Noted water law expert predicts WI officials' Foxconn 'bungle'
My friend and highly-regarded water law expert Melissa Scanlan has written a fine op-ed about fundamental environmental obligations under Wisconsin law which the state seems intent on skirting to hurriedly approve the controversial Foxconn development.
Scanlan makes a commonsense observation about the exemptions to environmental law and procedures which Gov. Scott Walker and other project proponents are committed; I appreciated the whole of Scanlan's argument and especially her clarity when describing project supporters' looming self-inflicted wound:
Scanlan makes a commonsense observation about the exemptions to environmental law and procedures which Gov. Scott Walker and other project proponents are committed; I appreciated the whole of Scanlan's argument and especially her clarity when describing project supporters' looming self-inflicted wound:
The legislative package also includes broad exemptions from the state’s environmental protection laws, including laws designed to protect the public’s rights to clean and reliable freshwater....
These exemptions run afoul of Wisconsin’s Constitutionally-required “public trust doctrine....”
To exempt this massive set of projects from those protections is an abdication of the legislators’ and Governor’s promises when they took office to uphold the Wisconsin constitution.
A surefire way to bungle this deal is to add environmental exemptions that will be tied up in court for years and then be thrown out as unconstitutional.
5 comments:
I guess that's good news. But so far I have heard nothing of court challenges to the already bungled water management the State is responsible for. Are there any court cases around CAFOs, deep wells, and shoreline management? Why would FOXCOMM's requirements appear in court while the early and state-wide pervasive water sins have been given a pass? (Or is there court news I've missed?)
Good issue, Bill. You have to show harm, as I understand it, and you have to raise the money to fight your own government. I know that Midwest Environmental Advocates has sued over CAFO issues - - winning in a Brown County administrative hearing which led to AG Schimel's opinion that the DNR cannot set limits on a CAFO capacity, and Clean Wisconsin is in court right now over how high-capacity well permits have been doled out. http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime-and-courts/environmental-group-wants-reversal-of-dnr-permits-for-high-capacity/article_32854ed2-a97d-5b90-9020-4213b8805682.html
The larger question becomes whether the "Wisconsin Courts" still reflect the rule of law, or the sway of ALEC.
I think there is a significant question as to whether the rogue Wisconsin Supreme Court would concur that Walker, et.al's actions violate the public trust doctrine, even if one were to prove harm. With all due respect to Attorney Scanlan, these are different times and the current Wisconsin Supreme Court is the best that WMC and friends can buy.
Don't leave out the Dairy Business Association in that list, bcmink. Those guys also gave big bucks to the "WMC 5" for a reason- so they wouldn't face consequences from CAFO pollution and other runoff from Big Ag.
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