New Approaches to Environmental Regulation in Wisconsin

Date:  November 10, 2004 Location:  Lubar Commons, UW Law School Sponsor:  Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) and Wisconsin Project on Governance and Regulation (WISGAR) Co-Sponsor:  LaFollette School of Public Affairs and Institute for Legal Studies

Wisconsin is in the midst of significant innovations in environmental regulation. In the last several years, the state has enacted legislation and is implementing administrative actions that are sometimes dubbed "second generation" regulation. These innovations complement the traditional command and control approaches to environmental regulation through performance-based outcomes and enhanced public involvement. 

Examples of these innovative projects are "Green Tier" -- a new framework for a results-based system where businesses, citizens and regulators work as a team to protect the environment, and "Dairy Gateway" -- a project funded by the Joyce Foundation, that seeks to connect farming neighborhoods with each other and with urban communities in order to promote economically competitive and environmentally sustainable dairy farming in the region. This roundtable will discuss these cutting-edge regulatory methods and their relationship to the law and the role of lawyers.

Speakers:

Scott Hassett, Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Secretary Hassett has served as Secretary since January 2003.He was a partner at Lawton and Cates prior to his appointment. He is a graduate of the Rutgers Law School and a long-time conservationist. 

Kristine A. Euclide, Vice President and General Counsel, Madison Gas and Electric Company 

Kristine Euclide is currently Vice President and General Counsel for Madison Gas and Electric, a public utility that distributes electricity to customers in Dane County. She previously was a senior partner in the Stafford Rosenbaum law firm and served as Executive Assistant to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. She received her law degree cum laude from the University of Wisconsin in 1976.

Howard Bellman, Mediator, Madison, WI 

Howard Bellman served as a state mediator from 1965 to 1976 and has been engaged exclusively in the private practice of mediation, arbitration, and other dispute settlement services since 1976, except for 1983-86 when he was Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations. Since the mid-1970s he has assisted disputing parties in the design of innovative procedures, and pioneered the application of mediation to environmental, public policy and other complex disputes.