http://www.leadertelegram.com/  -  Eau Claire Leader Telegram

Front Page

Bill Koslo, the company’s attorney, said Ashley is tired of being in the center of a controversy. 

“To my knowledge, we have no plans to make that application. It doesn’t appear likely that we’re going to apply,” Koslo said. 

Two years ago the Legislature included a measure in the state budget that would have granted Ashley an exemption to expand into 14 acres of wetlands bordering the Trempealeau River.

Five environmental groups sued, and a Buffalo County judge ruled the measure was too localized to be in a state budget. 

This time around the language does not apply just to Arcadia, said state Sen. Rod Moen, D-Whitehall. 

Moen said he went over the measure with a state attorney to make sure the language was broad enough to be constitutional. 

“What we did this time was say that any community in the state may apply” for an exemption, he said.

Under the proposal, any business expansion into a wetlands area would require the company to restore two new acres of wetland for every one acre filled, meaning Ashley would have to permanently protect about 30 acres of wetlands elsewhere.

Charlie Luthin, executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, said there is no question the exemption was intended for Ashley. 

“They can play with language, but the legislative intent is perfectly clear,” Luthin said. “There’s no shortage of clever ways to get around what’s ethically and legally correct.”

Derek Strohl of the wetlands group said it doesn’t make sense that Ashley wouldn’t apply for a permit to fill the wetlands because the company has been fighting for permission for years.

But Koslo said the company has not applied for a permit to do so because the Department of Natural Resources made it clear no such permit would be granted.

Although the wetlands association is asking Gov. Scott McCallum to veto the exemption when the budget bill comes to his desk, McCallum appears to support the plan. 

“When the provisions passed the Senate, the governor said he was encouraged by the plan,” said Tim Roby, the governor’s communications director. 

Luthin said he is concerned about the loss of 14 acres of wetlands, but he is more concerned about one business being an exemption to a regulation that everyone else must follow. 

“We see this as basically a corporate purchase of special legislation,” Luthin said. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of the key decision-makers in this legislation received contributions from Ashley Furniture.”

People with connections to Ashley Furniture have donated $68,650 to candidates in Wisconsin since 1993, according to the Wisconsin Democracy campaign. 

State Rep. Barb Gronemus, D-Whitehall, said comments from constituents -- rather than campaign donations -- prompted her to sponsor an Assembly bill for a wetland exemption. The bill passed in the last legislative session. 

“I was concerned about the people who came to me and said, ‘Barb, Ashley needs to expand,’ ” she said.

Ashley has taken a beating in the media over the proposed expansion, but in western Wisconsin the company is considered a good corporate citizen, Gronemus said.

“Do we talk about all of the good things that Ashley has done for this part of the state, contributions to the school, contributions to parks?” Gronemus asked. “They have done conservation practices down there above and beyond what has been required.” 

Moen and Gronemus said Ashley needs to move into the wetland so it can expand an assembly line and have more loading space adjacent to the railroad. 

Ed Bourget, a retired DNR water regulations specialist living in Eau Claire, said the 14 acres of wetlands between the plant and the river is considered a bottomland, hardwood wetland.

Bourget said when he first saw the wetlands they were covered mainly with alders and a few other water-tolerant trees. The trees and brush have been cut, and Ashley mows the property, he said. 

“There are no regulations against cutting down the woody vegetation. It does look like a manicured area, but it still has the characteristics of a wetland,” he said. 

Some of the wildlife value has been lost by cutting the vegetation, but the area still has wetland soil and plants, he said. 

Bourget said that in the late 1980s, when Ashley received a permit to expand into 10 acres of wetland, he thought there was a verbal agreement with Ashley administrators that no further development would take place in the wetland. 

Ashley restored 1.5 acres of wetland for every acre filled. “But they came back seven years later and wanted the remainder of the wetland,” he said. 

Knight can be reached at 830-5835, (800) 236-7077 or joe.knight@ecpc.com.