Current Legal Actions
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Legal Action
MEA provides client-centered legal services to individuals and grassroots groups facing environmental threats in their communities.
LEGAL VICTORY!
Demanding Data Center Transparency in Beaver Dam
MEA took legal action after the Public Service Commission denied our public records request seeking information about projected energy demand for Meta’s Beaver Dam data center. The PSC claimed the information was a trade secret and that withholding it served the public interest. A Dane County circuit court disagreed, finding that the agency had acted unlawfully and ordering that the information be released.
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LEGAL ACTION
Securing the Constitutional Rights of Wisconsin Youth to a Stable Climate
MEA and Our Children’s Trust are representing fifteen young people from Wisconsin who filed a groundbreaking climate lawsuit against the Wisconsin Legislature and the Public Service Commission for enacting and enforcing unconstitutional laws that exacerbate the climate crisis.
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LEGAL ACTION
Challenging Inadequate Environmental Review of Vantage’s Port Washington Data Center
MEA filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Sierra Club after the DNR issued permits for one of the largest data center projects in the country without fully evaluating its environmental consequences. The lawsuit seeks answers about the extent to which tech companies and data center developers are influencing decisions that impact Wisconsin’s environment.
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LEGAL ACTION
Rob-n-Cin Farms Permit Challenge (Washington County)
After the Wisconsin DNR issued a permit allowing Rob-n-Cin Farms—a large dairy farm located in the Town of Trenton in Washington County—to become a permitted concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), MEA initiated legal action on behalf of Milwaukee Riverkeeper and a group of neighbors living near Rob-n-Cin’s three production facilities.
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LEGAL ACTION
Ridge Breeze Permit Challenge (Pierce County)
MEA initiated legal action after state regulators issued a permit that would allow Ridge Breeze Dairy to nearly quadruple in size. Our clients are challenging the permit because it doesn’t do enough to prevent contamination of local water resources.
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LEGAL ACTION
Protecting Wild Rice & Defending Tribal Treaty Rights
MEA is representing the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in a legal challenge aimed at preventing the application of a potent herbicide that may cause long-term damage to wild rice beds within the Menominee Reservation and interfere with the exercise of the Tribe’s treaty rights.
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LEGAL ACTION
Challenging the Expansion of I-94 in Milwaukee
In August 2024, MEA and Legal Action of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit challenging federal approval of a $1.75 billion highway expansion plan that would increase our dependence on cars, add to greenhouse gas emissions and cause disproportionate harm to Milwaukeeans of color.
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Past Legal Actions
LEGAL ACTION
Demanding Data Center Transparency – City of Racine
MEA filed a legal action on behalf of Milwaukee Riverkeeper to enforce the Public Records Law when the City of Racine failed to respond to a request seeking information about projected water use at Microsoft’s massive Mount Pleasant data center.
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LEGAL ACTION
Gordondale Farms Permit Challenge (Portage County)
Portage County residents represented by MEA challenged a wastewater discharge permit issued to Gordondale Farms because the permit did not do enough to protect local drinking water. Our legal challenge led to a permit modification that required Gordondale to install groundwater monitoring wells near fields where the farm spreads large amounts of manure.
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LEGAL VICTORY!
Preserving Environmental Oversight of Large Livestock Facilities
In January 2024, a Calumet County Circuit Court rejected a reckless attempt by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and factory farm groups to eliminate environmental oversight of the state’s largest livestock facilities. The court’s decision affirms the DNR’s ability to protect water resources from agricultural pollution.
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LEGAL ACTION
Enforcing the Public Records Law
When a natural resources official refused to step down after his term expired, MEA took legal action to compel full disclosure of communications related to his decision to hold over. As a result, we learned the full extent of his coordination with politicians and lobbyists. Shortly after he stepped down, a judge found that he had arbitrarily delayed and denied access to public records.
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LEGAL ACTION
Ending Legislative Interference in Environmental Decision Making
MEA represented two environmental organizations as friends of the court in this lawsuit challenging the power of legislative committees to veto conservation grants and obstruct the updating of environmental health standards. We argued that committee vetoes violated the state constitution and caused real-world harm to Wisconsin communities.
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LEGAL ACTION
Opposing a Lake Superior Water Bottling Proposal
When a private company applied for a permit to bottle and sell water from an artesian well located within the Lake Superior watershed, the proposal faced strong opposition from local residents. With legal representation from MEA, grassroots group Lake Superior Not for Sale took legal action to prevent the exploitation of Great Lakes water.
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LEGAL ACTION
Standing Up for Energy Equity and Affordable Solar Power
When two of Wisconsin’s biggest utility companies announced plans to increase energy rates and unfairly reduce compensation for rooftop solar owners, MEA took action to ensure the economic viability of rooftop solar in Wisconsin.
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LEGAL ACTION
Defending the Authority of Local Governments to Regulate Large Livestock Operations
A growing number of local governments in Wisconsin have enacted ordinances that regulate how large livestock operations (CAFOs) operate. MEA partners with community members and local jurisdictions to provide legal support and to defend the authority of local governments from industry pushback.
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LEGAL ACTION
Upholding the Public Trust Doctrine in Sturgeon Bay
A proposed hotel development would have put Public Trust land in private hands and limited public access to Lake Michigan’s shoreline. With legal representation from MEA, the Friends of the Sturgeon Bay Public Waterfront successfully challenged the proposal.
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LEGAL ACTION
Ensuring Public Access to PFAS Pollution Records
The failure of Dane County and the Madison Water Utility to produce records related to PFAS contamination was a violation of Wisconsin’s Public Records Law. MEA attorneys filed two lawsuits in circuit court to successfully compel disclosure of the documents.
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LEGAL ACTION
Making the Connection Between Fair Maps and Environmental Justice
In a December 2023 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin’s legislative maps violated the state constitution and ordered that they be redrawn. Among those who applauded the court’s decision were members of the Coalition on Lead Emergency, on whose behalf MEA submitted an amicus brief in the case.
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LEGAL ACTION
Defending the State’s Ability to Regulate High-Capacity Wells
MEA represented the Central Sands Water Action Coalition as a friend of the court in a case involving the DNR’s authority to consider the cumulative impact of high-capacity wells when it issues water-withdrawal permits. After years of litigation, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a decision in July 2021 affirming that authority.
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LEGAL ACTION
Saving Rare Wetlands
When Meteor Timber obtained a permit from the Wisconsin DNR to destroy pristine, forested wetlands in order to build an industrial sand facility, MEA challenged the permit on behalf of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Our legal action resulted in the invalidation of the permit after testimony revealed the permit had been granted by DNR managers over the objections of scientific experts within the agency.
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