Train things have been hopping lately, haven't they! Bill Perez's speech got lots of play, and I'm sure you saw the whole thing in the Racine Journal Times.  It's on their web site as well (in the archived news section of http://www.racinecounty.com).

But something less obvious is happening.  Governor Thompson put up another delay for our Commuter Rail.

    The Counties and Cities of Racine and Kenosha did their part: they budgeted the local funds for the major investment study, the next step. But the State, which promised to put up most of the money, didn't say when they would fund it.
    I have in hand a letter from Gov. Thompson to Rep. Bob Turner.    He says he will "officially commission a Blue Ribbon Task Force on Passenger Rail."  This group is to "study institutional issues of both inter-city and commuter passenger rail services."  Then he says, "At this point, I have not set a specific date for the task force to make its recommendations."

Translation: Tommy has delayed the funds for SEWRPC to start the major investment study that we worked so hard to get approved and funded.

    It turns out that the state funding of transportation systems in the state, including local bus support and AMTRAK, is a patchwork of different schemes.  The Governor is quite right to ask some of his own people to look into the global aspects of funding. But this study should proceed concurrently with the SEWRPC study, which will take two years from launch anyway, and will cover some of the same ground.
    By insisting on this task force before he releases the funds for the study, Tommy is putting yet one more delay in the path of the commuter rail. That's our train, gang!

    Please, each of you send a letter to Tommy Thompson.  Ask him to release funds to start SEWRPC's major investment study (MIS) that Racine worked so hard to fund.  The governor knows Bill Perez's opinion.   But so far, the governor thinks only one private person in Racine cares a whit one way or the other.
    Send a letter to the Governor.  Tell him you want to see the SEWRPC study move forward. Now. You want a commuter rail through Racine, for all the reasons we've discussed. We want him to release all the funds necessary for SEWRPC to perform their major investment study. Now.   Over 40 people, including many of you, showed up at a County budget meeting to support a single $28,000 item. Thompson may not know that. He doesn't know you care.  Send him a letter.   Clue him in!

Gov. Tommy G. Thompson
Room 115 East, State Capitol
PO Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707

    The Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation is promoting their "Corridors 2020" plan for highway development in Wisconsin.   In my opinion, and the opinion of the New Transportation Alliance (NTA) in Madison, which was started by the Sierra Club, this plan is an abomination thrust upon our state, contrary to what we really want.
    We want easier access to all parts of our state. Additional highways, and highway lanes, will not provide it in Southeast Wisconsin.  We can't even put in additional lanes in the East-West Corridor on I-94 west from Milwaukee?  There simply is no space to put it. Even if you did build all the highways proposed, the Marquette Interchange will be more congested than it is now.
    We want easier access without putting our state in hock deeper than it is.  The 2020 proposal will cost us $1 Billion each year for 20 years, 26 percent more than present income.  More gas taxes, anyone?
    We want to breathe decent air in our state.  The Corridors 2020 proposal will not improve our air.  Trust me.  The claims for emissions decreases are calculated in strange ways.  They do not make comparisons against the present pollutant emissions levels.  More highways do not reduce the total amount of emissions significantly, and probably raise it.
    The Corridors 2020 plan does not include plans for any trains, bicycles, or buses worth mentioning.  Somehow these will happen without planning?
    The 2020 plan is not even half consistent with regional and local plans. Literally, less than 50%.  Translation: Your state DOT knows better what you need. So listen up, pay up, and don't breathe.
    We want the plan changed dramatically. We want plans that are sensitive to the specific needs of local communities in South East Wisconsin. We want useful trains, convenient transit, functional bike paths. We want things that help us reduce pollution. We want better ways to get around, that we can afford. This 2020 plan is essentially a political item. It won't go forward if enough people want something else. Let them know your opinion!
    You probably received some postcards from the NTA.  Send them in now!  Also, send a letter to

Ken Leonard, WisDOT
Div. of Trans. Invest. Mgt (DTIM)
P. O. Box 7913
Madison, WI 53707-7913

Calendar:

April 8: Executive Committee Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, corner of Durand Ave. (Hwy 11) and Prichard Ave. All members are welcome.

April 15: Where Have All The Frogs Gone? Don Wilson will inform us about amphibian populations and the importance of wetlands. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, corner of Durand Ave. (Hwy. 11) and Prichard Drive. Please come early for coffee and conversation.

April 17, Saturday: Chiwaukee Prairie Work Day. Contact Donna Peterson at 637-3141.

May 1, Saturday, 9:00 a.m.--Noon: Hwy 38 clean-up and potluck. Meet at Bob and Betty Gericke's. Call them at 886-9057 for information.

May 1: Deadline for the June/July issue of the Southeast Sierran. Note the early deadline!!! Contact information is on the back page.

May 8, Saturday, 8:30 a.m.--10:00 a.m.: Birding and wildflower hike at Renak-Polak Woods.  From Hwy 38 go east on Five Mile Road 0.25 mile, then north on East River Road 0.25 mile.  Park along the east side of the road, where the preserve is located.  Following the hike you may choose to help pull garlic mustard from the woods.

May 13: Executive Committee Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, corner of Durand Ave. (Hwy 11) and Prichard Ave.  All members are welcome.

May 20, Thursday: We will meet for our annual spring dinner at 6:00 p.m. with the program following at 7:00 p.m. The program will be presented by Randy Korb founder of the Biophilia Company.  Randy will be talking about Butterflies and Butterfly Gardening. He founded the Biophilia Company to promote awareness of butterflies and to provide butterfly garden plants to school and conservation groups for fund raising purposes.  Italian-American Club, 2217 52nd Street Kenosha.  We will order dinner from the menu.  Please RSVP to Nita Larson (638-8632) or Barry Thomas (859-2960) by May 18th.

May 22, Saturday: Chiwaukee Prairie Work Day.  Contact Donna Peterson at 637-3141.

June 12, Saturday: Canoeing Vernon Marsh and Tichigan Lake.   Contact Eric if interested.

June 17, Thursday: Picnic Supper at Pringle Nature Center, Bristol Woods Park, 9800 160th Ave. Bristol.  Join us at 6:00 p.m.  Bring an item to grill, plates and utensils and a dish to pass.  Grills and charcoal will be available.  Following supper we will hike some of the park's trails.  Mosquito repellent is highly recommended for the hike.  To reach Bristol Woods take highway 50 west from Kenosha and take a left (south) on County H.  Follow H until it joins County C (Wilmot Road). Stay on C until you reach County MB.  Take a left on MB.   The entrance to Bristol Woods will be on the right hand side of MB.

    We have made some progress toward getting commuter rail between Milwaukee and Chicago.  It would decrease the number of cars on the road resulting in less air pollution and safer driving conditions.  Moreover, people with long commutes would be able to use their time productively, by reading for example, instead of the totally lost time spent driving on the highway.
    However, Governor Tommy Thompson has been less than enthusiastic.   His idea of a beautiful Wisconsin is to cover it with as many superhighways as possible, incidentally doing a favor for his road building friends and supporters.  A letter or postcard from you, telling him you want commuter rail, might persuade him to remove a few of the roadblocks in the way of this project--if there are enough of you.
    The Crandon mine hasn't gone away either even though the legislature voted overwhelmingly to stop sulfide mining until it can be done with no damage to the environment.  In the town of Nashville the town board was overwhelmingly voted out of office after it negotiated a secret agreement with Nicolet Minerals (alias Rio Algom).   The new board canceled the illegal agreement. However, Nicolet Minerals (with it's billions) is suing the town of Nashville which hasn't the resources for a court battle and could be driven to bankruptcy through litigation.  You could help Nashville in this David and Goliath fight by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Town of Nashville Legal Defense Fund, c/o Chuck Sleeter (town board chairman) P.O. Box 1061, Pickerel, WI 54465.
    Lastly, nineteen firms are waiting to set up factory farms in Wisconsin as soon as they can be assured that they have free rein to store hog and chicken wastes in open ponds with no treatment, polluting the air making life unbearable for farm neighbors.   They spread untreated waste on farm fields at a far greater rate than they can absorb, resulting in runoff and massive pollution of lakes and rivers. North Carolina's waterways have been destroyed by the proliferation of these factory farms.  It is a major problem in Iowa.
    It is also inhumane to crowd these animals together with barely room to move.  Hogs are intelligent animals, some say more so than dogs.  They suffer horribly.  Yes, we are carnivores, or at least omnivores, by nature; but surely these animals deserve a decent life of comparative freedom and humane slaughter, neither of which they get at factory farms.  These facilities are also one more threat to our family farms which we treasure.  Write your assembly person and your state senator to tell them you want strict regulations in place before any of these factories are licensed.   Yes, the farms lower the cost of meat, but I think we could pay a little more to avoid the many negatives of factory farms.
    Right now, write a letter or postcard to one of our elected representatives--one issue per letter, please.  Thank you for your good deed today to help protect our Wisconsin.

Gov. Tommy Thompson
Room 115 East, State Capitol
Madison, WI 53702

Senator Kim Plache
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882

Representative Bonnie L. Ladwig
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708-8952

Representative John W. Lehman
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708-8952

Robert L. Turner
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708-8953

    As a Chair, it is very difficult to conduct the business of Sierra Club (SE Gateway Group) without contact with Committee Chairs. All Committee Chairs are members of the ExComm except that they are non-voting members. If you cannot make an ExComm meeting, please call me (414) 638-8632 prior to the monthly ExComm meeting, which is the 2nd Thursday of each month, so that I can report to the Committee.
    Also, the absence of an ExComm Member, voting or non-voting, from three consecutive meetings will create a vacancy if so decided by a vote of at least two-thirds of the remaining members of the ExComm. I think the reason for this is self-explanatory. We want to have a good, functioning group and the input of everyone is valuable.
    Now on to something entirely different. I was born and raised on a farm and looking back, it was an almost idyllic life. As I was shoveling out my car (March 9, 1999), helping the neighbor lady who was stuck, and via a phone call from her, helping a third person realize you simply can't get a car through a four-foot snowdrift, I thought about that life. We lived in a house on a hill and the creek (a good sized one that empties into the Black River), ran below our house.
    The area was all family farms, some for generations, and was settled by Norwegians and Swedes. I like to think it was because of the hilly land which they found to be no challenge after the lands of Norway and Sweden. This was long before we heard the words, Factory Farm, Pollution, etc. Every farmer had his pigs (for their own butchering, cows(milk and cream were sold to the Farmers Coop), chickens (for their own butchering and eggs), horses (for working the land until tractors came) etc. The area is still the same today and every year or two, I drive there and realize how simple life can be.
    This month in the "Muir View", there are articles entitled, "Bill Will End Political Control of DNR," "Higher Taxes, More Sprawl & Trucks Promised by New Mega-Highway Plan," and "New Threat to Arctic Refuge Looms on Horizon." I received in the mail the brochure with postcards attached from the Sierra Club which states that "Thompson's new 21-year draft State Highway Plan will bankrupt our future, increase urban sprawl and trucks, used a faulty air pollution analysis, monopolized funds for rail, transit, bicycles and seniors and that local communities will pay the price." The March issue of "Planet, The Sierra Club Activist Resource" has these articles: "The Roadless Moratorium Not Taken," "Everglades Plan Needs More for Everglades," "House Flunks First Environmental Test," "Cancer Pollution Hits Home," "When the View Ain't So Grand" and "Just Bait or One of God's Creatures."
    Is there any wonder why I thought about my childhood as I shoveled snow today?

    At the February Southeast Gateway Group Executive Committee (ExComm) meeting we heard from officials of the U.S. Generating Corporation. They are proposing to build a 1000 megawatt electrical generating plant near Highways L and 31 in Somers. I am opposed to the construction of this plant for a variety of reasons. My first concern is the whole issue of deregulating the sale of electricity. U.S. Generating will sell its electricity to the highest bidder. Since our rates from Wisconsin Electric are relatively cheap, it is likely that most of the energy produced in Somers will not be consumed in Somers. Deregulation of the phone company has not resulted in cheaper rates but has generated a record number of consumer complaints.
    Secondly, although burning natural gas is cleaner than burning coal, we will still be burning coal at the Pleasant Prairie Plant. Southeast Wisconsin is in an ozone non-attainment region and the U.S. Generating plant will be adding the ozone precursor NOx to the environment. To do this they must purchase offsetting pollution credits equal to 1.25 times their emissions. However it is my understanding that the pollution credits will be purchased from the Milwaukee area rather than the Kenosha area. This may result in more "ozone action"days in Kenosha.
    Thirdly there are concerns about noise and plume production. Although the U.S. Generating officials assured us that the plant would be no more noisy than our refrigerators and that a plume abatement system would make the plume barely visible, the fact is that they have never built a plant this large and there are no guarantees.
    I believe that Wisconsin Electric as a regulated utility has the responsibility for providing electrical energy to its customers in southeast Wisconsin and I understand that they have plans for a new power plant in Germantown. Do we really need two 1000 megawatt power plants within sight of each other in Kenosha County?

    The Des Plaines Watershed Alliance is sponsoring the first annual Des Plaines River Clean Up on Saturday, May 8, from 8 a.m. to noon. Community groups will be working on 156 miles of the river.  Coordinator for the Wisconsin headwaters segment of the river is the Kenosha/Racine Land Trust.
    Because of cool temperatures and high waters in early May, K/RLT is focusing this year's clean up on trash removal from the river corridor and watershed and observation of sites for future work.  A canoeing group to take notes on river conditions would be extremely welcome.
    Community awareness of the Des Plaines watershed is a second K/RLT goal.  The watershed covers 134 square miles of Kenosha and Racine counties. It stretches from the City of Kenosha in the east to Paddock Lake and Brighton in the west, and from the Wisconsin/Illinois state line north to Union Grove and the Sylvania Airport. Brighton Creek, Jerome Creek, and the Kilbourn Road Ditch are tributaries of the Des Plaines.
    Neighborhood, workplace, environmental, or service groups looking for a community project, as well as interested individuals, may call Barb Vass at 552-8130 for more information.

    "For years prior to Earth Day it had been troubling to me that the critical matter of the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of our country...It was clear that until we somehow got this matter into the political arena, until it became part of the national political dialogue, not much would be achieved...Earth Day achieved what I hoped for.  It was a truly astonishing grassroots explosion.  The people cared and Earth Day became the first opportunity they ever had to join in a nationwide demonstration to send a big message to politicians."
...Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day

AHR's "Picture Parks" Campaign

    To celebrate Earth Day and to keep Senator Nelson's idea alive, Americans for Our Heritage and Recreation (AHR) is organizing a "Picture Parks" campaign to demonstrate to Congress the vital role parks play in the quality of life of all Americans.
    AHR is asking its friends to send a visual message to our officials in Congress that shows them the many benefits that the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR) have contributed to the nation. LWCF has been responsible for the acquisition of nearly seven million acres of parkland and open space and the development of more than 37,000 state parks and recreation projects. UPARR has awarded almost $228 million for 1,300 grants to 400 local jurisdictions in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for rehabilitation of recreation facilities.
    Almost every American can point to an LWCF-funded park or UPARR project that has played a pivotal role in their lives. Parks define a quality of life for all Americans. It's time Congress got the picture.

Get Out to Your Favorite Park!

    In the next few weeks, we ask that you get out to your favorite national, state, regional, or local park, and take a picture of you, your family, or your friends enjoying the site. Then on the back of the developed photograph write "Revitalize LWCF and UPARR for Our Children." Hold onto the photograph until Friday, April 16th, and then send it to your members of Congress so that it will arrive the following week in time for Earth Day.
    It's important that members of Congress understand that revitalizing LWCF and UPARR means leaving a legacy to future generations of Americans. Use the back of your photograph to convey a message to your member of Congress of how you feel about recreation and conservation resources in this country. Make the message as personal as possible, and write about the values and resources that have turned that park into your favorite place to spend time.
    We want to make sure that the photographs arriving on Capitol Hill are as diverse as the many parks that benefit from LWCF and UPARR, so be creative in the places you visit.

Parks Advocacy Day

    This action will generate the grassroots support for parks that will be part of a message delivered by LWCF advocates during Earth Day Week.  On Tuesday, April 20, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and National Association of Counties, with support from AHR and our participating organizations, are coordinating their first "Parks Advocacy Day" to increase support on Capitol Hill for federal support for parks, recreation, and open space protection.
    A number of key mayors and county leaders nationwide will be coming to Washington for a day of Congressional education, including an afternoon event on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with Members of Congress and park supporters to rally for increased federal support for parks through full and permanent funding of LWCF and UPARR.  As you know, it also coincides with a Senate hearing on the Landrieu-Murkowski, Miller-Boxer, and Feinstein LWCF bills.
    "Parks Advocacy Day" should provide an excellent opportunity for us to generate support for a full and permanently funded LWCF and UPARR.  The day also should serve as a nice "warm-up" to AHR's own "Congressional Education Day," set for June 8th and held in conjunction with our National Summit in Annapolis, Maryland. "Parks Advocacy Day" can create an important precedent for an annual event that focuses on the importance of parks and recreation as a national priority.
    Remember that you should not send your photographs until Friday, April 16th.  This way, you avoid some of the busy tax mailing time, but are still able to get the picture into your Member's hands by Earth Day.  Also, remember to include the message: "Revitalize LWCF and UPARR for Our Children."

Grassroots in Action

    AHR wants members of Congress to "Picture Parks"--and our children--when they cast votes on future conservation and recreation issues.  As Senator Nelson has stated, "If you want to move the nation to make hard decisions on political issues, the grassroots is the source of power."  We need to show that there is grassroots support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program.  So, get out, enjoy your favorite park, and show your elected officials the power of grassroots action!
    AHR would like to know how many pictures are making their way to Capitol Hill.  Please send AHR a copy of your photograph and to whom the picture was sent. You can send your copy to AHR, 900 17th St., N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006.

Send your picture to your members of Congress at the following addresses:

Senator______________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Representative_____________
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515