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As expected, the
Regulatory Reform Hearings set-off a flurry of legislative activity and
conservation community response. WWA is in regular contact with state and
federal regulatory agencies, legislators and partner groups to monitor and
weigh in on this activity. Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far:
a) Wetland Audit Program Request
On January 3rd,
ten west-central legislators co-signed a letter and released a press statement asking
the Joint Committee on Audits to conduct an audit of Wisconsin’s wetland permitting and mitigation programs. Please watch
for future alerts (likely in the spring) on the status of this request
and notice of opportunities to weigh in on the scope and objectives of
that inquiry.
b)
SB 551 (Constituent Exemption Bill)
On February 3rd, 8 Senators and 32 Representatives introduced a bill
to exempt activity related to a specific illegal wetland fill in the Town
of Franklin (Kewaunee County) from state wetland water quality standards.
At question is a project where a citizen filled a high quality wooded
wetland and partially constructed a 40 x 60’
building without obtaining necessary permits from the WDNR or U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The site was mapped as a wetland on the Wisconsin
Wetland Inventory, USGS topographic maps, the DeLorme
Gazetteer and the Kewaunee County Soil Survey. WDNR has initiated
enforcement proceedings on this case. The bill has been referred to the
Senate Select Committee on Regulatory Reform Committee for consideration.
c)
Wetland Disclosure Law Proposed
On January 23rd, Senator Alan Lasee and
Representative Garey Bies
released a call for co-sponsors of a proposal that aims to reduce wetland
regulatory conflicts by requiring local governments to determine that a
project does not adversely impact an “identified”
wetland before issuing a permit. The proposal also calls for the disclosure
of the presence of wetlands in real-estate transactions. WWA is in favor
of a solution to the problems related to wetland disclosures that this
proposal aims to address, but believes several details, particularly the
definition of “identified” wetlands, would need to be
addressed before we could recommend support of the Bies/Lasee
proposal.
d)
Regulatory Concerns Workgroup Hosted
On February 3rd, as part of WWA’s 11th Annual Wetland
Science Forum, 35 conference participants, including
representatives from consulting firms, non-profit organizations, academia
and regulatory agencies, gathered to discuss the root causes of wetland
regulatory tensions. This gathering was the first step in WWA’s commitment to work proactively through outreach, education and
advocacy to address the myriad of tensions that have triggered the
activities described elsewhere in this alert.
Click here to
read a story on this issue from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
(Registration required)
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