Plan to cut runnoff is close to being law
10:31 PM 6/27/02
Ron Seely Environment reporter

indentAfter years of work, a massive plan to reduce polluted runoff into the state's waters is close to becoming law - complete with a controversial standard that will eventually require farmers to install vegetative buffers in fields where erosion is a problem.
indentFinal approval of the new rules by the Senate Environmental Resources committee was announced Thursday. The five-member committee approved the rules unanimously.
indentThe laws will take effect on July 9 if the Assembly's Natural Resources committee doesn't have any problems with the proposal. A spokesperson for DuWayne Johnsrud, R-Eastman, chairman of that committee, said Thursday the committee will not be taking any action.
indent"I think we're within just a few feet of home base," said a relieved Al Shea, director of the DNR's Bureau of Watershed Management, who has spent years shepherding the rules through state government.
indentAfter the long and contentious process to hash out the rules, Thursday's news was met with praise from all sides.
indentEnvironmentalists hailed the plan, especially with the vegetative buffer standard, as a victory. Farm leaders called the rules fair for farmers. And the head of the state's natural resource agency said the law will allow the state to meet new federal water quality standards.
indent"The outcome of this process," said Jim Harsdorf, secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, "is a package of balanced rules that offers more protection for the environment, is fair to farmers and supports the important role of counties in conservation."
indentThe Senate committee bounced the rules back to the state Department of Natural Resources late last winter with a request to consider making the use of buffer strips mandatory. The DNR had removed the requirement after discovering making the buffers mandatory might jeoporadize $40 million from the federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which would be used to help pay farmers for conservation practices.
indentTo address those concerns, the DNR proposed a standard requiring buffer strips, which will be phased in after the CREP program expires in 2008 and after a study on the use of buffers to be conducted by UW-Madison.
indentThe compromise was praised by the state's environmentalists who fought for a mandatory buffer program. Kerry Schumann, director of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, warned it will be necessary to pay close attention to the buffer research "to ensure that the study is scientific and fair and not influenced by special interests."
indentThe new laws will require better control of runoff from farms as well as urban areas such as construction sites and golf courses.