Clean Wisconsin updates on Legislative activities

Great Lakes Compact — Major Victory!

On March 6th the State Senate passed Senate Bill 523 by a vote of 26 to 6 to ratify and implement the Great Lakes Compact, in an effort to prevent large scale diversions of the Great Lakes water and ensure that the Great Lakes states drive the management of these world class resources. This bill is now in the hands of the State Assembly and specifically the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. As of the writing of this article the regularly scheduled 2007-08 session has come to an end, but Governor Doyle has pledged to call a special session of the legislature which would bring both the Senate and Assembly back to pass this bill. This is an extraordinary step for an extraordinary resource.

This is a historic piece of legislation, not only because it satisfies Wisconsin's obligation for ratifying the Great Lakes Compact, but because it creates a water supply management program for much of Wisconsin (the Great Lakes basin). As is the case with most of our legislative victories we couldn't have succeeded without the active participation of many of our members like you.

Clean Wisconsin staff has made establishing the Great Lakes Compact its highest water priority since 2002. We worked with citizens, businesses, mayors, the Department of Natural Resources, the Council of Great Lakes Governors, legislators and other environmental groups. Our staff reviewed and commented on more than ten drafts of the Compact legislation ranging from 43 pages to 140 pages each.

The major provisions of the Great Lakes Compact include:

We greatly appreciate all of the actions our members took to help get a strong Great Lakes Compact in place. Over the past five years Clean Wisconsin members like you attended hearings, wrote legislators, e-mailed legislators, wrote letters to the local newspaper and educated friends and family about the issue. Thank you! We will write a more in-depth article in our next issue explaining the details of this complicated but very important legislation.

Mercury Products Legislation

Thanks to heavy involvement by many Clean Wisconsin members, Senate Bill 346 passed the Senate by a vote of 30 to 3. Unfortunately, the bill then stalled in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, as did many other environmental bills. SB 346 would ban the sale of thermostats, switches, relays, and measuring devices that contain mercury. Clean Wisconsin members were instrumental in achieving strong bi-partisan support in the Senate. See the accompanying article on the front page for more details about this important victory to protect our children's health.

Appliance Efficiency Standards

The appliance efficiency bill was stalled in drafting last fall for several reasons, thus was introduced too late to be passed in this session. One reason the bill drafting stalled was because of a disagreement about whether standards for these appliances could be described in statutory language or whether those details should be left to administrative rulemaking at the agency. The other major reason for the stall was that the Federal Energy Bill was moving quickly last fall and passed in December of 2007; it contained many of the same standards included in the bill draft. So, many of these minimum efficiency standards did become law in Wisconsin and the rest of the country.

Global Warming

Senate Bill 81 was introduced April 6, 2007. The bill would give the DNR authority to regulate greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the year 2020. The bill had a hearing in the Senate Environmental Committee in October. There were a few speakers who testified against the bill such as the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group (the largest corporations in the state), but the vast majority of speakers, environmental groups, health professionals, sport fishing/hunting groups, and scientists supported the bill. The Environmental Committee recommended the bill for passage by a 3 to 2 vote on October 31st. The bill was then sent to the Joint Finance Committee where it remained.

Phosphorus Fertilizer Ban

The Wisconsin Association of Lakes is leading the effort to pass Senate Bill 197 that would prohibit the application of phosphorous-containing fertilizer to lawns, golf courses, and other mowed grassy areas (turf) except to establish grass in the first growing season or in areas where a soil test shows the soil is lacking phosphorus. The bill was introduced in May of 2007, received a hearing in August and was passed out of the Senate Environmental Committee by a vote of 4 to 1 in early December. This was one of many bills that died in the Natural Resources Committee as time ran out in the legislative session.