DNR chief: Water's on my mind
Hassett talks about his vision, priorities

By Anita Weier
February 4, 2003

Much has been made of the fact that the new leader of the state Department of Natural Resources likes to hunt and fish.

Surely, Scott Hassett is not the first DNR secretary - or the first lawyer - to do so. But that's what has gotten the ink.

Talking with Hassett, however, shows that he has a wide range of concerns about the environmental and wildlife issues addressed by the huge agency. And his subject of greatest concern is not wildlife in general or even chronic wasting disease in deer.

It's water.

"When you get past these crisis-type things - the budget, CWD, the Fox River cleanup - you get around to your vision," Hassett said during a lengthy interview.

"A year or two out, I want to get this state to look at protecting and preserving ground water for the future. Everybody has to have a seat at the table - business and environmental interests. The Legislature would be the body to do this, and I don't set the legislative agenda, I just want to bring this to the forefront."

Hassett, an attorney with Lawton & Cates in Madison for two decades, first showed an interest in ground water before law school, when he wrote award-winning newspaper stories on ground water pollution for the Jefferson Banner.

Today, he noted, water is becoming as valuable as oil, and communities and states are fighting for it. In fact, former Gov. Scott McCallum declared 2003 the Year of Water in Wisconsin, and a Wisconsin 2003 Year of Water Forum is scheduled for Feb. 14 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

"If you take the key issues - everything except CWD is related to H2O," Hassett said. "Nonpoint runoff, ground water, forestry and so on, everything is related to water."

A combination of code provisions and legislative statutes would have to deal with the water issue, he noted, adding: "I want Wisconsin to be out front, so that others will look at Wisconsin as a benchmark."

Todd Ambs, appointed by Hassett as administrator of the DNR's water division, predicts that ground water will be a major topic of proposed legislation this year, looking at what the state should or could do to preserve sufficient water supplies.

Current law allows the DNR to become involved only if a proposed project could have an adverse impact on a public water supply - a weakness that was exposed when Perrier was seeking a permit for massive water drawdowns in a rural area.

Ambs - like Hassett - also wants to enforce the Clean Water Act and ensure the safety of private water supplies and the health of fisheries.

Of course, Hassett, 52, plans to focus on matters other than water.

He recognizes that the DNR is plagued with backlogs in such areas as the managed forestry program, in which landowners receive a tax credit if they develop and follow a plan to keep forests healthy. But plan development has been lagging badly.

Industrial air permits also are backlogged tremendously. Clean Air amendments require polluters to obtain an operating permit from the DNR, and hundreds of businesses are operating without one.

Both the environmental community and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce have complained about the long wait for air permits. WMC has requested a legislative audit of how the DNR processes air permits requested by businesses to regulate and monitor emissions into the air, and so has state Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, vice chair of the Audit Committee.

"Big industry does not want the fees raised, which could help us deal with the permit delay," Hassett said. "I want to work with the private sector to work this out."

There are inefficiencies in any organization, he said, especially in an agency with 3,000 employees and a $490 million budget. "I'm still learning," he said. "I haven't been CEO of a private sector company of this size. I've been in a law firm 22 years. This is an entirely new thing."

Budget details are still being fleshed out, he said. The budget is complicated by the fact that more than half of the agency's funding is earmarked for certain purposes, including revenue from registration and licensing fees, park stickers and federal aids. About 45 percent comes from the state's general purpose revenue from taxes, which is where most budget cuts will come from, and much of that is in debt service. The water division is particularly dependent on the general fund, and consequently may be subject to bigger hits during budget cutting.

Hassett stresses that a gap in the department's Fish and Wildlife Account necessitating increases in fishing and hunting license fees would have occurred even without CWD, which the department has handled by shifting resources and getting some extra funds from the Legislature.

"It is important for the states to get a higher profile on the federal level, whether it's dollars for research on how CWD is spread, health dangers to human beings and how to deal with it on the ground. A number of states have it. They have it in Illinois and Minnesota. There should be a bipartisan effort on the federal level," Hassett said.

In Wisconsin, CWD has to be dealt with day by day, and more will be known about how to handle it when statewide test results are final, he said.

Close cooperation will be required between the DNR and the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, he stressed.

"When you see all that buying and trading between hundreds of deer farms, it gives one pause," Hassett said. "A survey said 22 percent had had deer escapes."

His main worry is that deer farm owners who decide that their business is no longer worth the effort as restrictions tighten will simply open the gates and let the deer out.

"We are trying to make it easy for them to get out of this if they want," he said. "Please don't let those deer go!"

He also is very concerned about northern Wisconsin and the Kickapoo Valley in western Wisconsin being carved up into developed parcels, and also worries about lakeshores being built up with gigantic homes.

"We should slow down and look at the big picture," he said.

And one more thing.

He has great faith in the ability, knowledge and integrity of DNR staff. But he did address one frequent criticism of the agency, be it rural legend or partial reality.

"On a philosophical level, I want to reinforce that I don't want anyone to be calling us officious bureaucrats or heavy-handed. I want our people to be professional and show discretion."

Published: 9:51 AM 2/04/03