District 22 senator offers blunt assessment of proposed Buffer Law penalties that have been labeled a mistake, says issue will cause rift between BWSR, Legislature
By Per Peterson
Riding parallel to public feedback on a draft potential additional option — also known as an Administrative Penalty Order (APO) — for governments to use in achieving Buffer Law compliance, District 22 Republican Sen. Bill Weber took to Facebook this week to share his blunt assessment of the draft provisions released last week.
“This is absolutely and totally ludicrous on the part of BWSR (Board of Water and Soil Resources),” Weber said in a video posted on his Facebook page Monday. “They told us in committee last year there won’t be penalties in excess of $500 and now we’re seeing actual penalties that cannot only be imposed on the footage that’s out of violation, but rather the entire length of the water course that would (potentially) total tens of thousands of dollars.”
For its part, BWSR — after receiving significant feedback to the recent Buffer Administrative Penalty Order (APO) draft option released for comment on April 2, 2018 — apologized for what it called a “communication misunderstanding.” Furthermore, BWSR Executive Director John Jaschke told the Headlight-Herald on Tuesday that the new proposal was an error and ultimately won’t see the light of day.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.