OPINION: Why should Wisconsin drain Lake Michigan for Foxconn?

The Great Lakes — five inland seas holding one-fifth of all the fresh water on Earth — are vast, but they are not limitless. So it is alarming that Wisconsin intends to send water out of the basin not because public health demands it but because a private company wants it. This cuts against the understanding of the lakes as a public trust and, in an era of nationwide water insecurity, sets a dangerous precedent.

Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, is building a plant to make LCD screens in Mount Pleasant, Wis. The state that landed Foxconn with environmental waivers and about $4 billion in incentives decided that it was fine for it to have Great Lakes water, too. In 2018, Wisconsin granted a permit for Racine and Foxconn to use 7 million gallons a day from Lake Michigan, taking it outside the area where water naturally returns to the Great Lakes watershed....

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Ken Notes: A number of half truths and confusion in this article. The Great lakes Compact was set up to prevent abuse of the greatest watershed on earth. So there are MANY checks and balances in place. We do need to hold Foxconn to the highest standards of industrial water use and make them an example of how this can be done. We can do this moving forward. Anna is in the stop Foxconn camp, I am in the the fix Foxconn camp. She gets national attention I get you, so you need to speak out as well regardless of the camp you are in.