Clean Wisconsin made the following statement upon submitting a response to Meteor Timber’s petition for review by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Dan Meyer on the recently reversed wetland fill permit:
“Meteor Timber’s request that the Secretary, a political appointee, overrule the decision of an impartial administrative law judge is inappropriate and asks the Secretary to act beyond his legal authority. If the company does not agree with the judge’s decision, there is an authorized process for appealing that decision to a Circuit Court judge who will serve as an impartial decision maker.
“It’s disrespectful to the legal process and our environmental laws to ask the Secretary to overstep his legal authority and overrule a judicial opinion that was reached after a week-long evidentiary hearing, including hours of testimony from expert witnesses, extensive legal briefing by all parties, and a complex record.”
“Meteor Timber should not have made this request of Secretary Meyer and we ask him to decline to become involved in the judicial process. We will continue to defend our state’s wetlands every step of the way.”
You can read the letter here.
