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.

Two Wisconsin Schools Receive Letters Warning of Well Contamination

Wisconsin is heading towards a disaster as new warnings of water contamination have been sent to two schools in northeastern Wisconsin.

It would appear Wisconsin Republicans' project of polluting and plundering our fresh waters has undergone mission-creep. Republicans will not be happy until our children are poisoned as well.

Hyperbole? I wish.

Karen Ebert Yancey of USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reports from northeastern Wisconsin:

Two Kewaunee County schools received letters from the Kewaunee County Public Health Department warning that a neighboring property owner's well within a half-mile of their schools had tested positive for salmonella and rotavirus, Cynthia Kinnard, county public health nurse said Thursday.

Luxemburg-Casco Middle School and Holy Trinity School both in Casco received letters from the department suggesting that they test their wells for presence of the contaminants, which are typically associated with animal or human feces.

Wisconsin state assembly candidate, Lynn Utesch, passed the grim news onto the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in an email this morning.

Utesch who has been black-listed by the DNR has not heard back yet if the DNR's official position is in fact: Too bad, kids.

Lynn Utesch, Clean Water Activist, to Launch Run for State Assembly

Nancy and Lynn Utesch tell supporters of Lynn's run for the
nomination of the Democratic Party for Wisconsin's
first assembly district. Photo was shot in the town of
Algoma by a supporter in the district on the shore of Lake
Michigan; out-side was near-white out conditions on March 1.

Environmentalist, veteran and small farmer, Lynn Utesch enters Wisconsin state assembly race as favorite in Wisconsin's 'Peninsula' district

Updated - Wisconsin clean water activists from around the state have looked to this day with anticipation: Kewaunee County farmer and environmentalist Lynn Utesch announcing his run for the first assembly district.

Utesch told about 30 supporters he will seek the First assembly district seat now held by first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Joel Kitchens, (a Scott Walker Republican who follows the Party line) early this afternoon.

The district is located in Wisconsin's northeastern peninsula and composes all of Door and most of Kewaunee county.

Wisconsin's first assembly
district is the 'thumb' in
northeastern Wisconsin

Lynn Utesch is a small farmer, (150 acres), and clean water activist, and recently was reported to be listed on Scott Walker's Dept. of Natural Resource's "blacklist" of Wisconsin citizens to which the Walker adminstration is hostile, (Stein and Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), (Door County Daily News).

Utesch lives in the town of Pierce in northern Kewaunee County which he has called a "cautionary tale" for Wisconsin waters.

"If I had to describe Lynn, I would say he is tough, I mean tough and highly principled," said a Door County resident supportive of Utesch's run, this morning. "If you had to create a candidate from parts to represent the First, you wouldn't have to, it would be Lynn."

Utesch announced his intention to run at the Goodner residential home in the town of Algoma, located on Lake Michigan.

Utesch told about 30 supporters he is running to work for clean water and sustainable farms in the Dairy State.

"We have seen a degradation in the conservation ethic that has taken place here in the state of Wisconsin. It is time that we start working to restore what was given to us by John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson," said Utesch, (Yancey, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin).

Over one-third of private wells in Kewaunee County were found to be unsafe to drink because they had been polluted by toxins in cow manure from runoff in what a judge termed a "massive regulatory failure" in a 2014 finding, (Seely, WisconsinWatch), circumvented by the the Dept. of Resources.

Utesch is a favorite to win

Lynn and Nancy Utesch pictured in the Socially Responsible
Agricultural Project (SRAP) (Facebook)

Utesch enter the race as a favorite in the race as Door County votes Democratic in presidential elections, and the driven Utesch is well-known in the sparsely populated Kewaunee County which votes marginally Republican in presidential elections.

The campaign between Utesch and Kitchens follows numerous reports of hospitalizations of people drinking water from polluted water wells, a condition that persists and Utesch has vowed to fight, (Mal Contends, Green Bay Press Gazette, Door County Pulse, Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network).

Scott Walker Deplete-and-Pollute-Sell Plot

The announcement of Utesch's candidacy comes as Scott Walker signs a bill, AB 603, that would decimate protection of 1,000s of bodies of shoreline water in Wisconsin, including the Lake Superior Water Trail (LSWT).

The peninsula is currently fighting developers supported by the incumbent that would destroy large tracts of the peninsula shoreline with unwanted (by residents) development.

A forum about the impact of CAFOs (Concentrated (Confined)
Animal Feeding Operations) on quality of life and health
in rural communities and water was held in Ashland, Wisconsin
Feb. 28, 2015. Later, participants stood on Lake Superior.
- From Left to Right, Dr. Keeve Nachman,
Gordon Stevenson, Dr. John Ikerd and Lynn and Nancy Utesch
Photo: Scott Dye

Utesch is known statewide for his work on sustainable, environmentally friendly agriculture, and his opposition to industrialized agriculture polluting surface waters and aquifers around the state.

Kewaunee County is home to some of the most dangerous and damaging pollution of Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Operations (CAFO and near-CAFO designation) that dump millions of tons of cow and pig manure into the environment, (Yancey, Green Bay Press Gazette).

Scott Walker is expected to sign 2015 Senate Bill 390, (link broken, new link) which gives any county with a county highway commissioner the power to issue liquid manure transfer piping through and along any county highway, a relatively unknown and little-discussed legislation that could devastate the region, a tourism and recreational mecca known as Wisconsin's Martha's Vineyard.