Scott Walker Celebrates Earth Day by Firing 57 Environmental Agency Employees

[highplainsdem]

Source: Mother Jones

Happy Earth Day! Today is a day we can all band together and share our love for this beautiful planet—or at least drown our sorrows about climate change with nerdy themed cocktails. Later today, President Barack Obama will mark the occasion with a climate-focused speech in the Florida Everglades. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, had a different idea: Fire a big chunk of the state's environmental staff.

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Fifty-seven employees of the state Department of Natural Resources began receiving formal notices this week that they might face layoff as part of Gov. Scott Walker's budget for the next two fiscal years…

-snip-

All told, Walker's budget would cut 66 positions from the DNR. Of this, more than 25% would come from the science group. Cosh said a smaller number of employees received notices than the 66 positions in the budget because some positions targeted for cuts are vacant.

-snip-


Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2015/04/scott-walker-happy-earth-day-youre-fired

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More from the Sentinel:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/fifty-seven-dnr-staff-receive-layoff-notices-b99486014z1-300927681.html

In an email, a DNR employee who received the notice circulated her concerns to others in an email asking to "do what I dare not" and contact members of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, which will take up DNR funding on Wednesday.

"Never mind that I, like most others targeted, are federally funded or funded from (a segregated account) and not general purpose revenue," the employee said. "Thus, this measure will have no effect on the state budget."

[turbinetree]

1. Fire

Walker
Why hasn't he been brought before the DOJ to ask about the campaign slush funds he has and why the criminal investigation in his campaign finance has taken so long---I mean really, its just like the other Bozo---Chris Christie), and his staff was using public property ( computers ect...) on state property to break those laws.
Or is the corruption just that bad now

[Taylorz]

2. Well, considering every branch of the government in Wisconsin is R-controlled

Yeah, the corruption is bad.

They control the voting machines. Controlled by the Koch Industries.

Give the voters reason to vote for that person, not lesser of evil choices. Those things don't work.

[donnasgirl]

3. It could be

Because Walker is to big to prosecute.

[turbinetree]

5. No

if you break the law, any law you go before your peers, show the public the evidence, right now there are state and federal election campaign finance laws that have been broken, he has had six of his underlings put in jail of using state offices has campaign sites, they cannot put up a sign on state property saying vote for this person, private building yes, but not sate or federal property.
The Wisconsin courts have been letting this guy walk around like he is above the law, he is not, that is why I am asking why the FEC has not stepped in, he has basically admitted twice once on the phone and with some lady that is a millionaire in the state where she and him were talking and he made a promise and she would back him on whatever it took to break the unions
---that is corruption

[donnasgirl]

6. Just asking

But if these laws were broken why is it Eric Holder isn't prosecuting the douche bag, or could it be he thinks walker is just like the banks and to big to prosecute.

[laserhaas]

4. We had a MO African American elected and white guys quit

Walker turns that into - do what we GOP say - or we'll Donald Trump you!

[SoapBox]

7. Unfortunately WI...

You bought him, so you own him.

...pretty bad.

[Ed Suspicious]

11. unfotunately, america, you bought Bush. Now you own him.

This game is fruitless and stupid.

[appalachiablue]

12. touche, just sayin'

[Ed Suspicious]

13. it sucks, but it's salt in the wounds of DUers who couldnt have

Worked harder to deny him his office.

[aggiesal]

16. I agree ...

But I wonder how many of those being let go actually voted for Walker?
Just by pure statistics, you know there are people that supported Walker that will be fired.

What did they think was going to happen?

[wordpix]

24. I doubt any environmentalist at DNR voted for the creep

[Jim__]

8. It looks good in the republican primary.

We need to remember this if he's their nominee - maybe we can come up with an ad for TV.

[wordpix]

25. "ad for TV"---excellent idea + add internet vids

My vision: show some of the scenes (below) with whatever footage is available. Voiceover says, "Scott Walker, puppet for the billionaire Koch Bros." Flash KochBro quote about supporting Walker. Show 57 DNR employees cut by Walker and date. Fade to black.

http://polluterwatch.com/koch-industries

Two chlorine dioxide chemical leaks from a Koch-owned cellulose facility in Taylor County Florida in May, 2014.

Subsidiaries of Koch Carbon have accumulated massive piles of petroleum coke in U.S. cities like Detroit and Chicago, where the toxic dust has blown into peoples' homes from a 5-story-tall pile of petcoke. Petcoke is a byproduct of refining tar sands that is usually burned like coal. Petcoke, which is more carbon-intensive than coal, is typically exported and burned in other countries with little to no air or climate regulations. While Detroit's mayor ordered Koch to move its petcoke pile, Chicago regulators and politicians have not acted with the same urgency despite sustained local protests from community members, nurses, and threats of lawsuits from environmental groups. In response, Koch claims it will add protections to its unlined pile, which could take two years.

Facing "enormous" cleanup costs for soil and groundwater contamination and high crude oil prices, Flint Hills announced in 2014 that it would permanently close its North Pole refinery outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. Koch blames contamination on the refinery's previous owner, Williams Companies.

Ongoing releases of benzene and other chemicals from Koch's oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, where refinery communities experience high rates of illnesses.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic chemical contamination from Koch-owned Georgia-Pacific facility in Crossett, Arkansas, as reported in 2011.

In 2009, the US Justice Department and EPA announced in 2009 that Koch Industries' Invista subsidiary would pay a $1.7 million penalty and spend $500 million to fix environmental violations at facilities in seven states, in an agreement with the US EPA and Department of Justice.

In May 2001, Koch Industries paid $25 million to settle with the US Government over a long-standing suit brought by Bill Koch - one of the brothers bought out in 1983 - for the company's long-standing practice of illegally removing oil from federal and Indian lands.

In late 2000, the company was charged with covering up the illegal releases of 91 tons of the known carcinogen benzene from its refinery in Corpus Christi. Initially facing a 97-count indictment and potential fines of $350 million, Koch cut a deal with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to drop all major charges in exchange for a guilty plea for falsifying documents, and a $20 million settlement.

In 2000, the EPA fined Koch Industries $30 million for its role in 300 oil spills that resulted in more than three million gallons of crude oil leaking into ponds, lakes, streams and coastal waters.

In 1999 a Koch subsidiary pleaded guilty to charges that it had negligently allowed aviation fuel to leak into waters near the Mississippi River from its refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota, and that it had illegally dumped a million gallons of high-ammonia wastewater onto the ground and into the Mississippi.

Koch's negligence toward environmental safety has led to tragic losses of life. In 1996, a rusty Koch pipeline leaked flammable butane near a Texas residential neighborhood. Warned by the smell of gas, two teenagers drove their truck toward the nearest payphone to call for help, but they never made it. Sparks from their truck ignited the gas cloud and the two burned alive. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that "the probable cause of this accident was the failure of Koch to adequately protect its pipeline from corrosion" and the ineffectiveness of Koch's program to educate local residents about how to respond during a pipeline leak.

The inability of Koch companies to avoid pollution incidents stands in contrast with Charles Koch's "Guiding Principles" of his trademarked corporate management theory, "Market-Based Management," which states, "Strive for 10,000% compliance with all laws and regulations, which requires 100% of employees fully complying 100% of the time." This also excludes from consideration the ways in which Koch is permitted to legally pollute.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

9. .

[JDPriestly]

10. Scott Walker is despicable.

[blackspade]

14. Walker us such a scumbag.

More of the GOP war on science.

[Enthusiast]

15. Just when Wisconsin needs Environmental Agency Employees more than ever Walker fires them.

ASSHOLE!

[Initech]

17. Scott Walker is an economic terrorist.

[Cryptoad]

18. wow,,, what an assclown,,,,

just think what he could do at the National Level......

[wordpix]

23. just remember his billionaire puppetmasters are the KochBros

This is just the puppet doing the work of the masters

[lobodons]

19. Koch Brothers do not want Science guys

Koch Brothers do not want Science guys in government interfering with their destruction of the Earth for their wallet.

[red dog 1]

20. Recall Election Fraud in Wisconsin? You Betcha!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125144291


46 Wisconsin counties and 3,000 voting machines are being controlled by a two-person company operating out of a strip mall in Minnesota
"Meet Command Central: The People in Charge of Wisconsin Voting Machines"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/


Thanks for posting this, highplainsdem.

[midnight]

21. kick.

[wordpix]

22. Koch Industries in WI link from Koch Ind.

https://www.kochind.com/files/wisconsinfacts.pdf

Coal, oil, timber, chemicals ----these guys of course don't want any interference in their environmental devastation.

[Sunlei]

26. So the state will return the Federal funds that paid for those positions?

or do the American citizens have to make another federal case over republican scams for Americans Federal dollars?

[Half-Century Man]

27. I'll say this,

At least one of Scott Walkers handlers has a foul sense of comedic timing.

I swear the guy is a muppet, a great big doofy muppet that requires several handlers working just out of sight for it to dance and sing in public. Sort of a "Fuck You" Elmo.