DNR and DOT Screws Taxpayers Again

This story is very frustrating. 

Taxpayers will be on the hook for part of the cost of removing road construction dirt improperly dumped next to an Ozaukee County creek.

Officials involved say bureaucratic mistakes were made in haste to expedite a road project that snarled traffic in a heavily traveled area of Mequon last year.

The Department of Transportation granted permission to road contractor Musson Brothers Inc. to dump the dirt — two feet deep and the area of a football field — on private property in the Town of Grafton.

The Department of Natural Resources said the transportation department asked for, but did not receive, guidance from the agency on where it could dump the soil.

Nonetheless, a DNR official said, the transportation department was responsible to check floodplain maps and would share in the cost of fixing the problem, along with Musson and the private landowner.

Let me get this straight… the DOT checked with the DNR, but the DNR didn’t respond.  So the DOT granted permission to the contractor to dump the fill on private land.  Then the DNR gets involved and wants the contractor, landowner, and DOT to share in the cost of removing the fill?  That’s insane. 

First off, the contractor and landowner seem to have done their due diligence.  They got approval from the state agency in charge of the project to dump the fill where they did.  They acted in good faith and reasonably thought that they were in compliance with the law.  There is no reason whatsoever for the contractor and landowner to be fined or forced to pay for the removal because the DOT and DNR can’t get their act together. 

Second, further down in the story we get this tidbit. 

Kline conceded that the transportation department had asked the DNR for comments on the site before soil was placed there.

“We didn’t have anyone working in the area at the time,” she said, “and they really don’t need our comments. But after the fact, we said the fill shouldn’t be there.”

The DOT asked the DNR and the DNR didn’t respond.  How hard would it have been for the DNR to pull out a map and answer the question?  Do they want people to ask or not?

I don’t blame the DOT too much.  They could have done a little more homework, but even then the DNR could have come in after the fact and changed everything.  I can understand why they would want an “official” decision from the DNR to prevent something like this from happening. 

This kind of thing happens with the DNR far too often.  They screw up or are unresponsive and then sweep in after the fact with massive fines and expensive mandates.  In this case, both the taxpayers and private citizens are being forced to bear the cost.  This whole thing could have been prevented if the DNR had merely gotten off their butts and answered the DOT.

1. I’m surprised the DNR hasn’t gone after the former Lake Delavan homeowners, for cleaning up the remains of their homes in the Wisconsin River.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2008 at 1502 hrs