A bill now being debated by the Wisconsin legislature would fill the gap inwetlands protection created by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January.Wisconsin is the first state in the country to respond to the ruling thatopened up millions of acres of wetlands around the Great Lakes todevelopment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Gil Halsted reports:
Transcript
A bill now being debated by the Wisconsin legislature would fill the gap in wetlands
protection created by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January. Wisconsin is the first state
in the country to respond to the ruling that opened up millions of acres of wetlands
around the Great Lakes to development. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Gil
Halsted reports.
Last month, the nation’s highest supreme court stripped the authority of the Army
Corps of Engineers to regulate what are known as isolated wetlands. Those are wetlands
not directly connected to a lake, river or tributary system.
Environmental groups in Wisconsin have estimated that would leave more than four
million acres of wetlands vulnerable to development. So right after the Supreme Court
announced its ruling, the Wisconsin Department of Natural resources and a coalition of
environmental groups began working on a new law — one that would give the state the
authority once held by the Corps of Engineers. Former DNR secretary George
Meyer says such fast action was needed… as soon as the Supreme Court
ruling was announced, developers began calling the state about
wetlands development.
“It’s a good thing this happened in the winter or we would
already be hearing the sound of bulldozers and buzzsaws.”
The proposed new law has passed the state Senate, but it faces
stiff opposition from real estate developers in the state Assembly.
For the GLRC, I’m Gil Halsted.