Army Corps Of Engineers Warns Walker Administration About Short-Cutting Environmental Reviews

The Walker administration and Republican legislators dancing to the tune of big business have been making noises about cutting back the time allotted for environmental reviews for some major land development projects, such as proposed mines, but a lead federal environmental and water management agency, the US Army Corps of Engineers, has sent Walker's people a long letter basically warning them not to do it.

In the August 1 letter - - including several attached documents and maps - -  the feds point out that such changes in state law, while designed to streamline permit reviews, might actually add costs, lengthen the entire, multi-agency environmental review process, cause the feds to revoke, re-examine and then re-issue some permitting authority, and essentially put the entire state/federal collaborative permitting relationship at risk.

The feds cite their authority under the Clean Water Act, and related law.

You don't have to read between the lines to grasp that the feds are warning the state to avoid a perilous regulatory streamlining.

Copied are Walker's office, DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp and several key legislators.

Here is a pdf link to the document.