Big Ag Pollution Is Coming to Wisconsin with Republican Invite

Atlantic Ocean - blue green toxic algae
blooms threaten tourism, fishing,
humans and other living things

What happens on industrial agricultural operations doesn't stay on agricultural operations

Updated - There are some 282 massive industrial agricultural operations, CAFOs, in Wisconsin with many new permits and permit expansions coming down the pike.

CAFOs are a menace to Wisconsin communities because the operations dump millions of tons of toxic and untreated liquid cow manure into the environment annually, befouling lakes, aquifers, streams, the air, and driving down property valuations for people living near CAFOs.

Florida -No Swimming, Blue Green
Algae alert on Florida beaches
2016 (Photo by Zach Brown)

To understand how politically powerful Big Agricultural operations are, consider what is happening to the Treasure Coast of Florida, now under a state of emergency as toxic Algea blooms created by Big Agriculture are dumped into the open toilet, called Lake Okeechobee, and vectored by Republican Gov. Rick Scott into the Atlantic Ocean.

"As we have described before, toxic algal blooms develop when water is polluted with high levels of nutrients, like nitrates and phosphorous. For algal blooms in Martin County, Lake Erie and other parts of the country, the primary source of pollution is conventional agriculture," writes Shannon Van Hoesen in AgMag. "In the Florida case, polluted runoff from sugar cane farms and other agriculture operations flows into Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in the state. When water levels of the lake rise too high and it risks flooding, state officials will flush waters from the lake into rivers, like the St. Lucie River that flows from the middle of the state into the ocean ... While the impacts of pollution from Big Ag may seem like a distant thought to most of us, the typically pristine beaches of the Treasure Coast covered in blue-green algae are a reminder that what happens on the farm doesn’t always stay on the farm."

Wood County Wisconsin 2104 - Swim at your own
risk, do not ingest lake water, shower after
swimming, wash hands before eating
and do not swim if you are ill. Area industrialized
agriculture is actively targeting central Wisconsin
in an effort to conspicuously dump
liquid manure that so repulses multi-
generational families that long-time
residents will pack and leave the region.

In Wisconsin, massive dairy CAFOs produce millions of tons of liquid cow manure that is vectored into area surface waters and aquifers to equally tragic consequence as in Florida.

Big Ag in Wisconsin has purchased the Republican Party and Republican polluter-friendly incumbents, including Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa, Wisconsin) and Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin), are targets in November 2016 though their districts have been gerrymandered by Wisconsin Republicans.

Central Wisconsin and their allies across the state are now fighting an area CAFO, the giant Central Sands Dairy CAFO, and the effort by Central Sands to get state approval to vector more cow manure into surface waters and aquifers. Central Sands' owner, the Wysocki corporation, is attempting to begin operations for another proposed area CAFO, the Golden Sands CAFO.

From Concerned Rome (Adams County Wisconsin) Citizens email this morning:

Subject:CAFO Alert - Action Required‏

Fellow concerned citizens,

It's interesting that again, it appears a request has been made just before a holiday weekend, trying to "fly under the radar".  The Nutrient Management Plan (NWP) they want to increase above recommended standards controls how much manure can be applied around the CAFO, in this case the Wysocki Central Sands CAFO across the river in Armenia. Neighboring drinking water wells there are already far above the state limit for Nitrates.

Why is that an issue for you?  These are the same Wysockis trying to force in a CAFO next door in Saratoga and we need to stop their manipulation of regulations at every turn. 

Please see Criste Greening's e-mail below and send your request to the DNR's Tyler Dix.

Dear friends & Concerned Citizens,

Time Sensitive - Response needed immediately

Once again the Central Sands Dairy and the Wysocki Organization is trying to sneak changes into their current Nutrient Management Plan. Their most recent request is to exceed manure application standards outlined by the UW Extension, this would allow them to apply much more manure to their fields than currently permitted to apply.  This is outrageous!

The public notice of this most recent modification request was posted on June 27th.  We have only 14 days to request a public hearing regarding the requested change.  Please do not delay, copy and paste the message below into a fresh email and send to Tyler Dix at the DNR.  This MUST be done before July 11th.  Tyler.Dix@wisconsin.gov

If choosing to construct your own individual email the following information MUST be included.

All petitions for a public hearing on substantial NMP modifications must include: the name, address and interest of the petitioner and reason(s) why a hearing is warranted.