Three experts led a discussion on innovative environmental regulatory methods Wednesday afternoon as part of a seminar presented by the UW-Madison Law School.
Students, lawyers and environmentalists attended the roundtable presentation to discuss the cooperation among government, business and the public in environmental regulation.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Hassett discussed the DNR's new Green Tier Program, which is designed to reward companies for outstanding environmental performance while increasing productivity and cutting costs.
\It is a new way, a different way of doing things,"" he said.
The program grants qualified businesses greater operating flexibility, provided they remain below specified emissions limits.
Hassett said the program was not an over-arching solution to the state's environmental issues, but rather a useful problem-solving tool.
""[The first few projects] are going to be setting the bars,"" Hassett said. ""People are going to be looking at that.""
Local mediator Howard Bellman said regulatory cooperatives, while promising, are still relatively new.
""While I would continue to advocate all of that, there's work to be done,"" he said.
Bellman, a leader in public policy and environmental mediation, said those involved must be willing to spend money to achieve the efficiency the new regulatory methods offer.
""It's not potato salad,"" he said. ""You can't get as much as you can afford.""
Some questioned whether the agreements actually serve the public interest.
""Any system can be gamed,"" Bellman said. He added the regulations were effective over time and with proper support.
Vice President of Madison Gas and Electric Kristine Euclide spoke about her company's Environmental Cooperative Agreement with the DNR. The five-year pilot program brings the two together with the public to address environmental problems.
Euclide said the company focused on four objectives: innovation, prevention, wise use of resources and improved community involvement.
She said traditional regulatory methods give businesses little incentive to achieve beyond minimum requirements.
""Frankly, that makes my job pretty tough,"" Euclide said.
She said her goal is to create a situation in which ""everybody wins something; nobody wins everything.""
She added she hopes the project will serve as a model for other areas of the state and stressed the importance of taking action to preserve the environment.
