Don’t break up DNR
Retired from 16 years as a consulting engineer and 22 earlier years at the Department of Natural Resources and the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, I oppose plans to split up the DNR. An agency split would be a mistake for jobs in Wisconsin.
In 1967, the DNR was created from environmental, health and conservation agencies as an efficient and effective way to deal with complex environmental problems. The state’s future economy will not thrive without the quality of life to attract and retain a modern workforce; notably, education, environment and infrastructure are critical. Dismantling the state’s environmental agency is a major step in the wrong direction.
The business case is clear: A single, integrated agency has helped increase and protect private sector jobs and stimulate new types of jobs while doing so in a costefficient manner. Jobs increased when: In the pulp and paper pollution cleanup, DNR fishery biologists and engineers figured out how to factor in the flow, temreducing perature and biology of the rivers to set site-specific pollution limits. This reduced uncertainty and compliance costs for dischargers. Over the next 20 years, industrial capacity increased two- to three-fold while pollution loadings were reduced by 95%. Only broad integrated natural resources knowledge made this possible.
Wisconsin’s rivers became first in the nation to meet fishing and swimming standards. Riverfront businesses cut doors and windows into their back walls to enjoy their formerly polluted riverfront. Riverside property values increased in Green Bay, and along the northern and southern Fox rivers, on the Wisconsin River and Milwaukee’s rivers. DNR engineers could do this only with close intra-agency contact with fishery and wildlife biologists.
Jobs were protected when:
Acid rain was found, then studied by DNR researchers and addressed, allowing Wisconsin utilities and paper industries to negotiate early favorable contracts for low-sulfur coal. This merged engineering and biological work served these industries well, energy costs and improving their competitiveness. Acidified lakes recovered.
Different professions addressed pulp mill sludge problems, leading to new in-plant production technologies making these mills more competitive. Credit for this major success goes to industry and a multidisciplinary, integrated DNR.
New jobs were invented when:
Fish kills from cheese whey disposal were documented by DNR fish managers and wardens, who then worked with DNR environmental staff and the dairy products industry. Proper management practice uses whey not as waste, but for valuable byproducts.
Environmental laboratories and consulting became productive national service businesses.
These and many other successes were possible because of a strong interdisciplinary, integrated DNR. New and saved jobs in smart competitive businesses were a key result of these environmental and public health efforts.