Wisconsin Peninsula Is Breathtaking, but Don't Drink the Water

This manure-filled water came directly from Kewaunee County
residents Erika and Rob Balza’s kitchen faucet. Drinking the
water would lead to a visit to the hospital.

Wisconsin is becoming the state of fecal freaks and the manure mob

At a public hearing on factory farms held in Luxemburg in northeastern Wisconsin's peninsula this week, the public sentiment is clear: No more factory farms, we want clean water.

But factory farm corporations backed by the Scott Walker administration don't care what people want and think.

This is what Wisconsin has become in the lost decade, 2011-2019.

Reports Paul Srubas in the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin newspapers:

[S]eaker after speaker got up to the microphone to call [factory farm corporations] greedy and accuse them of destroying the environment.

About 170 people gathered at the Kewaunee Fairgrounds to give or listen to testimony at a hearing by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over whether to issue a permit for a new Concentrated Animal Feed Operation and reissue five-year permits to four existing CAFO farms. ...

Several representatives of an environmental group in Door County spoke, as did a lawyer from Midwest Environmental Advocates in Madison, and several area town board and county supervisors.

Most of the speakers were just area residents.

Residents, in other words people and families. But families' clean and safe water is not the concern of the Walker administration and the fecal freaks whom the administration represents.

Wisconsin's first assembly
district is the peninsula jutting
out into Lake Michigan
in northeastern Wisconsin.
The district is in a water
crisis caused by manure
vectored into drinking
water by factory farms.
The current state rep.
Joel Kitchens, (R), works
for the water poisoners,
the factory farms.

Writes a clean water ally in central Wisconsin, Don Ystad:

Fellow concerned citizens,

This ends with us! When Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce teams up with the Dairy Business Association to fight rules to keep manure out of the public's water, you know they have overstepped.  While we expect them to be business-focused, we would also expect them to be reasonable when it comes to protections for those of us relying on clean water throughout the state. In other words, promote business, but not at the expense of human health and well being.

The irony of this is that they use their profits from doing business with you to work against you.

Here is an opportunity to link arms with your neighbors and show up in Madison to make a statement. You may not have the financial resources they have, but you can at least show up and make a statement. I plan to, and hope you will as well. See the League of Conservation Voters announcement linked to sign up.

Don Ystad for Concerned Rome, Wisconsin Citizens

Wisc DNR to Homeowners: Test Your Own Water, You're on Your Own

The Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources admits it has failed to protect our water resources so now the DNR encourages us to test our water more frequently, adding we are on our own to discover if our water wells are poisoned.

State government is no longer in that business.

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources:

By Central Office August 31, 2016

Wisconsin's groundwater resources play a critical role in human health and the economy and the 2016 annual report of the Groundwater Coordinating Council summarizes the state of these important resources.

Nearly three-quarters of Wisconsin residents rely on groundwater as the primary source for their drinking water and the report aims to further public understanding of groundwater quality and quantity as well as the need for ongoing research into the factors that affect groundwater supplies. This year's report encourages broader testing of private wells and notes areas of the state where progress is being made to reduce nitrate levels.

The Groundwater Coordinating Council was formed in 1984 to help state agencies coordinate activities and exchange information on groundwater. Today, the council and its subcommittees regularly bring together staff from more than 10 different agencies, institutions and organizations to communicate and work together on a variety of research, monitoring, data management, education and planning issues. These activities increase coordination across agency lines to avoid duplication, create efficiencies and benefit Wisconsin's taxpayers.

Patrick Stevens, administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' environmental management division and chairman of the Groundwater Coordinating Council, said the group's work reflects the need for coordination in managing the resource in Wisconsin. In addition to supplying homes and supporting businesses, Wisconsin's groundwater also provides critical habitat through spring-fed rivers, lakes and streams.

"Wisconsin's groundwater helps anchor the state's economy and is fundamental to a healthy environment," Stevens said. "The Groundwater Coordinating Council's report helps identify next steps to protect and preserve our valuable groundwater resources."

Steve Ales, acting director for DNR's bureau of drinking water and groundwater said the 2016 report includes a finding that 16 counties including Dane, La Crosse and Wood show decreasing nitrate concentrations. Nitrate is Wisconsin's most widespread groundwater contaminant and it correlates with the presence of other contaminants, so the decrease in these counties represents a positive trend. Ales said ongoing monitoring will be needed to help show how pervasive the trend is and whether beneficial agriculture practices in these counties may be applied in other areas.

The report also highlights the need for additional testing of private wells. Unlike public water systems, protection and maintenance of private wells is largely the responsibility of homeowners. In some counties, such as Dane, Portage and Kewaunee, more than 10 percent of private wells, on average, are tested for coliform bacteria each year. However, the state average of private wells tested annually for total coliform bacteria is only about 6 percent.

It is recommended that private well owners test their water at least once a year for coliform and E. coli bacteria, important indicators of health risk. A home well also should be tested for nitrate at least once, and on a regular basis if there is agricultural activity in the area.

For more information, visit DNR.wi.gov and search "Groundwater Coordinating Council." Last Revised: Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Wisconsin DNR Declares Effects of Massive Water Draws No Longer Relevant

Corruption and Politics from Wisconsin Republicans

Updated - In a historic departure for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Department declared this week the DNR permits for wells drawing massive amounts of water no longer have to consider the effects the wells have on the environment, (Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

"In a major victory for business interests and large-scale agriculture, the state Department of Natural Resources said Friday that it will no longer take into account the cumulative effects of high-capacity on streams, rivers and lakes when reviewing applications for new wells."

The new policy comes one month after Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican, issued a legal opinion that said the DNR lacked authority to put certain conditions on farmers and others who want to construct large wells — even if the wells could harm state waters," writes Bergquist.

The Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel runs a Republican political operation in the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and is often called to issue advisory opinions to politically assist legislative Republican and state agencies in disregarding the Wisconsin Public Trust Doctrine protecting Wisconsin's waters, and other Republican pursuits.

The change in doctrine is hidden on the DNR site on a FAQ page, and not on the News page or Press Release page.

"This decision leaves as much as 90 percent of our lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands unprotected from the proven impacts of over-pumping from high-capacity wells," says Elizabeth Wheeler, senior staff attorney for Clean Wisconsin. "This is despite the fact that DNR heard from over 500 people asking the agency to reject the AG’s opinion and continue to use sound natural resources science in reviewing these wells. Taking this action without any proactive notice to the public is especially egregious because so many people have been watching."

Clean water advocates consider Wisconisn to be in crisis mode as health and environmental toxins vectored into Wisconsin's waters often exceeds safe levels. Scott Walker has openly and furtively pursued less protection against polluters, and the abandonment of our state Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine.

Writes the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel following Schimel's political opinion in May.

State Attorney General Brad Schimel's opinion limiting the authority of the Department of Natural Resources to regulate high-capacity wells goes too far and comes too soon. While the opinion is a big win for agriculture and business interests, it could have serious damaging effects on the state's waterways, and seems to place politics above science.

That science is beginning to show the connection between the groundwater into which high-capacity wells tap for irrigation and other uses and the state's rivers and streams. But just as the information is starting to come in, Schimel says the DNR has no authority to put conditions on well applications that would take into account their cumulative effects on streams, rivers and lakes in the surrounding area.

Agriculture and business interests have charged that the DNR has incorrectly interpreted its authority by clamping on restrictions — and, in some cases, denying — applications for wells. We understand their impatience and frustration, but draining groundwater sources may have far-reaching consequences that could leave everyone high and dry, including those agriculture and business interests.

The change in policy is expected to be litigated.

Casting Eyes on Mining Companies' Plunder of Wisconsin

What kind of sick SOBs would intentionally poison Wisconsin families?

The extraction conglomerates operating or trying to establish new turf in Wisconsin.

A trio of stories on what mining companies are up to:

• Asbestos in the proposed Penokee mine site
• Abundant Asbestos Confirmed at GTAC Bulk Sampling Site
• Frac sand health fears rise as mining booms in Wisconsin

Maybe Wisconsin citizens demanding answers and protection can find succor in the mining companies' PR messages: All mining cares about are jobs, the environment; asbestos and mesothelioma are really your friends, and even if asbestos and mesothelioma were deadly, no asbestos will be found near any mining operation.