January 2005
Welcoming a New Board
Member
Midwest Environmental Advocates is pleased to welcome the newest addition to our Board of Directors, Paula Oeler. A graduate of Macalester College and the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Paula was a co-owner of Carta Interactive, Inc., a strategic design consulting firm. As a resident of Western Wisconsin, she recognizes the need to find voices within every community to speak for protecting land and water.
We would also like to thank outgoing Board member Glenn Stoddard for his three years of service to Midwest Environmental Advocates. A partner in the law firm of Garvey and Stoddard, Glenn has given advice, support and guidance, and continues to work as co-counsel on one of our cases.
Protecting Clean Lakes
On December 8, 2004 Midwest Environmental Advocates and the grassroots group
Centerville CARES, filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Natural
Resources' finding that the expansion of Maple Leaf Dairy to up to 9,000 cattle
near the shoreland of Lake Michigan will have no significant environmental
impacts. The DNR has refused to fully evaluate the air and water quality
impacts of the expansion plans.
To read a Green Bay Press Gazette article on the lawsuit, click here.
We also joined members of Centerville CARES at a public hearing on December 16, 2004, on the re-issuance of a permit for Maple Leaf Dairy at its current size. Members of the group testified to abnormally high E. coli levels in the waterways directly downstream of Maple Leaf Dairy and questioned Maple Leaf Dairy's manure management.
To read a Manitowoc Herald Times article on the hearing, click here.
Advocating for a Fair Budget
Midwest Environmental Advocates called on the State Legislature to pass a budget for the Department of Natural Resources that requires corporate polluters to pay their fair share of a $20 million budget gap. While the current proposed budget decreases funding for programs such as wildlife protection and water pollution enforcement, and increases fees for Wisconsin residents to hunt, fish and visit public parks, it does not ask for any increases in fees from polluters for the Title V clean air program.Without an increase in Title V fees, the DNR will not have the resources to effectively administer the program, resulting in the largest sources of air pollution operating without adequate permits and enforcement. MEA is also calling for the elimination of the existing cap on fees for emissions over 5,000 tons. With this cap, the largest polluters are given a substantial discount, as they pay nothing for every ton emitted over 5,000 tons.To read our opinion editorial on the DNR budget, click here.
Stormwater Permits
On January 7, 2005, Midwest Environmental Advocates submitted comments on four general stormwater permits proposed by the DNR. We are urging the DNR to modify the permits to ensure that the waters we use for swimming, boating and fishing are protected from pollutants carried from city streets, construction sites, and industrial scrapyards by chronic rainfall, melting snow and intense storms. To review the comments, click here.
Protecting Wisconsin's Groundwater
On November 26, 2004, Governor Doyle appointed Jodi Habush Sinykin, Of Counsel to Midwest Environmental Advocates, to serve as the environmental representative on the Groundwater Management Advisory Council. Last Earth Day, Governor Doyle signed the Groundwater Protection Act into law - establishing Wisconsin's first comprehensive legal framework to govern groundwater quantity. The Advisory Council will address some of the more difficult issues left unresolved by the new law.
702 E. Johnson Street, Madison, WI
53703
Telephone: 608.251.5047 Fax: 608.268.0205
Email: advocate@midwestadvocates.org Web:
www.midwestadvocates.org