---

Dear Senator Marklein:
We are a group of your constituents who are alarmed and concerned about the quality of groundwater in Wisconsin generally and in areas of southwest Wisconsin that you represent. Seventy percent of Wisconsin residents obtain their drinking water from groundwater. Farmers rely on safe groundwater for crop and livestock production. Business owners rely on groundwater for manufacturing and commerce. Fish and wildlife rely on uncontaminated rivers, streams, and lakes for their survival.
On August 31, 2018, the Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council (GCC), a collaborative body of state agencies, local and federal government, and the University, released its 2018 Report to the Legislature. The GCC found that
• approximately 284 public water supply systems and 8% of private wells exceeded the drinking water standard for nitrates;
• approximately 23% of water samples from private wells tested positive for coliform bacteria, with 3% testing positive for E. coli, and up to 12% of private (and some municipal) wells contain detectible viruses;
• sampling studies have found that numerous types of pesticides have been detected in groundwater;
• about 60 different volatile organic compounds (industrial and household chemicals) from landfills, underground storage tanks, and hazardous substance spills have been found in groundwater and wells.
Senator Marklein, you have been appointed to serve on the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy for the 2019-20 legislative session. In that capacity, you will be interacting with the Department of Natural Resources, the agency that establishes groundwater quality standards and coordinates their implementation. Based on your past record, we are concerned about your intentions with respect to this appointment. Specifically,
1. You were a sponsor on SB76, a 2017 measure that reduced regulations on the replacement, reconstruction, and transfer of high-capacity water wells. The Wisconsin Supreme Court had decided in 2011 that the DNR was required to review each application for a new high capacity well with respect to significant adverse environmental impacts including groundwater quality. The legislation you sponsored, and that was passed on party lines, changed DNR procedures to permit high capacity well owners to conduct their activities without DNR approval.
2. You voted in favor of bringing the Taiwanese corporation, Foxconn, to southeast Wisconsin. You assured Wisconsin voters that Foxconn would be required to follow the same regulations as every other business respecting stormwater control, wastewater regulation, hazardous waste, and Great Lakes water use regulations. The reality is that the State of Wisconsin gave Foxconn a special exemption allowing it to avoid its obligation to compile a comprehensive environmental impact statement and to minimize its impact on a pond and wetlands covering about twenty-six acres.
3. In 2015, you proposed a state measure, inserted in the 2015-17 state budget, placing a 90-day limit on the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission's decision-making on the right of developers to extend sewers for the purpose of additional development, an important aspect of local water quality management. Your measure also required the DNR to utilize water quality standards outlined in state law, rather than stricter local standards. The measure you proposed singled out Dane County alone, was promoted by the Madison Area Builders Association, and was passed on party lines. The 90-day time limit imposed by your measure left little time for staff analysis, public comment, and problem-solving. And your measure banned the DNR from working with the local authority on the water quality plan or changes to it. We, your constituents, are aware that you accepted about $49,400 from real estate developers and the construction industry between January 2010 and October 20, 2014, making you one of the top recipients of campaign cash from those two special interest groups.
Given your record on water quality issues, what can you tell us, your constituents in Southwest Wisconsin, to convince us that you will use your position on the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy to assure that we - residents, farmers, and business owners -- and our fish and wildlife will have access to uncontaminated groundwater, rivers, streams, and lakes?
Thank you in advance for your response.
Very truly yours,
Beverly Pestel, Richland Center
Dorothy Thompson,
Richland Center
Barbara Voyce, Lone Rock
Marilyn Martin, Richland Center