"Wisconsin Is Open for Business" Another CAFO

2011 July 18

(Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece which does not necessarily represent all CWTU River Keepers.)

“It is better to be a human being

dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.

Better to be Socrates dissatisfied

than a fool satisfied. And if the

fool or the pig are of a different opinion

it is because they only know their side of the question.” --- John Stuart Mill

Another CAFO hearing was held this day in regard to another Milksource, LLC CAFO for their fifth location. This one planned for the Town of Richfield in Adams County. This one is going to have 6300 animal units in the near future, 4300 milk cows and 250 steers or so, they say. (Actually, no government agency knows the exact number of animals on any feedlot at any one time.) This factory will discharge liquid manure on 16,000 acres within a few miles of their location at the corner of 1^st Drive and Cypress Avenue. (The number of exact acreage is fudged a little as was found during Milksource’s last NMP, landowners whose name appeared in the NMP had not given permission to use their land but who really looks at these documents anyways)….and MILKSOURCE LLC is convinced it’s a great addition for the community, however unwanted it may seem to some of those who live there now. (Note: in 1998 Wisconsin had 51 CAFOs…now we’re approaching 220-plus CAFOs…the WDNR says they’re getting about 20 requests each year…today in Wisconsin there are 12,000 farms with an average of 100 cows.) Milksource LLC is approaching 27,600 cows in five factory locations…and they’re not done growing their business they say because it’s good for the economy of Wisconsin.

These hearings are the WDNR’s attempt to let all parties “have a 3 minute comment” and feel either satisfied or dissatisfied with having had the opportunity to state their views in front of a crowed room.

They’ll make their decision on whether all paperwork for the permit is satisfactory (which the WDNR has stated it is satisfied) and issue the permit on July 25^th. They’re just doing their job in a timely fashion. They will take written statements from concerned citizens until then here: Terence.Kafka@wisconsin.gov

(As a matter of course, the permit will be issued no doubt, but perhaps you want to write a few comments which address your feelings or share your opinion on this matter. It is your right as a citizen of Wisconsin and perhaps your obligation in a free society to do so.)

It’s not easy to condense one’s thoughts into a three minute speech with heart-felt emotion and impassioned pleas. No, it’s not easy. The most emotional speakers quiver and quake, lose their place in their notes and fumble or choke away their allotted time. Some think they can read quickly through their talking points but find the “30 second warning” totally alarming. It’s a Hegelian experience where “everyone’s talking and no one is listening.”

Many of the speakers are employees or vendors to the moneyed-interests of the Dairy Industry, the Dairy lobbyists or like one of today’s participants---a former Miss Dairyland. “Dairy is good for us.” Their speeches always tend to pander to the bosses’ favor, because after all, they got a day out of the office. They make a “good living” from the dairy industry. Or are otherwise influenced by their upbringing to feel this way. Nobody brings up heart disease, clogged arteries, or other health issues that occur from too much lactose after the age of five.

Those who live in the area now realize their lives, homes, retirement properties, and communities are about to change. Some are aware of the decreased real estate values, intolerable dust, harmful emissions, smell of toxins, intolerable truck traffic and manure spreading that will impact their weekend parties, lake homes and outdoor activities into the foreseeable future; others call it the smell of money and perceive jobs to help with tax revenues and how lucky it is for their community to be chosen for this economic opportunity.

For me, these hearings are a sad thing to witness. It’s sad to see two divided camps try to convince the other side that only they understand the issues. Both sides feel strongly about their opinions. Though most of the moneyed-interest won’t live in the area or interact with the community---no one lives at the animal factory and everyone knows it---they spend all day in this environment and that’s enough!

The learned speak to the issues of environmental impact and its long term effects. “Factories and farms,” as one testified “are not the same--the toxins and antibiotics in the manure from CAFOs is not comparable to the average small farm where cattle are grazed, one cow for every two acres so the nutrients can be absorbed into the pasture, or where animals are confined in much smaller numbers, and where antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals aren’t necessary to protect the cows from themselves.

Another well-educated farm owner said she didn’t need Milksource LLC to introduce so many new cows and additional milk product to a market that suppress family farm opportunities and pointed out the false assumption that big farms provide more economic return. She noted fault with Foremost/Dean Corporation for pandering to CAFOs interest for this reason.

The less informed talk about needing jobs, feeding the hungry and short-term outcomes like how nice it is to work in a comfortable place with so much good technology doing most of the work, but no one is dissuaded. You hear the same testimony at every hearing and mostly from the same people. And this is what we’ve become.

The WDNR attorney threatening to “shut down” the hearing over cheers for those who are outnumbered by the comments of dairy employees when they speak, and the attorney in the business suit holding up the time cards “30 seconds” and “STOP,” a job a seventh grader could perform as efficiently; and the head speaker for the WDNR giving the “vanilla ice cream” speech trying to maintain his government approach to a “fair hearing for comments”…but he’ll be out in the hall to answer any questions…not listening to the speakers because he too, is tired of the same speeches, too, I suppose.

So understanding that, here’s a solution: call your legislative representatives to discuss why the environment is more important to you than money interest. Call your insurance representatives and learn what your insurance company invests in to insure return-on-investment in your portfolio. Are they invested in factory farms? Do they receive subsidy payments from the US government for farming activities with which you don’t agree? Does your bank give humongous loans to farming operations that pollute or don’t farm the way you think is responsible? This is where you need to do your homework. The time is now. The future of the earth cannot wait.

June, 2011 "Open for Business"

May, 2011

Last semester I had the good fortune to take a class in Environmental Sociology. The last few years of the 20^th Century raised social awareness to a common problem in our society: one man’s gain should not come at the expense of another man’s loss. We see this too often in today’s society. It’s great to know others feel as I do about the world we share and speak up about issues that impact us all.

Education gives voice to reason. The terms and talking points used by former environmentalists to call attention to greed, misconduct or misanthropy. One of these terms is NIMBY, Not In My Back Yard. It is similar to LULU, Locally Unwanted Land Uses. These two terms have much in common.

When someone gets an idea about creating economic opportunity (jobs let’s say) in a socio-economic, disadvantaged area, they might look to areas less densely populated. These areas then bear the burdens of less desirable responsibilities. (Think prisons, ammunition plants, mining operations, slaughterhouses, manure lagoons and suchlike, you can reason many industries that wouldn’t make good neighbors.)

Garrett Hardin, for instance, stated in 1993, “There is no ‘away’ to throw to.” Fishing a favorite place recently, I couldn’t help but notice the nearby town faced away from the river where I stood. The backdoors of all the buildings faced the riverside, while the front doors faced the street-side, “open for business.” Sound familiar to you? This is how we used to deal with most things we didn’t want to address in public---out the backdoor, not on the front lawn. Do we still?

Today, we understand the “inter-connectedness of the elements of the landscape” (Carl Trall, 1939) and the outcry: “the same principles of justice that forbid disenfranchising one person for the social gain of another---would also forbid policies and practices that seriously contaminate the food, water, or air supply of one person for the social gain of another. (Brent Singer, 1988)

I’m confronted with these things when I see a field plowed down to the stream. The landowner rents out his field to be ‘cropped.” The renter hires someone to plow the field. The person hired to do the plowing thinks he’s paid to get every inch of the usable area prepared for planting. “Fencerow to fencerow” (said Earl Butts, Secretary of Agriculture, 1976, propagating the myth of ‘feeding the world’) and the person doing the plowing doesn’t provide a perimeter around the field or has ever heard of the ‘Wisconsin Buffer Initiative’ instituted in 2002 that allows for a 20ft setback along the riparian way to provide a place for wild, uncultivated growth to protect the stream from field run-off, and allow “outdoors-life” a place to flourish, too.

More than this---visit the central sands area of Adams County. Old farmhouses and outbuildings are disappearing, making way for the plow. The plow has access to the largess of the fertile outwash plain. The pump (only 800 now operating in Adams county) irrigates the ‘bio-mass’ crop for the Castle Rock Ethanol Plant or the crop rotation for the area’s corporate agriculture. Stand in a low-lying area; see how the plowed field slopes to the nearby river, stream, or ditch. Look at the sediment filling up the stream. Think about the materials being applied to encourage plant growth. Consider which watershed gets the by-product of this run-off. Know that one pound of phosphorus makes 500 pounds of algae.

Think about what it must be like to have a cottage on a nearby piece of water or somewhere in the River’s Watershed. Ask your legislator what’s wrong with this picture.

Others are thinking about this too. For more read this: http://johntorinus.com/general-blog/green-gold/gop-may-lose-green-republicans/?utm_source=Straight+Talk+From+the+Heartland&utm_campaign=bd3948710a-GOP_may_lose_green_Republicans_5%2F10%2F11&utm_medium=email

It's springtime in Wisconsin and we're open for business.

2011 April 22 -- Earth Day

Deranged, Finding a Sense of Place in the Landscape and in the Lifespan

“The benefits of having Mayflies, however, as any fisherman will tell you, far offset the occasional nuisance of a swarm. Fishermen have nicknamed adult Mayflies “spinners,” and if there is a swarm, most likely, there will be good fishing. Mayflies are preyed upon by trout, as well as by birds, minnows, water striders, dragonflies and frogs. Besides, most species of Mayflies live, as adults, for only a few hours or a few days. Their lifespan at this stage is so short, in fact, that they do not even have working mouthparts; there is no need to eat when there is so little time to complete the business of mating. So Mayflies, as the insect order to which they belong—ephemeroptera—implies, are short-lived enough that a swarm is just bearable.”

–from “Part 1 The Myth of My Childhood” Deranged (Baltimore: Loyola University, Apprentice House, 2010. Print.), is a book of essays by Jill Sisson Quinn, a resident of Scandinavia, WI and currently an educator in Stevens Point, WI.

The book is a “must read!” Delightful and thought-provoking personal essays that lend credence to ways we, all of us, are influenced by a healthy environment.

When listening to Ms. Quinn read from her pages, I picture a film produced by trout-fisher friend, Tom Young, of tiny mayflies crawling from their encasements among the rocks of our most pristine spring creeks in Central Wisconsin. As Tom’s film displays a story that is not often witnessed, Ms. Quinn’s writing delivers us to insights of an ecosystem that non-anthropocentric lovers of nature seldom read---She gets it!

But in a society that allows technology and expansion to displace bird and macro-invertebrate habitat, isn’t it necessary to be aware of the life seldom seen? Most are too busy to notice this important subterranean life because it is beyond our scope. Typically, we focus only on what we see; not what we don’t. Funny then isn’t it, we focus on what we want to see and not what’s really there. I digress.

This is water-monitoring season: the time to take a look at what’s in the stream, what gives it life. Of course, temperature indicates a healthy patient as does the tone of the skin. It’s the first thing the nurse does when a patient enters the doctor’s office. She sees your complexion and reaches for a thermometer. (Turbidity and Temperature) Next she may take your height and weight and ask how you’ve been or what you’ve been doing as we would assess stream flow and habitat. Too, biotic index is a great indicator. What life lies beneath the water’s surface; submerged among the vegetation along the riparian way! Too, the dissolved oxygen is a fortifying proof of our findings. These six tests are important for the base-line information we collect on a monthly basis on our water-monitoring teams. (click here to see the UW Extension stream database.)

Now get out there, celebrate Earth Day!

The water-monitoring season starts soon. Help contribute to our Central Wisconsin Database. We need you. The water needs you. Contact us if you want to be involved.

Happy Earth Day, Everyone!

Let's Explore Wisconsin Water

February 2011

The past few weeks we’ve been working on obtaining Central Wisconsin TU-RiverKeeper grant monies. It’s a necessary burden for our organization. Money helps us grow our capabilities, provides us with up-to-date equipment, (or more equipment to monitor more places) and hopefully allows us to tell our story to those who may also have an interest in doing this activity.

Hmmm, is this an activity? It’s fascinating to learn about water where we work, live and play, agree? For instance, let’s take a closer look at the six-county area where we water-monitor.

Let me break it down for you: It started because I ask a question about the number of high capacity wells in Adams and Waushara Counties. I was told in early summer "there’s almost 2200 of these."

Reflecting on the words of Aldo Leopold in A Sand Country Almanac, New York: Oxford University Press, 1949, I recalled something he wrote about paying attention to the technology being developed at the time. He wrote,

“few educated people realize that the marvelous advances in technology made during recent decades are improvements in the pump rather than the well. Acre for acre, they have barely sufficed to offset the sinking level of fertility.”

There’s a new permit request today to put in two new 500 gallon/minute high capacity water wells in Adams County in the Grand Marsh area, impacting the watershed of the Upper Wisconsin River. So I ask, “Is there ever an end to the groundwater supply that lies beneath us? Does anyone have an idea of how long this source of water will last?”

Here’s something to consider: (for the purpose of keeping this to the point, let’s investigate the water uses of:) Waushara County is in the heart of Wisconsin and the six-county area we monitor. Many of us are familiar with its location. What do you know about it?

3 of 5 municipal water systems in Waushara County have a wellhead protection plan: Coloma, Redgranite and Wautoma.

From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Waushara County has increased from about 18.3 million gallons per day to about 52.3 million gallons per day.*The increase in total water use over this period is due to primarily to an increase in irrigation use.

The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has ranged from about 86% to almost 100% during the period 1979 to 2005.*

83% of 259 private well samples collected in Waushara County from 1990-2006 met the health-based drinking water limit for nitrate-nitrogen

There are no concentrated animal feeding operations in Waushara County.

There are no licensed landfills in Waushara County.Do you want to know more about the groundwater in your county? Do you want to explore the groundwater protection provisions near where you live? First, there are a few things you may want to consider. (This came to me via a conversation with the DNR this past week relative to WATER RULES in Wisconsin.)

“Under existing statutes, our ability to limit new high capacity wells is restricted to instances in which the proposed well; 1) could affect a major spring; 2) is located within a groundwater protection area {i.e., within 1200’ of a trout stream, outstanding resource water or exceptional resource water}; 3) results in a water loss of greater than 95%; or 4) could adversely affect a municipal water supply. There is generally no consideration of cumulative impacts or evaluation of possible impacts to surface waters, other than those which are classified as trout streams, ORW or ERW. The extent of the department’s authority to consider impacts to any surface water resource is the subject of a case before the State Supreme Court, but for the time being, our reviews are normally limited to consideration of the specific statutory criteria mentioned above.”

Again, if you want to know specific information about your county, follow this link: http://wi.water.usgs.gov/gwcomp/find/index.html

The only “rap” I have is the dated information available, but this is due to my lack of faith in the up-to-date availability of the information because our regulators are basing their permits on “out-dated” information.

Remembering when a number of citizens, including the Regulatory agency representatives protested when a certain Corporation wanted to bottle water for profit in the Coloma area? Even though the mantra then as prevalent as now: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS---reason and fairness to cold water resources seem to prevail. (Yes, that was before nearby Long Lake and the Little Plover River, “a Class I” trout stream ran dry for six consecutive years.)

One last item: There are only 1600 active high-capacity wells in Adams and Waushara Counties now. But nothing is being done to limit more high-cap wells from being permitted here. Are you okay with that?

January Update!!

Hello fellow water enthusiasts. Wow great snow last night—more precipitation for the watershed, who could ask for more! And cold northerly breezes to slow the evaporation, a trickle here, a trickle there. It all adds up.

It’s a quiet time of year here in East Central Wisconsin. I love it. Great sleeping weather, time to read and think about the next water-monitoring season---Our work is before us.

And time to find Grant monies to buy more devices for water-monitoring, fund-raising to get supplies for our purpose of testing water throughout our place of being, and rejuvenating our core membership because we want to keep a pulse on our group and be attentive to their needs. (If you know of funding resources we should contact please let us know!

While all that’s going forward, here’s a few articles about water and things going on elsewhere. Maybe you follow some of this too, if not, you may find it surprising what others are doing regarding the water resources where they live.

Check these out in your spare time---
1. Keokuk, Iowa 20101231: http://easterniowabusiness.com/2010/12/31/open-valve-causes-syrup-to-reach-mississippi-river-in-keokuk/

2. iPhone App from IBM (I thought this might be of interest as we move to the End Of Year report.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_--6KAptDL4

3. Water Monitoring at Walnut Creek in Austin, TX http://upperwalnutcreekaustin.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/december-2010-monitoring/

4. From Idaho: http://environment.change.org/blog/view/can_the_campaign_for_clean_water_in_idaho_succeed
We're talking about employing devices like these here, are you interested in using them?

5. Minnesota: http://minnesotacornerstone.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/state-concludes-special-atrazine-review-concludes-current-regulations-are-doing-the-job/

If you see anything which you want to discuss, please comment, we want to share your ideas.

Elsewhere in Wisconsin:

1. Wisconsin River Blue-Green Algae:

http://www.marketplacemagazine.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/12/16/dnr-spearheading-effort-to-improve-wisco

2. Valley Stewardship Network http://common-breath.com/?p=970

3. Madison: http://dailyreporter.com/blog/2010/12/29/cities-scramble-to-test-water-for-chromium-6/ and
http://coalgeology.com/epa-to-develop-monitoring-and-sampling-programs-specifically-for-chromium-6/10027/
4. West Virginia: Any relation to C-6? Do you know about this?
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/01/04/new-study-details-c8-in-private-water-wells/
5. Canada’s Oil Sands: Alberta, CA http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Oilsands+monitoring+inadequate+federal+panel/4009362/story.html

and http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/12/20/edmonton-water-monitoring-alberta-system.html?ref=rss

So much going on. Happy New Year. Watch for Future Water Monitoring Training and Conference Dates.
Don’t forget to attend http://www.cwtu.org Trout Fest Agenda, February 26, an all day (Open House) get-together to visit happenings with cold-water resources in Central Wisconsin, maybe talk about fishing, too.

2011 What Next!

Even in winter, the water flows. We may not be as aware of it, because we stay indoors more these cold, winter days where we live. But water sustains our lives, it lives within us, it is too important to ignore. With that---the Central Wisconsin Riverkeepers are attuned to---“What Next?”

Planning for next year’s water monitoring events has already been begun!

Remember we stated at the start of this year we wanted to involve a few more teams (Six to be precise!) for next year? We looked at our existing inventory and considered what we will need to affect this. A shopping list was prepared and purchases were made. We have the items we’ll need for these “new” teams now at hand. That was the easy part.

Of course, equipment is only a part of the mix. What about the necessary citizens who will provide the “waders-on, in stream” data collection, computation and data entry into the citizens-based WAV database? This is the most important part of work, true!

First, we need to assess who’s coming back for another season of monitoring. Will you be joining a team this year? Will you lead a new team? Do you want to be more involved? How can you help?

Those are good questions, don’t you think!

How many of our current leaders are up to the challenge to repeat as Stream Team Leaders? Is everyone on board to delve into this again? Were you able to accomplish your goals as a team leader? Were there any difficulties in performing this task as you wanted? I know you were asked this several times this past season because we were desperately trying to assess whether we were on target with our training and your comfort with the work.

We were told mostly, “we find this work enjoyable---the camaraderie fun---and pretty easy to accomplish.” The Group Coordinator reported, “Everyone performed the tasks without exception!”

These are good things. Now the hard question---will you return and continue your efforts for another season of WAV Level One water monitoring? Are you interested in forming one of the new teams? (I understand we’re going to have at least two school groups join us this next year and wow, are we excited about that!---More about this as it develops).

Lastly, you may have had a chance to review the Stream Data from the 2010 session. Did you have any questions relative to the data? A good place to enter your questions would be our wiki found at http://cwriverkeeper.wikispaces.com just head to the 2011 Planning Tab and feel free to add to the list there. And if you’re interested in being involved with us again, add your name to the list or contact one of the members if you don’t know how to do this. Thanks for your involvement! Happy holidays.

Wisconsin's Clean Water Future

On Thursday, a small group gathered to discuss “Wisconsin’s Clean Water Future” at Bubolz Nature Preserve Center in Appleton, sponsored by the local chapter of Trout Unlimited. The discussion was led by Melissa Malott of Clean WI, a resource protection advocate group who tries to maintain the balance between the environment and the industrialization of nature. It’s a Rubric’s cube that has many moving parts and on many levels is difficult to accomplish within the time we have in the delicate environment where we live.

Ms. Malott has been speaking out for environmental protection since I’ve known her. She gives well thought out testimony at Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) hearings when public comment is necessary to balance injustice and industry, like when corporatists inauspiciously attack the environment---or as the English philosopher, John Locke, wrote that

God gave the earth and its resources to “the Common” to use to sustain himself and to enjoy. But whatever is beyond this and more than his share; nothing was made by God for man to spoil or destroy.

This night her topic was water. Further, clean water will be necessary to sustain life and we need to protect its accessibility and sustainability for future generations beyond our own.

Facts and figures of degradation and depletion afford one the sense that our water is being taken for granted. Vegetable growers in Wisconsin, (It takes 52 gallons of water to grow 1 potato), Industry and agriculturists are putting straws (High Capacity Pumps) into the groundwater and returning the water worse than how they found it.

Ms. Malott. showed plenty of slides which supported her view point. Our water is filled with toxic pesticides, antibiotics, and other pharmaceuticals. Moreover, it is transferred from its natural form through cows into dairy products and hauled away by truck to other markets while nearby neighbors’ wells go dry or worse fill with E.coli bacteria (Kewaunee County, 2005).

Questions from the group were raised. How do you sell a house that’s been changed from "country living" to an industrial zone? Another, what is the value of a property after its well has been determined unsafe? Or sell a house with well-water tests resulting high in herbicides? What is the deleterious cost to our State’s economy for lost manufacturing, lost tourism, and lost home value? Many questions came regarding the CAFO at Rosendale. How do you get business with so little regard for the resources to understand that their “bad apple” behavior is adversely impacting the State’s economy?

The conversation switched to 303d-listed waters, a definition by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) relative to impaired waters of the State. Lake Winnebago and the Lower Fox River are among these. And although about 1.5 million (depending on the current Census) get their drinking water here, it is listed as a “low priority” with the WDNR.

Slides of puddles of manure spread on fields near Paint Creek, (Manitowoc County) and more conversation about the Cladophora, a naturally occurring algae in Lake Michigan that incurs super-growth status and becomes noxious when charged with non-point polluted runoff nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen from nearby farm fields, here’s a picture of a man in waders waist-deep in Cladophora near the shoreline of his home on Lake Michigan.

There is a plethora of problems within the natural topography—Karst—and slope to waterways in many parts of the State and the old farming practices of placing tiles in fields to get the water away from plant roots so crops would grow. Wisconsin is water. But potable drinking water is a luxury; not a given. Why is this happening here?

The Clean Water Act is enforceable. Big farms, specifically CAFO-type are only 1% of all farms in Wisconsin. They are permitted to have zero discharge. They are governed by strict Nutrient Management Plans. They have rules. But what are the consequences when things go awry? Like the Stahl Brothers farms in Door County who had a “minor manure spill” like 200,000 gallons into the Kewaunee just after 250,000 trout fingerings were planted into the same river? What was the fine? What did the owner mean when he said he was “Sorry?” And later it was disclosed that this wasn’t the first occurrence for his behavior. Why is he always “sorry” but his problems to properly manage nutrients are a burden to everyone else? What is the penalty? One pound of Phosphorus equals 500 lbs. of algae. CAFO-RD generates 60,000 lbs. of phosphorus. Hmmm.

Ms. Malott said, “Most farms have good intentions.” There’s just a few bad apples. 80 percent of the problem comes from 20% of the polluters. In Dane County 99% of the farmers are good producers. 15% of mismanaged phosphorus comes from just 4 farms in the County. One of these is a 300 to 600 cow dairy. When does the “bad apple” have to “cease-and-desist?” After all, if your business is a nuisance and a threat to public health, should you be allowed to operate that business?

So seriously, what’s the solution to all this? Where’s the outcome from all the “outrage and dread? “

The Adaptive Management Option allows all stakeholders---Farmers Bureau and Municipal support---to work together for flexible, cost effective rules that are amenable to The Clean Water Act. Such activity is being fostered today in our State’s Capitol. Perhaps we’ll be hearing more on this in the coming months. Then we can tout something positive coming out of Dane County that will impact us all.

Thank you to all who attended this program. As always, I learned something. I hope this summary is useful to those who were unable to attend. I welcome your comments.