Thursday, February 18, 2016
10:21 PM
Krug votes against well bill with his sub
The GOP author of a sub amendment for a high-capacity well bill got his proposal adopted and then voted against the bill.
Rep. Scott Krug, after being called out by Dems after the 57-35 vote in favor of the bill, said he wanted to add more to the sub to Rep. Lee Nerison's legislation. Krug, R-Nekoosa, said he spent three years working on a high-capacity well bill. His more sweeping legislation recently died, so he tried to boost Nerison's narrower bill.
AB 874 deals with permitting for the wells, which can pump 100,000 gallons of water per day. Under the bill, for instance, no new permit would be required for well maintenance or when ownership is transferred. The Westby Republican’s legislation also would allow for the drilling of a new well using the same specs as the old as long as the new one is within 75 feet.
In response to Dems on the floor, Krug said he thought the bill "fell a little short." Later, he was more specific, saying his primary problem with the bill was the ownership transfer provision.
"That's just too big of a hurdle to jump for my constituents," Krug said.
Krug's sub for the bill would create hydrology tests for three watersheds in the Central Sands area of the state as well as require flow meters for many of the high-capacity wells.
Dems made their opposition to the bill clear much earlier in the debate. Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said the bill, particularly the transfer of ownership provision, moves the state toward a "Western-style" water rights approach, which, he added, amounts to: "I have dibs."
And the amendment calling for a study is just pushing the problem down the road, Mason said.
"You're selling snake oil to your constituents so you can go home and say you did something," he said.
Krug told Dems to "spare me the indignation" when they aren't offering their own solutions. And, he said, it's time to stop laying all the blame on farmers.
"There's got to be some shared pain," he said. "There's got to be some shared sacrifice. There's got to be some shared solutions."
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