DNR Secretary: Agency Will Strike Balance Between Industry And Environment

The new head of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said he wants the agency to work more with industry when it comes to environmental regulation. He made the comments on Thursday at Gov. Scott Walker’s Northern Economic Summit.

Wisconsin DNR Secretary Dan Meyer has been on the job one month since former Secretary Cathy Stepp resigned for a position in the Trump administration. Meyer said the DNR will work to strike a balance between job creation and the environment.

“The environment is great. That’s our number one responsibility, but jobs are pretty important too. We have to find that balance,” he said. “I can assure you while I’m in this department that will be a goal that we have is to find that balance in protecting our environment while also working with industry to provide more jobs.”

Meyer said the agency isn’t moving away from its core mission of protecting the environment.

“There’s a way to make things happen if you want to make them happen. Now, I’m not saying that everybody’s going to get a permit, okay, and that there are going to be no citations, but I firmly believe we will be able to work with businesses or our customers to try to find a solution,” he said.

Meyer said relations between the agency, businesses and communities seem to have improved in the last five years.

“For too long, and I refer back to when I was in the Legislature, what I saw in my area anyway was the first thing out of the agency’s mouth was ‘no’ when it came to permitting of whatever and that’s not my goal as the head of the department,” Meyer said.

However, environmentalists fear the agency has become too lax with industry. A state audit last year found the agency failed to follow its own enforcement rules to protect water 94 percent of the time from 2005 to 2015. The DNR has said staffing shortages played a role, and it has taken steps to address those issues.