WisDOT stiffs Milwaukee on stimulus road projects. A SEWRPC committee is set to consider the list.
More here.
Milwaukee stiffed again
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Tag Archives: WisDOT
Gov seeks to strip rights, protections from property owners in WisDOT’s way
Gov. Doyle’s budget proposal would strip legal rights and potential state protections from property rights who challenge the State Department of Transportation when it grabs privately-owned land for transportation projects, budget documents show.
Doyle accepted a WisDOT budget request to limit legal fees a court can award to lawyers who represent property owners who successfully claim that WisDOT shortchanged them in the amounts the agency offered for property. The governor is proposing that attorney’s fees in litigated compensation cases be limited to one−third of the difference between WisDOT’s offer and the court-awarded purchase price, except that if one−third of that difference is less than $5,000, the amount of attorney fees included in litigation expenses may not exceed $5,000.
The limits would apply when the court-awarded sales price exceeds the the WisDOT offer by at least $700 and at least 15 percent.
WisDOT made it clear, in its original budget request, that its intent was to discourage lawyers from representing property owners.
“Litigating land purchases consumes more time and resources within the Department compared to negotiating directly with landowners,” the department said. “It could adversely affect the timeline of highway construction projects. Securing land can be a first step in a project and any delays can impact final completion and overall project cost.”
Doyle’s budget also would strip residents legal protections from residents who challenge government land grabs. Under current law, the Daprtment of Commerce can investigate when the state tries to condemn and take property to make sure the state is obeying the law. If there are violations, Commerce can take the state to court. The governor wants to end the department’s ability to help the land owner.
Doyle also would kill the right of a person who loses their property to appeal to Commerce for review of his or her complaint. Under current law, Commerce can try to negotiate an acceptable solution with the agency that condemned the property. Commerce would not be able to do that under Doyle’s budget.
Finally, Doyle’s budget would kill a law that the attorney general, at the request of Commerce, to prosecute all necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of the laws relating to relocation benefits.
Paging WisDOT, paging We Energies: the future is finally here
Change is comin’ and highway-happy Wisconsin Department of Transportation and coal-addicted We Energies are going to have to change their ways.
From the International Herald Tribune:
WASHINGTON: The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to act for the first time to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for the warming of the planet, according to top Obama administration officials.
The decision, which most likely would play out in stages over a period of months, would have a profound impact on transportation, manufacturing costs and how utilities generate power. It could accelerate the progress of energy and climate change legislation in Congress and form a basis for the United States’ negotiating position at United Nations climate talks set for December in Copenhagen.
The impacts would be enormous, and raise important questions about the state’s transportation and energy policies.
Lisa Jackson, the new EPA administrator, said in an interview that she had asked her staff to review the latest scientific evidence and prepare the documentation for a so-called endangerment finding. Jackson said she had not decided to issue such a finding but she pointedly noted that the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, is April 2, and there is the wide expectation that she will act by then.
“We here know how momentous that decision could be,” Jackson said. “We have to lay out a road map.”
One that may not include road-centric transportation policies or coal-heavy energy policies.
WisDOT will tackle invasives — in five years
WisDOT, in a proposal in futility, is proposing to start restoring native plants within a few years, but to wait at least five years to battle invasive species on its property. More here.
WisDOT gets around to the obvious
It would be unbelievable if it were not WisDOT. The Department of Bad Planning and Fiscal Irresponsibility has finally figured out it should have a way to determine future maintenance costs of new highways. More here.