Opinion ID: 1960674
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Propriety of Proceeding Under Sec. 30.03(4), Stats. 1973

Text: [6, 7] The petitioners argue that the entire DNR proceeding was improperly brought under sec. 30.03(4) (a), Stats. 1973. That section, they assert, contains two prerequisites to the initiation of proceedings thereunder: reasonable promptitude in proceeding after discovery of the alleged violations, and a showing that a forfeiture or penalty would not adequately serve the public interest. We are not persuaded that the language, [w]henever there comes to the attention of the department a possible violation of the statutes relating to navigable waters, places a limitation upon the time within which the department must initiate action under this section. Rather, the word whenever should be read as introductory in the sense that it introduces the particular circumstance under which the department may proceed, namely, awareness of a possible violation, accompanied by a departmental opinion that the public interest will not adequately be served by the imposition of a fine or penalty. Nor do we believe that the departmental determination that the imposition of a fine or penalty will not adequately serve the public interest is a proper subject of proof upon which the department must make a showing. The language, and it appears to the department that the public interest may not be adequately served, expresses a departmental prerogative based upon its appraisal of the possible statutory violation. The statute does not require, as a matter of fact, that the public interest will not be adequately served by a penalty or forfeiture, but only that it appears so to the department. Proof of such an appearance, if it could be described as proof, would amount to self-serving testimony virtually impossible to rebut. Accordingly, we reject the petitioners' argument that the department must make a showing that penalties are inadequate to protect the public interest as a prerequisite to proceeding under sec. 30.03 (4)(a), Stats. 1973.