A Wisconsin judge has extended a hold on a ruling that could limit the state’s ability to enforce pollution laws.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren granted a request Tuesday from the Department of Natural Resources to extend the stay while an appeals court reviews his April ruling that the DNR cannot require cleanup of toxic PFAS compounds without first going through a process to define them as hazardous substances.
The ruling was issued in a case brought by the state’s largest business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and an Oconomowoc dry cleaner, which sought to block the DNR from requiring cleanup of the chemicals that have polluted groundwater in sites across the state, including Madison, Marinette and La Crosse.
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The plaintiffs claim the DNR is subverting the law by requiring polluters to clean up spills without first defining what substances are hazardous. Bohren agreed but put his ruling on hold so the parties could sort out the implications.

Bohren
While conceding that extending the stay would harm the plaintiff, he concluded that did not outweigh other concerns in a case likely to end up before the state Supreme Court.
“I’m satisfied it protects everyone’s interests,” Bohren said.
Assistant Attorney General Gabe Johnson-Carp argued that Bohren’s order would upend more than 40 years of the status quo, creating regulatory uncertainty, economic losses and harming families with contaminated wells.
Halting cleanups could also jeopardize about $90 million a year in tax revenue generated by the redevelopment of cleaned-up brownfields.
If the state’s authority were suspended, Johnson-Carp said the federal government could assert its jurisdiction, resulting in slower, more costly cleanups.
The DNR estimates Wisconsin has more than 420 lakes with the cool, dark waters where walleye thrive. By 2089, may be just four.
Midwest Environmental Advocates argued that lifting the stay would cause irreparable harm to some 1,300 Wisconsin households with polluted wells who would no longer receive bottled water from the DNR.
Those who can’t afford to buy their own would be forced to drink contaminated water or consider moving, the group argued.
The group said Bohren’s order could also stall cleanup efforts, allowing PFAS contamination to spread even further.
WMC attorney Lucas Vebber argued nothing in the order would stop the DNR from carrying out its remediation program or providing bottled water as long as the agency first drafts rules, a 2½-year process subject to approval by the Legislature.
Environmental advocates say that would hamstring the DNR’s authority to stop pollution.
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State law requires anyone responsible for spilling a hazardous substance to clean it up under the oversight of the DNR.
But there is no definitive list of hazardous substances, which can include toxic chemicals as well manure, corn, or even milk spilled in a creek — anything “that can cause harm to human health and safety, or the environment, because of where it is spilled, the amount spilled, its toxicity or its concentration.”
Art of the Everyday: A recap of May in photos from Wisconsin State Journal photographers

Kayla Soren and Diego Frankel enjoy a breath of spring during a visit beneath a magnolia tree at the UW Arboretum in Madison, Wis. Monday, May 9, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Umalkher Samatar, center, plays with daughters Siham Ali, left, and Zubeida Ali during a party Saturday celebrating Eid al-Fitr at McGaw Park in Fitchburg. The holiday of Eid marks the end of Ramadan. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Lottie Stenjem arranges an assortment of flowers to put into vases that will be shipped out to retailers, at ERI Floral in Stoughton, Wis., Monday, May 2, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Chris Wallom, a facilities worker with the Wisconsin Department of Administration, harvests tulips from the grounds of the Wisconsin State Capitol as workers prepare the beds for incoming arrays of annuals in Madison, Wis. Monday, May 16, 2022. Each spring, following the short-lived growth period for the flowers, workers dig up the bulbs and make them available on a first-come, first-serve basis to residents looking to enhance their own properties for the following year. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Uri Andrews, of Middleton, holds up one of his 4-year-old twins, Benjamin, with Rafael, 2, bottom, to catch a whiff of the corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum, that bloomed after reaching a heigh of just under 68-inches, at Olbrich Botanical Gardens' Bolz Conservatory in Madison, Wis., Thursday, May 5, 2022. The plant, which was a donation from UW-Madison's D.C. Smith Greenhouse in 2006, last bloomed in 2010 to a height of 6-feet. Corpse flowers bloom four to five times on average during their 40-year lifespan. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Eva Theyerl, granddaughter of library aid Roberta Ryskoski, takes a nap at the Brandon Public Library in Brandon, Wis., Tuesday, May 3, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Genevieve Bouska, left, and Lulu Jaeckel, both seniors at West High School, relax in hammocks during an afternoon visit to Vilas Park in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, May 11, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Returning to the region during a seasonal migration, several great egrets share the shoreline of Wingra Creek as a light rain shower falls in Madison, Wis. Tuesday, May 3, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Looking forward to the birth of their second child in July, Aws Albarghouthi captures photographs of his wife, Maria Zarzalejo, during an afternoon visit to Vilas Park in Madison, Wis. Tuesday, May 17, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Brynn Wozniak and Ethan Cash, at right, both UW-Madison students, sit in the grass at Lisa Link Peace Park as they listen to the band LINE during the Madison Night Market in Madison, Wis., Thursday, May 12, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Continuing an annual tradition, graduates of UW-Madison pose for photos with the statue of Abraham Lincoln on Bascom Hill as they celebrate the conferring of their degrees on the campus in Madison, Wis. Wednesday, May 4, 2022. Enjoying an up-close look at the sculpture is School of Business graduate Danielle Lacke. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

UW-Madison graduating students, from left, Michael Walsh, Michael Burns, Jeremiah Clark and Noah Prudlo play a game of beer dice outside their fraternity, Pi Lambda Phi, before attending the spring commencement ceremony at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., Saturday, May 14, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Ke Thao and his 11-month-old son, Leo, share a fishing outing together from a pier at Vilas Park in Madison, Wis. Monday, May 23, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Students participate in a demonstration of infantry drills during Civil War Living History Days at the Milton House Museum in Milton, Wis., Friday, May 20, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Village of Lone Rock, Wis. worker Haydn Walsh organizes banners commemorating the military service careers of family members from the region as the village continues an annual tradition of honoring them with displays throughout the village from Memorial Day through July 4 Thursday, May 26, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Sisters, from left, Lydia Scovill and Charlette place flags at the gravesite of their great grandfather, who served as a Marine in World War II, at Roselawn Memorial Cemetery in Monona, Wis., Monday, May 30, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Visitors use a telescope, that was installed in 1879, to see the star Arcturus during one of the free public observing days at Washburn Observatory at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, May 18, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Cyclists make their way into a 3/4-mile-long tunnel along the Elroy-Sparta State Trail near the village of Norwalk, Wis. Wednesday, May 11, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Madison East's Jonathon Quattrucci competes in the boys discus throw during a WIAA Division 1 Regional track meet at DeForest High School in DeForest, Wis., Monday, May 23, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Runners compete in the 100 meter dash prelims during the Capital Conference Championships at Lodi High School in Lodi, Wis., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Middleton's Finn Patenaude celebrates his win in the 110-meter hurdles during the Big 8 conference meet at Monterey Stadium in Janesville, Wis., Friday, May 13, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Sun Prairie's Miles Adkins celebrates clearing the bar in pole vault during the WIAA Division 1 Sectional in Sun Prairie, Wis., Thursday, May 26, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Wisconsin Heights Barneveld's Lexi Pulcine, right, wins the 100 meter hurdles as Belleville's Alexandra Atwell falls over the finish line during the Capital Conference Championships at Lodi High School in Lodi, Wis., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Wisconsin catcher Christaana Angelopulos tags out Michigan's Lexie Blair at the Goodman Softball Complex in Madison, Wis., Friday, May 6, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Madison East High School students, including senior Harnish VanOers, center, freshman Carina Caspar, right, and sophomore Oscar Mora, at left, walk on East Washington Avenue to the state Capitol from school in support of immigrant rights to drivers licenses in Madison, Wis., Monday, May 2, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Demonstrators protest outside the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, May 3, 2022. A leaked draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court intends to overturn the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Volunteers, from left, Mark Thomas, Alysha Clark, Joy Morgen, Anne Habel and Jered Hoff place tombstones along Atwood Avenue at Olbrich Park signifying the U.S. military lives lost since 2001, as part of the Veterans for Peace Memorial Mile display, in Madison, Wis., Saturday, May 28, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Alex Rose, left, and Jasmine Devant of Jefferson, Wis. take in the sunset from atop an historic Native American earthen platform mound at Aztalan State Park in Aztalan, Wis. Monday, May 16, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL