Mallard Lake Association

Mallard Lake Association Inc. is a member of the Wisconsin Association of Lakes and helps to fund their efforts.

ACTION ALERT
October 24, 2011
 
Weakening decades of sound environmental policy in two weeks - thoughtful policy or special interests? ~ Ask you legislators which they stand for!
Ask them to object to Special Session Bill SB24/AB24.

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Contact your legislators or attend the public hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in Madison.
This will be your one and ONLY time to have your voice heard before the Legislature decides whether to roll back major protections for our world class water resources.

Last week, the Wisconsin legislature, in the midst of its “Special Session on Jobs”, finally released the natural resources bill we all knew was coming – and it is all we feared and more.
A sprawling effort to change decades of dependable and effective natural resource policy in a matter of days, Special Session Senate Bill 24 (SS SB24), also introduced in the Assembly as AB24, makes mandatory protections optional, renders areas of agency flexibility inflexible, and, in general, rushes, rushes, rushes. If we tolerate a process that is anything but thorough, considerate and fair we face much greater consequences to the resources, culture and economy that have made Wisconsin a model of success.
Despite only being released last week, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment and Assembly Natural Resources Committee already scheduled a joint public hearing on the bill for this Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:00 in Madison. This will be the only public opportunity to speak for lakes on this bill. Consideration of the entire measure is likely by the end of next week, possibly as early as the end of this week. That’s two weeks to change decades of policy.
Wisconsin Lakes is asking you to contact your legislators and the Governor and tell them to stop this bill in its tracks. It’s too big, too comprehensive, and too slanted towards loosening protections to be acceptable. The people of Wisconsin deserve better. We urge you to attend Wednesday’s hearing to show the committee members that their constituents disapprove of poor process and questionable policy. See below for where to direct your comments.

Background on the bill
The Wisconsin Lakes policy staff continues to review this bill and tease out its many nuances, and will continue to report on what we find. In the meantime, here are several provisions of importance. The bill:
1) Creates a culture of permitting by default. The bill would, with no flexibility, grant businesses default permits for a host of activities if DNR staff didn’t complete the process in time, no matter how diligently they worked. To make it worse, the deadlines and procedures laid out in the legislation would arguably allow a bad actor to delay the process in such a way that DNR would never be able to meet the deadline, be forced to rule on the permit with insufficient information, and/or limit the ability of citizens to respond to permit notices in a timely or informed matter.
In short, this bill would lead to the default approval of poorly designed projects and activities that would negatively impact our waters and streams in ways that would be very hard to reverse after they’ve done their damage – EVEN IF DNR KNEW IT WAS A BAD PROJECT, BUT LACKED THE TIME OR RESOURCES TO COMPLETE THE PROCESS.
2) Eases restrictions on dredging or filling on public lake beds
3) Removes consistent standards for public notice, as provided under the current statutory notification system, making it more difficult for citizens to know where to go for public notice of permit applications by allowing for regular publication in newspapers OR on the DNR website
4) Makes it easier to gain permits for high-capacity wells, prospecting, oil or gas production licenses, and bridges and culverts
5) Changes standards regarding size and placement of piers
6) Changes standards regarding repair and maintenance of boathouses
7) And much more...
For more information on the bill, here's a link to a detailed analysis by our Policy Director, Toni Herkert: http://www.wisconsinlakes.org/policy/pdf/SB24Analysis.pdf 

But isn’t this just a mining bill?

Many organizations have called this legislation a “mining bill”, in that many of the changes (easier permitting, easier dredge and fill) benefit mining interests, and that cannot be denied. But the bill’s loosening standards and inflexible deadlines reach to practices of all types, and will impact the waters of Wisconsin across the state – not just near a mine.
We ALL need to be concerned about the reckless speed and questionable alteration of decades of natural resource protection in Wisconsin. Please consider contacting your legislator and tell them to slow down and stop this bill today.

Contact elected officials:Click here to find your legislator.

Click here for a listing of the members of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Environment.

Click here for a listing of the members of the Assembly Natural Resources committee.

Learn more about the legislation:Click here for the language of the bill.

Click here for Wisconsin Lakes' preliminary analysis of the bill.

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