12 hours Ago By ADAM KELNHOFER [email protected]
A pair of dairy business groups is seeking to end an agreement between the state Department of Justice and New York University under which the college pays for an environmental attorney in Wisconsin. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Calumet County, the Dairy Business Alliance and Venture Dairy Cooperative argue the arrangement “presents the question whether the Wisconsin Department of Justice is for sale.” The suit challenges an agreement under which the NYU School of Law State Energy and Environmental Impact Center pays and employs a special assistant attorney general who works at DOJ.
The environmental center was founded in 2017 through a $6 million grant from a foundation led by Michael Bloomberg, though Attorney General Josh Kaul’s office has said Bloomberg and others won’t play a role in any decision-making. Wisconsin Supreme Court says DNR has authority to limit animals, wells Karen Heineman, the environmental attorney, regularly represents the Department of Natural Resources in litigation over concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, which the two dairy groups include in their memberships. Wisconsin judge affirms regulators can force factory farms to get preemptive pollution permits Dairy Alliance President Cindy Leitner said it’s “troubling” that Heineman has the authority to pursue criminal charges against farmers.
“This agreement between AG Kaul and NYU’s climate center raises serious questions about the influence of special interest groups on state attorneys,” she said. “We must ask: is this attorney working in the public’s best interest, or serving the interests of private funders?” DOJ officials did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. 2,000-cow Kewaunee dairy operation charged with fraud, conspiracy in manure dumping The lawsuit focuses on an agreement between the state Department of Justice and New York University.
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