Clean Water Activists Carry Fight Across Wisconsin

Lovers of Lake Superior are banding together and saying 'no'
to a huge hog farm looking to call northern Wisconsin home.
The Bayfield County Board voted to ban aerial spraying of
manure on January 27, 2015. CAFO operations such as the
proposed hog farm produce millions of tons of manure annually

Across Wisconsin people are objecting to the fresh waters being polluted by pathogen-laden and oxygen-depleting liquid cow (and now proposed swine) manure fouling streams, rivers, and aquifers, creating growing dead zones in lakes where fish once swam.

Fresh water is under assault from Big Ag, and the Republican Party of Wisconsin—from Scott Walker to the Dairy Business Association—is not going lose any sleep over sick children, dead trout and the increasing numbers of water wells so befouled people are forced to used bottled water for drinking.

Welcome to modern agriculture, and and its mirco inhabitants, MRSA and friends. (The Cornucopia Institute)

"Many generations of my family were dairy farmers in Clark County, Wisconsin, and I continue to be supportive of family farms. But, I can't stand idly by and see a [Wood] county supervisor [Robert Ashbeck] blindly turn his back on a presentation that shows the health dangers of manure spraying, nor can I ignore the state Dairy Business Association lobby pushing for legislation that would bar you and me from taking photos or reporting on animal cruelty or polluting from these mega farms. That's not a democracy," said Rome, Wisconsin resident Donald Ystad in an email, referring to a presentation by Criste Greening of Protect Wood Coutny and Its Neighbors at Wood County's ad hoc committee studying aerial manure spraying last week.

From Bayfield County:

Lovers of Lake Superior are banding together and saying ‘no’ to a huge hog farm looking to call northern Wisconsin home.

An Iowa pig farmer has his sights set on a piece of land in Eileen Wis., but locals are worried about the millions of pounds of manure that they say will pollute nearby Lake Superior.

'Fresh clean water is so much more valuable to this planet than cheap bacon,' said protester, Mary Dougherty of Bayfield County. (Julia Russell, Fox 21-KQDS)

"For a long time, our community has been tolerant of watching the things we hold dear be degraded. Our soils, water and air have been greatly compromised due to these industrial operations and their polluting wastes, measuring in the millions and millions of gallons," writes Nancy Utesch of Kewaunee County. "The continued myth that we are feeding the world must be dispelled. We are not feeding the world. Most of the world is fed through subsistence farming, by women, on small acreages, where they live. The continued push for a "global economy" while our local economies continue to be impoverished by the factory farm model must stop." (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

In Adams County, "Tri-Lakes Management District soon will begin monitoring Spring Branch Creek — which feeds into northern Adams County lakes — to measure its water quality and any potential effects a nearby proposed large scale dairy might have." (Lawder, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune)

Below is a presentation delivered by Wisconsin DNR runoff chief (2001-11), Gordon Stevenson, in January 2015 to the Wood County Manure Ad Hoc Committee.

Wisconsin ignores this public health crisis at its peril.

The Public Trust Doctrine Article 9, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution lays out Wisconsin's Public Trust Doctrine. This is a body of common and statutory law that says that the state holds the the waters of the state in trust for public purposes. This extremely important right, guaranteed by our state Constitution, is the foundation of water law in the state of Wisconsin.