Here we go again, another corporate behemoth is threatening our pristine Vernon County.

Dairyland Power is poised to size 600 acres of privately-owned land for an ash landfill. Earlier this year we faced the Pork Producers Association and their scheme to invade our area.

We look to politicians in Washington, or Madison, or Vernon County Board for help to protect our environment and quality of life. We are disappointed when they continually refuse to muster the courage to stand up to big corporations with big money and lawyers threatening lawsuits. We tuck our tails in defeat and watch the Kickapoo Valley descend further toward “anything goes dumping ground” status. Frustrated? Feel helpless?

Well, folks, we have more power than we think in a rarely uttered word—conserve! We consume cheap electricity as if it were free: Air conditioning, all those electronics we love, lights blazing all night long. If every household in Wisconsin replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent we could eliminate one coal-fired power plant.

It is time for we citizens to bear the responsibility for our actions. If we continue our wasteful consumption of electricity we must accept the ash, the asthma, the mercury in our fish. Through personal sacrifice (another rarely uttered word) and conservation we can become not merely victims at the mercy of profit-driven corporations, but proud leaders working to take back our future.

Dave Wennlund

Readstown

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