Is Lake Superior to Become Another Lake Erie

Updated - A massive swine (pig) Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operation (CAFO) proposed in Bayfield County threatens a region known for its pristine inland lakes and streams, Chequamegon National Forest, and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior.

America's Dairyland is currently imperiled by the proliferation of Concentration Agriculturally Feeding Operations (CAFOs) mostly by massive dairy operations.

Now, Big Ag is taking aim at the Northwood's region of Wisconsin, specifically Bayfield County, proposing a 560-acre swine CAFO in the Township of Eileen, next to Ashland County and some 15 miles from Lake Superior.

The University of Wisconsin Extension held a workshop last week to inform residents of the health and environmental risks of the proposed swine CAFO, as well as the weak state regulatory framework of CAFOs, although reportedly not described as being weak. (Mullen, Ashland Daily Press (Wisconsin))

Writes Joshua Yelle, (Western Illinois University) in an unpublished paper citing Dr. John Ikerd's The Inevitable Economic, Ecological, and Social Consequences of CAFOs:

The environmental damages that CAFOs have caused are nearly impossible to put into a numerical figure that the average individual would be able to grasp and comprehend. The primary detrimental effects that CAFOs produce consist of water pollution, air pollution, animal welfare concerns and the mismanagement of waste. EPA findings have suggested that waste generated by CAFOs have polluted over 35,000 miles of river and contaminated groundwater in 17 states (Ikerd). Pollution on a large scale such as this cannot be blamed on just individual CAFOs but is actually the result of irresponsible management across an entire industry which has a documented past of reckless pollution and disregard for environmental concerns in general.

Disregard for environmental concerns describes Wisconsin under the Scott Walker administration that has gutted the state's own Department of Natural Resources as a functioning regulatory body.

The question for residents and businesses up in northern Wisconsin is: Will this area relying on tourism and the pristine quality of the region as a value in itself allow the area and another Great Lake to be devastated like Lake Erie and Lake Michigan in Kewaunee and Door counties by not stopping this proposed CAFO owned by the Iowa-based Reicks View Family Farm LLC. (Family farm name is a sick irony.)

Just a small family farm Reicks would have you believe, a farmer that would make a walk up to Bayfield County every morning. Here is a link to their "values."

Many Big Ag owners try to escape even the weak regulatory apparatus by owning 999 animals, one less than the 1,000-animal necessary for an operation to be a state-sanctioned CAFO.

The future for America's Dairyland looks bleak as the Walker administration calls for more production and less regulation in its 30x20 initiative.

Said Gordon Stevenson, runoff chief for the DNR (2001-2011):

"Manure management is essentially the same as it has been since the Middle Ages; untreated manure is disposed on untreated on the landscape. We have already seen severe public health consequences from these practices and I am certain that we will see more. Much of Wisconsin’s environmental protection efforts with agriculture center on nutrient management planning. Many of my former colleagues have labored long and hard to persuade farmers to adopt the NRCS 590 Nutrient Management Standard. The problem is that 590 is not a water quality standards, it as an agronomic standard that seeks to optimize crop production. Plus evaluation of a farmer’s compliance with that standard is somewhere between difficult and impossible."

Consider the Parable of Smithfield Foods. In 1936, a family built a small hog slaughtering and packing plant in Smithfield, Virginia. Their products were very good, the plant grew and town of Smithfield came to be known as the Ham Capital of the World. During the 1980s, the company vertically integrated. In plain English, that means they not only owned the processing facilities, but they figured out that if they controlled the production of hogs as well as processing they could be more profitable. By the end of 1998, Smithfield owned not only multiple packaging plants but 460 large hog farms and had contracts with 2,100 other pork producers 12 states. Smithfield Foods had become the number one pork producer in the United States and was growing internationally.  They continued to grow, aggregating the assets of American pork production into larger and fewer blocks. Next time you go shopping, checkout the pork products. You will see labels like Morrell, Farmland, Armour and others. Smithfield owns all of those companies and multiple others. On September 26, 2013, Smithfield Foods and all of its holdings were sold to another company for $7.1 billion. [Bittman, NYT] The name of the company is Shuanghui International Holdings Limited.[Shuanghui changed its name this year to the: WH Group (BusinessWeek)]

"Yes, a company from the People’s Republic of China now owns 26 percent of all of the assets of the American pork industry. This is the largest single Chinese purchase to date of American assets. China has successfully established an offshore economic colony on American soil. Let’s leave Virginia and Beijing and return to Wisconsin. We have dairy CAFOs in Wisconsin that are in the process of aggregating the assets of Wisconsin’s dairy industry into larger and fewer blocks. Any of those blocks can be bought and sold. I don’t believe I need to spell out why I told you the Parable of Smithfield Foods."

Big Ag could not care less about the health of the Great Lakes. Big Ag owned by China even less so.

Mega-Factory Farms Threaten Wisconsin Waters, Bayfield County Now Eyed

Bayfield County, Wisconsin - Proposed
site of new CAFO that would vector millions
of tons of liquid cow manure into Lake Superior

A water-polluting CAFO is planned in Bayfield County in Wisconsin's most northern county that juts out into Lake Superior (Mullen, The Daily Press), the massive Great Lake that will absorb much of the liquid cow manure discharges with predictably tragic consequences

Corporate 'CAFO' entities have largely replaced the small family farm in America's Dairyland with catastrophic consequences.

Pathogens in millions of tons of liquid cow manure annually are being vectored into Wisconsin rivers, lakes and aquifers and the solution by the Scott Walker administration and his Big Ag campaign funders is to accelerate the destruction.

Wisconsin is approaching the point where swimming in rivers and lakes will become an exercise in risking your very health as the carrying capacities of liquid cow manure in major geologic regions in central and eastern Wisconsin have been exceeded with severe contamination of drinking water.

The abandonment of beaches on Lake Michigan in the summer is now common in northeastern Wisconsin as Ecoli and other pathogens make the tourism and recreation industry of Wisconsin imperiled and health concerns from the water in Kewaunee County has become so bad that a full one of three tested water wells are too contaminated to draw safe drinking water and parents have to use bottled water for such simple family concerns as washing out a child's scrape or minor cut.

This week the news is more alarming as Scott Walker has rewarded his campaign special interests by firing the eminent George Kraft, Professor of Water Resources and Director of the Center for Watershed Science and Education at UW-Stephens Point from the Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council, and replaced Dr. Kraft with Stephen Diercks, a Big Ag honcho, a special interest that rewarded Walker with $Millions. (The Political Environment)

Meanwhile, with massive Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operations (CAFOs) proliferating, the northern part of Wisconsin has been spared the siting of CAFOs partially because of protected national forests.

Last month comes news that a CAFO is planned in Bayfield County (Town of Eileen) in Wisconsin's most northern county that juts out into Lake Superior (Mullen, The Daily Press), the massive Great Lake that will absorb much of the liquid cow manure discharge with predictably tragic consequences.

Educational and clean water groups are mobilizing and establishing allies with other clean water activists as the political conspiracy of silence is leading to the great waters of Wisconsin becoming dangerous and polluted as Big Ag pockets the money in exchange for the health of our grandchildren's clean and safe water and the bagging of money via Big Ag by Wisconsin politicians led by Scott Walker as he sounds off about running for president.

GTac Mine in Wisconsin Penokee Range Is Stalled, Altered or Dead

"Several of our sources indicate that the GTac mine project in the Penokee Range" is dead (Woods Person), with GTac officials instructed to spend no more money on the project, amid other reports that the proposed massive open pit mine is laying off technical specialists.

The Prairie Badger notes the report has not been verified by GTac officials.

Lee Bergquist of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel quotes a GTac official, saying, "A Gogebic Taconite spokesman said Thursday that the company is considering constructing its massive iron ore mine solely in Iron County because of opposition from officials in adjacent Ashland County."

But GTac official, Bob Seitz, told Journal-Sentinel: "(n)o staff members have been laid off, as the blog reported, he said. The company has six employees, which includes geologists and metallurgists."

A citizens group, Citizens Concerned about the proposed Penokee Mine, is celebrating online.

Iron County attorney, Anthony Stella, notes the plummeting Iron Ore market heading towards $75/ton, writing that an industry periodical, "indicates 'break even' price is $80 for some existing companies. A new company, like GTAC, would likely have much higher production costs due to a lack of current infrastructure and site-specific issues such as the depth of the ore and the use of unproven dry-stacking methods for tailings."

Industry journals support Stella's analysis.

"A deepening supply glut in the iron ore market will force out the bulk of high-cost mine tonnage in the junior mining sphere , reinforcing the majors' dominance over the coming quarters," notes he Business Monitor Online (August 5, 2014)

Many note that before the mine could ever begin operations, GTac would have to litigate in federal court land likely spend $Millions because of existing U.S. Treaty obligations with the pro-environmental Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) band of Native Americans.

Notes Charles F. Wilkinson, arguably the leading legal expert on native American treaties: "This iron mine complex cannot go ahead without a full analysis of the treaty rights of the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) band. ...  Earlier this year (2013) a federal judge in Washington State ruled, under similar circumstances, that the treaties require more than just allowing tribal members to hunt and fish—the treaties also require healthy habitat so that the species can thrive. And, so, the question is: 'Will this mining complex adversely affect the habitat of treaty-protected species?' If so, the proposed mining project will have to be revised or abandoned." (Mal Contends)

Then there's the EPA and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers against which GTac would also likely have to litigate.

Scott Walker's motive is simply to derive as much political capital and campaign money as he can (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), as Walker fights off Wisconsin voters and a law enforcement probe, while pretending he may run for president simultaneously avoiding questions on his plans for elected office.

Big Ag Going Wild on Toxification of Wisconsin Waters to Pols' Silence

CAFO and liquid manure spraying are
killing Wisconsin waters -
Image from the Wisconsin
Initiative on Climate Change Impact

Mary Burke had this to say about directing toxins into Wisconsin lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers: Dead silence.

When it comes to the health of Wisconsin waters and the people of Wisconsin, silence is not golden, it's deadly.

A few weeks back a typical dullard politician, State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids), threatened me with a libel suit for pointing how his corrupt policies [Krug doesn't make a move without an okay from the Party] are destroying the lifeblood of the Central Sands by the vectoring of toxins in liquid cow manure into the region's waters.

Krug backed off of course from his ill-advised threat, as every coward from a lightweight like Krug to a heavyweight like Michael Best and Friedrich's, (LLP) David A. Krass (representing Dairy Business Association (DBA) interests) do when confronted with facts.

Special delivery of liquid cow manure to Wisconsin streams and lakes -
Courtesy of Scott Krug, Scott Walker and the Dairy Business Association
[Notwithstanding Krug's public reversal on the proposed
Wysocki CAFO in mid-August]

The truth is Scott Walker's transformation of the independent Department of Natural Resources into a pollution-friendly arm of the Walker administration is a betrayal of several protections in the Wisconsin Constitution (emphatically so of the Public Trust Doctrine) of our "more than 15,000 inland lakes, 33,000 miles of rivers and streams, 5.3 million acres of wetlands, 471,329 acres of state forests, and a location alongside the Mississippi River, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior." (Jason J. Czarnezki, Marquette Law Review)

Equally true is that Mary Burke has to this point been silent on Walker's betrayal, despite the widespread belief, likely true, that Ms. Burke is as appalled as the folks in Kewaunee, Wood , Adams and Iron and Ashland counties.

Burke has made a political calculation out of fear of Walker and the DBA, and deceives the Wisconsin people with her silence every bit as Scott Walker does with his convoluted lies.

Other folks in Wisconsin are more candid, and not afraid.

Donald Ystad of Nekoosa and Rome: "A sympathetic county employee, who says we may well win the fight against the proposed Wysocki dairy CAFO, but Adams County should look to the south of Rome, along the Highway 13 corridor, all the way down to Adams-Friendship where a dairy industry gone wild may see their next opportunity. East and south of Dyracuse Mound (Motorcycle Recreation Area) there is nothing but pine forests and scrub, very few people, and the much-sought-after aquifer that underlies the Central Sands. That's something that should scare the heck out of Adams county residents as if they didn't have enough to worry about farther east in Richfield near Highway 51 (I-39). Holy smokes, where does it end?  Is he predicting another Kewaunee, with dairy CAFOs stacked up all the way down to the Dells?  Think about it next time you drive south through Big Flats on Hwy 13 to Adams-Friendship and beyond to the Dells. Then think about the (Walker)administration's desire to further expand dairy business in Wisconsin. I sure hope he's wrong."

For more candor, read on the linked pages:

Don Ystad in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
Lee Luft in the Green Bay Press Gazette
Greg Farnham in the RockRiver Times

Wisconsin GOP Nominee Is Pro-Mine in GTac District, Silent about Scott Walker-GTac Scandal

Pro-environment forces fight
against Republicans, secret
money, vandals and GOP determination
to desecrate pristine waters

"There’s not going to be any (economic) opportunity that I can see in the near future other than this [Gogebic Taconite (GTac)] mine," said Jamey Francis, an apparel salesman and city councilman in the town of Hurley. "This is an economic game changer." (Adam Schrager, Quest: The Science of Sustainability)

Meet Jamey Francis, the GOP nominee for the 74th assembly district in northern Wisconsin and alderman for the City of Hurley in Iron County, who thinks obliterating the pristine region of incredible natural beauty is a "game changer" to be pursued in the name of "economic development."

Now-a-days, Francis is silent about the proposed GTac mine, omitting mention of the GTac mine on his campaign site, and listing vague platitudes instead as his "priorities."

He'll face Beth Meyers, the Democratic Party nominee and Bayfield County Board Supervisor.

Beth Meyers is profoundly against the proposed GTac mine that would slash a 1,000-foot-deep, miles-long open pit iron ore mine into the unscathed Penokee Hills region and befoul the pristine waters of Iron and Ashland counties in the 74th assembly district.

The Bayfield County Board passed an anti-mining resolution (With, Wisconsin Citizens Media Coop) in January 2013 by an 11-to-one margin. unalterably opposed to the mining legislation on which GTac lobbied and lavishly spent money as its PR flacks told Wisconsin that GTac was mostly concerned about full employment and a clean environment, (Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

This mining company lie about more jobs is knocked down regularly at the Stella Report from Iron County: "The real joke is that GTac claimed it needed its 200-or-so-page mining bill to speed things up. In fact, they said that was the only reason for the new law. They claimed they couldn't wait more than 300 days for the state to act. They convinced people it was necessary for JOBS NOW. Some poor kids are going to school to prepare for a job that won't be there when they get out," notes Stella.

Wisconsin's 74th Assembly District

Francis doesn't have much of an imagination for economic innovation, or much of an inclination to check out the Penokee Hills Education Project, or any curiosity about the secret $700,000 Scott Walker finagled for his allies from GTac. (Oshkosh Northwestern)

All Francis has to do is have a look at the Iron County website touting the region's environment as a tourism and recreation attraction: "Iron County is a place of incredible natural beauty. With 300 pristine lakes encompassing 34,000 acres of pure water, the only thing that could make it better is Lake Superior coastline. Good thing Iron County has that, too. Come and enjoy an amazing waterfall, or take a long walk on the beautiful sandy beaches of Saxon Harbor."

From Hurley in Iron County, Francis could make a trip to Lake Superior faster than a five-mile commute on the Madison Beltline during rush hour.

Jamey Francis doesn't read much either.

From the New York Times:

Last year, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and the Republican-controlled State Legislature approved the world’s largest open-pit iron ore mine, a gash in the northern part of the state that could be as long as 21 miles, a half-mile wide and 1,000 feet deep.

The mine legislation was bad enough from an environmental point of view: It allows the operator to fill streams with mine waste, eliminates public hearings and reduces the taxes the operator would have to pay.

It turns out to be even more shocking from an ethical viewpoint. Newly released documents show that the mine operator, Gogebic Taconite, secretly gave $700,000 to a political group that was helping the governor win a 2012 recall election. Mr. Walker had urged big corporations to give unlimited amounts, without fear of public disclosure, and many companies that wanted favors from the state happily obliged. Once the recall failed, the favors began to flow, even at the expense of the state’s natural resources.

Jamey Francis doesn't have to read; today's Wisconsin's Republicans just need to do what they're told by the people who bankroll the GOP.

"When some think-tank comes up with the legislation and tells you not to fool with it, why are you even a legislator anymore? You just sit there and take votes and you're kind of a feudal serf for folks with a lot of money," said retiring Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). (Craver, The Capital Times)

This means destroying Wisconsin's natural resources in exchange for money the Koch brothers, GTac and other special interests lavish Wisconsin Republicans like the some $15-million for the mining legislation GTac wrote.

GTac and billionaires secretly poured a lot more money into the coffers of Wisconsin Republicans, after which Scott Walker asked for more.

No Urgency from Either Gov. Candidate to Protect Wisconsin Waters

Raiders' Jack Tatum hits Sammy White
in Super Bowl XI in Most Vicious Hit
in Super Bowl History in 1977

Think of the Oakland Raiders' Jack Tatum hitting the Vikings' Sammy White in Super Bowl XI. (pictured at right), the scariest hit in Super Bowl history.

That's the political impact Mary Burke needs to inflict on Scott Walker and Walker's DNR to move the folks in Waushara, Portage, Wood, Adams, Juneau, and Kewaunee counties, for example, to vote for her to defend their children's health; their drinking water; and Wisconsin lakes, rivers, and streams.

People care about drinking water (duh), and about Wisconsin tourism and recreation, but Mary Burke, outside of a couple of hits in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin State Journal refuses to sell it: Scott Walker is pathological in destroying Wisconsin's waters. He simply doesn't care about the damage inflicted onto the environment or people of Wisconsin through his policies.

The Wisconsin DNR has this to say about Wisconsin's lakes: "It's easy to fall in love with Wisconsin's 15,000 lakes. Breathtaking scenery and beautiful wildlife provide the backdrop along thousands of miles of shoreline, where Wisconsin residents and our visitors can fish, boat, swim or just relax and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere."

Bullshit, or more precisely dairy cow shit as runoff and other vectoring of wastewater are turning Wisconsin lakes into biohazards to the utter inaction of Wisconsin politicians.

Why would an Illinois tourist (or any tourist) want to come to Wisconsin, when Minnesota is committed to protecting their lakes, and in Wisconsin both candidates for governor are too afraid of the Dairy Business Association to defend the water?

We know that Mary Burke cares about the environment -- so why isn't she acting on these sentiments while running for governor?

If Burke has a problem being motivated by old Super Bowl footage, think of the girl who almost died from ecoli in Kewaunee in northeast Wisconsin. Her family won't forget.

Now, Kewaunee has vast well contamination, dead zones, and poisoned aquifers that resemble third-world countries' drinking water.

'There's no one on the beach anymore.'

Consider Wisconsin lakes and the image at the right: "Do not Swim." It's a hell of new tourism slogan, I'll give that to Mary Burke and Scott Walker.

Myself, I getting more pissed hearing news from wonderful people like Patt Pisellini and Donald Ystad of northern Adams County that they cannot have their grandchildren over for swimming at their lake homes because literally they fear for their grandchildren's lives if the children were to accidentally swallow lake water while swimming.

Mary Burke needs to set up field offices fast and connect with Protect Wood County, Rome and Saratoga Friendly, KewauneeCares, Restore Kewaunee, and Friends of the Central Sands, and Concerned Citizens about the Proposed Penokee Mine - to begin with.

Mary Burke, what are you waiting for?

Kewaunee County in Wisconsin: Urgent Message to Wood County, Wisconsin, and Country

Kewaunee Cares

The M-word Is MOO as Big Ag and Its Political Cover Destroy Wisconsin Waters -
May 2014: 556 Water Wells Are Tested; 30 Percent of Wells Are UNDRINKABLE

- Nobody is on the beaches anymore today. Trout streams are dying or gone -

Many in Wisconsin know the story of the families in Kewaunee County in northeast Wisconsin and the ecoli contamination in 2004 from a Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operation (CAFO) that leaked liquid cow manure, hospitalized many, and nearly killed several children.

Today, water aquifers are contaminated with virus, bacteria, and other pathogens typically found in third-world countries—bad for tourism and recreation; horrible for the environment; and tragic for Wisconsin families who are afraid of their children brushing their teeth or washing out a small cut or scrape with water from a faucet.

The "carrying capacities" of the Green Bay and Fox River Valley watersheds have been exceeded, warns Gordon Stevenson, Chief of Runoff Management for Wisconsin DNR (2001-2011). And that goes for the Golden Sands region in central Wisconsin as well.

'How do you know that? How do we quantify empirically the carrying capacity of a region,' I asked Stevenson over an early August breakfast in Madison.

"Look at the water," replied Stevenson firmly. "Measure for pathogens, oxygen levels; and inspect the topography of the region."

Stevenson, a rigorous empiricist to the point of being turgid, said Wisconsin will eventually see "dead zones" in lakes become dead lakes because of oxygen deprivation and toxic pathogen saturation.

Even as Scott Walker, along with every Republican and way-too many Democrats, acclaim the 30-20-Initiative, market-driven, setting targets for yields and profits for Wisconsin Diary operations, existing 'nutrient management plans' are a disgrace and are a guarantee for turning Wisconsin lakes, streams, ponds, and aquifers into dead zones and potentially deadly zones.

Wood, Adams, Juneau, Portage and Waushara counties in central Wisconsin are on a trajectory that residents and scientists agree can be changed from where Kewaunee is now and the direction in which Kewaunee is racing ahead; as politicians and the DNR do NOTHING with numerous CAFO permits pending and Scott Walker promising swift action on moving the permits forward.

From Kewaunee: Kewaunee's Message to Wood County and Wisconsin:

Wisconsin Republicans Fear Their Positions on Clean and Safe Water

Beaches closed in Wood
and Adams counties last week
suggest a problem
politicians ignore

I couldn't believe it when State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids) threatened to sue me for libel for pointing out Krug practices a cynical, corrupt brand of politics hiding policies vectoring pathogens into lakes, streams and aquifers. (See the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune.)

I called around political-journalistic types and asked candidly if Krug were really this foolish to file a libel suit?

Yes, is the universal answer, and Krug reiterated his threats twice to me in emails, asking for retractions.

I told Krug in so many words that truth is a compelling defense against libel accusations, and laughed when I refused to retract the truth of Krug's sleazy lies.

Krug is panicked and his attack was foolish and revealing of his floundering campaign.

The significance of this matter is not just a corrupt politician trying to shut down a writer exposing Krug for what he is.

The critical nature of this issue, and why other politicians are getting panicked, came late this afternoon in an email from Nancy Koch with Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors.

Writes Koch:

Update: Blue green algae has been found at the 8th street intake to (L)ake Camelot. Adams County has taken sample(s), and is testing for dangerous toxicity, but the results will not be available by this weekend. It is recommended you keep children and pets out of the water on Lakes Camelot and Sherwood.

Please, notify your friends and neighbors who do not have the internet.

Central Wisconsin Nature (Foundation). ... It was observed originally last week (8/19) and a sample taken showed under the microscope that it was a certain type of algae which sometimes may contain blue-green algae. Further testing was required to determine if it was a type of toxic blue-green algae. When Reesa Evans went to get additional samples on Mon 8/25, the suspicious algae had been dispersed (probably by a combination of wind and the heavy downpour Monday morning). No additional samples have been taken as nothing suspicious was found on lower Camelot, in the channel or in upper Camelot by Reesa. The cautionary signs that were posted at the county park and the 8th ave boat landing last weekend have been removed. There seems to be no danger for swimming at this time -- but, it's always advisable to be cautious if the water is so green you can't see your feet in a foot of water or if the water surface is very scummy. Barb Herreid, Tri-Lakes Management District

Keep your children out of the water. That's what this issue is about.

Scott Walker Criminality Seen in Black and White

Penokee Hills in northern Wisconsin -
Gogebic Taconite LLC shelled out money
to Wisconsin GOP candidates and the GOP
to gain permission to rip a massive
open pit mine in this pristine region.

Gogebic Taconite LLC (GTac) wants to build the largest open iron ore pit mine in North America, ripping a 1,000-foot pit in the center in the lush Penokee Hills in far-northern Wisconsin in Iron and Ashland counties, and Scott Walker illegally coordinated with at least one group to help GTac inflict this environmental catastrophe onto this region that would "fill in pristine streams and ponds with mine waste" (Kaufman, NYT).

Scott Walker and the Republican Party allies want the GTac mine to proceed for the money, their money--their monetary gain.

Wisconsin law enforcement documents released by court
show Scott Walker illegally sought millions of
dollars in campaign financing
[see Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel].

"According to documents released [August 22, 2014]in a John Doe probe, Wisconsin Club for Growth bank records indicate that Gogebic Taconite LLC gave $700,000 to [R.J.] Johnson's [of the Scott Walker campaign] group in 2011-12. Shortly after the recall elections, Republican lawmakers and Walker approved legislation that will make it easier for Gogebic to construct an iron-ore mine in northern Wisconsin." (John Doe documents released Friday also show a secret $700,000 donation from Gogebic to a pro-Gov. Scott Walker group (Marley, Bice and Bergquist, Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel)). ...

"The Governor is encouraging all to invest in the Wisconsin Club for Growth," said an April 28, 2011, email from Kate Doner, a Walker campaign consultant, to R.J. Johnson, an adviser to Walker's campaign and the advocacy group. "Wisconsin Club for Growth can accept corporate and personal donations without limitations and no donors disclosure."

In the email, Doner wrote to Johnson that Walker wanted Wisconsin Club for Growth exclusively to coordinate campaign themes. "As the Governor discussed ... he wants all the issue advocacy efforts run thru one group to ensure correct messaging," she wrote.

These documents demonstrate the prosecution's theory of illegal campaign finance coordination committed by the Walker campaign and by Walker himself. This is the smoking gun.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has been all over this story from the beginning as probes by Wisconsin Constitutional law enforcement officers looking into possible criminality have caused panic in Wisconsin GOP circles. See Wisconsin John Doe I (2010-2013) DA: Scott Walker's stonewalling and stalling caused John Doe probe (Bice); and John Doe II: Secret probe spreads to five Wisconsin counties - Possible violations during recall elections among issues (Bice).

Scott Walker refuses to engage any facts or released documents, leaving spokespersons to state: Scott Walker is not a target—a non sequitur since no one is a target in a Wisconsin John Doe probe that is empowered by Wisconsin stature to determine if and by whom (the nature and the extant) crimes may have been committed.

I asked a well-informed law enforcement jurist if anyone ever becomes a "target" in Wisconsin John Doe probes. "Sure, [the jurist said], if that someone is charged with a crime."

Then the criminal justice system begins, and the John Doe probe closes.

Being subpoenaed in a John Doe probe is indicative of nothing, other than the fact that a John Doe investigative team, overseen by a judge, wants sworn testimony or evidence that assists an investigative team into looking at possible criminality.

In the John Doe II case, Scott Walker appears to be at the center of possible criminality in illegally coordinating contributions in violation of Wisconsin campaign finance law.

So, a corrupt federal judge and member of the Federalist Society, Rudolph Randa, halted the John Doe probe in May 2014 (Marley, Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) in a stunning move, ordering the destruction of all evidence gathered to shield Scott Walker and his campaign funding team from being exposed in an election year. Randa's destruction-of-evidence order was stayed by a Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's panel's order of May 7, 2014.

"We hereby stay the return-and-destroy portions of [Judge Randa's] injunction and order defendants not to disclose or use the information they have gathered, and that is within the scope of the injunction, pending further order of this court," reads the opinion and order (footnote omitted).

The Seventh Circuit's panel is composed of Diane Wood, William J. Bauer, and Frank Easterbrook.

Judge Randa is a frequent attendee of privately-funded all-expenses paid trips for judges at Koch-backed judicial junkets (Fischer, Center for Media and Democracy). Randa has also made corrupt rulings protecting the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from survivors of molestation and rape, shielding $10s of millions from bankruptcy proceedings, (Goodstein, NYT) after the archdiocese sought to shield their assets when Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan (now Bishop of New York) was Milwaukee's archbishop.

The Seventh Circuit's panel has set a September 9 hearing date for oral arguments after which Randa's incredible ruling is expected to be overruled, and the Club for Growth will then ask for a hearing (en banc) before the full Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit members or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court asking for a continued injunction of the Wisconsin Consitional law enforcement official doing their jobs [see Question and Answer on John Doe Probe in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, (Patrick Marley) for more background].

The case is Eric O'Keefe and Wisconsin Club for Growth Inc. v. John T. Chisholm, Bruce J. Landgraf and David Robles et al.

---

A reader asked who represents the area targeted by the GTac mine in the Wisconsin legislature.

The answer is: In the Wisconsin State Senate, an election is being held this November featuring state Rep. Janet Bewley (D-Ashland) and Dane Deutsch (a typical rightwing Republican Party nominee from Rice Lake who refuses to take a public position on the proposed GTac mine) for the 25th Senate District [to fill the seat of the retiring State Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) who complained that special interests and lack of transparency now define the Wisconsin Legislature under Republican control, so naturally Jauch is taking his pension and quitting, instead of fighting right in the middle of the battle against GTac].

In the State Assembly, an election is being held to fill the seat for Assembly District 74 held by State Rep. Janet Bewley (D-Ashland) who is running for Jauch's seat. The race features Beth Meyers (D-Town of Russell, Bayfield County Board Supervisor), and a shady character named Jamey L. Francis, Republican City Councilman from Hurley, Wisconsin, and chair of the Iron County Republican Party.

Be very afraid, the sparsely populated Iron County is rife with political and judicial corruption. More on this Jamey Francis to come.

ALEC Stooge, Rep Scott Krug Says He'll File Libel Suit Against MAL Contends

State Rep Scott Krug says he'll
file libel suit against this site
for pointing out Krug's
anti-environmental and
pro-CAFO political planks

Update II: To no one's surprise, Scott Krug's threat to pursue legal action has proven to be as credible as his claim to be working for the interests of clean water and the environment.

Scott Krug is motivated by two things in his ill-considered libel suit threat: Stunning ignorance of libel law; and an appalling incapacity to say 'No' to Scott Walker and ALEC on Big Ag's liquid cow manure runoff gifted to the people of Wisconsin with all of its pathogens and toxins vectored into our waterways and aquifers.

Updated - Top ally of the Big Ag and polluters running scared, as he works in service of Scott Walker's plan that toxifies lakes, streams and aquifers

Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (Wisconsin Rapids and ALEC) says he intends to file a libel suit against MAL Contends because MC points out that Krug is an anti-clean water, ALEC stooge who knows less about caring for the environment than he does about libel law.

Krug sent an email to MC last night (Sunday) in which Krug writes: "The post forwarded to me is libelous and we will persue (sic) action."

The Krug email was followed by a similar email to clean water advocates living in Wood and Adams counties, at least some of whom serve on the Citizens Groundwater Advisory Group, an informal group that Krug put together as a PR job to convince people that Krug is actually against the siting of a massive concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO) in central Wisconsin, and that Krug really, really cares about the environment.

Monday afternoon Krug sent an email to Donald Ysted of Nakoosa in Wood County.

Writes Krug: "Criticism is part of the process, I'm more than happy to take my lumps when deserved, helps me learn from mistakes and become a better legislator. I won't stand for outright lies simply because there is some truth surrounding them."

Lies and "some truth" do not typically make for compelling libel actions.

Krug is scared because the proposed massive CAFO is about as popular with his constituents as a warm glass of liquid cow manure.

Krug will face Dana Duncan of Port Edwards who has made safeguarding Wisconsin's waters a centerpiece of his campaign, and is unflinching in his opposition to the proposed CAFO.

Early this afternoon, Krug responded to an email from me and wrote: "Do you intend to retract the following statements? 'And cynical, corrupt politicians are providing political cover for the polluters.'
'Instead Krug is assisting Scott Walker, Walker's DNR and the Dairy Business Association in their project in which one objective is to contaminate and literally toxify Wisconsin lakes and other waters.'"

To which I responded: "Of course not. By the way, truth an excellent defense against defamation accusations."

Still waiting to see if Krug is really dumb enough to file a libel suit or if an attorney wises the kid up.

Citizen Ystad Hits Sacred Cow, the Dairy Business Association, as Wisconsin Lakes Perish

Nepco Lake in Central Wisconsin in the Past
[See picture below for the present]

Update IV: Scott Krug's threat to pursue legal action has proven to be as credible as his claim to be working for the interests of clean water and the environment.

Update III: In the week of August 18 since Scott Krug issued his libel threat, Krug has gone dark, refusing all responses to press queries on the libel threat. Yesterday, Krug said he is against the proposed massive Wysocki CAFO and 49 high capacity water wells that environmentalists have criticized Krug for not fighting. Also, this week Krug belatedly accepted a debate with his general election opponent, Dana Duncan, sponsored by Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors and Rome and Saratoga Friendly. Krug refuses comment on his position on the existing CAFOs in or near his district, and still refuses to address nonpoint source runoff pollution from farming operations, a problem getting worse as lakes, streams, rivers and other bodies of water are polluted by land regions with carrying capacities of runoff already exceeded.

Update II: Running scared now, Scott Krug's Capitol office is dodging phone calls, picking up only calls preceded by *67. One staffer reached this morning after hitting *67, with an apparent IQ of 90ish, said Krug's office is "unaware of the situation" regarding Krug's stated intention by email to sue for libel.

Interesting. Below is the email from Krug (with the email address omitted):

From:	Scott Krug (xxxxxxxxx@gmail.com)
Sent:	Sun 8/17/14 8:52 PM
To:	malleon@live.com

   

The post forwarded to me is libelous and we will persue action.

#
Update: State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids) is threatening legal action against me for "libel," Michael Leon, citing the below post.

Krug alerts me, and several of his constituents, last night that in an email with the subject heading, "Really," that: "The post forwarded to me is libelous and we will persue (sic) action." Scott Krug's email is indicated as having been sent to me Sunday night: "Sun 8/17/14 8:52 PM."

Krug refers to an email forwarded by Don Ystad, citizen of Rome in northern Adams County, in which Ystad sends the URL of this piece.

Krug sent an email to Ystad (dated Sun, Aug 17, 2014 at 8:56 PM) reading: "We've informed Mr. Leon of the libelous nature of his forwarded blog post and we will be persuing (sic) legal action."

Attempts this morning to reach Krug by email, and by phone at his campaign and office in Madison have been unsuccessful

Stay tuned.

As for Rep. Scott Krug, Mal Contends makes the following statement: Scott Krug should study the elements of a civil action under libel law. Bring it on, Krug, if you dare.
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"We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." - Aldo Leopold

The last three years in Wisconsin citizen groups have emerged across the state to protect community control in defense of Wisconsin families and vital resources such as clean water.



"Right here in our local Lake Nepco -
Attack of the Blue/Green Algae.
Our reps, both local and at the state level,
better start getting a clue!
Water worries everywhere!
Nepco Lake for E. Coli and blue-green algae.
Just kayaked in the nastiest water EVER.
We must fix these issues." - Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Outside of the Citizens Concerned about the Proposed Penokee Mine (Facebook) (and the Penokee Hills Education Project), among the most articulate groups of Wisconsin citizens are the folks fighting a proposed massive concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO) factory farm that would directly impact four counties in the Central Wisconsin Golden Sands region: Wood County, Adams County, Portage County and Juneau County.

Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors; Friends of the Central Sands (Facebook) and Rome and Saratoga Friendly (Facebook) know well the danger dumping literally millions of tons liquid cow manure into Wisconsin waterways and drinking water aquifers.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources under the administration of Scott Walker wants to stand by and watch as the acceleration of the death of Wisconsin's 15,000 lakes continues from the existing practice of dumping cow manure into the environment.

Exaggeration? I wish.

And cynical, corrupt politicians are providing political cover for the polluters.

Scott Walker is allied with Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids and ALEC) who is supposed to be protecting his constituency from being poisoned.

Instead Krug is assisting Scott Walker, Walker's DNR and the Dairy Business Association in their project in which one objective is to contaminate and literally toxify Wisconsin lakes and other waters.

Unconscionable.

Don Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin has this to say in an email sent to politicians, DNR personnel and fellow citizens:

Here's why I have an issue with Big Agriculture: Our communities have banned residential use of phosphorous fertilizers, and we implemented enforced testing of septic systems every three years to reduce the possibility of phosphorous leaching into our waterways. We monitor the transfer of unwanted aquatic species from lake to lake and we have enacted a shoreland protection ordinance to further protect our waterways from runoff. And here we have the Dairy Business Association petitioning their members to reverse the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) change to NR 150, allowing communities to establish their own ordinances to limit runoff into waterways. We have 7 years of hard evidence showing flows from upstream agriculture entering our lakes have 4 times more phosphorous than anywhere else in our lake.

I've learned to mistrust the various agriculture interests touting their concern for the environment, whether it's the Wisconsin Potato growers telling me they are not to blame for our water issues, or the Wisconsin Vegetable growers claiming they practice water conservation while they submit record numbers of high cap well permit requests. They have proven that their only desire is to have unfettered access to the public's water, with no control over how they treat the land. Their claims to be 'the stewards of the land' ring hollow with those of us watching the decline in our environment. I understand that there will always be greedy business people to take advantage of our rights. What I don't understand is why some of our agency heads and politicians allow themselves to be influenced by these self serving Big Ag interests at the expense of our environment and their own constituents. Maybe they need to read the many newspapers around our state to get a sense of the groundswell of public opposition.

I'm a citizen and I vote, as do the concerned citizens blind copied here. [emphasis added, and text edited slightly for clarity]

Mr. Ystad and his fellow citizens are right on all points.

Obtuse Wisconsin politicians like Scott Krug and Scott Walker should listen for a change.

Said Krug's general election opponent, Dana Duncan of the Village of Port Edwards: "CAFOs are to agriculture what Sweatshops and child labor are to manufacturing."

Duncan ran his primary election campaign, emphasizing the need to protect Wisconsin waters from CAFOs and other polluters.

Safe, clean drinking water should be a foundation of the state of Wisconsin, it used to be.

Wisconsin Town Bureaucrats Block Public Comment on Proposed Open Pit Mine

Kakagon/Bad River Sloughs - Photo Credit: Jim Meeker

Wisconsin municipal citizens and Native Americans concerned about the toxic destruction of habitat from proposed mines like Gogebic Taconite (GTac) are empowered by Wisconsin statute (293.33) to form local impact and joint committees in a display of local democracy at work.

Jeff Ehrhardt, Town of Morse and Bud Benter, Town of Anderson (chair and vice chair respectively of the Joint Mining Impact Committee Meeting) have different ideas about local democracy, seeing their function as running interference for GTac against local citizens concerned about the destruction of the Penokee Hills and the watersheds and wetlands that would be destroyed by the operation and construction of the proposed massive open pit mine.

Ehrhardt and Benter refused public questions from the floor of the April 9 Iron County, and Town of Morse (AAIM) Joint Mining Impact Committee meeting.

"So we hear the Town of Morse  no longer allows questions from the floor about the Penokee mountaintop removal. We are instructed to simply write our comments out and submit them to the mining company for them to answer at their leisure," writes Nick Vander Puy of Iron County in northern Wisconsin.

Vander Puy has more reason to complain than most as he is the target of a bizarre effort by Wisconsin State Sen. Tom Tiffany (Hazelhurst, Wisconsin) to have this environmental activist, Vander Puy arrested for voting on April 1, an effort knocked down as baseless and frivolous by Iron County attorney, Anthony Stella.

Vander Puy and a handful of activists are manning the Harvest Education Learning Project (HELP) in Iron County to educate the public, the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the massive destruction GTac's proposed mine would inflict upon the habitats and environment in Iron and Ashland counties in far-northern Wisconsin, including Lake Superior.

This river would be devastated by the proposed GTac mine in northern Wisconsin.
Photo by Erik Schyvinck at Citizens Concerned about the proposed Penokee Mine

Implausible Deniability by Mining Company in Wisconsin

Microscopic image of asbestiform grunerite, one of the most dangerous
forms of asbestos, from the site of GTac’s proposed iron mine.
Image is from a scanning electron microscope (SEM) made at
UW-Madison by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey.

There came to northern Wisconsin a mining company that did not know

Mike Simonson of Wisconsin Public Radio reports the confirmed presence of dangerous asbestiform grunerite at the site of the proposed open pit mine in the Penokee Hills range in northern Wisconsin has resulted in a new company strategy: "Gogebic Taconite (GTac), the company behind the proposed iron ore mine in the Penokee Hills, says it won’t take rock samples from an area where asbestos-like fibers were found."

Out of sight, out of mind.

So, asbestiform grunerite is present, but GTac simply will go somewhere else and pretend this dangerous toxin does not exist.

Writes Simonson: "The fibers are in grunerite deposits, but in a letter last week to the DNR [Department of Natural Resources], GTAC continues to deny its existence, saying: 'Our position remains that asbestosform material is unlikely to be present in the reserve.'"

This position is a lie, a bald-faced lie, already disconfirmed multiple times.

The United States Geological Survey warns about the danger of naturally-occurring asbestiform:

According to the U.S. EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry potential health effects of exposure to asbestos can include asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancers. In the past, most medical research and regulatory focus has been on the health effects of asbestos used industrially or commercially. However, there have been increasing concerns recently regarding the potential health effects of naturally-occurring asbestos (NOA), which occurs as an accessory mineral in some rocks ... .

A Wintery Hike Along the Tyler Fork River in the Penokee Mountains
- Photo by Greggory Jennings at
Citizens Concerned about the proposed Penokee Mine

You never wish mesothelioma onto anyone, not for the worst of humanity, not even for the sick, dangerous sociopaths who would inflict this horrible disease onto others.

In light of the fact of the confirmed presence of asbestiform grunerite at the GTac mining sight, here's a phone conversation that will never take place between Bill Williams, president of the Gogebic Taconite LLC (GTac) and Christopher Cline, billionaire CEO of Cline Resource and Development company, the father conglomerate of GTac.

Bill Williams: 'Hey Chris, we gotta shut down our proposed open pit mine up there in Wisconsin. Multiple independent analyses have confirmed the presence of dangerous asbestiform grunerite, and we know this will adversely affect the habitat of Native-American treaty-protected species, for starters. We close, or I resign and go to Spain to face justice for our arsenic leak.'

Christopher Cline:—'Geez, Bill, no way did I know the GTac mine would adversely affect the habitat. You are so right. We are pulling up stakes and leaving—today. You put out the word, and issue an apology to the folks up in Iron County and Ashland County in Wisconsin. All we care about are the environment and jobs; and I don't care how much money leaving today costs us, we are out, if I have to come up from Palm Beach and do this myself.'

Gogebic Taconite ore samples contain: "a highly concentrated form of asbestos fibers...it is the most dangerous." From Wisconsin Public Television Here and Now's reporter Mike Simonson:

Drinking Downstream from the Penokee Mountain Is Lake Superior

Nature's Intent. The Penokee Mountain and Copper Falls rock and stone beds are at work right now. They deliver water quickly, like a lightning flash, downstream. The same rocks that currently deliver mystery, speed, rapids and magnificent Falls are also the same ones that will deliver the wrath and guts of a Mountain mine downstream. Like a lightning flash......Drinking downstream are Lake Superior, humans, frogs and wild rice. Smooth rocks don't keep water around and soak up poison. We do. Alter the land you alter the people but alter the land you also alter the rocks. Right now the water runs the way nature intended and those rocks are in good spirits and in the rocks are good spirits delivering water.
- Mike Wiggins Jr.

Beautiful stuff, Chief Wiggins. 

Under federal law, "the question is: 'Will this mining complex adversely affect the habitat of treaty-protected species?' If so, the proposed mining project will have to be revised or abandoned," said Charles Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. 

Have never met you, but it feels good to fight at your side for the Earth.

Too Beautiful to Bomb‏

We need the feds to come in and stop the calculated use of unlawful violence to intimidate the Wisconsin community.

View from Penokee Hills, Iron County Wisconsin
Proposed site of huge Iron Ore Open Pit Mine

Bad River Estuary

Bad River wetlands or sloughs flows into Lake Superior