Republican Pols' Words Should Point to Halting Wysocki CAFO in Central Sands

Sites of High Capacity Wells in Central Wisconsin
Map by D.J. Mechenich

Big Ag Propaganda Supported by Tax Payers

Last week Wisconsin agricultural groups were given $10,000s to pretend these heavy polluters are really conservationists concerned about the health of their respective regions' watersheds, (Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection). They are not so concerned, it's about public relations and probing how gullible the public is to Big Ag and Wisconsin Republicans.

Also last week Wisconsin Republican politicians met with Scott Walker to discuss the diminished groundwater protection by the Walker administration, (Ebert Yancey, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin).

The meeting agenda is not public. But judging from the Walker administration's devastation of Wisconsin's generations-long commitment to protecting water, it's fair to assume Scott Walker and Republican pols are not joining the John Muir Chapter of the Sierra Club, though the famed environmental group notes "70 percent of Wisconsinites depend on groundwater for drinking water."

The meeting reportedly included State Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) and State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) both of whom will face strong Democratic Party challengers this November in their gerrymandered assembly districts, (Mal Contends).

Reports Karen Ebert Yancey:

Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, met with Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday and said that they had agreed that different DNR rules governing agriculture were needed for 'unique geological areas of the state.'

'He understands that one size fits all doesn't work,' Kitchen(s) said, referring to DNR regulations that govern statewide agricultural practices, particularly for manure spreading. ... Rep. Scott Krug, who represents the Central Sands areas of the state, also participated in the meeting with the Governor because of that region's unique geology, Kitchens said. Krug recently spoke in Kewaunee County and said that issues due to runoff polluting rivers and lakes was one of the biggest concerns of residents in the state.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that Scott Walker understands and cares different DNR rules governing agriculture are needed for different geological areas of the state.

Consider the Central Sands of Wisconsin, (Central Sands Hydrology Working Group).

Adams and Wood county residents have been arguing the Central Sands region is uniquely unsuited for industrialized agriculture operations. The Central Sands already has over 3,000 high-capacity, industrial water pumps drawing over 100,000 gallons of water per day, (Prengaman, WisconsinWatch).

Residents point to research in support of their conclusion the geology and composition of the Central Sands make the region unsuitable for industrialized agriculture operations, (United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service) (Water Resources Committee, Town of Saratoga).

Will Walker and State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) now demand the Wysocki corporate interests withdraw its proposal for a massive factory farm in Saratoga in light of this unique geological area of the state?

No.

Wisconsin's industrialized agriculture and the politicians bought have to shape up their public image, an enterprise now underway nationally as well, (Eller, Des Moines Register).


Politicians Lie

Walker and the two politically endangered Big Ag frontmen, Kitchens and Krug, have been hostile to clean water advocates to the point of supporting the decimation of the Department of Natural Resources and facilitating the depletion of aquifers and surface waters by statute.

The meeting was about keeping Republicans in power and allowing polluters and poisoners to keep their operations going irrespective of citizen concerns over the depletion and pollution of aquifers and surface waters.

Last week Walker tried to shore up Joel Kitchens' non-existent environmental bona fides by appointing him to Wisconsin Coastal Management Council, (Kowols, Door County Daily News).

Walker, Krug and Kitchens will say or do anything to hang onto political power, and selling out their constituents' safe and clean drinking and recreational waters is high on the list.

Krug and Kitchens will disingenuously acclaim they are really champions of clean water, and Gannett Co. newspapers and other outlets will dutifully and uncritically pass on the news.

Scott Walker, GOP Reps Probe Public's Gullibility on Clean Water

Protect our water, say Wisconsin residents. No, says Big Ag
and its Republican protectors in Wisconsin.

Clean water is necessary for life, and is good business. Wisconsin Republican politicians won't listen.

Don Ystad, a retired business consultant living in Adams County Wisconsin, has penned 10,000s of words to Wisconsin policymakers and officials charged with protecting the water.

Ystad has met with success in forming alliances with local citizens across the political spectrum in central Wisconsin, but Scott Walker and the Republican Party remain in unified opposition to clean water advocates as 1,000s in central Wisconsin fight a proposed massive factory farm sited in the town of Saratoga in Wood County and the vile practice of dumping millions of tons of cow manure into the environment.

Wisconsin State Reps. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) and Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) represent districts in which aquifers and surface waters are being depleted and toxified by industrialized agriculture.

Both legislators are notorious yes men to Big Ag polluters in northeastern and central Wisconsin respectively. Both run political interference for industrialized agriculture operations as children are literally being sent to the emergency room after bathing or drinking water contaminated by the massive amount of cow manure and associated pathogens vectored into the environment.

"When Doug Jones and his wife, Sherryl,
bought their home in Spring Green
15 years ago, they had a vision of a place
where their family could gather,
enjoy the beauty of a restored prairie,
and where their grandchildren could
experience fresh air and a peaceful, rural life.
Their land included an 11-acre oxbow lake
and sloughs connected to the
Lower Wisconsin Riverway."
(Midwest Environmental Advocates)

Clean water advocates and other citizen groups—Kewaunee Cares, Saratoga Concerned and Citizens Concerned about Lake Superior CAFOs, for example—have worked for years with municipal, county and state policymakers only to find themselves blacklisted by the Department of Natural Resources and besmirched by Republican legislators such as we-don't-need-the-EPA Joel Kitchens and Krug, and some have become the victims of threats and vandalism in their very homes.

Now, water advocates, (aka Wisconsin families), are fed-up and frustrated as children are poisoned, well water continually contaminated and property valuations plummeting.

"We have played nice with our County Board of Supervisors long enough, it is time to start calling them out publicly on their lack of leadership and accountability to citizen concerns," notes Saratoga Concerned Friday night on their Facebook page.

In a letter to the Wisconsin Rapids City Times, Criste Greening of Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors rips the Wood County Board (central Wisconsin) pointing to outright hostility from Scott Walker ally, Wood County Board Supervisor and Chairman Lance Pliml and other Board members politically allied with Big Ag in Wisconsin.

Citizen groups across the state are aligning, a phenomenon assisted by social media such as Facebook. Look for a change in tone this election cycle.

Following a report from northeastern Wisconsin that two schools in embattered Kewaunee County received letters warning of well contamination last week, (Karen Ebert Yancey, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin), Scott Walker, Kitchens and Krug were featured in a piece yesterday morning reporting:

In response to continued groundwater problems in Kewaunee County, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) expects to issue new administrative regulations for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and other farmers in karst areas, state Rep. Joel Kitchens said Thursday.

Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, met with Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday and said that they had agreed that different DNR rules governing agriculture were needed for 'unique geological areas of the state.'

'He understands that one size fits all doesn't work,' Kitchen said, referring to DNR regulations that govern statewide agricultural practices, particularly for manure spreading, (Karen Ebert Yancey, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

No activist reached expects anything to come from the latest lip service from Scott Walker and Republican representatives who have decimated the DNR, and who use the hyper-partisan Republican attorney general to further the aims of polluters, money donors and anybody willing to pay to play.

Will Republicans stop the proposed Wysocki factory farm? Will Republicans restore scientists and the autonomy of the DNR? Will Republicans restore the autonomy of administrative law judges?

One thing is certain: 'No' to all questions.

Said one clean water advocate from Door County, (aka 'Wisconsin's Martha Vineyard'): "I won't hold my breath on anything actually happening, but the heat is apparently on."

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel fetes Big Ag's candidate for state
senate, Patrick Testin, on Feb. 14, 2016, (Twitter)

Polluters' Toady for State Senate in Central Wisconsin, Patrick Testin

"We need to protect our natural resources
without limiting their use in Central
Wisconsin's agricultural economy," writes
Big Ag toady, Patrick Testin, in typical
polluters and poisoners' twaddle.
.

Patrick Testin has a mandate for his campaign for Wisconsin's state senate, district 24.

Do whatever the polluters, in particular the Wysocki corporate interests, want. Testin is well-paid for his efforts.

One problem facing Testin is he has no idea what the issues are as central Wisconsin's natural resources—aquifers, streams, lakes, (and to be candid property valuations)—are under assault by polluting factory farms.

Testin's incoherence on these critical issues is on display.

Have a look above-right at Testin's recent thoughts on the proposed massive factory farm by the Wysocki polluters in Saratoga, Wood County Wisconsin.

"We need to protect our natural resources without limiting their use in Central Wisconsin's agricultural economy," opines Testin.

What?

This is apparently Testin-talk for central Wisconsin should be a repository for millions of tons of liquid cow manure.
---
Golf resort designer Mike Keiser wants to build an environmentally friendly golf resort, Sand Valley Resort, sited along the bottom of the ancient Glacial Lake Wisconsin, a can't-miss recreational and tourism project.

Unfortunately for Keiser and Adams and Wood counties, the resort, now under construction, is adjacent to, and just south of a massive proposed Wysocki factory farm, halted for now.

If residents can't stop this polluting operation, it won't be just the residents of Wood, Adams and surrounding counties being poisoned, an enterprise protected by Testin and Wisconsin Republicans including Wisconsin's Republican attorney general and governor.

A stiff north wind carrying the stench of millions of tons of liquid cow manure would quickly educate golf enthusiasts on some the unsavory aspects of a Wysocki factory farm. If they breathe deeply, golfers will understand with a precision central Wisconsin residents are working to avoid.

Drink the area's well water, and it is advisable golfers are aware of the area's hospitals as well as tourist destinations.

As for Patrick Testin, he's looking for more money for his campaign and pushing hard for a tax-payer-funded gig in the Wisconsin State Senate.

China Says 80% of Tested Wells Had Water Too Polluted to Drink

As Scott Walker and state Republicans abandon safeguarding Wisconsin's waters for polluters, a piece in the New York Times shows where we are heading: "Grim pollution in underground water."

Report Chris Buckley and Vanessa Piaoapril:
 

BEIJING — Although the Chinese have become used to hazy skies as a measure of environmental blight, statistics that received wide attention on Monday pointed to grim pollution below citizens’ feet, in underground water that is heavily used by farms, factories and households.

More than 80 percent of 2,103 wells for underground water tested across heavily populated plains of China were so badly contaminated by industrial and agricultural runoff that their water was unfit for drinking and home use, according to the numbers cited in a recent survey by the Ministry of Water Resources.

“From my point of view, this shows how water is the biggest environmental issue in China,” said Dabo Guan, a professor at the University of East Anglia in Britain who has been studying water pollution and scarcity in China.

“People in the cities, they see air pollution every day, so it creates huge pressure from the public. But in the cities, people don’t see how bad the water pollution is,” Professor Guan said. “They don’t have the same sense.”

The latest statistics are far from the first about the damage done to China’s underground water reservoirs and basins by runoff from farming and industry ...

This is where Wisconsin is heading unless we stop the Republicans.

Big Ag Targets Wisconsin State Senator Julie Lassa

Manure and pathogens vectored into Wisconsin's environment by Big Ag to
tragic consequences, as state Republicans take the polluters' side

As she has done countless times, State Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point), listened to her constituents' concerns last week about the depletion and poisoning of water by the vile industrialized agriculture, (WSAW-TV), (Anderson, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin).

As Scott Walker plays the outside, and State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) plays the inside, Wisconsin Republicans protect the polluters, Big Ag.

Krug's role is particularly odious as his mendacity apparently knows no bounds, and his own constituents' health, and economic well-being are suffering grievously.

Now, Big Ag is targeting Sen. Lassa.

Lassa grew up on a small dairy farm in Portage County where "her parents taught her the important of hard work, the value of a dollar, and that honesty and integrity are everything," as she notes in her biography.

Here's a report from Wood County:

By Rhonda Cain-Carrell

While Senator Lassa participated in a Groundwater Listening Session in Saratoga, the Wysocki's were busy at the Stevens Point Country Club plotting her demise as our Senator. In one night, HOSTING and contributing $1,000 per plate as PLATINUM DONORS to the man they are running against one of very few legislators brave enough to stick their neck out for Wisconsin's water.

Please support Senator Lassa in the upcoming election.

Wysockis are working to get Patrick Testin in Lassa's seat.

$17,000 in donations from their family and very close business contacts JUST at last night's event:

Bob & Mary Berard ($2,000) - Paramount Farms recently purchased by Wysocki Companies, massive polluter
Paul & Dawn Roberts ($2,000) - Roberts Irrigation (reportedly the company that would sell irrigation systems for proposed CAFO/cropland in Saratoga)
Jeff & Kathy Sommers ($2,000) - Runs Central Sands Dairy, massive polluter
Nick & Diane (Wysocki) Somers ($2,000)
Kirk & Jackie (Wysocki) Wille ($2,000)
Bill & Marla Wysocki ($2,000)
Francis & Harriet Wysocki ($2,000)
Jim & Sharon Wysocki ($2,000)
Louis Wysocki ($1,000)

SO, the long and short of this is: NO TO TESTIN! He is sponsored by the Wysocki CAFO Family. A vote for Testin is a vote against Saratoga (Wood County), Rome (Adams County) and all of Wisconsin's water.

Wisconsin Lead Pipes Threaten Water, GOP Pushes Anti-clean Water Laws

Silke Schmidt and Dee J. Hall report from the Center for Investigative Journalism shows Wisconsin is poised to become home to "abundant" Flint, Michigans as Wisconsin's Republican governor is actively pursuing a bizarre, anti-clean water approach to water protection.

The public interest law firm, Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA), has filed a "complaint in Dane County Circuit Court against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for violating state open records laws by unreasonably delaying DNR responses to MEA open records requests."

Scott Walker is pursuing polices to literally toxify Wisconsin waters, and Walker is shutting down public scrutiny to his administration's complicity with the polluters.

Meanwhile, Walker and Republicans are selling out the peoples' water to corporate interests, (Viste, Door County Pulse).

In Sturgeon Bay in northeastern Wisconsin, citizens are fighting more sell-off of Wisconsin waters to private and polluting developers, (Alyssa Bloechl and Warren Bluhm, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin).