Wisconsin AG allows DNR to consider high-capacity wells’ impact

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Attorney General Josh Kaul has restored the state Department of Natural Resources’ power to consider whether high-capacity wells might drain area water bodies when granting permits.

Kaul, a Democrat, has withdrawn former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel’s 2016 legal opinion that the DNR can’t consider the wells’ cumulative effect on nearby streams, rivers and lakes when granting a permit, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Kaul said in a May 1 letter to DNR Secretary Preston Cole that he withdrew the opinion based on a Dane County judge’s ruling in 2017...
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