Madison, WI— Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court announced it will hear a case about the ability of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to address toxic PFAS contamination under Wisconsin’s Spills Law. The court’s decision could have far-reaching implications for the state’s ability to protect Wisconsinites from toxic environmental pollution.
This development marks a new phase for a case that began in 2021 when Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) filed a lawsuit against the DNR to limit the agency’s ability to investigate PFAS contamination and require responsible parties to clean up contaminated sites.
WMC’s lawsuit threatens to fundamentally undermine the Spills Law, a bedrock environmental and public health protection that has protected the people of Wisconsin for more than 40 years.
Under the Spills Law, the DNR is currently providing critical assistance to people in Marinette, Peshtigo, the Town of Stella in Oneida County, the Town of Campbell in La Crosse County, and other communities impacted by PFAS contamination.
Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) has been participating in the case since the beginning on behalf of Citizens for a Clean Wausau, Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Environmental Health Network, and Doug Oitzinger, a former mayor of Marinette and a current alderperson.
In April 2024, MEA filed an amicus brief urging the State Supreme Court to take the case and describing the harm that would be inflicted on Wisconsin communities if WMC were to prevail.
“We are pleased that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case, and we are confident the DNR’s efforts to keep Wisconsin families safe from PFAS contamination will ultimately be vindicated by the state’s highest court,” said MEA Staff Attorney Rob Lee.
In response to today’s news, MEA client Doug Oitzinger said, “The Spills Law must be protected at all costs from the special interests that would overturn it. It’s the only remedy Marinette and the Town of Peshtigo have for the PFAS pollution caused by Tyco/Johnson Controls.”
Visit Midwest Environmental Advocates’ website for more information on this case.
Midwest Environmental Advocates is a nonprofit law center that combines the power of law with the resolve of communities facing environmental injustice to secure and protect the rights of all people to healthy water, land, and air. Learn more at midwestadvocates.org.
