Attempts to make Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) more business-friendly by Governor Scott Walker [3]'s administration, has landed the agency in a scandal over the handling of the discipline of a suspected polluter. The Wisconsin State Journal broke a story [4] May 6 that exposed a decision by Walker appointee DNR Executive Assistant Scott Gunderson to handle a complaint internally against Herr Environmental Inc., a waste hauler, rather than send the complaint to the Attorney General for prosecution, helping the company skirt what could have been a much heftier punishment. Wisconsin Rep. Joel Kleefisch was also implicated in the effort to get the polluters off the hook.

Herr Environmental is suspected to have spread human waste on farm fields in Jefferson County in 2009 at three times the level allowed by its permit. According to DNR documents, the fields are bordering about 30 residences and five neighboring farms, with about 40 drinking water wells potentially impacted. According to the DNR's investigation, the company provided the department with "more than 60 inaccurate records... each with different tallies of acreage and volumes of waste spread, each revised so the company appeared closer to compliance." One of the concerns of having high levels of human waste on a farm field is that it can lead to nitrates in drinking water, which can lead to "blue baby syndrome [4]," a condition in which blood cannot carry sufficient levels of oxygen throughout an infant's body, which can be deadly.

Not Punishing Polluters a "Good Thing" for Wisconsin

This story came as the second part of a two-part series by the State Journal, the first part having revealed [5] that the DNR's environmental activity has dropped dramatically in the past two years under the Walker administration and that the number of permit violation notices from the department hit a 12-year low last year. The DNR's Secretary Cathy Stepp, appointed by Walker, is a former Republican state senator who ran her family's construction business after leaving public office. Before her appointment, Stepp was an outspoken critic [6] of the DNR, calling it's employees "anti-development, anti-transportation, and pro-garter snakes, karner blue butterflies, etc." Walker said that his controversial decision to appoint Stepp was because he was looking for a DNR chief with a "chamber-of-commerce mentality."

Walker's spokesperson Cullen Werwie responded to the DNR's failure to hold polluters accountable with praise of the DNR's approach: "Increasing compliance and decreasing the number of environmental regulation violations is a good thing for Wisconsin's valuable natural resources, Wisconsin residents, tourism, our economy and ultimately for the next generation."

Rep. Joel Kleefisch Goes to Bat for Polluter

Worried about groundwater pollution, specialists with the DNR investigating the polluter's offense recommended that because of the severity of the case, it be sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The lead DNR investigator called the violations "among the worst" he'd seen. Instead of going to the DOJ, due to Gunderson's exerting "extra effort" the case was handled by local district attorneys in Waukesha and Jefferson counties where five citations were issued against Herr Environmental. The total fine was the minimum forfeiture for the permit violations, $4,338. Had the case reached the DOJ, civil forfeitures could have reached as much as $40,000.

Current Republican State Representative Joel Kleefisch, who represents part of the county where the pollution took place, was also behind the push to lessen the blow for the company, pushing for even more minimal punishment than five citations. "In the age of the DNR/Wisconsin Governor being pro-business, why is the DNR giving Herr 5 citations and why can't 2 or 3 be taken away as a show of good faith?" Kleefisch asked at a DNR meeting on the investigation. Gunderson previously received $750 in campaign contributions from Richard Herr, the owner of Herr Environmental, and Kleefisch received $100 in campaign donations from Herr and his wife Rebecca, the state's lieutenant governor, received $2,250 from the Herr family on her 2010 campaign.

In response to the State Journal story, Stepp released a press release [7] suggesting that the investigation was politically-motivated and highlighted interviews from the department that drew only one conclusion. The State Journal investigation had noted that Stepp had declined several requests to be interviewed for the story.