"Broader Relaxation Of Environmental Rules Seen Coming From Foxconn"

"Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to exempt Foxconn from state wetland restrictions may do more to attract smaller developments in the future than it will to lure the electronics giant to Wisconsin, critics of the plan say.

For the Sierra Club, that raises the question of whether job gains from smaller facilities would justify losses of wetland that prevent flooding, purify water and provide wildlife habitat.

Walker and Republican lawmakers have defended a vast package of incentives for Foxconn by saying it will secure a “once-in-a-generation” promise of thousands of jobs.

Backers and opponents of the Foxconn incentives package moving through the Legislature are anticipating that a broader regulatory rollback may spring from Walker’s stated plan to exempt only the Taiwan-based electronics giant from certain environmental rules."

Steven Verburg reports for the Wisconsin State Journal August 20, 2017.