CNOW for Feb. 20, 2024

Today's conservation notices:

• Support Todd Ambs for the Natural Resources Board

• Oppose SB 316 and AB 318: Poisoning Our Ponds

• Oppose LRB 5689 and LRB 5895: Creating More Hoops for Clean Energy

• Support LRB 5897: Permitting PFAS Groundwater Protections to Move Forward

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support Todd Ambs for the Natural Resources Board, who is before the Senate on Tuesday.

Our Department of Natural Resources is charged with managing our fish and wildlife, protecting our lands, and ensuring that every Wisconsinite can breathe clean air and drink safe water. As the governing body responsible for setting policy at the Department of Natural Resources, it is critical that members of our Natural Resources Board have deep experience with this wide and critically important range of responsibilities. Todd Ambs is a highly qualified nominee who brings decades of that experience.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 316 and AB 318, which are before the Senate and Assembly on Tuesday.

Wisconsinites should have a right to know and influence what chemicals are being added to our water. SB 316 and AB 318 would allow individuals to add certain chemicals to shared waters without Department of Natural Resources oversight and without the consent of impacted neighbors.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose LRB 5689 and LRB 5895, which are circulating for cosponsorship.

Investments in large-scale wind and solar energy will reduce pollution from burning fossil fuels, which is better for our health and our environment. The Public Service Commission reviews all energy projects following a deliberative process that allows for public input. LRB 5689 and LRB 5895 would create a new process requiring local government approval of projects that do not exist for other, more polluting sources of energy.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5897, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

We need to establish groundwater standards for PFAS, which are critical to protecting the approximately one-third of Wisconsinites who rely on private wells for their drinking water. In December, the Department of Natural Resources paused their work on this process due to the 2017 REINS Act, which requires the Legislature to authorize rulemaking efforts if new rules exceed $10 million in compliance costs to businesses, local governmental units, and individuals. LRB 5897 would permit the rulemaking process to continue.

Conservation Notices of the Week (CNOW) announces the pro-conservation positions on issues before the senate, assembly and/or governor in the week ahead to state legislators. Others wishing to follow activities in the state legislature also receive CNOW, including legislative staff, conservation voters, and media. All of these issues are tracked on the Vote Tracker. Issues in the CNOW may appear in the Conservation Scorecard.