Cowles and the McKnight Foundation

The following email was sent to : jrtolbert@ncel.net

Mr. J. R. Tolbert

Executive Director

National Conference of Environmental Legislators

1301 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Suite 800

Washington, DC 20004

Telephone 202.744.1006

I am quite surprised the McKnight Foundation is supporting the efforts of NCEL with board members who support the legislation that disregard the protection of water and the pleas from local tribal, city, and county government officials.

jrtolbert@ncel.net

Mr. J. R. Tolbert

Executive Director

National Conference of Environmental Legislators

1301 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Suite 800

Washington, DC 20004

Telephone 202.744.1006

Sir,

Wisconsin State Senator Robert Cowles is a Board member of NCEL As a Wisconsin resident, former county board supervisor and Town chair, I respectfully request that he be removed from your board,

His recent vote to support iron mining in Wisconsin has shed serious doubt on his ability to stand up for the environment.

Cowles chose to ignore the pleas of Mike Wiggins, Chairman of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, who called this legislation “genocide”.

Cowles chose to ignore the opposition from Mayors of Ashland, Bayfield, and Washburn Wisconsin who stood together in opposition of this legislation.

Cowles chose to ignore county board members and city council members who also spoke against this legislation.

Senator Cowles voted for legislation that will place clean water in harms way. The author of this bill recently proclaimed, ““If the law is challenged and ends up in court, the judge needs to know it was the Legislature’s intent to allow adverse (environmental) impacts. That way, a judge can’t find fault if the environment is impacted”. Cowles vote simply cleared the way to put the largest wetlands on Lake Superior, the Kakagon Sloughs, and the largest wild rice beds in the Great Lakes at risk. The Kakagon Sloughs represent 40% of the wetlands on Lake Superior and are the homeland of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.

This legislation passed by a one vote in margin in Wisconsin’s Senate.  His support for this legislation was not honorable and certainly does not reflect the  “progressive” environmental standards supported by NCEL.

I will thank you in advance for your response to this request.

Frank K. Koehn

619 17th Ave. W

Ashland, WI 5806

Email:Savethewatersedge@gmail.com

Web Page: Savethewatersedge.com