Must we give Foxconn everything, even our water?
As someone who loves Wisconsin, I’ve been asking myself a question recently about the state’s courting of Foxconn: Must we give them everything?
The state promised billions of dollars in tax incentives. Yet this historic gift doesn’t satisfy the company.
Instead, the proposed Foxconn legislation also will include a raft of environmental exemptions that threaten our communities and our water resources.
Even if we ignore Foxconn’s questionable labor practices and the billions of dollars in incentives, how do we reconcile these environmental exemptions when Foxconn has helped make China the global leader in pollution?
According to the Chinese government itself, industrial pollution has made cancer there the leading cause of death. More than 500 million people have no safe drinking water. Massive water shortages plague the entire country.
It’s not surprising Foxconn chose Wisconsin. As much faith and pride I have in Wisconsin’s workforce, it’s not the reason the company is coming. And it’s not just our decilaws. sion-makers’ willingness to hand over all that financial treasure, either.
It’s our proximity to the world’s greatest source of fresh water, the Great Lakes.
Lake Michigan seems so vast. But we know that, as large as it is, it’s fragile. The entire Great Lakes system is fragile. Acknowledging this, in 2008, Wisconsin adopted the Great Lakes Compact to protect it from raiders.
The Foxconn bill contains language that hints at ways the corporation might be able to bypass some of the compact’s provisions. That is unacceptable. Full transparency is essential when it comes to the Great Lakes.
The bill would allow Foxconn to fill in wetlands. Just a couple months ago, the Racine area suffered more than $17 million dollars in flood damage after heavy rains. Today, we’re witnessing what might be the greatest flood disaster in American history in Texas.
These two events have something in common. Wetlands are nature’s sponge, reducing flooding and filtering contaminants out of water before it hits our lakes, rivers and drinking water. The Houston area has no zoning Due to the lack of planning, huge natural areas such as wetlands have been filled in and paved over, making the entire area flood-prone. In the Milwaukee suburbs, we see the same effect.
The proposed bill also would exempt Foxconn from performing an environmental impact study. It’s a standard state-level procedure that protects our communities.
It makes no sense that after the over-the-top accommodations already promised to Foxconn, we would allow the company to bypass controls designed to mitigate flood and pollution disasters. It makes no sense from a moral perspective, or a financial one.
There has been a lot of hyperbole surrounding Foxconn. Some called it “transformational” and “a once in a century” deal.
But the question remains. Why are we giving them so much? The Legislature needs to pull back these unnecessary, and embarrassing, exemptions in the Foxconn bill.