ARLEN CHRISTENSON

On Aug. 8, Attorney General Brad Schimel announced the appointment of a Wyoming lawyer as director of the Environmental Law Unit in the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The announcement and media coverage of the change did not mention that this appointment required the removal of the dedicated and highly respected incumbent director, Tom Dawson.

Dawson’s long service with the department began in 1976 as one of two public intervenors assigned to “protect public rights in water and other natural resources.” When he was appointed director of the Environmental Unit he was one of the most experienced and respected environmental law practitioners in Wisconsin. Dawson served with distinction as director for 13 years under both Republican and Democratic attorneys general.

Schimel’s only explanation for his action was that he wanted the Environmental Unit head to be a member of his office’s “team.” Until now, the only Department of Justice “team” involved in enforcing Wisconsin environmental laws was the Environmental Unit, led by Dawson. The team objective was to enforce the laws protecting the public’s right to clean water and air as well as our other natural resources. The objectives of Schimel’s concept of his team are unstated but it is not unreasonable to assume they are political.

The history of the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Unit has been one of diligent, non-partisan enforcement of the law by assistant attorneys general appointed and promoted in a way that is consistent with the principles of merit-based public employment.

This historical practice was abandoned when Schimel created his team to achieve political goals. The removal of such highly respected and effective non-partisan lawyers as Dawson is unfair to Dawson and others like him. But the primary victims of this decision are the people of Wisconsin whose public rights in water and other natural resources are under dire threat.

Schimel’s shuffling of leadership in the Environmental Protection Unit comes at a bad time for environmental protection in Wisconsin. We know that our Department of Natural Resources is too under-resourced and understaffed to adequately monitor and enforce environmental protection laws. We know that penalties for polluters are at historic lows. Yet according to the nonpartisan government Legislative Audit Bureau, water pollution permit inspections and reporting are so lax that we don’t even know how badly polluters are fouling our waters.

The new director of the DOJ’s Environmental Protection Unit has a lot of work ahead of him to even assess the scope of our state’s pollution enforcement problems. But, most important, he has big shoes to fill in replacing Dawson. Because when Dawson departs, with him goes one of the last vestiges of Wisconsin’s model of environmental protection leadership.

Arlen Christenson is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Law School.