Cathy Stepp

Army Corps Of Engineers Warns Walker Administration About Short-Cutting Environmental Reviews

September 2, 2011 by The Political E...

The Walker administration and Republican legislators dancing to the tune of big business have been making noises about cutting back the time allotted for environmental reviews for some major land development projects, such as proposed mines, but a lead federal environmental and water management agency, the US Army Corps of Engineers, has sent Walker's people a long letter basically warning them not to do it.

In the August 1 letter - - including several attached documents and maps - -  the feds point out that such changes in state law, while designed to streamline permit reviews, might actually add costs, lengthen the entire, multi-agency environmental review process, cause the feds to revoke, re-examine and then re-issue some permitting authority, and essentially put the entire state/federal collaborative permitting relationship at risk.

The feds cite their authority under the Clean Water Act, and related law.

You don't have to read between the lines to grasp that the feds are warning the state to avoid a perilous regulatory streamlining.

Copied are Walker's office, DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp and several key legislators.

EPA Chooses Milwaukee Region For New, Watershed Permit Procedure

August 31, 2011 by The Political E...

This great news about our region's resource management from the water quality collaborative, Sweet Water Trust:

When: Wednesday, August 31st at 11:00 a.m.

What: Susan Hedman, Administrator for EPA Region 5 in Chicago, will make a formal announcement of a $100,000 grant to Kevin Shafer, Executive Director of MMSD, along with Sweet Water and other partners, to fund a pilot project to develop the framework for the development of a watershed-based permit for the Menomonee River watershed.

Where: Menomonee River at Hart Park (Riverside Picnic Area), 7300 Chestnut Street, in Wauwatosa - - (in the nearby Hart Park music pavilion in case of rain)

Background: The grant will be managed by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and will support work to be done by Sweet Water – the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust, Inc. and its regional partners to create a watershed-based storm water permitting model for Menomonee River watershed communities.

A watershed-based permit can offer significant potential advantages over more conventional municipality-by-municipality permitting approaches, including cost-savings, one-stop shopping/permit streamlining and the potential for improved water quality.

Wisconsin DNR Secretary Checks Her Beliefs At The Door. Really?

August 30, 2011 by The Political E...

That's the management style for the state's leading resource regulator, reports The Journal Sentinel's Lee Bergquist.

She said her job now is to serve as a cheerleader for the agency and its employees. She said she is striving to harmonize the often competing agendas of environmental regulation and environmental protection.

On the issue of climate change, Stepp declined to offer her thoughts on whether humans are contributing to a warming of the earth’s atmosphere.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” she said, adding, “My job is to check my beliefs and ideologies at the door.”

Or is this more about avoiding negative media and citizen criticism, other than being judged negatively for perhaps being inept, or uninformed, or just plain obtuse?

In a separate public television interview, Stepp said she didn't have any positions, or those that counted, on subjects such as clean water rules, or phosphorus regulation.