MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin conservationists warned Monday that Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to exempt a massive Foxconn electronic plant from key environmental regulations would leave the public in the dark about the plant’s impact, jeopardize wetlands and set an alarming precedent.
President Donald Trump announced last week that Wisconsin had won a high-stakes interstate battle for the $10 billion plant. Plans call for building a 20 million-square-foot plant on a 1.56-square-mile campus somewhere in southeastern Wisconsin. The company hasn’t selected an exact location but is eyeing sites in Racine and Kenosha counties.
Spurred by Foxconn’s promise to create as many as 13,000 jobs, Walker’s office released a bill Friday that would hand the company $3 billion worth of incentives. The bill includes provisions that would lift the requirement that state agencies prepare environmental impact statements on plant construction and operations.
The measure also would exempt Foxconn from obtaining state permits for a wide range of activities, including filling wetlands, building on lake or river beds, changing the course of streams, building artificial water bodies that connect to existing waterways and modifying shorelines. The state Department of Natural Resources could choose whether to require Foxconn get permits for bridge and culvert construction.
Midwest Environmental Advocates attorney Sarah Geers said environmental impact statements provide the public with a detailed, wide-lens analysis of a project’s impact, enabling builders and government officials to find ways to mitigate the effects. Without such analyses, no one will know what harm the plant might cause.