Major Ruling In East Troy/Lake Beulah Well Case

The State Supreme Court points the DNR to the Wisconsin Constitution's directive about protecting the state's waters under the Public Trust Doctrine, according to the Journal Sentinel.

This is potentially an explosive ruling; at stake is an East Troy well sunk very close to Lake Beulah - - a matter I noted more than two years ago when the Madison law firm of Lawton & Cates got involved.

I am pleased to see the high court emphasizing the Public Trust Doctrine, as that historic section of the state constitution (it predates statehood, all the way back to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787) must be front-and-center in the agency's review of Waukesha's application to divert water from Lake Michigan and return it, as treated wastewater via Underwood Creek and the Menomonee River.