Owners near Foxconn say they were misled. Now their homes are gone

September 3, 2019 6:00 am Leave a comment

Kim Mahoney stands in the kitchen of her house in Mount Pleasant on July 1. She and her family have not accepted an offer from the village of Mount Pleasant to sell their new house and property to make way for the Foxconn plant. “Their offer doesn’t make us whole, it comes up way short,” she says. Mahoney says several of her neighbors were pressured into selling their houses for road widenings that are no longer planned. (Photos by Coburn Dukehart/Wisconsin Watch)

In late summer 2017, Cathy and Rodney Jensen started hearing rumors that their Mount Pleasant neighborhood could be changing.

Tagged with: eminent domain Foxconn Interstate 94 roads Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Frack expansion plans draw flack

May 6, 2016 1:33 pm Leave a comment

A blasting operation at Pattison Sand Co.'s surface mine in Iowa is shown on Sept. 14 from across the Mississippi River in Bagley, Wis. Homeowners Jim and Kathy Kachel say dust from the mine has gotten inside of their home. (Photo courtesy of Jim Kachel)

A controversial frack sand mining company that recently opened a site in Wisconsin is facing opposition to plans for a sevenfold expansion of its underground mine in Clayton County, Iowa.

Tagged with: frac sand

Lead pipes, antiquated law threaten state’s drinking water quality

February 2, 2016 11:43 am Leave a comment

City of Madison crews replace lead service lines leading into a home recently. The city’s decade-long lead pipe replacement program, begun in 2001, is considered a model of how to remove harmful lead from municipal water systems. Current federal regulations require only replacement of utility-owned lead pipes, which can increase rather than decrease lead levels in water. (Photo courtesy of the Madison Water Utility)

Experts, and even some regulators, say existing laws are failing to protect Wisconsin and the nation from harmful exposure to lead that leaches into drinking water from aging plumbing — a danger shown by the public-health emergency in Flint, Mich.

Tagged with: American Water Works Association EPA lead Milwaukee Water Works

State workers punished after curbing nonunion elevator shop

February 2, 2015 8:58 am Leave a comment

A state regulatory agency’s investigation into complaints alleging that a nonunion elevator-service contractor was unfairly targeted has led to two state employees being disciplined and two more leaving.

Tagged with: DSPS

‘Beneficial reuse’ of coal ash could taint water supply

December 26, 2014 6:39 am Leave a comment

It’s not a good sign when even the dogs won’t drink the tap water.

DNR lets ruling stand on dairy’s water permit

November 26, 2014 1:14 pm Leave a comment

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp recently declined a large dairy farm’s request that she overturn an administrative law judge’s ruling on its water-discharge permit.

Tagged with: DNR permits

Judge blames regulatory failure for toxic wells

October 31, 2014 1:13 pm Leave a comment

An administrative law judge has ruled that "massive regulatory failure" led to groundwater contamination in a dairy farming region and that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources must take steps to prevent further pollution.

Tagged with: DNR EPA Wells

Under Walker, state lags in updating building, safety codes

September 29, 2014 8:53 am Leave a comment

Construction of commercial and multifamily buildings in Wisconsin is subject to 2009 national model code standards, adopted by the state in 2011. The next three-year model code, for 2012, never was adopted in Wisconsin and likely will not be adopted, given that the 2015 standards already have been released.

Photo by Kate Golden, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

In November 2011, industry consultant Robert DuPont wrote a letter urging the head of the newly created state Department of Safety and Professional Services to continue the state’s tradition of using advisory councils to keep its regulatory and safety codes up to date.

Tagged with: ABC building codes commercial building code