Hitting Wisc Communities for Unwanted Products by Polluting CAFOs Is Not Worth It

Why would anyone consider imperiling Wisconsin communities for the profits of corporate ag, while destroying small farmers, depleting our water and polluting municipalities so badly, families are being driven out of their homes?

Politicians do it for the money, and the money.

The same with CAFOs, using corporate ag's anti-community business model, they do it for the money.

The hell with everyone else.

Your children poisoned? Too bad.  Your home uninhabitable? Breaks my heart.

Got a call from an old friend. He told me liquid manure spreading is so bad, he can't open his windows. He lives in Door County.

Big Ag is destroying Wisconsin, and Republican politicians from Joel Kitchens to Scott Krug to Scott Walker are running a con.

Governor Walker and concerned citizens blind copied here

By Don Ystad,
Rome, Wisconsin

With milk prices down 41% since September of 2014, and the recent announcement that the US government is buying 11 million pounds of excess cheese for distribution to food pantries, does it still make sense to continue offering grants to increase dairy farming in Wisconsin? And more importantly for those of us living in the Rome/Saratoga, (Adams, Wood counties), area, how long will your administration continue supporting the proposal for an 8,000 acre, 5,300 cow dairy CAFO in the midst of our established residential/recreational area?

Seriously, how can one justify putting at risk the property, health and lifestyle of a population dense community for a dairy CAFO in a seriously depressed market where producers are hanging on through government insurance programs and subsidies?

Were we under a drastic shortage of necessary food product, one could rationalize the argument that my neighbors and I should sacrifice in order to feed our fellow citizens. But, when the supply far outpaces the demand for dairy, as it has the past two years and is worsening, it makes no sense to allow these communities to spin in the wind, fighting to preserve their property values, health and well being, and their lifestyle, while the proposed Golden Sands Dairy remains an unbelievable possibility for the thousands of us in harms way.

Please explain why this proposed project, or any expansion of dairy for that matter, is still viable in Wisconsin. Facing additional state budget cuts, it makes no sense to offer grants and other incentives to increase dairy. A neighbor asked me who that one decision maker is that considers all the factors where this proposed CAFO is concerned, and makes the determination that the well being of this existing residential/recreational area is more important than the CAFO.  I would hope that person is you, Governor Walker.

Thank you,
---
See, Say cheese to a market glut. (Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune).

Wood County Wisconsin Polluters' Lobby Working Against Citizens

Town of Saratoga, Wisconsin fights factory farm
in central Wisconsin

Secrecy and Corruption Define Wood County Republicans Protecting Ag Polluters

Violations of the Wisconsin Open Meeting and Open Records law mark Wood County Board (Wisconsin) Chair Lance Pliml and his polluters' lobby working against the families of Wood County.

Wood County clean-water advocates and the town government of Saratoga are working to stop a locally notorious polluter, the Wysocki corporation, from operating a massive, industrialized agricultural factory that would inject toxic liquid cow manure into central Wisconsin's environment, "producing as much [untreated] waste as a city with a population of 106,000 people every single day," (Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors).

Clean water advocates want protection of their drinking and surface waters.

No, says the polluters' lobby, many of whom are Republicans in Wood County county government.

Reports Jonathan Anderson in the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin this week:

Bolstering regulations against water contamination has proved once again to be a highly charged topic among members of the Wood County Board.

The board on Tuesday considered a draft ordinance aimed at penalizing people who contaminate ground and surface waters, partly in response to concerns about a proposed large-scale dairy in Saratoga.

But the measure did not pass and was instead referred to a committee for further consideration, drawing the ire of the legislation’s supporters.

Last year Lance Pliml and Republican allies objected to citizens attending a County Board meeting saying in part, "I think this is an attempt to put pressure on the committee for one point of view," (Madden, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune), (Mal Contends), after Pliml publicly said he discouraged citizen attendance.

Democracy escapes Pliml. And it's against Wisconsin's Open Meetings law to actively discourage and impede attendance of lawful meetings.

Pro-clean water citizens enjoy popular support, but a Republican operation working with Pliml is fighting the will of citizens. This Republican polluters' lobby demands citizens not come to public meetings and refuses open record requests, in violation of Wisconsin Open Meeting and Open Records laws.

For the privilege of forbidding local democracy, declining property values and the Wysocki corporation's new "forty-nine high capacity wells, capable of drawing 7.3 billion gallons of water from the groundwater aquifer annually," the polluters' lobby is promising to turn central Wisconsin into an economic moonscape, (Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors).

Wysocki owns another CAFO, contaminating water in adjacent Juneau County, (Anderson, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin) (Mal Contends).

The Wysocki corporate family lives safely away in Custer, Wisconsin and runs operations some 20 miles north in Bancroft, Wisconsin so it's no skin off Wysocki's back if he economically and ecologically kills a region trying to make a come-back with tourism and recreation, (Mal Contends).

Wysocki is not part of the community, he's a parasite.

Criste Greening of Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors made an Open Records request to Wood County Board (Wisconsin) Chair Lance Pliml.

Greening was refused.

Pliml's Repulbican ally, Wood County Corporate Counsel Peter Kastenholz, advocates the dissolution of Wisconsin's Open Records law, (Anderson, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin).

Below is an edited reproduction of Greening's Open Records update sent to supporters this week:

Friends and Concerned Citizens,

Message 3 of 3

Where do I even begin to bring everyone up to speed on the Wood County Board/Chairman Pliml saga that has unfolded over the past month? I have attempted to form this email three times and each time my temper has gotten the best of me requiring yet another re-write.

As many of you are aware from previous emails shared, Wood County Board Chairman Lance Pliml was served a second (more specific) Open Records Request as a result of his ridiculous response to the first one.  If you missed that email feel free to get caught up HERE.

I have received a response to the second request.  In a nutshell, Chairman Pliml had Corporate Counsel Peter Kastenholz respond to my second Open Records Request stating that I had previously received all pertinent information and that Mr. Pliml was under no obligation to “Memorialize” conversations had with Attorneys regarding the [proposed] Operating Ordinance discussed.  Even though Mr. Pliml has shared publicly on two occasions that he would supply requested information, he now again refuses.

Mr. Pliml’s refusal to answer the simple question regarding who he had spoken to comes as no surprise to me or other members of our core group.  Many (including myself) have believed from the very beginning that Mr. Pliml had never truly discussed the [proposed] Operating Ordinance with anyone nor had he actually spoken to “some of the best Attorneys in the state”.  Mr Pliml’s initial response to the first Open Records Request lacked any documentation regarding the Operating Ordinance therefore proving clearly his lack of honesty and integrity.

One would think if Mr. Pliml, as an elected official, had really gone the extra mile for his constituents he would be more than willing to share the information gathered and willingly discuss conversations had.  Chairman Plim instead hides behind Corporate Counsel and refuses to share said information.  The reason is simple - he has nothing to share and never has.

I personally am done dealing with Chairman Pliml and need to stop myself here as I have nothing nice to say regarding his character, ethics, integrity, or professionalism.  I do ask that if you are as irritated as I am with this situation that you share your feelings freely with Chairman Pliml and the entire Wood County Board ... .

Thank you all for your continued support.

Criste Greening

Targeting a Wisconsin Region

Industrialized Agriculture are some sick SOBs.

Rhonda Cain-Carrell (Facebook) reports from central Wisconsin, under assault as Big Ag moves to literally drive people out of their homes with political backing from all Wisconsin Republicans with no dissent.

A massive liquid manure truck in central Wisconsin, making one of 100s
of trips as the the Wysocki corporation attempts to drive multi-generational
families out of their homes. The truck which transport massive amounts of
liquid manure drives by signs reading: Clean Water, Clean Air,
Wisconsin DNR, Please Care, (Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors).
Photo by Rhonda Cain-Carrell.

Big Ag Dumps on Wisconsin

Industrialized agriculture is self-consciously destroying entire regions of the state, and trying to chase citizens out of their own communities.

The assault was captured in central Wisconsin last week by Rhonda Cain-Carrell.

As awful as this shot is, the reality of what Big Ag is doing to Wisconsin
is much worse. It took approx. 2.5 minutes to dump the liquid manure
waste contents of a tanker in Portage County, Town of Grant, next to a
popular trout stream. Across the street is Saratoga, Wisconsin where the
Wysocki corporation wants to build a massive factory farm in Wood County.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Republicans, Big Ag Inflict Nightmare onto Central Wisconsin

Liquid manure/waste trucks coming and going in a downpour.
This is the worst time to spread because of the risks to groundwater
and surface water. BUT ... the trucks just kept coming non-stop for 24 1/2
hours ... rain or shine at a stone's throw from the Ten Mile Creek trout stream
in central Wisconsin, days before Memorial Day weekend.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Proposed Golden Sands Dairy, in Saratoga, Wood
County, Wisconsin will devastate an already
troubled region.

Happy Memorial Day

No time to take our eyes off what Scott Walker, Scott Krug, the Wysocki corporation and its collaborators are doing to central Wisconsin—a picturesque region of sand, dense pines, streams and lakes now dying before our eyes—under tons of liquid cow manure, high capacity wells sucking up ground and surface waters; political corruption, and apathy.

In the field on 80th Street (County Hwy. U in central Wisconsin) an injecting rig sits poised before the Memorial Day weekend just waiting for the manure trucks to start their relentless circling from two counties away (Juneau County, Town of Armenia) to pick up and deliver Wysocki/Sommers liquid manure to Portage County, Town of Grant via Saratoga, Wisconsin.

Nice way to honor the fallen, Big Ag.

Rhonda Cain-Carrell chronicled the carnage last week, taking pictures showing an effort by massive polluters to drive down property valuations and befoul the environment in an area service professionals acknowledge on background is already effectively red-lined.

One of the objectives of Wisconsin Republicans is to make Wisconsin so inhospitable and toxic that citizens objecting will leave the state.

"The Wysockies quietly buy up land, use it up, literally poison their neighbors, the hell with everyone else. These people do not live on the CAFOs; they live far-away. And, yes, there is something sociopathic about this."
—Saratoga, Wisconsin resident

No time to ask, but what is wrong with these people?

Corrupt Republican government will wait until ground and surface waters are so befouled and depleted that safe drinking water in central Wisconsin is no longer feasible, and then deflect all accountability.

Shots below at bottom.

By Rhonda Cain-Carrell

The Ten Mile Creek is a beautiful trout stream that starts in Portage County, Town of Grant, Wisconsin and runs through the Town of Saratoga in Wood County. On the Portage County side, the Ten Mile has much less flow because of heavy pumping of high capacity wells for agriculture, picking up flow the further west it travels through wooded, unirrigated land of Saratoga.

In Jan. 2015, a man from Adams County named Scott Kotlowski applied for two high capacity wells for irrigated agriculture on two Managed Forest Land parcels just east of the Wood County, Town of Saratoga in Portage County, Town of Grant. I very suspiciously watched these parcels, as they are adjacent to our beloved Ten Mile Creek and were taken out of Wysocki's original footprint of the proposed Golden Sands Dairy CAFO.

I knew Kotlowski was a straw buyer and applier for Wysocki. The DNR assured us these wells would not be considered/approved until after the Wysocki project was sorted through and done. In Feb. 2016, Kotlowski applied for another high capacity well permit for a large parcel that borders State Hwy. 73 and County Hwy. U (80th St.) that he had bought. This parcel was also part of Wysocki's original footprint for the proposed crap factory they want to site in Saratoga.

THEN the horrible legislation pertaining to high cap wells begins. Transfers of well permits, rapid approvals, rubber stamping, deregulation of protections for water, wetlands and doing away with public rights stages for waters of the state. When some of the garbage did not pass, they went to the AG for his bought-and paid-for opinion on cumulative impacts not needing to be observed, (Verburg, Wisconsin State Journal). What the hell?! The level of corruption!!!!

The Ten Mile Creek runs through this section where Kotlowski's wells have been applied for. In these same fields, on Thursday, May 19th, Wysocki Produce Company trucks started hauling solid manure for two days straight. On Tuesday, May 24, 21 liquid manure trucks carrying the liquid waste/manure from Central Sands Dairy to the Kotlowski field on 90th Street between Tower Road and Oak Street.

It rained so many times before, during and after this process ... literally gully-washers, (an extremely heavy fall of rain usually of short duration), ... and they still kept hauling and injecting. Approximately 490 liquid manure trucks carrying 7,000-8,000 gallons of liquid manure to one little 73 acre field ... a stone's throw from our beloved trout stream, the Ten Mile Creek. This was after two days worth of solid manure the previous week.

The part of this that you will love is that they trucked the massive amounts of waste two counties to dump it next to our creek and just across the Portage County line. They have many acres where this could have been disposed of very close to Central Sands Dairy, (Backer of Saratoga CAFO tied to tainted wells, (Anderson, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)), and thousands of acres that were not adjacent to Saratoga, a township with the second highest population density in all of Wood County and last ... but not least ... why right next to the Ten Mile Creek? What do you think the answer to this question is?

Saratoga has made it very clear industrialized agriculture and CAFOs are not sustainable in our sandy soil. Our groundwater is extremely susceptible to contamination under the best circumstances. In gully-washing rain ... wouldn't you be careful so close to our trout stream?

Pictures of Devastation in Central Wisconsin. All photos by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Ten Mile Creek on Tower Road, east of Hwy. U (80th St.). —
Portage County, Town of Grant, Wisconsin
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

A dozen liquid manure/waste trucks sitting in Ellis Industries field (90th Street)
adjacent to Kotlowski field (Wysocki may have bought from Kotlowski, who purchased
the land after Wysocki pulled it from the original proposed Golden Sands Dairy plan).
The others sit at the Central Sands Dairy in Juneau County, Town
of Armenia ... two counties away. Notice the ponding? Liquid cow manure.
A stone's throw from Ten Mile Creek, a trout stream.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Ponding. Too much liquid manure and rain.
— at Portage County, Town of Grant, Wisconsin
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Liquid manure/waste trucks coming and going in a downpour. This is the worst
time to spread because of the risks to groundwater and surface water.
BUT ... the trucks just kept coming non-stop for 24 1/2 hours ... rain or shine.
— at A stone's throw from the Ten Mile Creek. This hazardous waste, the
trucks are carrying, make no mistake.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

It took approx. 2.5 minutes to dump the liquid manure waste contents of a tanker.
— at Portage County, Town of Grant. Across the street from Saratoga.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Risk of runoff HIGH for much of Wisconsin that day and they were spreading
in the rain.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

A, center pivot pump, chemical tank and power box in the
Ellis-Wysocki field with new center pivot rig in background.
Why would 2 systems the same age look SO different?
— at Across the road from Saratoga in Portage County.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

In the field on 80th Street (County Hwy. U) the injecting rig sits
poised before the holiday Memorial Day weekend just waiting for the manure
trucks to start their relentless circling from two counties away
(Juneau County, Town of Armenia)
to pick up and deliver Wysocki-Sommers liquid manure to Portage County,
Town of Grant  via Saratoga.
Notice the draglines? —
Pic taken from Oak Street.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

New center pivot irrigation rig in a field in which Scott Kotlowski, of Adams County,
applied for the high capacity well permit. This parcel and the one on
90th Street were part of Wysocki's proposed Golden Sands Dairy
project that asked for 40 hi cap wells. He scaled back to 33 wells and
Kotlowski bought the property and did the same thing
Wysocki had planned on doing.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

90th Street is the field Scott Kotlowski applied for one of the two high capacity
wells in this section. Until last year, this was Managed Forest Land.
Portage County, Town of Grant, Wisconsin.
Image by Rhonda Cain-Carrell

Lake Michigan Shore-located Business and Home Redlined

Pictured is a traveling gun spray irrigating manure. In the practice
of spray irrigation of manure, aerosolized lagoon waste
is reduced into smaller particulate droplets,
which are easily ingested and inhaled by humans and animals.

Hopes of actually selling commercial and residential lakeshore property are 'zero percent'

The destruction wrought by industrialized agriculture is immense and growing, (WisconsinWatch, Door County Pulse).

By Robyn Mulhaney
Kewaunee County Wisconsin

This is a very personal issue for me. As a resident of Kewaunee County with a tourism-based business I am living the nightmare you are trying to stop [in central Wisconsin].

My business is 15-yrs.-old. At the time I built new construction along Lake Michigan, thinking this was my last business venture, there was one WPDES, [Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System], permit in our county, Pagel's Ponderosa [factory farm]. You all know the rest of the story here. Along with 9 other citizens, I stopped one CAFO 2 miles located 2 miles from my business from implementing irrigation of raw manure. I am thinking that will change after his permit is up and he will be permitted in four years.

I listed my home and business for sale during the last year. While no broker, appraiser or banker would come right out and say it, my commercial property values are 2/3 of CONSTRUCTION COSTS 15 years ago because of water quality. My home has 800 ft. of Lake Michigan frontage, a small cove that fills with heaps of algae during the warm months. We are dealing with health issues in our household and want to move out of the area as quickly as possible. My partner will be leaving next month and I am staying behind to dismantle our retail business, providing an empty space for events and weddings as there are 4 acres of cultivated gardens and a lily pond on the property, all established my us. Our local government has offered no support for our situation, basically told us to shut up or leave. My hopes of actually selling either property are at 0%.

My point is, by the time we recognized, or admitted, the changes to our landscape, it was too late. My outdoor inventory gets coated with a black soot each summer from the CAFO 2 miles west. The pollution travels winds from the west, hangs up in the humid lake air, creating a haze of pollution. We smell lagoon odors virtually everyday and we our customers ask/complain about the odors; the source is two miles away! Our business has sustained extensive and expensive vandalism over the last year. Our home has been vandalized and so have vehicles left in our parking lot. The sheriffs department is completely lacking in support. Not until the water kiosk was vandalized at the high school these last couple months have they taken issues of vandalism seriously from the citizens who have spoke out against pollution issues.

Something Stinks in Wisconsin

Aerosolized manure lagoon waste in Wisconsin -
Nothing to see here, says Big Ag. Science, Wisconsin
families and communities say differently

Local Democracies, Families and Communities Are Fighting Big Ag's Industrialized Manure Waste

Wisconsin has an entire political party, (the Republicans (and a few Democrats)), who act as shills for Big Ag's annual dumping of millions of tons of hazardous waste—bacterial, viral, and parasitic fecal pathogens—into Wisconsin waters and the entire biosphere to predictable tragic consequences, (Devlin, Green Bay Press Gazette; Lundstrom, Door County Pulse; Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network; Duhigg, New York Times; Clean Water Council of Northeast Wisconsin).

Assisting Big Ag in this project are the Koch brothers which acquired the paper giant Georgia-Pacific in 2005 (Arndt, BloombergBusiness), as corporate and institutional ownership of Wisconsin forests are displacing family-owned woodlands, (Schmid, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), clear-cutting the way for more hazardous industrialized agriculture.

The map shows increase in annual mean
surface concentration of particulate matter
resulting from ammonia emissions associated with food export.
Populated states in the Northeast and Great Lakes region,
where particulate matter formation is promoted by
upwind ammonia sources, carry most of the cost.
Manure from livestock and fertilizer for crops
release ammonia to the atmosphere.
In the air, ammonia mixes with other emissions
to form microscopic airborne particles,
or particulates
Image: NASA AQAST/Harvard University

As Adams County in central Wisconsin works locally to protect forests (Anderson, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin), Big Ag and paper giants have cast their eyes on the land, with no regard for surrounding communities and families.

Lights are blinking red among Wisconsin clean water advocates.

"While (Big) ag interests suggest it may be unfair for the county to create forest zoning to cover the communities that have no zoning laws, they don't mention the 10,000 acres of forest clear cut in the past few years near the lakes and streams that support tourism. Adams County ranks #4 in per capita tourism. This proposed zoning is a move to protect the balance of tourism and agriculture, and it needs your support. For too long, we've sat idly by as agriculture interests do the land grab. If you value the nature of our county, please attend the hearing at the Adams County Community Center on March 23rd  at 7:00 PM. You can bet the CAFO operators in New Chester and Richfield, along with their DBA, (the polluters' lobby, the Dairy Business Association), ... will be there," said Don Ystad of Adams County in an email sent this weekend.

Meanwhile Farms Not Factories emails an alert the UW-Extension Spray Irrigation of Manure Workgroup "plans to release its findings very soon and although they've promised they would hold a public hearing and solicit public comments after they compiled their final draft report, they've decided NOT to do so."

Reads the Farms Not Factories email:

In addition, they are rushing to publish the final report. Workgroup members were given the final draft on March 12 and their comments were due by March 19. Keep in mind, the Workgroup convened in 2013 and the members spent many, many hours attending meetings/reading materials/sorting through the facts. Why were they given a week to review and comment on 3 years worth of work??

While Bayfield County banned aerial spraying on manure in early 2015, Ashland County (as well as a majority of counties in Wisconsin) have not banned this form of manure disposal. If I've learned anything in the past year, it's this: Bayfield and Ashland Counties share a watershed, a shoreline and a County border and what happens in Ashland doesn't necessarily stay in Ashland.

The Workgroup members need to hear from the citizens of Wisconsin immediately, please send an email ASAP. Please write them and tell them you expect the UW-Extension Spray Irrigation of Manure Workgroup to schedule a public hearing/allow public comment on their final draft report about this controversial manure disposal practice. Why are they rushing to finalize the report before the citizens have a chance to weigh in?

Template for your email to the Spray Irrigation of Manure Workgroup

Here are the names of the Workgroup members:
Ken Genskow, UW-Madison (chair/facilitator)
Becky Larson, UW-Madison
Carrie Laboski, UW-Madison
Mark Borchardt, USDA-Ag Research Service
Andrew Craig, Wisconsin DNR
Joe Baeten, Wisconsin DNR
Pat Murphy, NRCS
Steve Struss, Wisconsin DATCP
Rob Thiboldeaux, Wisconsin DHS
Suzanne Gibbons Burgener, Wisconsin DHS
Gloria Smedema, Fond du Lac County Public Health
Sarah Grosshuesch, Adams County Public Heath
Jeff Polenske, Agronomist
Jim Vandenbrook, Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association (WLWCA)
Kenn Buelow, Dairy Farmer
Jeff Sommers, Dairy Farmer
Shelly Mayer, Dairy Farmer and Executive Director, Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW)
Dana Cook, Professional Nutrient Applicators Association of Wisconsin (PNAAW)
Lynn Utesch

Copy and paste these email addresses of the workgroup:
kgenskow@wisc.edu, ralarson2@wisc.edu, laboski@wisc.edu, mark.borchardt@ars.usda.gov, Andrew.Craig@Wisconsin.gov, Joseph.Baeten@Wisconsin.gov, steve.struss@wisconsin.gov, Robert.thiboldeaux@dhs.wisconsin.gov, suzanne.gibbonsburgener@dhs.wisconsin.gov, sarah.grosshuesch@co.adams.wi.us, pat.murphy@wi.usda.gov, gloria.smedema@fdlco.wi.gov, Jeff@TilthAg.com, kennholsum@bugnet.net, jeff.sommers@rpespud.com, smayer@pdpw.org, danacook2000@gmail.com, lnutesch@yahoo.com, Kitty.rhoades@dhs.wisconsin.gov, Laurie.ross@wisconsin.gov

In the town of Saratoga in Wood County, the town is working against Republican-backed legislation that would "override local zoning and put the groundwater and thousands of acres of land in a single township at risk."

For some four years Saratoga residents have opposed the siting of a massive, polluting industrialized CAFO or Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Operation by the Wysocki corporation.

When the Wysocki corporation officials did a PR gig on July 19, 2012 at a special Saratoga Town Board meeting drawing 100s of people, the local Wisconsin state representative, Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) told a Wood County resident to "quit your bitching," (Mal Contends).

Krug is scheduled to appear at a Door County water quality hearing on March 31 with another Repulbican, (Door County Daily News). One Door County resident emails, "No, this is not [from] the Onion, the Republican legislative threats to water quality are going to explain to people how to restore the Ahnapee River. This should be good!" 

From a Saratoga January 2016 release opposing Krug-supported legislation:

SARATOGA, Wis. [January 4, 2016] – A pristine aquifer and thousands of acres of pine forest in one rural Wisconsin township are at risk if a proposal before Senate and Assembly committees makes its way through the legislative process, confirmed Attorney Paul Kent representing the Town of Saratoga in Wood County. A public hearing on SB464 is slated for 11a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 5 in Senate Hearing Room 412E while AB582 comes before the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate on Thursday, Jan. 7.

These bills include a provision that would retroactively apply an expanded concept of vested rights and in so doing limit a local government’s ability to protect the property rights and health of its residents, Kent said.

The Wysocki Family of Companies has proposed siting a 5,300-cow dairy facility in the Town of Saratoga. Known as Golden Sands Dairy, it would encompass almost 6,000 acres in the Town, some 4,660 of which is managed pine forest that would be clear-cut for vegetable production. “If the proposed vested rights language passes, the original Wysocki building permit for six buildings on 98 acres could apply to thousands of additional acres in the Town,” Kent said.

“These bills are being supported by the Wysocki Family of Companies to further its attempt to override the Town’s zoning ordinance and a pending Court of Appeals decision on the scope of that zoning ordinance,” Kent said. “Wysockis would like to sweep local zoning aside so that the only remaining review of the operation would be by the Department of Natural Resources.”

“The Town’s zoning was designed to protect the area’s fragile aquifer and sandy soils and was initiated in its 2007 comprehensive plan long before Golden Sands Dairy was proposed. The problem for the Town, Kent explained, is that this area, as designated by the U.S. Geological Survey, is highly susceptible to groundwater contamination, and more than 5,000 residents depend on the quality of that groundwater. The zoning was intended to protect public health and the property rights of those residents,” he explained.

The Wysocki proposal includes application of 55 million gallons of liquid manure and 25,000 tons of solid manure annually on the 4,660 acres for vegetable production. “Manure application to that extent on those 4,660 acres will compromise the soil and the groundwater in short order,” Kent said, “and threaten more than 500 residential wells in close proximity to those fields.”

These concerns are not hypothetical. In recent months, monitoring wells at Wysocki’s Central Sands Dairy, which is sited on similar soil and located just across the Wisconsin river from Saratoga, have demonstrated nitrate levels as high as 77 parts per million (ppm), or nearly eight times the drinking water standard of 10 ppm, Kent said.

While this change would directly impact the Town of Saratoga, passage of the vested rights language in AB582/SB464 could also severely limit the ability of towns and other local governments to regulate frac sand mining and other land uses throughout the state, he said.
###

About the Town of Saratoga

A township in Wood County, Wisconsin, Saratoga is home to 5,385 residents. It is situated in the southeast corner of the county, bordering Juneau and Adams counties and includes Ten Mile Creek, Ross Lake, a portion of Nepco Lake and Five Mile Creek.  Its predominate land uses are woodlands owned by private landholders, residential subdivisions, limited agriculture (cranberry bogs), commercial developments along highways 13 and 73 and open spaces. The Town is listed on the US Geological Survey map as an area highly susceptible to groundwater contamination. The main aquifer consists of glacial sands and gravels resting approximately 20 feet below the land surface.

Central Wisconsin Citizens Begin Petition Opposing Massive Factory Farm

The Wysocki family quietly buys up land, use it up, literally
poison their neighbors, the hell with everyone else.
These people do not live on their CAFOs; they live far-away.
And, yes, there is something sociopathic about this,
said a Saratoga, Wisconsin resident.

Citizens is central Wisconsin have begun a petition opposing a proposed massive CAFO or Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Feeding Operation sited in the town of Saratoga in Wood County Wisconsin.

The Golden Sands Dairy is owned by the Wysocki Family of Companies (through two LLCs which insulate the Wysocki owners from liability from the expected pollution and contamination if the industrialized operations were to begin).

The Golden Sands Dairy is widely opposed and imperils a wold class golf resort in northern Adams county, property home valuations, and surface waters and acquirers in a four-county region looking for recreational and tourism investments.

Citizens have been opposing the proposed CAFO since plans were first announced in 2012.

Proposed Industrialized Farm Kills $300,000 Home Sale in Wood County

The proposed "Golden Sands" factory farm in the town of Saratoga killed the sale of a beautiful $300,000 home, a Saratoga resident reported this weekend.

Rhonda Cain-Carrell is long-time resident of Wood County and with many of her neighbors is an opponent of the proposed CAFO (Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Feeding Operations) sited in the town of Saratoga.

Residents fear what scientific research has demonstrated: The some 50 million gallons of liquid cow manure sprayed and leeched into the environment each year would pollute the region, drive down property values, and present dangerous health hazards to residents, especially children, folks with compromised immune systems and the elderly.

Writes Cain-Carrell in her Facebook page:

This evening I spoke with a Saratoga resident that has their home up for sale. Shortly after listing the home, they received a full price offer. They accepted. The realtor disclosed a little info on the CAFO to the buyer from Illinois and [their] family backed out. Every perspective buyer LOVES the home and feels its 300K + price tag is a fair price ... BUT HAVE NO INTEREST IN LIVING NEAR THE PROPOSED GOLDEN SANDS DAIRY. Wysocki Companies, you have no right to hold our community hostage!!! GO AWAY & STAY AWAY.

Cain-Carrell, along with neighbors from Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors, Friends of the Central Sands, and Rome and Saratoga Friendly and other allies, have opposed the proposed CAFO since it was sprung onto residents in July 2012 (Mal Contends).

Informed residents say area realtors and financiers regard the area around the CAFO as a red line, and the killed sale of the residential home is just the beginning of a downward spiral.

The owner of the proposed CAFO is the Wysocki Family of Companies, (through two LLCs which insulate Wysocki from liability of the expected pollution and contamination if the factory farm were to begin operation).

Wysocki owns another CAFO, contaminating water in adjacent Juneau County (Anderson, Gannett Co News) (Mal Contends).

Wysocki doesn't live on the CAFO factory farms he owns, he's lives safely away in Custer, Wisconsin and runs operations some 20 miles away in Bancroft, Wisconsin so it's no skin off Wysocki's back if he economically and ecologically kills a region trying to make a come-back with tourism and recreation.

Wysocki is also infamous in the area for his profuse use of high capacity water wells, another 39 of which would take at least 100,000 gallons of water per well, per day to produce the liquid cow manure he wants to spray into Saratoga and the surrounding area (Mal Contends) (Mal Contends).

Wysocki is politically protected by local State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa), Scott Walker and Walker's new polluter-friendly Dept of Natural Resources.

Krug is sponsoring a bill, Senate Bil 291, to help Wyscoki and other Big Ag operations suck up groundwater through high capacity wells and is attempting to neuter the legal recourse of Wisconsin residents and municipalities to object (Janesville Gazette) as Wisconsin Republicans play legislative games with the Wisconsin peoples' lives.

Record 2014 Profits Won't Change CAFO Model for Big Ag in the Dairy State

Wisconsin - Visit the Liquid Cow Manure

Big Ag Is Willing to Accept Devastation of Wisconsin Waters as Costs of Doing Business

Update: The concept of a 'global economy'" while our local economies and rural America continues to be impoverished and desecrated by the industrial model of agriculture is devastating.  The hard core irony that we are to drink more milk and eat more cheese - while this industry pollutes and pillages our communities' natural resources, homes, and health is beyond comprehension. All over the nation the scourge of the factory farm model is being pushed, shamelessly, including by our agencies that were originally designed to protect citizenry and our natural resources [DATCP and DNR].

In disgust,
Nancy Utesch, Kewaunee County Wisconsin
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To listen the public relations statements coming from the Dairy Business Association (DBA), all Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operation (CAFO) owners care about are hiring workers, protecting the water and helping tourism and recreation.

After all, these are rural people, so noble and hard-working.

With politicians like Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) in their pocket CAFO owners can say anything and know corrupt politicians have their back and will amplify their message.

Anybody who thinks CAFO owners are going to back down from their business model destroying Wisconsin streams, lakes, rivers, and aquifers are kidding you.


Rob Schultz has the story in this morning's Wisconsin State Journal, "Dairy farms lead state to record ag profits in 2014."

Quaint concerns like safe and clean water, property values, and recreation and tourism are laughable to these CAFO owners.

These matters have zero effect on CAFOs' bottom line because CAFO owners have no stake in the community (they don't live on CAFOs).

Record Ag Profits.

Wisconsin's waters didn't fair as well.

With the CAFO model working so well for massive Dairy operations, the model has been adopted by Swine operations, and an out-of-state operation wants to site a swine CAFO in Bayfield County, some 10 miles from Lake Superior, 10 percent of the world's fresh water.

Far-northern Wisconsin clean water activists won't back down against the CAFO water and air polluters or the proposed GTAC mine water and air polluters: "One anti-mining activist said she isn’t worried 'about getting a ticket for trespassing and would gladly lay down her life if it would stop the mine or the [proposed Bayfield] CAFO,' a sentiment shared by a number of other participants." (Mullen, Ashland Daily Press)

Erin Brockovich Hits Dumping Phosphorus, Cow Manure into Water

Unless one believes Wisconsin waters
are sewers with infinite carrying capacities,
our new moto on our car tags
should soon be: America's Pathogens

When one hears the terms: Toxic algae bloom, discharging nutrients into water, Do Not Drink the Water and big agricultural interests okay with this tragedy, Wisconsin—America's Dairyland and the Dairy Business Association come to mind; not just Toledo, Ohio and Lake Erie.

Big Ag in Wisconsin shouldn't be okay with this situation.

No matter where you live, the land and water are not sewers with infinite carrying capacities.

Erin Brockovich comments yesterday on the Toledo, Ohio situation suggestive that Wisconsin's current Do-Not-Swim mandates will soon become Do-Not-Drink-the-Water mandates across the state (especially in areas such as the Central Sands) as one day after lifting the do-not-drink-the-water warning, "Toledo’s mayor on Tuesday urged residents to conserve water for the remainder of the summer as the toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie remains a threat to the city’s drinking-water supply." (Rosenkraus and Harris-Taylor, Toledo Blade)

The toxic algae blooms in lakes are a direct result of an overabundance of Phosphorus from cow manure runoff into the water and as Gordon Stevenson—who served as runoff manager of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for some 10 years (retired in 2011)—points out the "carrying capacity" of Phosphorus in the Golden Sands and Eastern Wisconsin regions are on the verge of being exceeded which will result not just in "dead zones" found now but in dead lakes.

Town of Nekoosa resident, Don Ystad who owns a home on Lake Camelot in the Town of Rome, Wisconsin, said the "tremendously high phosphorous content" already has rendered lakes in northern Adams and Wood County on the DNR's Impaired Water list, which the DNR under Scott Walker designed to be user-unfriendly. [Check the site out, there is no list.]

And when the carrying capacity of the region Ystad (Central Sands) lives is exceeded, the groundwater is next.

Ystad and 1,000s of residents in central Wisconsin in Wood, Portage, Adams and Juneau counties are working to stop the inception of a massive concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO) in central Wisconsin that would dump some 50 million gallons of liquid cow waste per year into the environment, with no wasterwater treatment.

That the equivalent of what a "city with a population of 106,000 people" produces every single day, notes the Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors website, only cities with 106,000 people have wastewater treatment plants.

Writes Erin Brockovich:

"I have received hundreds of questions concerning the water quality issues in Toledo, Ohio over this last weekend. The algae bloom clearly visible from outer space is of complete and utter concern to me as we continue to evaluate the practice of discharging nutrients into our drinking water supplies from a myriad of agricultural interest. Clearly these dangerous practices must stop. The health and safety of the greater Toledo community was and will ever remain in jeopardy if these practices are allowed to continue. This is not the first time this water supply has been put in jeopardy. While the City of Toledo under the leadership of Mayor Collins did an incredible job in dealing with this problem the facts are the city must be better prepared to deal with this problem when it is only certain to return. The City has approved a capital improvement plan to address over $314 million in needed upgrades at the Collins Park Water Treatment plant but has only spent $28 million to protect public health. The treatment plant should have had the granular activated carbon in use at the time of the algae bloom which would have protected the public. Instead the City only deploys granular activated carbon after an emergency. Public Health must and always should be a priority."

Someone should tell this to the Dairy Business Association before we can't drink our own water.

The Dairy Business Association whose members self-consciously dump cow manure into our environment should rightfully change their "feeding the world" PR message to "Poisoning the water."

Enabling politicians in Wisconsin such as State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids and ALEC) Scott Walker [and too many Democrats as well] should take a trip back to Wood County or Adams County or Juneau County, grab a few mason jars and fill them up with liquid manure from existing CAFO manure lagoons, bring the jars back and keep them on their desks, if they have no problem with liquid cow shit.

Central Wisconsin Residents Stand Up for Communites Against Factory Farms

Increasing opposition to proposed
massive CAFO in Wood County
in Wisconsin - Photo by
Mary Captain-Braund

Saratoga, Wisconsin--Citizens mobilize to stop proposed massive factory diary operation in central Wisconsin from diluting and poisoning water, air and land

"[Saratoga, Wisconsin] Town Board members and residents are taking steps to ensure the future of water in the community."

Brian Hamm and Rob Borski have been monitoring the water in the 10 Mile and Seven Mile creeks since the two men attended a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources citizen-based stream monitoring seminar in Wisconsin Rapids during spring 2013. The men have monitored 10 different sites on the two creeks for the past nine months, Hamm said," reports Karen Madden in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Gannett Co).

Residents from Saratoga, Nekoosa and Wisconsin Rapids (Wood County), Rome (Adams County)—Lake Arrowhead, Lake Camelot and Lake Sherwood (Adams County)—and the surrounding counties of Juneau and Portage have one mission: Protect the water from the predictable toxic effects from the proposed massive Wysocki Golden Sands concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO) and its proposed 49 high-capacity water wells that would poison and drain area waterways and groundwater.

The Wysocki Family of Cos. announced the company had completed its environmental impact report of its proposed CAFO, but residents of Saratoga are going to do their own study, hiring a hydrologist to determine what is happening now, and what would be the effects of the Wysocki Golden Sands Dairy CAFO.

Reports the Tribune's Madden:

"'We’re going to get a study done on what takes place with all this water,' said Terry Rickaby, Saratoga (Town) chairman.

"The Town Board approved spending $6,274 on the study. The hydrologist the town hired will work with Protect Wood County and its Neighbors to do the study."

The people encountered here are salt of the earth, but take on a hard edge when someone proposes setting up operations with the consequence of poisoning their children.

Understandable.

This is an election year. And elected officials have to face the people.

"After many discussions with the citizens of this district, it is apparent that there are two particular issues that are of utmost importance to a great many of them; those of the issues of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation farms and groundwater maintenance and quality," said Dana W. Duncan (Port Edwards), a Democratic Party candidate for the 72nd Assembly District, challenging state rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids), a member of the rightwing, corporatist ALEC.

Krug said he is in favor of the proposed CAFO in Saratoga, saying on March 7, 2013 that he believes we need to be willing to "take chances" (with our environment), and that industry uses water, treats it well, and returns it to the system.

Krug said the proposed Saratoga CAFO could be held accountable if surrounding groundwater wells and waterways are adversely affected.

Residents and Duncan are not waiting for disaster, preferring to avoid it.

Retorts the pro-environment Duncan in a June press release:

I believe that water is one of our most precious resources, is the oil of the 21st Century, and is one of the primary assets of Wisconsin. Clean and abundant water is a necessity for any community and we have, for too long, neglected to appreciate what a rich commodity we have here in Wisconsin. However, over the past several years, the issues of groundwater maintenance and quality have come under threat from the expansion of CAFO farming, and it has made us all sit up and take notice. For many in communities across this district, they have taken up the mantle of protecting our water and our environment against these factory farms.

As such, I want to affirm my position, to stand with those already in this fight, and support opposition to any and all CAFO farming. Moreover, I want to actively work with the citizens of this district to ensure not only a sustainable quantity of water, but also an enduring quality for generations to come. These factory farms are a short-term approach with long term damages. In the name of creating only a few jobs now, we would be sacrificing our job potential for years to come. The damage to our environment and potential tourism industry would be evident.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party-connected law firm, Michael Best and Friendrich LLP—and attorney to what local residents derisively call "Big Ag"—are advising CAFOs around the state how to evade the Environmental Projection Agency (EPA) when inspectors come under authority of the Clean Water Act to assure the safety of water for local residents.

To CAFOs, families and any governmental force working to ensure safe and clean water are the enemy. Have a look:

By Michael Best and Friedrich LLP

EPA is Actively Inspecting Dairy Operations in NE Wisconsin!
Understand Your Rights When the EPA Visits Your Farm

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently warned Wisconsin is increasing inspections of Wisconsin dairy and livestock producers under the Clean Water Act. According to the EPA, "we are going to knock on your door and you aren't going to know we are coming."

These on-site inspections are apparently the next phase of an overall plan to step up investigations and potential enforcement of the Clean Water Act against dairy operations. Not all sites EPA are inspecting are CAFO operations, so no matter what size your dairy operation is, you should be concerned.

EPA publishes for public comment the agency's proposed National Enforcement Initiatives every two years. For fiscal year 2011-2013, addressing discharges to navigable surface waters from the nation's CAFOs was among the six National Enforcement Initiatives pursued by EPA. Recently, EPA requested public comments on its proposed list of National Enforcement Initiatives for the 2014-2016 fiscal years and again investigation and enforcement against livestock operations made EPA's "shortlist." In recent years, EPA's investigation efforts have included "fly-overs" and mandatory demands for the production of records and information.

As background, the Clean Water Act and EPA regulations require certain livestock operations to obtain permits under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Although the regulations can be complex, generally speaking, whether a farm needs an NPDES permit will depend upon the type of livestock kept, the size of the herd, and the likelihood that manure or waste water will reach surface water. Additionally, individual states- Wisconsin is one example-may have more restrictive permitting requirements.

The Clean Water Act authorizes the EPA to conduct inspections to ensure compliance. This authority includes entering land to determine whether farms should be designated as CAFOs that are required to obtain NPDES permits and to ensure that CAFOs with permits are complying with the terms of the permits. However, EPA farm inspectors are also instructed by official policy" to evaluate whether the requirements of any other federal environmental laws are applicable to the facility and, if so, whether the facility is in compliance with such requirements."

The Clean Water Act provides for penalties ranging from civil orders requiring corrective measures to fines exceeding$37,500 per day of noncompliance. In extreme cases, penalties can include criminal prosecution and jail time.

With stakes this high, it is important that every farmer understands their rights.

Although exceptions exist, administrative agencies, including the EPA, gain access to private property in one of two ways: (1) by getting the consent of the business; or (2) by going to a magistrate judge and obtaining an administrative search warrant.

The EPA will typically first try to gain access the easy way, by getting a farmer to consent to EPA's inspection. If denied voluntary consent, the EPA may then decide to go to court and attempt to obtain an administrative search warrant. As a word of caution, a government inspector does not need the consent of the owner of private property in order to enter, but can obtain consent from any person that the inspector "reasonably believes" is authorized to provide consent to enter. In the case of EPA inspections, inspectors are directed to first ask for the owner of the premises, and if the owner is unavailable, EPA inspectors are directed to make a "good faith effort" to determine who is "in charge" at the time of the inspection. Accordingly, farms must make sure that their workers are properly trained on how to respond to the EPA's (or any government agency's) request to inspect the operation.

If EPA inspectors appear at your farm, you should immediately contact your lawyer before answering any questions or allowing the inspectors onto the nonpublic areas of your property.

Unless the inspectors have a warrant you have the right to refuse the inspection and ask the inspectors to leave. The inspectors will then have two options, either negotiate a convenient time to conduct the search with you (and ideally your lawyer)or turn to the courts to attempt to obtain a search warrant. In all likelihood, denying consent will only delay the search. Nevertheless, you should not allow the inspection to go forward until you have had an opportunity to consult with your lawyer regarding your rights and obligations. You should also not consent to a search at a time when you are likely to be distracted by the day-to-day operations of your farm, where there maybe safety or biosecurity concerns present or where you cannot otherwise devote undivided attention to the inspection. You may need time, for example, to be prepared to take photographs or split samples.

You can withdraw your consent to inspection at any time. Even if you initially grant consent to an inspection, you can change your mind and ask the inspectors to leave. The inspectors then have the same two options: negotiate a convenient time to resume the search or go to court to obtain a search warrant.

You can refuse consent to inspect certain areas of your property. The inspection, whether by consent or under a search warrant, should be focused only on those areas necessary for the EPA to determine compliance with the Clean Water Act. Even under a search warrant, an agency cannot conduct a "wall-to-wall" search, but must search only those areas specified by the warrant. However, if you consent to the search of an area where no animals or feed are located, you have little recourse if the EPA gathers evidence against you for alleged violations of other unrelated environmental laws. You may have the right to "quash" a search warrant. If inspectors appear with a search warrant, you have less ability to deny entry unto your property. However, you should immediately contact your lawyer to determine whether you have a basis to "quash" (or have the court throw out) the warrant. For example, if you can demonstrate that you maintain less than the threshold animals at your farm, your farm will typically not be subject to the Clean Water Act permitting regulations. Other defenses can be asserted as well to challenge a warrant. Under those circumstances, you may be able to convince a court to quash an administrative warrant and stop the EPA's inspection in its entirety.

When dealing with EPA inspectors, understand your rights and take great care to preserve them.

Campaigning in Wisconsin with No Questions or Reaching Out

Update III: As Predicted, Huge Dairy Manure Spill Hits Wisconsin Waters. The same awaits the Saratoga area near Wisconsin Rapids.

Update II: Scott Walker: "We’d love to help you put four, five, six and more out here, because we know thanks to god and the glaciers we got the best frac sand in the world, and it’s right here in the state of Wisconsin," said Scott Walker, paying visit to the Texas- based company Hi-Crush Proppants. Walker is extending an open invitation to rape the sandstone formations in Golden Sands country in central and western Wisconsin, without regard to the health and environmental consequences.

Update: See Scott Walker's Dark Money Troubles and Mining and Water Don't Mix: Acid Mine Drainage Threatens Lake Superior and Boundary Waters for an illustration of rapacious corruption inflicting toxin and death onto our environment.
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The coming John Doe emails will reveal the same virulent racism, anti-Semitism, and general contempt for the Wisconsin people held by Scott Walker and the people whom he has surrounded himself during his lifelong political career—a public career in which Walker has drawn a continuous salary paid by the Wisconsin people, whom he quickly abandoned in favor of service to billionaires such as the Koch brothers.

The release of these coming tens of thousands of emails will be worse than the February release.

But the news sent via the Gannett Co newspapers and broadcast "news" media will not penetrate the casual voter in central and northern Wisconsin where Walker beat his heavily outspent opponent in the June 2012 Recall election.

Presumptive Democratic Party nominee for governor, Mary Burke, has to be careful how to engage the issue of Scott Walker corruption, lest she minimize the issue as a partisan spat.

Adept communications in the free media are not in the skill set of the Burke campaign which has shown itself the perfect political heir of the inept Democratic Party of Wisconsin, listless and clumsy.

One would think the Wisconsin political culture retains sufficient muscle memory of retail and grassroots campaigning that Burke would be living in central and northern Wisconsin pushing issues of local concern.

Take four Wisconsin counties in central Wisconsin—Wood, Adams, Juneau and Portage counties—this is where is Golden Sands Dairy LLC wants to build a mammoth concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO) centered among the four above counties in the town of Saratoga, Wisconsin.

The Golden Sands operation (ironic title) would pump out 50 million gallons of liquid waste per year, and suck up ground water to the detriment of area residents, businesses and the environment. Ironic because this region will not be the Golden Sands for long.

Legal and political battles continue between Wysocki Co (Golden Sands) and the town of Saratoga (Wood County) whose residents are fighting Golden Sands.

Looked at politically, this is a perfect grassroots movement to get behind, help these people in central Wisconsin.

But Mary Burke is as absent here as the dominance of the paper mill industry in this area from days gone-by.

Here for consideration are the June 2012 general election Recall results for Governor of the four counties that would be hit immediately by Golden Sands' proposed concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO):

                                     Scott Walker       Tom Barrett

Adams County            4,497                      3,658
Juneau County            5,429                      4,225          
Portage County           14,846                   15,672
Wood County             18,535                    13,171

The June 2012 Recall election was an epic victory by Scott Walker and dark money, with Walker winning three of the four counties, achieving near-presidential-level numbers.

By comparison, consider the Presidential general election results of 2012, in which President Obama won three of the four counties:

                                    Mitt Romney            Barack Obama  

Adams County            4,644                          5,542
Juneau County            5,411                          6,242   
Portage County           16,615                        22,075
Wood County             19,704                        18,581                  

The take-away is Scott Walker is not going to see his 2012 winning Recall numbers against Burke in November 2014, but Mary Burke has to get out in the field and campaign.

Money alone, even combined with Scott Walker corruption and scandal, are not going to win this election for the Democratic Party nominee.

Campaigning will.