Concerned citizens bite on state motor trolling proposal

Concerned citizens bite on state motor trolling proposal

By Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
June 1, 2014
Among conservation matters, changes to deer hunting rules typically draw the strongest reactions in Wisconsin.

That will likely be true for as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

But for at least one day, our “other religion” took a back seat to an angling issue.

Meeting Wednesday in Green Bay, the Natural Resources Board heard not a single objection to a proposal to sharply reduce antlerless deer permits in northern Wisconsin, but it got an earful from folks opposed to motor trolling in the same region.

The public input prompted the board to modify a rule presented by the Department of Natural Resources.

The issue at hand was an expansion of motor trolling in Wisconsin. The DNR proposal, which 62 percent of voters supported at the spring hearings, would allow motor trolling with at least one line per angler statewide and three lines per angler in most counties.

Under current regulations, 19 counties allow motor trolling on all waters, 45 counties allow it on one or more waters (105 total waters) and eight counties don’t allow the practice.

DNR fisheries staff presented the rule change to: simplify regulations by eliminating confusion about where trolling is allowed; allow anglers in moving boats to simultaneously trail suckers and cast lures; eliminate the need for disabled anglers to apply for trolling permits; and provide additional fishing opportunities for anglers who might have difficulty fishing by other means.

Moreover, the agency presented data that showed motor trolling had no biological impact on fish populations, specifically muskies.

But a half dozen residents of northern Wisconsin voiced their strong opposition to expanded motor trolling.

“I’m very much against the one-line trolling proposal,” said John Dettloff, a fishing guide and resort owner from Couderay. “I’m concerned it’s going to put additional stress on our already-fragile musky fishery.”

Dettloff also said it could “hurt the aesthetics” of some north woods waters by increasing boat traffic.

“Please don’t let the genie out of the bottle,” Dettloff said. “Once trolling is allowed I feel it’s going to be very difficult to reverse.”

Art Long, Jim and Ann McComas, Rich Reinert, and Anthony Rizzo also expressed their displeasure.

Only one angler, John Aschenbrenner of Laona, showed up to support the proposal at Wednesday’s meeting.

Many people in the fishing community probably felt they had spoken with their vote at the spring hearings.

“I think Wisconsin needs more opportunities like this to get more people involved in fishing,” Aschenbrenner said.

The board debated several changes to the DNR proposal, including removing Vilas and perhaps other counties from the rule.

DNR fisheries manager Tim Simonson said the agency’s musky committee had been working on the issue for three years.

“We wouldn’t recommend anything that we thought would be detrimental to musky populations,” Simonson said.

In the end, the board decided to approve the proposal under a three-year sunset provision and by limiting the number of lines per boat in certain waters.

Beginning in 2015, the rule approved Wednesday would:

• Allow motor trolling with at least one line per angler on all inland waters in Wisconsin.

• In 55 counties, all inland waters would be open to motor trolling with up to three lines per angler.

• In the remaining 17 counties—on waters not currently open to trolling—trolling would be allowed but would be limited to one line per angler and no more than two lines per boat, which means no more than two anglers trolling at a time. This portion of the rule would affect Door, Florence, Fond du Lac, Iron, Jackson, Lincoln, Marathon, Marquette, Menominee, Milwaukee, Oneida, Ozaukee, Sawyer, Sheboygan, Vilas, Washington and Waushara counties.

The three-year sunset clause means the new rule, which would take effect next year pending legislative review, will revert to the current rule in 2018 unless the board takes additional action.

The DNR would use the coming years to gather data on catch rates, harvest rates and fish populations on waters affected by the expanded trolling opportunities to help guide recommendations on any permanent motor trolling rules.

“Trolling has generated always generated some controversy,” Simonson said. “We’ve addressed it by presenting the most objective data possible. Assuming the legislature doesn’t change anything, we’ll approach the three year period the same way, monitoring the changes and presenting information to the decision-makers.”

Antlerless quotas: The board approved the DNR’s plan to prohibit hunting of antlerless deer in all or part of 19 counties this year. The move is designed to help deer herds recover after two consecutive severe winters, according to the agency, and it has received broad public support.

The zero quotas would cover the entire northern forest region and part of the central forest. In addition, the rule approved antlerless quotas and permit levels for counties throughout the state. In a change resulting from the deer trustee report, bonus antlerless deer tags this year are specific to counties and private or public land.

Each 2014 deer hunting license includes one antlerless tag that may be used on any property in a farmland zone during any season. Extra tags (if available) must be purchased for $12 each.

The DNR will sell 149,475 private land and 23,020 public land antlerless tags this year. The disparity is intended to prevent over-harvest on heavily hunted public properties.

The sales will be staggered, similar to the way leftover spring turkey permits are sold. Forest zone permits will be sold Aug. 18, central farmland zone permits Aug. 19 and southern farmland permits Aug. 20. All sales begin at 10 a.m.

The pipeline passes under the Rock River south of Fort Atkinson just north of Lake Koshkonong

Pipeline upgrades affect Rock, Walworth counties


Enbridge, the Canadian energy company, is upgrading pumps that service the oil pipeline that travels through Wisconsin. Some officials and residents are concerned about the possible impact.
By Catherine W. Idzerda

TOWN OF LIMA--More crude oil will flow through the northeast corner of Rock County and Walworth County if a Canadian energy company gets the go-ahead for upgrades.

Enbridge, an energy company based in Calgary, Alberta, hopes to complete upgrades to four pumping stations--including one in northeast Rock County--in 2014 as part of a project to increase its ability to move crude oil from Canada and North Dakota to refineries in the Great Lakes region. A second phase of pump station upgrades is planned in 2015.

Supporters see the Wisconsin pipeline and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from western Canada to the Gulf Coast as critical tools in reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Enbridge's Delavan pump station is located off  Highway 59 in the town of Lima in Rock County, about 25 miles northwest of Delavan.

From that station, the pipeline heads in two directions: southeast through Walworth County toward Chicago and south.

The pipeline, which is referred to as Line 61, has been in use since 2009.

“Around that time, there was an economic decline, and the economy was a little slack,” said Becky Haase, Enbridge spokesperson. “Things are changing. The economy is getting back on its feet.”

The pipeline has been carrying about 400,000 barrels per day.

Demand is up, and the company wants to increase the flow to the pipeline's capacity of 1.2 million barrels per day. The revamped pipeline is scheduled to be in operation in 2016.

According to Enbridge, its pipelines are:

-Built with high-quality steel pipe and are factory- and field-tested.

-Inspected at every weld, “far exceeding the required 10 percent sampling mandated by federal regulation.”

-Pressure-tested with water “at levels above the authorized operating pressure.”

-Monitored 24 hours a day by computerized systems and controllers. Flow-rate alarms and abnormal changes in pipeline pressure would prompt either a computerized shutdown of the line, or control room operators would shut down the system “within minutes.”

The last statement doesn't reassure environmentalists and others who remember the 2010 pipeline spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

On July 25, 2010, alarms went off in Enbridge's control room indicating that a pipeline had burst.

Three shifts of pipeline operators misinterpreted those signals, according to a 2012 report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The safety board blamed the company for failing to follow its own safety protocol, and it also blamed the federal government for failing to give its Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration the “staff or regulatory muscle to safeguard the public,” according to a 2012 National Public Radio story.

At the time, Deborah Hersman, NTSB chairwoman, said it wasn't until “17 hours and 19 minutes after the rupture that a worker from a local gas utility found the spill and notified the Enbridge control center.”

More than 800,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into wetlands, a creek and the Kalamazoo River.

As of April 2013, the spill has cost more than $1 billion to clean up. That's in part because the pipe was carrying tar sands, a type of crude that is much heavier than  regular crude.

In order to travel through the pipeline, the crude oil is diluted with a lighter hydrocarbon mixture that is not unlike gasoline, said Stephen Hamilton, the Michigan state ecology professor who serves as a science adviser for the Kalamazoo spill.

When a spill occurs in water, that material evaporates quickly, he said, and the remaining crude floats briefly before sinking to the bottom.

That evaporation releases a variety of chemicals, including benzene, a substance that causes health problems ranging from nervous system issues to cancer.

Enbridge also paid $1.1 million to settle claimsby the DNR and the state Department of Justice that numerous environmental laws were broken during construction of the initial phase of its pipeline system in Wisconsin in 2007 and 2008. The forfeiture involved more than 100 environmental violations in 14 counties.

An Enbridge spokeswoman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the company has spent more than $4 billion in the past two years to upgrade safety and inspection of its pipeline system and other related costs.

For Jefferson County Board Supervisor Walt Christensen, “it's kind of hard to rank” the potential dangers of the pipeline.

“My understanding is that the pipeline was built to handle the volume and pressure described in documents as 1.2 million barrels per day,” Christensen wrote in an e-mail. “However, that was six years ago, and since then we have seen a lot of pipeline failures.

"I believe the high number of failures reveals a greater risk than anyone planned for and so the risk-benefit ratio should be re-examined before allowing the pipe to be stressed at full pressure.”

Christensen's resolution opposing a DNR air permit for the project and asking for an environmental assessment passed at the Jefferson County Board's May meeting.

Among the resolution's points:

-The pipeline passes under the Rock River south of Fort Atkinson just north of Lake Koshkonong.

-The material transported in the pipeline is tar sands, which is more corrosive and acidic than traditional oil and leads to about 3.6 times more spills per mile.

-The DNR only held one public hearing on the issue, and that was in Superior.

-Failure would constitute a “significant threat to the waters and property values of Jefferson County because at peak operation, this pipeline will carry more oil than the proposed Keystone Pipeline.”

Along with the possibility of a big spill, Christensen is concerned that the pipeline could be—and perhaps already is—an “oozing menace.”

Given the amount of crude traveling through the pipeline, even the most sensitive system might not pick up small leaks, he said..

The only approval that Enbridge needs is from the DNR for an air permit for work on its Superior pumping station. The comment period on that request has ended.

The DNR has 60 days to make a decision, according to a story in the Journal Sentinel.  The decision would be delayed if the DNR conducts an environmental analysis, the story said. .

Pipeline is under Rock River near Fort Atkinson

So Close….

Lake Level =

778.07

.84 Inches from being BELOW the SNW trigger….

But it's raining.