State official settles pollution case with no fine
MADISON, Wis. — Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel has settled a case with no fine at all after years of declining financial penalties for Wisconsin polluters.
Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos told the Wisconsin State Journal the Justice Department is proud of the court settlement reached in November.
As first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the agreement requires 3M Co. to spend an estimated $665,000 by August 2018 on improvements to pollution control equipment that failed repeatedly at two plants in Wausau.
Top environmental regulators say they weren’t aware of any case in the last 25 years in which a state attorney general took a polluter to court without winning a penalty.
George Meyer, who formerly led the Department of Natural Resource’s enforcement division, says the settlement doesn’t deter companies that want to be lax on pollution control.
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