The Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern spans roughly 10 miles spread across three rivers and includes Milwaukee’s inner and outer harbor. Cleaning this area requires dredging the riverbeds and lakebed to remove contaminated sediment, but where does it go? The plan is to send it to a new Dredged Material Management Facility — an in-lake landfill on the east side of Jones Island, next to the Port of Milwaukee. This approximately $500M historic cleanup should result in extensive benefits to the public.
In 2022, the Center for Water Policy’s published research explained why the Dredged Material Management Facility must be consistent with the state’s public trust doctrine. The Center’s researchers Sarah Martinez and Melissa Scanlan conducted a legal analysis and you may read their published findings, “Great Lakes Restoration and the Public Trust Doctrine: Milwaukee’s Restoration Obstacles and Opportunities” in Sea Grant Law & Policy Journal Vol 12:1 (2022). This research explores the legal issues around this facility including: What is public enough to satisfy the public trust doctrine? Can the state and other developers exclude the public? What are the permissible uses on the newly created 42 acres of lakefront?
You may watch our January 2022 Public Rights in Milwaukee’s Fresh Coast panel discuss this topic and others here and read our short analysis in this October 2022 Public Rights in MKE Fresh Coast Policy Brief (PDF).
We identified the Clean Water Act’s Section 401 Water Quality Certification as a decision point where the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) could require the protection of public trust rights. The WDNR issued the Certification on October 5, 2023, and included protections for public rights. You may read our short analysis of the Certification decision in this November 2023 Public Rights Policy Brief (PDF) and link to the decision.
View the full Water Quality Certification (PDF) here.