Wisconsin environmental regulators can consider pollution before issuing water permits, state supreme court rules
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled last week that the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has the authority to consider pollution and other harms to wildlife when issuing environmental permits to farms, reports The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The decision was a win for environmentalists, but a setback for Republican lawmakers: In 2011, the GOP-led legislature passed a law specifically intended to curtail the power of environmental regulators. Nonetheless, a majority of the state’s Supreme Court judges agreed that DNR is empowered by state law to review ecological impacts when processing permits for the development of wells, as well as wastewater discharge. Guess it’s not called the “Department of Natural Resources” for no reason!
