SJR86: Joint Resolution Text

LRB-5341/1

CMH:skw

2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE

2021 Senate JOINT RESOLUTION 86

January 6, 2022 - Introduced by Senators Smith, Agard, Carpenter, Jacque, Larson, Pfaff and Ringhand, cosponsored by Representatives Billings, Tranel, Petryk, Doyle, Oldenburg, Pronschinske, Andraca, Cabral-Guevara, Considine, B. Meyers, Milroy, Novak, Ohnstad, Pope, Shankland, Shelton, Subeck, Vruwink and Spreitzer. Referred to Committee on Senate Organization.

SJR86,1,3 Relating to: supporting the efforts by the State of Wisconsin and others in the Mississippi River Basin to work together to achieve the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan and a reduction of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

SJR86,1,6 Whereas, the loss of phosphorus and nitrogen into Wisconsin rivers, lakes, and streams in the Mississippi River Basin is causing water quality problems that affect the recreational use and fisheries of these in-state waters; and

SJR86,1,10 Whereas, excess amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen that reach the Mississippi River are causing overgrowth of duckweed and filamentous algae on backwater lakes of the Mississippi, creating low oxygen levels that are unhealthy for fish and other aquatic life and inhibiting recreation; and

SJR86,1,12 Whereas, these nutrient losses contribute to the continued formation of a large area of hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, in the northern Gulf of Mexico; and

SJR86,2,2 Whereas, the State of Wisconsin has been a participant in the cooperative effort to address this problem through the federal-state Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force since 1997, and the Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico since 2000; and

SJR86,2,6 Whereas, these efforts have engaged 12 states along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, along with federal agencies and private stakeholders, in a collaborative effort to reduce the average size of the annual hypoxic zone through conservation, ecosystem restoration, and nutrient management and reduction programs; and

SJR86,2,10 Whereas, Wisconsin created a state nutrient reduction strategy that is being implemented by state and federal agencies, municipalities, county land and water conservation departments, farmer-led watershed groups, lake management and watershed associations, industries, farmers, and landowners; and

SJR86,2,15 Whereas, Wisconsin and the task force are working with partners such as Mississippi River Basin Land Grant Universities, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and programs such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative, which has developed projects in watersheds across Wisconsin, in cooperation with farmers; and

SJR86,2,17 Whereas, the citizens of Wisconsin support efforts to restore and protect waters of state and national significance; now, therefore, be it

SJR86,2,22 Resolved by the senate, the assembly concurring, That the Wisconsin Legislature urges and requests continued support for the efforts by our state and others in the Mississippi River Basin to work together to achieve the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan and a reduction of the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

SJR86,2,23 (End)