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Wisconsin farmers urged to watch high-cap well issue

A dairy lobbyist says Wisconsin farmers will want to pay attention to what is going on at the State Capitol concerning high capacity well permits. 

John Holevoet is with the Dairy Business Association. He says, “The question really is about whether the DNR has the authority to consider the cumulative impacts of a well as it reviews an application for one of these.”

Holevoet tells Brownfield this is an issue that has been debated for years. “The courts have kind of given us one answer. The previous Attorney General has given us a different answer, and now our current Attorney General has said never mind his old answer, we’re going to stick with what the court said before that opinion was even issued.”

Holevoet says farmers with valid permits for existing high-capacity wells will probably see no changes, but, “The bigger question is what happens if you ever need to replace that well if you’re trying to transfer title of land or sell some land that has one of these wells. That’s when things can be a little bit interesting for a while.”

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul sent a letter to DNR Secretary Preston Cole saying he is withdrawing the opinion issued by former Attorney General Brad Schimel that prohibited the DNR from conducting environmental reviews of high capacity well applications. 

Holevoet says the pending Wisconsin Supreme Court case will likely provide more clarity to the issue later this year, including if DNR can make regulations with or without being tied to a law passed by the Legislature.  The so-called “Clean Wisconsin Suits” reportedly will not come up before the State Supreme Court until sometime after September 1^st.