Allegations of conflicts of interest with pollution enforcement sparks calls for investigation

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MADISON - The state DNR will consider having its officials disclose any possible conflicts-of-interest, before they recommend penalties against suspected polluters. That’s after DNR official and former legislator Scott Gunderson received $750 in campaign money from a firm in which he sought the minimum prosecution for waste spreading violations on farm fields.

The Wisconsin State Journal said Gunderson side-stepped the normal process of referring violations by Herr Environmental to the Justice Department, which could have imposed $40,000 in fines. Instead, Gunderson sent the case to local courts, which imposed the minimum fine of 43-hundred dollars. Gunderson said the campaign gift was so long ago, he didn’t remember it. Stepp said yesterday that her agency is considering a policy on disclosing conflicts. DNR spokesman Bill Cosh said it’s part of a larger review of enforcement procedures which has been going on before the Gunderson case was made public.

Meanwhile, 11 Democratic state lawmakers have asked Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to investigate what Gunderson did. In a letter, they called the actions quote, “political interference with science-based law enforcement.” Assembly Democrat Lou Molepske of Stevens Point said the DNR appeared to be more concerned about the violator than those victimized by the excessive waste spreading. One DNR investigator said 40 nearby water wells were threatened. Senate Democratic leader Mark Miller of Monona said the DNR should pay to test those wells.

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