12/04/01 - Groups Testify on DNR's Green Tier Proposal

Groups Testify on DNR's Green Tier Proposal

Dec. 4, 2001 - DNR Sec. Darrell Bazzell and industry representatives testified before the Assembly Environment Committee on DNR's Green Tier initiative. The proposal, which was pulled from the budget bill, offers industry regulatory flexibility and may get new life as a stand-alone bill.

Governor's Proposal Included Audit Protection
Governor McCallum initially put DNR's Green Tier Proposal in his proposed state budget. That portion of Green Tier developed by DNR would have allowed companies that meet certain environmental performance conditions to obtain permit flexibility and other special considerations from DNR. One of the more controversial aspects of the Governor's proposal, and not part of DNR's initial Green Tier recommendations, was the provision to provide limited civil immunity for companies that perform environmental audits.

In what might be perceived as a blow to former DNR Sec. George Meyer, (who was the leading proponent of the program), the Green Tier provisions were tossed out of the budget as "policy." Most provisions extracted from the budget as policy, however, are reintroduced as stand-alone legislation. To date, the Green Tier proposal has not been introduced. While the concept has broad-based support, most groups involved in the development of the program appear to have more pressing legislative priorities. The Assembly hearing may provide enough inertia to get the bill introduced and considered during the Jan.- Mar. 2002 floor periods.

Assembly Committee Hears Support and Recommendations
Brian Borofka, Wisconsin Energy Corporation, briefed the committee on WEC's "Cooperative Agreement" with DNR and their participation in the Green Tier advisory committee. In many respects, Green Tier is intended to be the successor, permanent program to the existing Cooperative Environmental Agreement program, which was set up by the Legislature as a pilot program.

Both programs allow interested parties and DNR to negotiate a contract to assure superior environmental performance in return for regulatory flexibility. Borofka cited tangible benefits under Wisconsin Energy's agreement as including alternative monitoring and reporting, streamlined permitting, and approval on innovative ash management techniques.

Jeff Schoepke, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, also testified in support of the Green Tier proposals. Referring to a Sept. 2001 Legislative Audit Bureau report, Schoepke suggested some improvements for the program. The Audit Bureau's Review of Environmental Cooperation Pilot Program did not directly analyze the Green Tier initiative, but they did note certain deficiencies with its predecessor's program that were relevant to Green Tier.

This critique focused on the costs associated with negotiating a cooperative agreement. For example, the review cites one applicant that had a half-time employee dedicated to processing the application for over a year. Eventually, the company withdrew its application because the program's benefits did not appear to outweigh its costs. Picking up on these points, Schoepke's recommendations generally focused on making the benefits more certain and reducing the costs for participation. (See Review of Environmental Cooperation Pilot Program)

Related Documents:

Review of Environmental Cooperation Pilot Program

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce