The long awaited wetland regulatory reform bill was released on Tuesday. While we believe the authors made a good-faith effort to balance competing interests, we are disappointed to report that the bill contains several policy changes that fundamentally weaken wetland protections. The bill also contains a number of positive provisions that we support; however, the harm that will come vastly outweighs the good. For this reason Wisconsin Wetlands Association (WWA) strongly opposes this bill as drafted.

Highlights of our concerns include:

1. The bill fails to clearly state that impacts to exceptional wetland resources (e.g., high quality, rare, historically intact) will be discouraged. As a result, no wetland is off-limits.
2. The bill eliminates a critical requirement that developers consider alternative sites that do not contain wetlands.
3. The bill requires consideration of mitigation too early in the permit review process. This will allow wetland mitigation to be used as justification for wetland fill.

Our concerns with the bill are outlined in this memo which will be distributed to legislators today. As you'll see, we have offered constructive recommendations for how to amend the bill to address each concern.

Your help is urgently needed to help us convince Wisconsin legislators and Governor Walker that these changes will irreversibly harm wetland resources and do not have the support of Wisconsin's citizens. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in the Assembly and tentatively set for Thursday in the Senate (details below). Whether you endorse WWA's recommendations or have ideas of your own, we need as many people there in support of wetland conservation as possible.  

This bill is repairable. We will be pushing hard for adoption of our recommendations. We believe we can get the bill fixed, but only if you help us convince legislators that it's necessary.

Other things legislators need to hear include:

1. Personal stories about how you use and value wetlands and how wetlands benefit your community.
2. Examples where consideration of alternatives enabled projects to move forward without harming wetlands.
3. Information about the ways wetland mitigation can fail to adequately replace the functional values lost when wetlands are filled.
4. Your vision for how economic development and wetland conservation can, and must, co-exist.

If ever there was a time to stand up for wetlands, this is it. We will be working all weekend to call members and friends to encourage them to attend next week's hearings. If you are able to join us on either Tuesday or Thursday (or better yet both), please send a note to policy@wisconsinwetlands.org and let us know which day you will come. We are also looking for 2-3 volunteers to help us with phone calls between 10-2 tomorrow and Sunday. If you have a cell phone, we'll ask you to bring it.

If you have questions or comments, please contact WWA's Policy Director Erin O'Brien or Executive Director Tracy Hames at erin.obrien@wisconsinwetlands.org or tracy.hames@wisconsinwetlands.org or by calling 608-250-9971. We'll be checking messages over the weekend.

Hearing details:

Assembly Committee on Natural Resources

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

10:30 AM

State Capitol Room 412 East

Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee

Tentative:

Thursday, January 12, 2012

1:00 PM

State Capitol Room 411 South

A note about WWA's involvement in the bill development process:

WWA had two opportunities to meet with the bill's authors. We have been very clear from the beginning that we would support policy changes that improve administration of Wisconsin's wetland regulatory program and would vigorously oppose changes that weaken wetland protections. We appreciate the opportunities we had to hear about and comment on their plans for this bill and have   made every effort to provide constructive feedback to help them meet their objectives without violating the fundamental wetland regulatory principles that we believe must be upheld to adequately protect wetland resources.

Most of the recommendations presented in our bill analysis memo were already presented to the bill's authors in December when we were briefed on an earlier draft. None of our major concerns were addressed and, in fact, the version released this week was significantly worse than what we reviewed and commented on last month. This is a result of heavy pressure from regulated interest groups including those representing manufacturers and developers.

WWA firmly believe that economic development and wetland conservation can co-exist and remain willing to help legislators amend this bill in a way that honors both objectives.