Gov. Scott Walker, seen speaking to reporters in 2013, has been praised by business interests for cutting red tape at the DNR, but environmentalists decry a decline in enforcement. Credit: Michael Sears

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In March 2013, Gov. Scott Walker celebrated passage of a new iron mining law on the factory floor of Milwaukee's P&H Mining Equipment.

The bill was the most significant environmental legislation in Walker's term in office and one of many victories in which business interests have prevailed.

"We are going to make it easier to create jobs and economic opportunity in the future," Walker declared that day to scores of legislators and supporters.

Walker's comments aptly summed up the administration's approach to environmental issues.

Since 2011, Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature have put little emphasis on new regulations, but instead have tried to cut red tape, reverse policies of Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, and make the state Department of Natural Resources more responsive to those it regulates.

"There have been real significant strides," said Eric Bott, director of environmental and energy policy for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group, which lobbied heavily in support of the mining law. "Huge improvements from a regulatory perspective, I would say, over the last four years."

Environmental leaders saw the mining bill as a major setback, and they fault the administration for inattention to other issues, such as climate change, water pollution and groundwater protection.

"There has been a significant reduction in the emphasis on protecting the environment in the state," said George Meyer, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources from 1993 to 2001.

Meyer is executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

One big concern has been a drop in environmental enforcement.

The number of cases the DNR referred to the Department of Justice increased from 24 in 2011 to 34 in 2012, but leveled off to 35 last year, according to DNR records. By comparison, in 2000, when Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson was governor, there were 61 cases sent to the attorney general.

During Doyle's administration, the agency referred an average of 68 cases a year.

The total number of referrals in 2014 isn't likely to change much from last year, according to Steve Sisbach, the DNR's chief of environmental enforcement. But compliance orders, which are legally enforceable and set a timetable to address violations, are likely to go up this year, he said.

Environmental groups said the drop shows the DNR is putting less emphasis on enforcement.

Sisbach disagreed, saying the agency was hit by a wave of retirements. The department has filled some vacancies but not all, said Sisbach, who believes referrals will eventually climb back up.

One difference under DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, however, is a directive to meet with parties early on to address problems, he said.

"Nothing's changed in how we look at enforcement cases," said Sisbach, a 25-year veteran of the program.

But conservationists said the DNR's priorities were clear; it's had four years to toughen enforcement and hasn't.

"The reality is that this should be the most basic function," said Jennifer Giegerich, legislative director of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. "It should have been the highest priority."

Stepp, who came to the agency in 2011 with an admittedly jaded view, said the DNR vigorously enforces existing laws.

A former home builder and Republican state senator from Racine County, she wrote on a blog in 2009 that employees tended to be "anti-development, anti-transportation, and pro-garter snakes, Karner blue butterflies etc...."

"I was very shortsighted," Stepp said. "I painted the agency with a very broad brush, based on my myopic view with my DNR, which was southeastern Wisconsin, and my constituents' relationship with my DNR."

Under Walker, the paper industry said, it has been easier to communicate with the governor's office and the DNR's field staff.

"It's kind of a top-down mentality that we've seen, and it's permeating through the organization," said Jeff Landin, president of the Wisconsin Paper Council.

Early in his term, Walker moved swiftly on the environmental front when the public was more fixated on crawling out of the recession.

A nationalGallup poll in March 2011 found the widest margin in nearly 30 years on attitudes toward the economy and the environment, with the environment taking a back seat. Gallup found 54% believed economic growth trumped the environment as a priority.

Americans in the poll have usually ranked the environment before economic growth, and in a March 2014 poll the environment was back on top 50% to 41%.

With a new Republican majority, Walker blocked President Barack Obama's administration's $810 million funding of high-speed rail between Milwaukee and Madison. High-speed rail advocates are still fuming over the train deal, which Walker said was the fiscally right thing to do.

The governor also tried to eliminate mandatory community recycling, arguing that markets for glass and plastics no longer needed help from the government. The bid failed.

Walker also sided with Realtors and property rights advocates by trying to change siting regulations to slow construction of wind turbines. During his gubernatorial campaign, he criticized wind energy as an "expensive, inefficient source of electricity."

Restrictions on wind development also failed.

But to the disappointment of environmentalists, Walker's victories far outnumbered his defeats.

He rolled back the Doyle administration's efforts to boost money for Focus on Energy, a program that uses incentives to cut energy costs with more efficient lighting and appliances.

Walker introduced a bill that eventually passed and sidestepped a normal environmental review for construction on part of a wetland near Lambeau Field. State and federal laws protect wetlands. Generally, they must not be disturbed.

DNR field staff in Green Bay concluded the project would have a negative effect on wetland habitat, but administrators in Madison raised no objections. Bass Pro Shops pulled out of the project, saying it wouldn't build on a wetland. But retailer Cabela's went ahead with the project.

Walker and the Legislature also scaled back the power of state agencies by giving the governor authority to review and approve all regulations written by state agencies before they take effect.

"That's incredibly significant from a business standpoint," WMC's Bott said. "Sometimes an agency may not be aware how impactful a regulation might be."

Citing fiscal concerns, Walker and the Legislature sharply scaled back funding for a popular state land stewardship program that has amassed holdings of more than 560,000 acres since 1990. Interest expenses are costing the state $1.6 million a week.

Earlier this year, Walker and the Legislature delayed Doyle-era regulations that positioned Wisconsin as one of the first states to impose stricter limits on phosphorus. Phosphorus is an algae-causing nutrient that washes off the land but is also discharged by industry.

"We would have become a regulatory island ...," Bott said. "We would have had huge compliance costs for paper mills, cheesemakers and food processors."

Environmentalists, however, also raised economic objections: Algae-filled lakes hurt tourism. Today, more than 700 water bodies fail to meet state water quality standards. One quarter of them violate the standards because of excessive levels of phosphorus.

Environmentalists think Wisconsin has been hurt by Walker's opposition to renewable energy projects. Regulators appointed by Walker have sharply cut state incentives for solar and wind power.

This year, 35 wind farms are under construction in the Upper Midwest — none in Wisconsin.

"We're missing out as a state, and we've actually ceded many good-paying construction and engineering jobs to states that have policies to encourage and attract clean energy developers," said Keith Reopelle, senior policy director at Clean Wisconsin.

In a survey released by his organization this month and conducted by polling firms affiliated with both parties, eight of 10 Wisconsin voters said they supported increased use of wind and solar energy.

Mining, a sleepy issue for years, took center stage after Gogebic Taconite unveiled plans for a $1.5 billion iron ore mine in Ashland and Iron counties. The company demanded changes, and its lobbyists and attorneys played an influential role in writing the law.

Backers believe the new law keeps many safeguards in place, but opponents fear it will roll back protections in the Bad River watershed. The debate will no doubt go on for years and may not be resolved until an inevitable court challenge.

Under Doyle, climate change initiatives slowed as the economy worsened. The economy is stronger today, but Walker's stance has been to express concern about climate regulations rather than climate change. Days after Obama unveiled a plan in 2013 to curb greenhouse gases, Walker and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized the plan, saying it would hurt states that burn the most coal.

Walker's hands-off approach on such a big issue troubles Meyer.

"The state can only play a small role in this," Meyer said. "But the Legislature has done nothing, and the governor and the DNR have said nothing, or very little."