Wisconsin's Natural Resources Board on Wednesday voted unanimously to proceed with regulating so-called forever chemicals in the state's groundwater, 10 months after a plan was scrapped under pressure from the state's powerful business industry.

The city of Eau Claire has shut down almost half its wells because of PFAS contamination.

Wisconsin officials have found elevated levels of toxic heavy metals near a frack sand mine spill that sent millions of gallons of sludge into a Trempealeau River tributary.

A panel of lawmakers is preparing to hear public testimony on a proposal that would expand the types of artificial wetlands that can be filled without a permit. Under current law, discharging fill or dredged material into a wetland requires either a general or individual permit. The state Department of Natural Resource’s rules allow exceptions to the permitting requirements for ...

A state appeals court ruled Thursday that hunters can train dogs to chase down wolves, rejecting arguments from a group of humane societies that wildlife officials are allowing deadly wolf-dog clashes and cementing one of the most contentious elements of Wisconsin wolf hunting.

Last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the state is entitled to a jury trial when suing a private actor for Medicaid fraud under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (State v. Abbott Laboratories, 2012 WI 62).

The Department of Justice has settled a lawsuit related to a complaint by the Department of Natural Resources against Wisconsin well driller Todd Huemann and his company, T. Huemann Well & Pump Inc., according to a news release from the DOJ.

Failure to file a timely challenge could cost the city of Kaukauna its right to provide sewer service to 89 acres of land in the town of Harrison, according to a Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision issued Tuesday.

Daniel Graff was interested in working in the private sector after law school, but, as he said, it “didn’t take him up on the offer.” Instead, Graff found his way into the public side of law, working 17 years for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources before joining the state Department of Transportation in July.

Suamico property owner David Blohoweak has been ordered to pay $12,000 in forfeitures, assessments, costs and fees for illegally filling wetlands and building an artificial pond on the bank of a navigable stream without any permits from the Department of Natural Resources, according to a news release from the Wisconsin attorney general's office.

2010AP2623 North Lake Management District vs. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

A circuit court ordered a pair of Oshkosh contractors to pay $50,000 for violating state asbestos-handling laws during renovations in Fond du Lac, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office.

A Coloma man and a Madison nonprofit want further review of a $35 million farm project proposed for Adams County. In a petition for judicial review filed in Dane County Circuit Court, Bob Clarke, a seasonal resident, and Family Farm Defenders Inc., allege the state Department of Natural Resources erred in its automatic approval of the dairy farm’s plans and ...

TOWN OF RICHFIELD, Wis. (AP) — Opponents of a proposed mega farm in Adams County have filed a civil lawsuit to try to stop the development. A group called Family Farm Defenders and a homeowner filed suit in Dane County against the Department of Natural Resources. They want an administrative review of the DNR’s decision to approve the developer’s building ...

The state’s Attorney General office on Monday obtained a stipulated judgment resolving a Dane County civil action filed against Steven M. Beck and Absolute Well & Pump Service LLC, Eagle. The civil complaint filed against the defendants in December alleged that Beck and his company violated state law by failing to submit 276 required well abandonment reports within 30 days ...

A golf course in Big Bend will pay the state $50,000 to settle a claim with the state Department of Natural Resources, which alleged the course violated environmental rules while creating artificial ponds, dredging and grading at the course. The DNR and Edgewood Golf Course Inc. — which consists of two courses, The Oaks and The Pines — agreed the ...

A golf course in Big Bend will pay the state $50,000 to settle a claim with the state Department of Natural Resources, which alleged the course violated environmental rules while creating artificial ponds, dredging and grading at the course. The DNR and Edgewood Golf Course Inc. — which consists of two courses, “The Oaks” and “The Pines” – agreed the ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Supreme Court says the Department of Natural Resources must consider high-capacity wells’ impact on navigable waters if the agency has concrete evidence the wells could do harm. The ruling involves a 2005 DNR permit for a well in East Troy. Conservancy groups argue the DNR didn’t consider the impact on nearby Lake Beulah. An ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Police have arrested a young woman they believe threatened to blow up two state government buildings in Madison. Crews cleaning the Department of Natural Resources headquarters and the Department of Public Instruction building next door discovered written bomb threats on Tuesday evening. Police evacuated both buildings but a search turned up nothing unusual. Capitol Police say ...

The state’s Attorney General’s office announced a settlement Wednesday against a drilling company for a failure to get permits on jobs dating back to 2007. Michael Hartman and his company, Michael Hartman Well Drilling & Pump Inc., North Lake, settled the lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court. The civil complaint was filed by the Department of Justice against Hartman personally ...

A property owner and a contractor have agreed to pay the state $12,500 to resolve a civil environmental lawsuit. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources had asked the Wisconsin Department of Justice to prosecute Stan Johnson and contractor Mark Schultz for violating state wetland protection laws on Johnson’s rural Fond du Lac County property, a 40-acre parcel of hunting land ...

A developer has been ordered to pay $49,447 in fines for pollution violations during construction of a residential development in Genesee, according to a news release from the state attorney general’s office. According to a civil complaint filed against Country West Development  LLC, Wauwatosa, the developer in August 2009 failed to stop pollutants  from flowing into a nearby wetland and ...

By Jack Zemlicka Winneconne-based Radtke Contractors Inc. will pay $15,000 in penalties for placing unpermitted structures in the Wolf River during a condominium construction project in Fremont. The company agreed to pay the fines rather than challenge the penalties but denied any wrongdoing, said Charles Sweeney, Radtke’s attorney. “There was no admission of liability from either party as part of ...

A civil environmental enforcement action against Karl Excavating Inc., Manitowoc, arising from solid waste violations has been resolved, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced Monday. During a May 2010 inspection, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources found about 10 dump-truck sized loads of demolition material and bottom ash improperly stored at the business, according to a news release from ...

Wisconsin Court of Appeals Natural Resources Managed forest land When property is withdrawn from the managed forest land program, sec. 77.89(1) unambiguously requires the DNR to pay the withdrawal tax to the municipality in which the land is located. “The Town claims that the statute is ambiguous. ‘Ambiguity arises when more than one reasonable, although not necessarily correct, meaning can ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court says the state does not have the authority to determine whether state-issued water pollution permits comply with federal law. The court’s 5-2 ruling Wednesday comes in the case of environmentalists who argued a permit was improperly issued in 2005 to Georgia-Pacific’s Broadway Mill in Green Bay. According to the court, the state ...

The 2009 razing and burning of a barn in the town of Linn, Walworth County, led to Chicago-based Mir Co. settling a lawsuit Wednesday, according to a news release from Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. In late spring 2009, the town of Linn ordered Mir Co., the owner of the barn, to demolish it. After the local fire department ...

Companies are considering mineral mining in Wisconsin for the first time in a decade, but it might take a change in state law to jump-start operations. Aquila Resources Inc., a Canadian mining company, recently applied to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for exploratory drilling rights for gold in Marathon County, said Philip Fauble, the DNR’s Mining & Beneficial Reuse ...

The Wisconsin Department of Justice has reached a settlement agreement with Andrew P. Dahl, owner of Dahl Well Drilling LLC, Glenwood City, for violations of state laws regulating well drilling, pump installation and safe drinking water. According to the complaint, filed at the request of the Department of Natural Resources, Dahl is a licensed well driller who submitted 63 late ...

The city of Menasha has entered into a consent decree with the Sierra Club and several government agencies regarding its operation of the River Street Power Plant. The plant was voluntarily closed in October 2009 because of the air pollution. The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources joined the Sierra Club in the federal lawsuit ...