Updated 12:35p
The state senator in whose district Foxconn could land in is stopping short of issuing a blanket endorsement of proposed environmental waivers for the company.
Van Wanggaard's comments on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Ideas Network Monday came just hours before several environmental groups said that they opposed the provisions.
The waivers, as proposed by Gov. Walker in the Foxconn incentives bill, would allow the company to build on a lake or stream bed without a state permit. They'd also be able to fill in wetlands. Another provision would exempt the company from having to submit an environmental impact statement.
Foxconn reportedly is studying potential sites in both Racine and Kenosha counties. A tract of land of over 1,000 acres is needed.
Midwest Environmental Advocates attorney Sarah Geers said Monday the bill would leave people in the dark about how the plant would affect the landscape and would result in the loss of wetlands.
Clean Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Environmental Research and Policy Center and the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters all oppose the bill as well.
On the radio Monday morning, the Wanggard said the environmental proposals will be studied by legislators along with other aspects of the 34-page bill. "There'll be federal guidelines that'll be in place," he said. "The (state) DNR will still be looking at what's happening here."
Wanggaard continued: "I live here too. I really get irritated when the nysayers say 'oh this is going to be terrible. The water is going to be totally polluted and that we're not going to be able to do this or that.' I have to live here too...I surely do not want my environment to be destroyed, either."
Legislators will return to Madison Tuesday to begin work on the bill.
While making a commitment to Wisconsin, Foxconn has yet to announce a specific site. Wanggard, a Republican, says the chances of it being located in his district are "pretty good.”
Wanggard represents parts of Mt. Pleasant, Sturtevant, Pleasant Prairie and generally the western halves of both Racine and Kenosha counties. Wanggaard says he hopes an announcement will be made on the preferred location within the next week or two.
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