Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has recently been promoting its exclusive club known as "Green Tier." Membership in this club grants businesses freedom from DNR enforcement for violations of environmental regulations, as well as use of a logo promoting the company’s purported environmental excellence, in exchange for a commitment to environmental excellence.
The goal of Wisconsin’s Green Tier program is to promote superior environmental performance. But the DNR may not be taking that goal seriously enough. On closer scrutiny, not all of the companies recently admitted to the program live up to the DNR’s hype.
The law requires that participants in Green Tier be free from environmental enforcement for at least a year prior to the participant’s application to the program. But what if the DNR chooses not to take enforcement action against persistent violators of environmental regulations? Under the Green Tier law, the company is still eligible for membership, and for the regulatory flexibility that the program delivers.
Thus the DNR may ignore certain environmental violations at its choosing, cobble together a list of environmental accomplishments, then admit a company to the Green Tier program and grant it immunity from enforcement. Is this how we should move towards a cleaner Wisconsin?
Other elements of the program warrant examination as well. The Green Tier program as it now exists does not contain an effective tool to measure "superior environmental performance." This term is not defined by the law, and it is not clear how the DNR intends to compare the environmental performance of Green Tier participants to that of businesses operating under the traditional regulatory scheme.
The flexibility of the program should be earned by those companies who are able to measurably exceed existing environmental standards.
The Green Tier program offers too many benefits to be applied to companies that consistently and egregiously violate environmental standards. Business owners who want to see the Green Tier program thrive should demand transparency from the DNR and true environmental excellence from participating companies.
Melissa Scanlan is the founder and senior counsel, and Jamie Saul is a staff attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates, Wisconsin’s first and only nonprofit environmental law firm. Scanlan can be reached at (414) 688-4171 or mscanlan@midwestadvocates.org.
