An incident at the Hi-Crush Frac Sand Facility in Whitehall today was widely covered in state news.

I recently read When the Hills Are Gone - a book about the sand mining activists in Wisconsin during the period of the frac sand boom. The author, Thomas W. Pearson, is an associate professor of anthropology at UW-Stout. A disclaimer - I've known Tom for years, particularly since the frac sand activist period documented in this book. 

Community members and advocacy groups opposing the bid by Foxconn and the city of Racine for Lake Michigan water are zeroing on a specific issue: The request amounts to a water utility sourcing the Great Lakes almost entirely for the use of one private company.

Wetlands make up part of the landscape in every Wisconsin county. Of the roughly 5.3 million wetland acres in the state, about 4 million are managed at the national level, which means anybody seeking to develop that land would need federal permits. That leaves about 20 percent of Wisconsin's wetlands, which are governed by state policy.