Small Business Advisor - Special Reports

Small Biz News

Small Business Advisor - Special Reports


DNR’s Sustainability and Business Support Report to the Legislature Available

2020 SBS Report

The Sustainability and Business Support (SBS) program is pleased to share the 2020 report to the legislature that highlights the agency’s free, non-regulatory services. The report explains the tools available to Wisconsin’s business community no matter where they are on their environmental path.

You will learn about our non-regulatory Small Business Environmental Assistance staff and how they help businesses start-up and expand.  You will hear from business experts on how Enviro-Check helps customers evaluate their operations to manage compliance risks; and read testimonials from environmental leaders participating in the Green Tier program to go beyond compliance. Also highlighted are recent program enhancements and outreach efforts to improve the services we provide to Wisconsin’s business and economic development community.

Of particular interest are the business spotlights featuring:

  • A Small Business Environmental Council member and their insights on the benefits of DNR’s business services;
  • How a prominent construction companies uses their Green Tier experience to go beyond compliance;
  • Why a foundry is taking advantage of a newly developed air permit to help them reduce their environmental impacts more efficiently.

The Sustainability & Business Support report is available at: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/GreenTier/Legislation.html.


Report Findings: Cleaner Air for the Dairy State

Wisconsin’s air quality is improving! The DNR 2020 Air Quality Trends Report has been released and confirms decreasing concentrations of most pollutants across the state.

The report, which includes air quality data through 2019, finds that concentrations of most pollutants for which EPA has set national air quality standards have decreased in all regions of the state since monitoring began. Due in part to these significant reductions, 95% of Wisconsin’s population lives in areas meeting all federal air quality standards.

The state’s air quality improved along the Lake Michigan shoreline, an area historically impacted by elevated ozone concentrations. The lakeshore areas have experienced an average reduction in ground- level ozone concentrations of 25 percent since 2001.

This notable decrease in ozone concentrations allowed EPA to recently determine that several lakeshore areas are now meeting federal ozone standards, including parts of Door and Sheboygan counties.

The report also includes updated emissions data, which shows that air pollutant emissions in Wisconsin decreased substantially from 2002 to 2017. Some highlights include:

  • a 63 percent drop in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and a 58 percent drop in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the compounds that form ground-level ozone
  • an 89 percent drop in sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions
  • a nearly 60 percent reduction in carbon monoxide emissions

The DNR Air Program attributes the decrease in pollutant concentrations to the implementation of a variety of federal and state pollution control programs. The greatest reductions are the result of cleaner burning and more efficient fuel combustion from highway vehicles and electric utilities.

The 2020 Air Quality Trends Report, along with historic reports are available on DNR’s Air Quality webpage. Current Wisconsin air quality conditions can be found on the Wisconsin Air Quality Monitoring data webpage.