Environmental protection at risk

Protecting water and air quality will increasingly depend on state action as the Environmental Protection Agency and federal environmental acts are headed to become ineffective under Trump. Similarly, state environmental laws and the Department of Natural Resources have been consistently weakened under Walker. This trend continues with a proposal by Republican Sen. Adam Jarchow of Balsam Lake to split the DNR into five different agencies — parks; forestry; environment; hunting and fishing; and enforcement. Breaking up the DNR would make conservation more costly and less effective and make it harder for citizens to have their problems addressed...