The Tomah Journal explains how the badly named Job Creation Act does what WMC and Gov. Doyle created it to do.
The Blue-Green Algae Creation Act
By
The Tomah Journal
The creators of the "Job Creation Act" gave their bill the wrong name. It should have been named the "Blue-Green Algae Creation Act." Last week, Department of Natural Resources officials closed the beach at Lake Kegonsa State Park in Dane County because of a blue-green algae outbreak, caused in large part by nutrient-laden runoff from construction sites. Freeing contractors from DNR oversight was one of the major goals of the Job Creation Act, and Wisconsin's waterways are already paying the price.
The June 14 Wisconsin State Journal chronicled how heavy rainfall and toothless regulation damaged lakes and trout streams in Dane County. The story was accompanied by a sickening photo of a silt fence overwhelmed by eroding soil, which spilled in Pheasant Branch Creek. Unfortunately, there's virtually nothing the DNR can do about it. The Job Creation Act created a "presumptive" permitting process, which automatically approves a permit if the DNR doesn't respond within 14 days. At the same time, lawmakers slashed the DNR budget to the point where reviewing a permit within 14 days is nearly impossible. The DNR has exactly one full-time inspector to review permits in the 11-county South Central region. In Madison alone, there were 2,680 building permits issued in 2003.
Those facts didn't prevent state Senator Neal Kedzie from blaming the DNR. Kedzie made the absurd claim that the DNR doesn't efficiently manage its workload. He told the State Journal that DNR regulators believe "they have an obligation to oversee everything in great detail. Sometimes you can over-manage." How can one person covering 11 counties over-manage? When construction runoff chokes lakes with algae and turns trout streams into flowing mud, the problem is under-management, not over-management.
Has the DNR always applied its regulatory authority in a fair and timely manner? No. There isn't an organization in the public or private sector that has a perfect record of customer service. But the reality is that Wisconsin can't protect its lakes, rivers and streams with a purely voluntary model of erosion control. Thanks to the Legislature's handiwork, individuals and developers can do almost anything they want without the fear of DNR enforcement. The dirty work of the Blue-Green Algae Creation Act has already begun.
(This article originally appeared as an unsigned editorial in the June 24, 2004, Tomah Journal.)
June 29, 2004
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