Friday, February 25, 2005

Menards vs. Wisconsin DNR

Drew has taken me to task in his post about the Menard’s vs. DNR confrontation, and has altered my opinion on the matter. 

I agree with Drew that the DNR doesn’t have a good reason to trust Menard’s regarding the environment.  But if that is the reason that the DNR denied the permit, they should have said so.  I think that, more than likely, they rejected the permit as a reflex than with any actual critical thought on the matter. 

 

(3) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0908 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. Whoops. My apologies if you interpreted that as “taking you to task.” I didn’t think I misrepresented what you were saying. I just said that you’d critized the DNR, and then went on to offer a little more on the story. But help me out here and I’ll post a corrective.

    Posted by Drew on February 25, 2005 at 0921 hrs


  2. I don’t understand the insistence on blaming the DNR for taking innapropriate steps in this matter when there is no credible evidence, at least none that I’ve seen, that they were in the wrong.  It is quite clear to me that, in spite of the toxic dumping—which the DNR correctly has treated as a separate matter, the DNR was still more than happy to find a reasonable and mutually-agreeable solution for the new project that would have allowed Menards to build on the land.  This claim from Menards that the DNR was battling them at every turn with unreasonable demands is a convenient argument for public relations efforts, but I haven’t seen any documentation from Menards on exactly what those unreasonable demands were.  If someone can point me to specifics, I will gladly reevaluate my defense of the DNR, but to assume the DNR is to blame just because they are big bad anti-corporate government is irresponsible.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 25, 2005 at 1427 hrs


  3. Patrick,

    For the same reason that it would not be prudent to trust Menard’s to honor environmental regulations, it would also not be prudent to trust the DNR to actually work with business.  The DNR has shown time and time again that they range from unreasonable to downright tyrannical in their treatment of businesses. 

    Perhaps I was a bit reactionary.  I don’t rule out that possibility.  But I am not willing to extend wither side the benefit of the doubt at this time.

    Posted by Owen on February 25, 2005 at 1445 hrs


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.