Tolerating Air Pollution Is Another Fumble By The DNR

Madison attorney David Bender takes the state's power industries and the Department of Natural Resources to task for failing to install the best technologies abating coal-burning pollutants.

I addressed these management and enforcement issues two weeks ago, here, regarding the pollution caused by the Charter St. power plant in the center of the UW-Madison campus.

At the heart of this matter is the weak performance of the DNR. It is not the strong advocate for public health and resource protection that it could be.

There are dozens of posts on this blog documenting the DNR's passivity on Great Lakes water management, and that gap in performance and intensity on behalf of the public interest is evident on power plant rule-making and air pollution, too.

This is bad news for Wisconsin's air and water quality.

And it continues to be a baffling denial of the state's long history as a leader in environmental protection.

When it comes to clean air and protected water resources - - streams, lakes and underground supplies - - half-measures are not enough.

And are certainly not the Wisconsin Way.