally a non-partisan position, Stepp made overtly partisan appearances on Milwaukee right-wing AM talk radio in support of legislation to enable a controversial open-pit iron ore mine in wetland-rich northwestern Wisconsin just upriver from Ojibwe waters and wild-rice growing estuaries.
The mine never opened. The bill, written with input by the mining company which also secretly routed large campaign donations to benefit Gov. Walker, was passed by the legislature and signed by Walker.
The law is still on the books. It drastically reduced iron ore permit review periods and watered-down public participation in the permitting process.
* Assigned DNR work opposing President Obama's clean air program to a senior DNR politically-appointed staffer who had been the environmental spokesman at a former employer, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. The group has a long history opposing some clean air initiatives.
* Supported Walker's defunding of the century-old DNR's bi-monthly magazine. The move, allegedly to save money though the magazine was self-supporting, provoked such widespread opposition that the decision was overturned.
The magazine survives as a quarterly, and has yet to run any more articles about climate change which some had cited as a reason for its proposed elimination.
* Did not fight for science staff positions eliminated by Gov. Walker.
* Wished for staffers as pliable as the restaurant workers she had supervised in a previous job as a McDonald's manager.
* Did throw staff statewide a Halloween party.
* Moved to reduce inspection and enforcement actions, stressing voluntary compliance by the regulated.
* Moved towards allowing the regulated to hire private experts to draft their DNR permits.
* Routinely failed to follow its own pollution enforcement rules, and allowed widespread fecal contamination in rural water supplies near large dairy cattle operations which vastly expanded under Stepp's management.
* Allowed a senior staffer to influence the issuance of civil citations only against a human waste hauling polluter who had donated to the staffer's earlier political campaign committee. The civil citation penalty was approved by Stepp's deputy - - himself a former building organization executive.
* Had DNR employees remove a pet deer from a private animal shelter, and euthanize it. The DNR's website then crashed after large numbers of people objected; a panicked Gov. Walker hurriedly proposed a bill to make sure there were no more such outrages.
* Separately shot and killed a deer during hunting season. The DNR memorialized it photographically, below.
Stepp disclosed she did not make eye contact with the animal before she fired.
Some commenters have noted that the deer was pretty small.
* Lauded reduced environmental reviews for the Foxconn project, and waxed eloquently over its the arrival - - despite its promised wetland filling and farmland destruction. And laid the groundwork for quick DNR air pollution permit approvals - - no surprise there - - after her departure.
Those approvals will allow Foxconn to spew nearly 800 tons of new, annual emissions.
Another DNR approval OK'ed a diversion of millions of gallons of water daily from Lake Michigan, and the projected return to the lake of Foxconn wastewater with as yet-to-be-identified substances.
* In her capacity as a private citizen - - but identified by media as the DNR Secretary - - Stepp spoke at a rally in support of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, where she urged women voters to back him - - "this is our time, ladies," - - and later claimed she was unaware that Trump was a climate change denier.
* Resigned her DNR secretaryship in 2017 to work in Donald Trump's EPA run by the environmentally-hostile Scott Pruitt. She is now director of the key, Great Lakes regional office, headquartered in Chicago, and oversees EPA policies in Wisconsin.
She gets these credits:
"*As DNR Secretary launches Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and redesigned website for better customer service. * CWD is detected in Washburn County and the state hires an independent deer trustee to review Wisconsin Deer management. * Voluntary Public Access Program is enacted to encourage landowners to allow public use. * Participation in Green Tier programs grows from 46 businesses in 2009 to 86 in 2010. * DNR introduces streamlined water quality permit process for large-scale dairies."I know - - space considerations - - but here, for the record, is some of what did not make it into print, as Stepp, with her well-documented corporate focus:
* Had climate change information and links deleted from the DNR's Great Lakes climate change webpage - - discovered by this blog. The story gets wide circulation.
* Dragged her feet complying with federal clean water obligations.
* Though holding what is traditionally a non-partisan position, Stepp made overtly partisan appearances on Milwaukee right-wing AM talk radio in support of legislation to enable a controversial open-pit iron ore mine in wetland-rich northwestern Wisconsin just upriver from Ojibwe waters and wild-rice growing estuaries.
The mine never opened. The bill, written with input by the mining company which also secretly routed large campaign donations to benefit Gov. Walker, was passed by the legislature and signed by Walker.
The law is still on the books. It drastically reduced iron ore permit review periods and watered-down public participation in the permitting process.
* Assigned DNR work opposing President Obama's clean air program to a senior DNR politically-appointed staffer who had been the environmental spokesman at a former employer, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. The group has a long history opposing some clean air initiatives.
* Supported Walker's defunding of the century-old DNR's bi-monthly magazine. The move, allegedly to save money though the magazine was self-supporting, provoked such widespread opposition that the decision was overturned.
The magazine survives as a quarterly, and has yet to run any more articles about climate change which some had cited as a reason for its proposed elimination.
* Did not fight for science staff positions eliminated by Gov. Walker.
* Wished for staffers as pliable as the restaurant workers she had supervised in a previous job as a McDonald's manager.
* Did throw staff statewide a Halloween party.
* Moved towards allowing the regulated to hire private experts to draft their DNR permits.
* Routinely failed to follow its own pollution enforcement rules, and allowed widespread fecal contamination in rural water supplies near large dairy cattle operations which vastly expanded under Stepp's management.
* Allowed a senior staffer to influence the issuance of civil citations only against a human waste hauling polluter who had donated to the staffer's earlier political campaign committee. The civil citation penalty was approved by Stepp's deputy - - himself a former building organization executive.
* Had DNR employees remove a pet deer from a private animal shelter, and euthanize it. The DNR's website then crashed after large numbers of people objected; a panicked Gov. Walker hurriedly proposed a bill to make sure there were no more such outrages.
* Separately shot and killed a deer during hunting season. The DNR memorialized it photographically, below.
Stepp disclosed she did not make eye contact with the animal before she fired.
Some commenters have noted that the deer was pretty small.
* Lauded reduced environmental reviews for the Foxconn project, and waxed eloquently over its the arrival - - despite its promised wetland filling and farmland destruction. And laid the groundwork for quick DNR air pollution permit approvals - - no surprise there - - after her departure.
Those approvals will allow Foxconn to spew nearly 800 tons of new, annual emissions.
Another DNR approval OK'ed a diversion of millions of gallons of water daily from Lake Michigan, and the projected return to the lake of Foxconn wastewater with as yet-to-be-identified substances.
* In her capacity as a private citizen - - but identified by media as the DNR Secretary - - Stepp spoke at a rally in support of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, where she urged women voters to back him - - "this is our time, ladies," - - and later claimed she was unaware that Trump was a climate change denier.
* Resigned her DNR secretaryship in 2017 to work in Donald Trump's EPA run by the environmentally-hostile Scott Pruitt. She is now director of the key, Great Lakes regional office, headquartered in Chicago, and oversees EPA policies in Wisconsin.
from The Political Environment https://ift.tt/2LZTEgD
Breaking News: DNR highlights Stepp's career. Let's fill in the blanks - News Paper
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