Yesterday morning Midwestern Environmental Advocates and multiple plaintiffs across the state filed a lawsuit asking the federal EPA to closely monitor progress Wisconsin is making against violations of the Clean Water Act.
Press conferences were held around the state yesterday morning to announce the lawsuit. Video from the Menomonie press conference is below. I apologize for the occasional outbursts of happy children - they were in the next room at the library enjoying themeselves.
In many states the EPA has delegated enforcement of the Clean Water Act to state agencies. In Wisconsin the DNR is the delegated authorit, and has a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elmination System (WPDES). The WPDES rules in Wisconsin have fallen short on enforcement for several reasons.
Wisconsin is no longer fully funding the DNR, and has recently disbanded the water division. Staff and funding are not sufficient to enforce the Federal law. In July 2011 the EPA sent the Wisconsin DNR a leter of 75 deficiencies in their enforcement of the law. To date many of these deficiencies have not been addressed.
Additionally Wisconsin does not give sufficient legal authority to the DNR and the public to enforce the rules. Legal permits in the state have more restrictions on what review can be made, violating the Federal law.
The Petition to the EPA asks that the federal government closely monitor the state's enforcement of the Clean Water Act. In the long run, if the state does not improve, enforcement of the act may be taken back by the EPA, which would enforce the law directly.