February 27, 2013 by Barbara With
Overpass Light Brigade, Madison WI on the eve of the legislature hearing the mining bill. Photo: Rebecca Kemble
Last night at Inn on the Park, WCMC caught up with Rep. John Nygren (R-89) and had some conversation about mining and water. He begins by telling us we have nothing to worry about, but by the end, we are told we have good reason to worry.
I believe him.
UPDATE: Upon arriving at the Capitol today, a friend who had been at the Inn on the Park before I arrived reported witnessing Nygren, Mary Williams, Bill Williams and other Republican legislators talking about the nutcase who gave the Natural Resources Committee the fingers and how she has this wacky idea that the water goes under Lake Superior and to her well on the island. He said he was uncomfortable with the cocky tone of their conversation. “You don’t put money before people,” my friend said. He merely went up to one of them, he thought was Nygren, and pointed to the lone blue felt water drop pinned to his shirt and asked, “Do you know what this is?” Nygren said, “No” and my friend responded, “I didn’t think so” and walked away.
Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative 
It really is obvious that this man has not even begun to understand the scientific facts of this issue. I hope he never accidentally drinks a cup of water from a -gwonderfully “unpoluted” stream in Wisconsin and ends up getting giardia or some other illness or poison. He might also get a little info from a hydro-geologist, or maybe just start to understand the idea of what a watershed is or how it functions. Last but not least, he might also let people know that you can get any law passed just by putting a deadline on it that automatically approves it if the regulatory agency can’t meet the deadline. All you have to do is just cut the funding for that part of the agency or cut the staffing so it is impossible for them to meet the deadline. The Republican party has been doing this for years with government agencies.