Matthew D. Pagel
976 E. Circle Dr.
Whitefish Bay, WI 53217
State Senator Bob Walsh
Wisconsin State Capitol
Dear Sen. Walsh
I realize that I am not a member of your district and therefore may not have as much “influence” on your decision making as others. However, the issues addressed here are statewide, in fact nationwide, and therefore have relevance.
I recently heard a news release over the radio that stated that you are against imposing further restrictions on industry about ozone release levels. You stated that ozone polluting our state doesn’t originate here and is therefore not our problem. However, as you may have heard before, pollution knows no boundaries. The ozone that factories and mills give off goes towards polluting Michigan and other states to the west of us. In fact, those factories in the western portion of the state, albeit few, cause the ozone levels in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and other eastern cities to rise. Also, some of the ozone pollution does stay local. If this was not the case, it would be unnecessary for Milwaukee to have “Ozone action day”, where local companies are encouraged to produce less pollution and people are encouraged to use cars at a minimum. In addition, the young, elderly, and ill of health (including asthma and lung cancer victims) are encouraged to stay inside. Why is this? Because ozone acts as a toxin, occupying hemoglobin in the blood, and preventing normal oxygen from being circulated through the blood, causing asphyxiation (this is scientifically proven). In addition, any ozone that is blamed on as coming from other states, could be true. Pollutants do generally move eastward on the jet-stream. but does that lessen our responsibility any? No, in fact it makes our responsibility greater. This means that we must control our own pollution, so as to not cause any undue harm to members of other states. In addition, we should put pressure on other states (from Minnesota through California) and on the national government to limit pollution. One way of placing pressure on these other states is to make the sacrifice yourself and pass the laws here.
Your fear is probably that businesses and industries will move away from our state to other states and countries if we raise the pollution restrictions. However, this does not necessarily hold true, as the cost of starting up a new factory is greater than the cost of placing new filters and other pollution measures in an existing factory. Companies wouldn’t simply abandon their factories. They may move out of the state, but only after selling their factory to an interested buyer, who will then bring in jobs for the state. So in other words, there will rarely be any net loss from this action. In addition, no new factories would move to our state if no workers are willing to work in a state riddled by pollution. So, in order to encourage job growth, we should lower the pollution levels by tightening restrictions. After all, you need workers to make a factory go.
I must reiterate that this is not an issue limited to your district or to the state of Wisconsin, but is rather an issue that affects every American. We must therefore encourage these governments and others to raise restrictions on ozone pollution in order to allow a better living environment for every American, including the young, the fragile of heath, the elderly, the relatives and caretakers of these individuals, and society in general.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Matthew D. Pagel
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