Greetings!
We recently reported to you (via our underground and not always polite commentator, The Rat) about special legislation that undermines state wetland laws and circumvents standard public process.
There has been much ado in the press, with wild accusations by legislators that conservationists are chasing jobs from Wisconsin, but here's why you should care and act, even if you live nowhere near the intersection of Highway 41 and Lombardi Avenue en route to Lambeau Field.
First, federal and state laws require that projects must first exhaust all practicable alternatives to avoid filling a wetland before DNR can grant a permit to fill. Avoidance is always considered better than "enhancement," or mitigation - like it or not, man never does quite as well as Mother Nature.
DNR issued a permit to fill a portion of a wetland to allow for a new commercial development, and required the developer to enhance another wetland on site as mitigation. The Wisconsin Wetland Association, for only the second time in their history, asked for a hearing to determine if DNR and the developer followed the law and did an adequate job of first looking to avoid the wetland.
Instead of sitting down together to see if the project could be slightly reconfigured to save the wetland and meet the developer's needs, the developer sought special legislation from Governor Walker to prevent the hearing.
The bill, which is moving quickly in both the Assembly and Senate, exempts the wetland from all permits. It doesn't even hold the developer, or a future property owner should he pull out, to the mitigation he promised and which has been touted by supporters as enhancing the site.
Bass Pro had been interested in locating their first Wisconsin store at the site, but when they learned the developer was planning to fill wetlands to build, stated they would never locate where wetlands were harmed. We certainly can't blame them for backing away from such an odious situation, but are sorry to hear of their retreat.
This could be a great gateway development to Green Bay, and such an environmentally conscious business may have been able to convince the developer to do the right thing.
If the bills pass, the message will be loud and clear: If you don't like the answer you got from DNR, or some pesky citizen questions a permit, the Legislature will draft up an exemption just for you. There's no way around it, this is nothing but a special favor for a developer and sets the stage for many more - and it's only February!
Please take a moment to contact your legislators (click here to find them) to let them know: Vote no on AB 10 and SB 10 - special treatment for one property owner, and usurping the public's right to question permit decisions, is just plain wrong.
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