At the turn of the century, Milwaukee was a flourishing industrial city that burned mountains of coal and rerouted waterways in order to churn out the manufacturing needs of a restless nation. Back then, Milwaukee had the biggest iron foundry in America. And the biggest tannery. And the biggest brewery.

"Milwaukee is now the handsomest and healthiest city in the country," wrote the Association for the Advancement of Milwaukee in its 1892 book, "Milwaukee's Great Industries." "Milwaukee is to be the future city of manufacturing importance for the great Northwest."

And for a long time, it was.

The environment today

But today, Milwaukee's booming industrial sector is largely a thing of memory stirred not only by crumbling smokestacks and abandoned factories in places like PabstCity and the Menomonee Valley, but by the pollutants the businesses left behind.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the lower reaches of the Milwaukee, Kinnickinnic and Menomonee rivers contribute "disproportionate" amounts of pollution to Lake Michigan. According to Lynn Broaddus, executive director of Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, the waterways are contaminated with damning reminders of Milwaukee's industrial heyday, such as mercury and PCBs, a type of chemical used for many years in refrigerants.

Newer pollutants, such as bacteria and untreated waste water, pose problems for the waters as well, according to Broaddus.

Water quality is just one of the environmental challenges the Milwaukee region is facing, according to Rosemary Wehnes, a conservation organizer with the Milwaukee office of the Sierra Club.

Wehnes also added transportation issues, urban sprawl concerns and air quality to the list of current environmental issues.

"Air quality is a big issue because we're noncompliant with ozone (regulations)," Wehnes said. Ozone is the atmosphere-destroying urban pollutant created in part by emissions from cars, factories and power plants.

The greater Milwaukee counties — Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee — have been classified as having heavy air pollution by the EPA since at least 1991, according to EPA environmental engineer Doug Aburano.

The population growth of southeastern Wisconsin stood at a modest 3 percent from 1975 to 1995, according to Steve Hiniker, executive director of the land-use group 1000 Friends of Wisconsin. Developed land, however, increased at a rate 17 times greater than that of population growth. The combination results in vast amounts of land development and green space.

Light on the horizon?

But there are improvements. "I'm hopeful because the citizens of Milwaukee are being much more vigilant and concerned, and that will help with enforcement (of water pollution measures)," Broaddus said.

Air quality "is improving," Aburano said. "There's been an ozone problem for a long time, but we're reclassifying under a new, stricter standard."

Those new standards are forcing polluters to cut down on emissions. What's more, emissions plans and inspection programs are now clearing the way for a better future for Milwaukee's air.

Progress in air quality is a start, but there's a lot left to do, according to Wehnes.

"There's not enough being done," she said. "Definitely not."

Wehnes felt encouraged by overtures made to bring Chicago's Metra commuter rail to Milwaukee, but said a lack of transit options, particularly eco-friendly ones, is still largely a problem.

"We have fewer choices here in Milwaukee compared to other cities our size," she said.

Wehnes also emphasized the need to conserve energy and raw materials.

"It is important that we look at measures to conserve because it's cheaper in the long run, and it just makes sense," she said.

According to Wehnes, the challenges facing Milwaukee's environment are surmountable.

"I have big hopes because Mayor (Tom) Barrett seems really interested in the whole conservation issue," she said.

However, any progress Milwaukee makes with regard to the environment is dependent on environmental policy at the national level, according to Alan Madry, professor of law and environmental law scholar.

Environmental regulations and their enforcement, which had been accelerating during the Clinton years, have taken a nosedive under the Bush administration, according to Madry.

"In the past five years, George Bush has gutted enforcement of environmental laws," Madry said, citing the landmark Clean Air and Clean Water acts. "All the kinds of pollution that those laws were meant to cut won't be reduced."

The administration has not provided significant incentives for renewable energy or taken steps to reduce urban sprawl, he said, choices that will have disastrous environmental effects for the entire country and Milwaukee.

"If the whole world is going to be affected by global warming, Milwaukee can't be excepted," he said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 3 2005.