Environmental Group Challenges High Capacity Well Permits

One of the state`s most active environmental groups has filed nine legal challenges Friday against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over the agency`s recent granting of high-capacity well permits, mainly in the Central Sands region in central Wisconsin. Clean Wisconsin says the lawsuits are in response to the DNR`s decision to rely on the opinion of Attorney General Brad Schimel stating the DNR lacks the authority to review the individual and cumulative effects of high capacity irrigation wells on nearby waterbodies.

"The proliferation of high capacity wells around the state is draining lakes, threatening outstanding and exceptional resource waters, and impacting private wells," said Katie Nekola, an attorney with Clean Wisconsin. "The DNR`s refusal to consider cumulative impacts violates the agency`s constitutional mandate to manage lakes and rivers and streams as public resources owned in common by all Wisconsin citizens."   ...more