Defender
Summer 2018 we believe everyone deserves clean water and clean air
A Legal Win for Wisconsin's Wetlands Victory upholds protections for rare wetlands, permitting The Wisconsin Natural process Heritage Inventory classifies
By Evan Feinauer, Staff Attorney
Clean Wisconsin 634 W. Main St., #300 Madison, WI 53703-2500
Nonprofit Org U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 1291 Madison, WI
This Spring Clean Wisconsin secured a significant legal victory for Wisconsin’s wetlands. On May 4, an Administrative Law Judge ruled that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) failed to follow the law when it issued a wetland fill permit to Meteor Timber LLC (Meteor Timber), an out-of-state company seeking to construct a frac sand processing facility in northern Monroe County. Meteor Timber’s proposed development was to construct a facility to dry and process sand trucked in from a sand mine in Jackson County. The sand would then be shipped to other parts of the country, where it would be used for hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to extract oil and gas. Meteor Timber sought to fill approximately 16.25 acres of wetlands, over 13 acres of which are a White PineRed Maple forested wetland community.
Wisconsin’s legal victory to protect a rare wetland in Monroe County upholds the integrity of our wetland laws, protecting other White Pine-Red Maple wetlands Clean rare wetlands across the state from a bad legal precedent. (File photo) as “imperiled,” because the pressure from human development poses a victory serves as a reminder to DNR that significant threat to the few remaining occurrences the department cannot cut corners to issue of this type of wetlands. Further, DNR staff permits to influential companies, and it determined that this particular White Pine-Red upholds the integrity of our wetland laws, Maple forested wetland has “exceptional” value, protecting other rare wetlands across the because it supports rare animal and plant species and state from a harmful legal precedent. If the is remarkably pristine. Wetlands also improve water wetlands that an applicant wants to fill are quality by filtering out contaminants, and reduce the low-quality or common, mitigation may be frequency and severity of flood events by acting as a attainable, although it is rarely easy. Here, however, successful mitigation sponge to soak up excess water. would require Meteor Timber to Last year, Clean Wisconsin and its co-petitioner, The Ho-Chunk Nation, represented by Midwest replace the value of a complex, rare, Environmental Advocates, challenged DNR’s and exceptionally-valuable White Pinedecision to issue a wetland fill permit for this project. Red Maple forested wetland. Wetland A week-long evidentiary hearing was held at the end mitigation this ambitious and difficult has never even been attempted—much of February, in Tomah, Wisconsin. On May 4, the Judge announced his ruling that less successfully completed—in Wisconsin DNR did not comply with the law when it issued this before. During the week-long hearing, our expert wetland permit, and therefore the permit is invalid. witnesses demonstrated that Meteor Timber’s mitigation plan contained A flawed plan Under state law, anyone seeking to fill wetlands significant errors and omissions. One must apply for a wetland permit from DNR. This of our expert witnesses testified that
due to these problems the proposed
It's Our Air
As the weather warms, stay informed & alerted about the health risks from ozone pollution By Katie Nekola, General Counsel
Also in this issue
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Now that summer is here, you are likely to hear about “Ozone Alerts” or Air Quality Notices from the Department of Natural Resources, warning the public when levels of ozone and particle pollution reach unhealthy levels. This typically occurs on hot summer days, and you may be advised to avoid outdoor activity. We’re familiar with ozone days, but we often do not think about what we’re breathing and how it affects the health and wellbeing of our kids, our families, our communities. The harmful impact of ozone pollution on public health is worth brushing up on, especially as the weather warms and the risks for health problems increase. What is Ozone? There are two types of ozone: stratospheric ozone, which occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. This is often called “good ozone.” In this article, we focus on “bad ozone” or ground-level ozone, often called smog, which is formed when air pollutants combine with sunlight to create a powerful oxidant that can irritate the airways. Ozone in the air can make breathing difficult and harm our lungs, especially on hot, sunny days when ozone can reach unhealthy levels. Even relatively low levels of ozone can cause health problems. The good news is that the more you know continued on Page 5
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