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Report: Intervenor Again Needed In State
The Capital Times :: FRONT :: 3A
Thursday, April 15, 2004
By Anita Weier The Capital Times
Wisconsin's citizens need an independent public
intervenor to ensure adequate protection of the environment and public
health, according to a report by the Wisconsin Stewardship Network.
The report, prepared by Jodi Habush Sinykin, was distributed Wednesday at a State Capitol news conference attended by three former public intervenors, Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and several environmental advocates.
The Office of the Public Intervenor -- an independent advocate -- was in charge of protecting the environment for 28 years until it was ended in 1995 by Gov. Tommy Thompson and the Legislature. The office was instrumental in the passage of legislation such as Wisconsin's DDT ban, acid rain control, a ground water quality law and reclamation standards for gravel pits and stone quarries.
The cost of the office was just 5 cents per Wisconsin resident per year, said Habush Sinykin, a counsel for Midwest Environmental Advocates.
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The report was written after DuWayne Johnsrud, the head of the Assembly natural resources committee, refused to hold hearings on a bill restoring the office, on the basis that an intervenor was not needed because the Department of Natural Resources was adequately protecting the environment.
The report said that air pollution rule revisions and mining moratorium regulations have been stymied without input from a public intervenor, and that an intervenor could have accurately assessed the environmental impact of a power transmission line between Duluth and Wausau.
"The public intervenor office's ability to provide top-notch scientific, technical, and legal information and expertise has been sorely missed in matters of environmental importance to Wisconsin citizens," the report said.
Melissa Scanlan, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, said that the recently enacted regulatory reform bill known as the Job Creation Act would have turned out differently if an intervenor had been in place. Lobbyists representing the building industry and other businesses helped write the bill, so a balance was needed, she said.
Lautenschlager said that an independent intervenor is needed to undertake legal challenges that the attorney general cannot handle, because many matters must be referred to her office by state agencies, the Legislature or the governor.
Without the intervenor, the process is subject to political pressures, she said, noting that the Natural Resources Board -- which directs the Department of Natural Resources -- is appointed by the governor. So is the secretary of the DNR.
"The intervenor provides an entity in which the average citizen's voice can be heard," Lautenschlager said.
Without an intervenor, she said, the process is "totally controlled politically."
"It is controlled by those people who can lobby for the laws with the Legislature. It is controlled by a politically-appointed DNR board that does rules," she said. "And it is promoted by a politically controlled DNR board that refers cases to our office. There are very few ways in which the Wisconsin attorney general can enforce environmental laws without being requested to do so by the DNR or the governor or one house of the Legislature."
Private non-profit groups such as the Sierra Club and Midwest Environmental Advocates have filled the gap by bringing cases to court, she said. But that is not enough.
"Our state faces a variety of environmental problems. We have mercury warnings for virtually every navigable lake and stream in the state, we have an ozone containment area in southeast Wisconsin where the quality of air is questionable. We have concerns as to the future of our environment," Lautenschlager said.
Restoring the public intervenor would restore balance to the system, she added. It would provide a framework in which the average citizen could be heard without the financial hurdles that now exist with lobbying legislators and taking environmental cases to court.
Former Public Intervenor Kathleen Falk, now the Dane County executive, said that the Office of the Public Intervenor was important because both Republicans and Democrats believed in its integrity. "They could count on that voice" to protect common values, she said.
E-mail: aweier@madison.com
