“Jobs Creation Act II” will not create jobs, but it will create pollution, asthma attacks and legal costs.

Dirty Air Bill
By Melissa K. Scanlan

It seems as though our state legislators just cannot learn from their mistakes.

Last year the Legislature blind-sided the public by pushing through the misnamed Jobs Creation Act—Act 118—which rolled back 30 years of environmental protections designed to maintain Wisconsin’s heritage of clean air and water.

Then came the announcement of Jobs Creation Act II—AB 277—and less than 24 hours later the Assembly held a public hearing on it. The bill passed the Assembly and will be heard this Thursday, May 26, by the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

But let’s call this bill what it really is: the Dirty Air Bill. That is because this bill will allow more air pollution under the guise of creating jobs. For the 500,000 Wisconsinites who have asthma or other respiratory problems the Dirty Air Bill means that taking a breath of fresh air just got a little harder.

Last year’s Act 118 paved the way for major sources of air pollution to get general operating permits. Now the Dirty Air Bill takes it one step further and exempts those same major sources of air pollution from obtaining the construction permits that are currently required. This is a step in the wrong direction in a Republican-led and Doyle-sanctioned race to the bottom.

Not only will the bill allow polluters to operate without required permits, it targets the Department of Natural Resources for more contentious corporate litigation over air pollution controls. For example, under the Dirty Air Bill, a polluter can sue the DNR over an air pollution limit and avoid having to comply with it until ordered to do so by a judge. The polluter can tie up the pollution limit in court while it gets a free ride – and a competitive advantage over other businesses not as willing to sue the DNR at the drop of a hat. Worse still, because these lawsuits will be against the DNR, the taxpayers are stuck with the legal bill.

The legislators backing the Dirty Air Bill claim that these regulatory rollbacks are necessary to stimulate job growth, but once again our “leaders” are using the environment as a scapegoat and failing to identify the real threat to Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector: globalization and the export of our manufacturing jobs to other countries. According to a report by the AFL-CIO, 61 percent of the layoffs by Wisconsin manufacturers between 2001 and 2004 were trade-related.

The Dirty Air Bill does not mean more jobs; it means more asthma attacks, increased health care costs, and a continued failure to address the real threats to our manufacturing base. It is time for our state legislators to remember that their job is to protect the public, not pollute it.

May 24, 2005

Melissa K. Scanlan is executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, a non-profit environmental law center working for clean air, clean water and a clean government.