DNR chief stumps for Trump ticket

Cathy Stepp, appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to head the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is working to promote Donald Trump’s presidential bid.

The DNR chief appeared onstage at the Waukesha County Expo Center on July 27 to stump for Trump during a rally for running mate Mike Pence. Both are climate-change deniers and strong opponents of environmental regulations and conservation.

In a statement to the press, the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters blasted Stepp’s appearance on behalf of the Trump-Pence ticket.

“The leader of our state’s most important natural resources agency was right there in the thick of it, supporting a national environmental agenda that would cancel the Clean Power Plan, build the Keystone XL pipeline and more like it, and abolish the EPA as we know it, just to name a few,” WLCV wrote.

Stepp, who came to the job without a college education or experience involving natural resource management and environmental law, is considered by critics to be a puppet for real estate developers and polluting industries.

Under her leadership, inspections and prosecutions of environmental polluters have plummeted.