Notes from the West Wing
By
State Representative Garey Bies
End of Summer Activity
The summer of 2003 has not been a typical summer here in the State
Legislature. Normally, when the
legislature adjourns for its traditional summer recess, activity around the
Capitol is minimal. This year, however, the summer has been much more active.
What is the cause of this activity?
I’m not quite sure! It
cannot be linked to one big issue like the property tax freeze and the
Governor’s veto of the freeze. That
issue has only been on the front pages for a few weeks this summer.
If anything, it seems to be more of a regular succession of issues that
has kept us all busy.
Another such issue was on the
table this week: mercury contamination. The
Assembly Committee on Natural Resources held a lengthy public hearing concerning
the issue on August 13th. Like previous Natural Resources hearings, a great deal of
information was provided to us, some of it quite interesting.
First, there is no doubt that
mercury is harmful to humans. But
what I learned from the hearing is that we are not in a mercury crisis.
In fact, there is even some good news.
According to a US Geological Survey, it is true that in the last 100
years, the anthropogenic releases (caused by humans) of mercury have increased.
But the same survey revealed that in the last 10 years there is a decline
in anthropogenic mercury releases. This
is good news, our efforts are making an impact.
And just for your information, I found it quite interesting how great the
mercury emissions are as a result of a volcanic eruption. In the overall picture of mercury contamination, volcanic
eruptions account for only 6% of the contamination, but as specific events,
eruptions far exceed anything else.
In Door and surrounding counties,
where a long history of reliance upon the fish of the great lakes exists, some
of the most interesting, and heartening information learned came from the
published result of a medical study by the University of Rochester Medical
Center. The study examined over 640
children from before birth to 9 years of age in the Republic of the Seychelles,
an island in the Indian Ocean. The
study revealed that the consumption of seafood with low levels of mercury showed
no harmful effects in the children. The
mothers-to-be in the study typically consumed 12 meals of seafood a week, 10
times the average American. Now, it
should be noted that the fish in this study was typical of what we, as
consumers, can buy in the store. We
must still be careful with fish taken from highly polluted waters with
contaminant advisories.
So while much of the information
provided at the Natural Resources hearing was encouraging, it does not mean we
should be casual about mercury contamination in our environment.
We are headed in the right direction with mercury contamination, but we
need to make sure that we continue to head in the correct direction.
For instance, half of the mercury contamination found in Wisconsin
originates elsewhere. This being
the case, to pass overly restrictive legislation in this state will not have the
desired effect. The costs of such
legislation will far outweigh the benefits because there will be no impact on
the out-of-state mercury contamination. I
am not advocating that nothing be done regarding mercury contamination, but am
stressing the fact that mercury contamination is not unique to Wisconsin and to
blindly act here, will not generate the results desired.
Just in closing, I wanted to just
give a quick update on the property tax freeze. I am sure you are all aware that the Governor vetoed the
legislatures freeze on the property tax. It
is unfortunate but we in the legislature are not giving up the fight.
We will continue to work to bring Wisconsin taxes in line with what our
residents’ ability to pay.
As always, if you have questions or comments on this column or any other topic you might see or read in the news, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.state.wi.us or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001.