In an important win in the fight to protect clean water in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District III today decided in favor of citizens challenging the process and substance of a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource (WDNR) water pollution permit issued to Fort James paper company in Green Bay.

“This is a huge win for the people of Wisconsin in protecting our precious water resources,” said Betsy Lawton, staff attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, a non-profit environmental law center which successfully argued the case to the court. “The citizens that have fought for five years for an opportunity to challenge the sufficiency of limits on discharges of mercury and phosphorus into the Lower Fox River and Green Bay and require the WDNR to enforce existing clean water laws should be applauded.”

Importantly, the Court acknowledged citizens’ rights to challenge the sufficiency of water pollution limits in permits, recognizing that state law “demonstrate[s] an intent to encourage public participation, not to progressively limit it.”

Secondly, the decision confirms WDNR’s responsibility to uphold federal clean water standards in Wisconsin water pollution permits. WDNR has been authorized to implement the Clean Water Act since 1974. The Court rejected the theory that WDNR could “promulgate rules and issue permits violating federal law as long as it can successfully skirt the EPA’s discretionary review.”

 “The case is a huge step forward for environmental law,” said Dave Bender, a leading environmental attorney at McGillivray Westerberg & Bender LLC. “Midwest Environmental Advocates deserves a huge ‘thank you’ across Wisconsin for continuing its uphill battle against industry efforts and DNR inaction to shield violators of the Clean Water Act.”

The Clean Water Act (CWA) was passed by Congress in 1972 to set minimum standards for water quality for the nation.  Individual states earned the ability to implement the CWA by creating regulatory frameworks that included the protections in the federal law.  Nearly 40 years after the passing of the CWA, states continue to struggle to fully and effectively implement the laws designed to protect water quality essential to public health and well-being.