PFAS bill was born in the hope of compromise. Then both sides dug in — and it died.

Read the full article by Henry Redman (Wisconsin Examiner)

“A bill to create a number of programs aimed at spending $125 million set aside for PFAS cleanup across Wisconsin has died after a Republican effort to override Gov. Tony Evers’ veto failed to receive a vote in the Assembly last week. 

The legislation, authored by Green Bay-area Republican Sens. Robert Cowles and Eric Wimberger, was introduced with optimism from both environmental and business groups that a compromise could be reached and the money, included in the state budget passed last year, could get out the door to assist with cleaning up the harmful chemicals and improving the state’s research and testing capabilities. 

At the time of its introduction, environmental groups worried that the bill included language that would weaken the state’s spills law — the mechanism that gives the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the authority to hold polluters accountable — while business groups worried that it might be too punitive to industry. But in the first hearings on the bill, both sides stated they believed a middle ground could be found. 

After a year of debate, the bill has failed as Evers calls for the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to release the $125 million without the attached bill. Republicans call this a ‘slush fund’ and object to giving the DNR so much power. Figures on both sides remain frustrated that the process ended in the current stalemate.” …