David Michael Miller
Deer hunting is a way of life in Wisconsin, which makes chronic wasting disease a very big deal. “This is the most serious threat to the state deer herd, the most revered wildlife species in this state,” notes George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.
And so Meyer was on hand March 15 when the Assembly Natural Resources Committee had a hearing on a bill that would weaken regulations on the disease. As was Milwaukee Journal Sentinel outdoors editor Paul A. Smith. In the old days, there would also have been a representative from the state Department of Natural Resources to address the committee. Not anymore.
“In what has become a sad legacy of the DNR under Gov. Scott Walker and Secretary Cathy Stepp, no agency representative gave testimony on the bill,” wrote Smith. “It’s unconscionable for the DNR to fail to present its scientific view of a bill that could impact the health of the state’s marquee wildlife species.”
Meyer complained about this to DNR Deputy Secretary Kurt Thiede, who responded via email: “The department does not take positions for or against legislation. When requested, the department appears at the public hearing for informational purposes when requested by either a committee chairman or a bill’s primary author. This has been administration policy since 2011.”
Given that committee chairs are Republicans and the authors of bills weakening regulations are likely to be Republicans, this means DNR staff are unlikely to be asked to attend the hearings and thus won’t provide any technical information.
So who provides the needed information? “It falls either to special interest lobbyists or legislators,” says Amber Meyer Smith, a lobbyist for Clean Wisconsin and former DNR staffer. “Many of the legislators do great work, but I think they would all admit they’re not experts on natural resources management.”
But the experts have been silenced. Stepp “has been very clear that they don’t make policy,” Smith notes. “She is very proud of that. ‘That’s the legislators’ job,’ she has said.”
As a result, the state no longer has any agency advocating for Wisconsin’s precious lakes, rivers and forests. “When it comes to any major decisions on natural resources in the state, the DNR is AWOL — absent without leave,” says Meyer, who worked at the DNR for 32 years, including as its secretary from 1993 to 2001 as an appointee of Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson.
The evidence of this abdication is overwhelming:
— A decline of 45 percent or more in the cases of environmental violations charged annually, compared to under Walker’s predecessor, Gov. Jim Doyle, a Journal Sentinel investigation found.
— An 86 percent decline in fines paid by Wisconsin polluters in 2015, the lowest amount of fines in 30 years, with “sharp drops in fines for air pollution, spills of farm animal waste, improper discharges of sewage, stormwater and toxic chemicals,” the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
— A huge increase in the number of high-capacity wells, which can pump more than 100,000 gallons of groundwater a day and are depleting state rivers, streams and lakes, as the Journal Sentinel reported.
— Growing concerns “over algae-filled lakes, polluted wells, invasive species, and streams and lakes that no longer comply with state standards,” according to the Journal Sentinel.
Much of this decline in enforcement was blamed in a state audit bureau report on “heavy workloads and high turnover of DNR employees.” But while there’s no doubt the Walker administration has cut back the DNR’s staff, the bigger problem is that the staff has been muzzled. “The staff at DNR are very hesitant to communicate about anything,” says Meyer.
This is much easier to enforce now that Walker and the Legislature have dismantled the civil service system, which had served the state for 110 years under 26 governors, including 17 Republicans. Now all hiring and firing can be made based on political decisions rather than merit.
“That has put employees at risk,” Meyer says. “They’re not willing to talk about anything.”
At another legislative hearing last week, Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) noted that she now has trouble getting any kind of information from DNR staff.
The department’s mission has been redefined, says Meyer. He notes that Stepp has given speeches to business groups saying that her job is “to promote industry and create jobs.”
Most of the DNR staff cuts have involved scientific and educational staff. In the new DNR such employees aren’t needed. “It’s become,” says Meyer, “a very anti-science agency.”
Bruce Murphy is the editor of UrbanMilwaukee.com.
