Wisc Gov Scott Walker Wants Methane for All, and Pollution As Usual

Citizens groups in central Wisconsin oppose a proposed
CAFO and aerial liquid manure spraying.
Photo by Martha Karris of Rome and Saratoga-Friendly
in Wisconsin (Facebook)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is calling for a counter-protective, ridiculous alternative to vectoring nitrates, phosphorus, ammonia and assorted pathogens into the environment: Manure digesters, (Walker, Wisconsin Office of the Governor).

Manure digesters are a con.

Here's a news report on the latest communication from Wisconsin's worst enemy of clean water, Scott Walker.

As reported by Matthew DeFour in the Wisconsin State Journal):

Gov. Scott Walker is seeking proposals to build anaerobic manure digesters in environmentally sensitive parts of the state to address water quality concerns.

The idea comes as the state’s water pollution monitoring has come under scrutiny by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which last month spent four days reviewing records at the Department of Natural Resources.

"Environmentally sensitive parts of the state" refers to the areas in Wisconsin where residents cannot drink water from aquifers because of specific geological landscapes that direct pollutants to private water wells.

Sensitive areas include surface water in lakes and rivers that have been drained by high capacity wells plundering the aquifers. As the pollutants from factory farms are hazardous, all waters and air in any geographical region are vulnerable to the pollutants from Big Ag.

Deplete-and-poison is the water policy from Wisconsin Republicans and few Democratic Party yahoos such as State Rep. Jocasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee), (DBA).

Notes Lynn Utesch of Kewaunee County in northeastern Wisconsin:

A Digester's only purpose is to create methane. It does not solve water quality issues or reduce volumes of manure or toxic emissions such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, methane and dangerous VOC's [volatile organic compounds] which, simply put, are the 'odors' emitted from a digester.

Walker's proposal doesn't help those in Kewaunee County whose wells are already contaminated. He said constructing digesters will take time during which more wells could be contaminated, and they do not address other issues with concentrated dairy farming such as traffic, air pollution and the use of antibiotics.

Walker's release, reproduced in full is below.

November 17, 2016 - Press Release

Kewaunee – Governor Scott Walker announced he has requested the Public Service Commission (PSC), Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to coordinate resources and draft a Request for Proposal that aligns digester technology to all sizes of dairy farms in environmentally sensitive areas of Wisconsin. The goal of this effort is to alleviate water quality concerns in these areas. Governor Walker made the announcement at the Heritage Farm Site in Kewaunee today to address nutrient management and water quality challenges in Kewaunee County.

“Water quality is a top priority for us,” Governor Walker said. “This joint effort is important progress, and we will continue working toward a sustainable solution to ensure our natural resources remain viable for generations to come.”

The state is already addressing recommendations made by the Kewaunee Groundwater Collaboration Workgroup and this joint initiative will be a key step in the effort to make sure Wisconsin’s water resources are safe and healthy for the citizens of the state.

Anaerobic digesters are an innovative approach to addressing groundwater quality issues. When properly scaled and applied, digesters can reduce agricultural runoff and groundwater issues, spur economic development in rural communities, and create a renewable source of energy production in the form of biogas.

The PSC, DATCP, and DNR will work together to make recommendations by December 1, 2016 that propose a tangible private sector response linking the application of digester technology to environmentally-sensitive areas of Wisconsin, specifically areas with high concentrations of dairy cattle. A Request for Proposal laying the groundwork for actionable items should be ready to release publically in January.

Scott Walker Is as Bad as Michigan Gov in Abandoning Water Protection

"There are approximately 160,000 public
drinking water systems and more than
16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment
systems in the United States, (DHS)." In
Michigan and Wisconsin, clean water
is under siege by Republican governors
as desperate citizens look to the federal
government for relief and protection.

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder (R-Michigan) is getting huge amount of lurid publicity for ignoring (indeed causing) the water crises in Flint, Michigan in which toxic lead was effectively vectored into the children and families of Flint, (Lederman, In These Times).

The coverage is spot-on, as Snyder now pushes back against the EPA efforts to mitigate a disaster.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker has ignored (indeed caused) the water problem in Kewaunee, Juneau, Adams, Wood counties, inflicting the same polluter-friendly, anti-family health agenda he has pursued since he was elected.

But the national U.S. media is giving Walker a pass though Walker and his policies vacating his responsibility ensuring clean and safe water has already resulted in tragedy, (Mal Contends), including the poisoning of children, as Walker has circumvented the law to carry the toxic water of special interests.

We are in crisis mode in Wisconsin and Michigan as the level of health and environmental toxins vectored into Wisconsin's waters often exceeds safe levels, yet Scott Walker moves boldly for less protection against the polluters, and the abandonment of our state Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine.

This comes as the Walker adminstration changes the language in the DNR and Legislative Reference Bureau's (LRB) public explanations of the state's water protection roles and responsibilities.

The London Guardian notes: Flint water crisis: governor's brand of corporate politics set stage for disaster. Snyder and Walker's anti-water policies and "imperial manner" are clear and present dangers to America's lifeblood, water.

Notes the Guardian's Joanna Walters: Both Snyder and Walker's virtually handing over state governance to the "American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ... supported by the like-minded, Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and backed by the ultra-conservative Koch brothers," have resulted in environmental disaster. The Wisconsin-based Bradley Foundation, big tobacco companies like Altria/Phillip Morris and the State Policy Network have inflicted the same crimes against families through politicians, and policymakers are legally immune, (Fischer, PRWatch).

Appeals to the EPA are a last resort, and Wisconsin families remain alarmed calling for a Sanders or Clinton adminstration to vow to protect families, and reel in the polluters' anti-social industries, (Walton, Circle of Blue), (Ikerd, Ethics, Not Economics, Key to Climate Change Fight).

Water is a national security issue, consider the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security: "Water and Wastewater Systems Sector-Specific Plan (PDF, 88 pages – 1.39 MB) details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the [Water] sector. ... The Environmental Protection Agency is designated as the Sector-Specific Agency for the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector."

As with natural disaster planning and emergency preparedness, Scott Walker is asleep at the switch.

Concludes the Guardian's Walters:

A Snyder candidacy could not have survived the Flint water catastrophe, which developed under his brand of corporate-culture politics while, at best, he stood by.

Whether Snyder will survive as governor remains to be seen.

Walker's political fate appears more certain, as he remains mired in the 30s-level approval rating.

More significantly, citizen groups have sprouted around the state, as a desperate Walker moves to destroy local control of municipal and county government and renew furtive efforts to destroy the Wisconsin Idea, transparency in government and independent government watchdog agencies.
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Bizarrely, the Walker adminstration has gone so far as to include a copyright warning included in the LRB's public webpage on the Constitution Article IX, Section 1: Public trust doctrine page stating:

WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use" that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Never noticed this before in a public document.

The LRB's website includes a link to Robin Kite's—a former LRB staff atty—disquisition on the Public Access Doctrine.

Clean Water Advocates Rally Saturday Follows Human and Pig Deaths

In July, "A father and his son who were so close that they were 'like glue' were killed by noxious fumes from an Iowa hog manure pit — the second father and son in the Midwest to die of poisonous manure pit gases this month," (Rogers and Eller, USA Today).

This week, "[m]ore than 1,000 market weight hogs were killed last week after being overcome by pit gases at a hog farm near Tracy, Iowa. ... There are four powerful poisons can be present in manure pits, especially in those below the ground – hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and methane. In August, manure pit fumes killed four workers in two separate incidents in Iowa and Wisconsin," (Bowman, PORK Network) (KNIA/KRLS News). (WQOW-Eau Claire)

These are just the toxic gases produced from industrialized Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

The CAFO assault on communities and families also comes in the form of biological attacks, and destruction of aquifers and surface waters, while drying up and poisoning streams, lakes, and creating dead zones in Lake Michigan.

As noted here, clean water advocates, sustainable farmers, property owners seeing plummeting valuations and other opponents of CAFOs have seen hospitalized children who drank water out of the faucet, and watched politicians set the state on a trajectory towards undrinkable water, and toxic air (Citizens Concerned about Lake Superior CAFOs) as the Dept. of Natural Resources has become a polluters' lobby under Scott Walker, (Facebook)).

Industrialized agriculture is waging a war on communities with a lot of help from corrupt Wisconsin politicians.

Citizens rallying Saturday at the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison at 1:00 p.m. intend to raise a stink about this.