Contact: Sen. Miller
608-266-9170

Madison, Wisconsin – “This legislation raises more questions than it answers about the deal Governor Walker struck with Foxconn. And nowhere is this more apparent than the provisions that deal with our environment. We can’t know the full impact on the environment or local communities when we don’t know where the project is located. And that makes it pretty difficult to grant blanket exemptions from laws for air, water and land to be identified in the future.

“I shouldn’t be surprised – this is the Governor’s MO. A company wants to do business in Wisconsin, but only if they don’t have to follow the current environmental regulations. So legislative Republicans draft a bill that says Foxconn doesn’t have to follow those regulations. Republicans say “nothing in this bill rolls back standards” to try and justify the action. This is technically true – Foxconn is just not required to meet those standards thanks to exemptions from the law.
“That’s like saying, we’re not changing the speed limit for Foxconn – they can just drive as fast as they want. It happened with the G-Tac mining bill, it’s being attempted with the acid mining bill and it’s happening again here today.
“Environmental Impact Statements exist for a reason. They provide the public information. They put the full scope of a project in one place. And they can help mitigate concerns on the front end. Requiring these is the very least we can do to protect our air, water and land – resources that belong to everyone in Wisconsin. Not the Governor and certainly not a foreign company.”
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