Milwaukee Riverkeeper would like to personally thank everyone who voiced their opposition to the proposed "Route B" high-voltage transmission lines slated to cut right through the Underwood Creek Parkway.

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Parks, Energy and Environment not only formally opposed "Route B," but passed a resolution opposing any current or future plans involving placement of high voltage electric transmission lines along "Milwaukee County Parkways, the Oak Leaf Trail, or wetlands and natural areas owned and managed by the County."  

Success!  But there's still more work to be done.

Environmental Reporter Susan Bence recently ran a feature w/ Riverkeeper Cheryl Nenn.  They discuss our inaugural Milwaukee River Report Card, which lays out Water Quality parameters and discusses the results of our volunteers data.

Click here to listen to the story at WUWM.com.

Haven't seen the 2010 Milwaukee River Report Card yet?  Check out it today by clicking here.  

The Wisconsin legislature released a bill (Assembly Bill 463/Senate Bill 368) last week that would negatively impact our state's wetlands regulations and weaken important protections. 

Please contact your legislators and tell them, "Protect our Wetlands and our Environment!"

Every two years, the WDNR publishes a statewide water quality report, develops an "Impaired Waters List" of lakes and rivers that do not meet state water quality standards, and submits plans for maintaining and improving water quality in a certain number of watersheds every cycle.

They are now available and the WDNR is accepting comments.

Despite Milwaukee County’s stated intention of repairing the Estabrook Dam (see article below), Milwaukee Riverkeeper will continue to press for its removal.  Our lawsuit against the County for violation of state dam safety regulations is still pending in Milwaukee County Circuit Court and we are committed to moving forward with the litigation.  
The County has a long history of missing deadlines to repair the dam and we have no reason to believe that it will meet the new deadline of October 31st.  Even the Department of Natural Resources does not believe that deadline can be met. 

As noted in the article below in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, while the County has set aside 2.1 million for repairs, they lack the millions needed to clean up the contaminated PCB sediment behind the dam.  In addition, the County lacks funds to maintain the dam should it be repaired, estimated at $80,000 per year. 

With estimated costs for removal of the dam ($650,000) being far less than for costs of repair (1.5 million, not including future maintenance costs, which add up to $2 million over the next 20 years), the only reasonable action is for the dam to come down.   Removal of the dam is in the best interest of taxpayers and in the best interest of a free-flowing river.