Contact:  Amber Meyer Smith, (608) 251-7020 x16, asmith@cleanwisconsin.org

 

 

Madison, WI — Clean Wisconsin, the state’s oldest and largest environmental group, issued the following statement in response to the Wisconsin Senate’s passage, on a party-line vote, of a bill that limits regulation of high capacity wells:

“Today’s vote is extremely disappointing. It takes Wisconsin even further away from sustainable management of our water resources by removing critical opportunities to review high capacity well permits. This bill ensures existing high capacity well permits will not be reviewed and updated with new standards in the future. It locks in the current problems. No other industry gets permits that last forever. We are especially disappointed that efforts to create a permit expiration that would have accommodated the agricultural industry’s desire for regulatory certainty while still allowing for updates to permits were rejected. There was a solution to this bill, but the majority party rejected those efforts. The Senate committee heard from dozens of citizens who are desperate for solutions for the lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands drying up in areas of our state due to excessive pumping from high capacity wells. SB 76 takes us in exactly the wrong direction and even further away from sustainable management.”

 

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