Efforts to thwart regulation of PFAS polluters move down parallel tracks

Last week, a divided Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that limited the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ ability to regulate PFAS and other emerging contaminants under the state’s long-standing spills law.

The case is one of two efforts to weaken the spills law.

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly and Senate recently passed Senate Bill 312, sending it to Gov. Tony Evers. The Democrat has implied he will veto the legislation because it contains “poison pill” provisions that allow polluters to dodge accountability.

Among those is a measure that would prevent the department from forcing PFAS cleanups on lands not owned by the state unless there is an exceedance of a “promulgated standard.”...