Rep Scott Krug Exposed for Running Political Interference Against Clean Water Advocates; Ridicules Families for Opposing Factory Farm

In July 2012 at a Saratoga, Wisconsin Town Board meeting drawing 100s of people, State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa), a member of the corporatist American Legislative Exchange Committee, was in attendance in the charged environment.

 

The Wysocki Family of Companies had sprung its plans for a massive factory farm sited in central Wisconsin that would work as a hazardous-waste vectoring operation imperiling area groundwater, drinking waters, and surface waters with millions of gallons of liquidized and aerizied cow manure, among disastrous economic effects, (Mal Contends), (John Ikerd). 

 

Eight years of grueling work by 1,000s of clean water advocates prevented the Golden Sands, LLC factory farm from beginning operations, as Krug ran political interference for Wysocki.

Now, Krug is claiming on Facebook that there is no concern for the factory farm starting up, and there never will be in a post ridiculing clean water advocates, despite the town of Saratoga standing ready to file more litigation. 

The tone and substance of Krug's latest dig at clean water advocates puts the lie to his claimed concern for clean water.

Writes Krug in part:

A story that is turning as old as time itself. Much like a campfire story though it’a just a tall tale. There is no CAFO and there will be no CAFO in Saratoga. They already know that too, but can’t resist trying to scare their neighbors at election time.

There has been no public announcement by Wysocki that it intends to abandon its plans for the Golden Sands, LLC factory farm.

Central Wisconsin families spend years of their lives for their families and communities, and Krug ridicules them. 

𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆? The actions of our current Representative Scott Krug, say a lot about his...

Posted by Saratoga Concerned on Friday, August 7, 2020

 

Wysocki and other industrial ag interests are heavy Republican Party donors, so Krug offered his fealty at the 2012 event telling a vocal factory farm opponent, Nancy Koch, to "quit your bitching," exemplifying Krug's eight-year hostility to factory farm opponents.

 

Recalled Ms. Koch in 2014, "Early on in this fight when I contacted Scott Krug at his Republican e-mail address I asked for his help with this CAFO issue. In the e-mail, I reminded him who I was ---- that I was the one he told to 'Quit your bitching' at the Wysocki presentation at the Performing Arts Center in Wi Rapids. I never got a response to the e-mail or an apology."

Krug was forced into a political position in which his campaigns were funded by factory farm-advocating Scott Walker and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos who directed money into Krug's coffers in his gerrymandered district, while Krug falsely pretended he too was a factory farm opponent and clean water advocate.

 

Meanwhile, one of the counties the factory farm would harm is suing Wysocki for another of its factory farm's pollution.

 

Time and perseverance have proven clean water citizens rights: Their water is worth for fighting for and Scott Krug is a fraud who ran political interference for Wysocki. Krug has always opposed the efforts of central-Wisconsin families protecting their homes and communities.

Wisconsin Republicans Take Water Polluters' Show on the Road

Huge sand deposits in Central Wisconsin guarantee
environmental and health catastrophes if millions of
gallons of liquid and aerial cow manure are to
be dumped into the environment by Big Ag.

Madison, Wisconsin — The Republican Party continues its work this Summer to facilitate factory farms and other big ag operations in their deliberate poisoning and depleting of surface and groundwater.

But a traveling roadshow, the Speaker's Task Force on Water Quality, led by State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) claims to be looking for solutions to the same industrial-sized degradation to water quality for which Vos and his Party implement polluter-friendly policy on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and state legislature.

Vos' expensive sham is a political necessity for Republican lawmakers working for industrial polluters thanks to the work of citizen groups.

Even in the gerrymandered state districts drawn to elect Republicans, the polluters' lobby in the state legislature is forced to engage in propaganda campaigns claiming Republicans too believe in protecting clean and safe water.

Republicans run political interference for big ag polluters across Wisconsin. Without the gerrymander, the Party would have been run out of office by angry voters.

As the newest water polluters' political campaign, the Speaker's Task Force on Water Quality hearings are well-conceived as propaganda campaigns go, including luminaries such as George Kraft and U.S. Department of Agriculture microbiologist Marc Borchardt — academics whose findings on the grave danger big agriculture presents to water and life are ignored by every single Wisconsin Republican officeholder.

Republicans don't care about water quality anymore than they care about women's health.

The next stop on the traveling roadshow is in Tomahawk and Steven Point, July 23, 24. At the Stevens Point public hearing, the polluters' lobby will be met by many central Wisconsin residents whom big ag proposes to run out of their own, multi-generational homes.

PUBLIC HEARING
Speaker's Task Force on Water Quality
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
12:00 PM
Dreyfus University Center
1015 Reserve St.
Stevens Point, WI 54481
Laird Room North

A July 16, 2019 email from Saratoga Concerned, a central Wisconsin citizens group fighting for clean water and specifically against a proposed massive [Wyscoki] factory farm, urges residents to speak:

For 7 years our community has fought against the Wysocki's resisting their efforts to establish their toxic CAFO [Confined Agricultural Feeding Operations or factory farms] and polluting business practices within our township. Throughout this fight many of us have become incredibly aware of just how precious our ground and surface water is to us locally and statewide. We have learned the naked truth of how our State Legislature, controlled by deep political donors, continuously allows for the exploitation of our resources and turns a blind eye to water contaminating business practices running rampant in our state. Our beautiful Wisconsin waterways are quickly becoming toxic and our groundwater resources contaminated beyond repair. Wisconsin water resources are too precious and contamination is hitting too close to home for us to sit back and think our fight to preserve our water here in Saratoga is over. Please read the information below, then mark your calendars and plan to attend, or SPEAK, at the upcoming public hearing.

"Water quality has become a buzz phrase in Wisconsin. During his first state of the state report, Gov. Tony Evers declared 2019 'the year of clean drinking water.' Weeks earlier Assembly Speaker Robin Vos began setting up a task force to determine the key sources of water contamination and ways to remedy them," notes WUWM.

The 2020 general election will demonstrate how much damage and degradation big agriculture and its Republican allies can inflict on water before a critical mass of voters overwhelms the gerrymandered legislative maps Republicans drew to protect their party against the will of the Wisconsin people.

Campaign 2018: Year of Water Is Here

Clean water advocates from across Wisconsin gathered
at the state capitol in Madison to demand clean and
safe water. Image is from a video filmed in November 2015.
(Mal Contends)

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — The toil of citizens working for clean water appears likely to pay off in the midterm elections statewide.

Massive water condemnation from factory farms enabled by corrupt Republican officeholders and resultant political activity have led to a reckoning — November 6, 2018, Election Day.

Republicans often sound like clean water warriors, adopting the language of the citizens fighting for water in political messaging.

Reports Jack Healy of the New York Times in a dispatch from Armenia in central Wisconsin this morning: "The groundwater that once ran cool and clean from taps in this Midwestern farming town is now laced with contaminants and fear. People refuse to drink it. They won’t brush their teeth with it. They dread taking showers. ... [F]ears and frustration over water quality and contamination have become a potent election-year issue."

Increasing opposition to proposed massive CAFO in central
Wisconsin signals statewide, clean water sentiment.
- Photo by Mary Captain-Braund (creative commons)

Potent is correct.

Wisconsin citizens around the state are working to protect Wisconsin's abundant fresh waters, (Saratoga Concerned, Kewaunee County, U.S. DHS, Mal Contends, In These Times, Water Watch Wisconsin, Kewaunee Cares, Tri-Lakes Management District, Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors, Citizens Concerned about Lake Superior CAFOs, Farms Not Factories).

Republicans are fighting for the polluters.

It's that simple.

Residents in central Wisconsin are fighting a proposed
massive factory farm owned by the infamous
Wysocki corporation, (Saratoga Concerned). State
Rep Scott Krug (R) runs political interference for
polluting industry, and appears poised to pay
the price at the ballot box in the gerrymandered
72nd state assembly district.

Writes the Times Healy

As [Gov Scott Walker (R)] runs for a third term, his Democratic challenger, Tony Evers, has turned polluted wetlands and unsafe water into campaign slogans. In Lodi, north of the state capital, Ann Groves Lloyd is campaigning for the State Assembly with a tongue-in-cheek ad in which she tries to water her cows with plastic bottles and irrigate her fields with a water cooler strapped to a John Deere tractor.

Some voters who say they cannot drink from the taps or water their livestock without worrying about nitrates or E. coli bacteria say the state’s deregulatory spree has gone too far.

'I blame the government,' Jose Rangel said one afternoon as he sat in the living room of his trailer home, reviewing a letter confirming that his 27-foot-deep well had tested at double the federal safety limits for nitrates. 'We can’t do nothing about it. I’ll vote. I want clean water.'

Election Day 2018 will remembered as the day Wisconsin citizens did something about it; they voted out the water polluters' lobby seated in the capitol.

Adams County Wisconsin Fights for Safe Water Amid Gov. Race and Republican Attack on Local Control

Entire regions of Wisconsin face disaster
from polluters and Republicans.

'88% of our county water recreational property is on the state's impaired list'

Madison, Wisconsin — One of the damages inflicted on Wisconsin by Gov. Scott Walker (R) is the malicious attacks on local control for the benefit of Republican donors.

If Walker and Republicans can chase out multi-generational families, disembowel local democracy, then the remaining residents as a whole will be more pliable, better victims

Below is an email from Don Ystad working on protecting Adams County in central Wisconsin by establishing and codifying local bodies of citizens as they face assaults from Republican state government and Republican-supported polluters.

Ystad and other residents held a public Oct. 16 citizens' meeting with the Adams County Board.

Ystad, and neighbors have been deep into this kind of community work for years now. 

Below is an email sent by Ystad on the outcome of the latest meeting, replete with facts and recommendations to safeguard the county from polluters and increase local democracy.

---

Chairman West,

Thank you very much for the opportunity to share our concerns and suggestions for steps that would help improve our declining recreational water quality and our loss of tourism revenue in our county.

The 5% loss in county tourism revenue alone last year equals nearly $17 million. Add the lost opportunity cost of the statewide 3.2% gain and the potential for increased water recreational property value, and I think all would agree that there is a sizable upside to taking steps immediately to improving these impaired waterways. 

As mentioned, 88% of our county water recreational property is on the state's impaired list. Action is needed to reverse these declines. I hope you or Casey can forward to other county board members and applicable committee members. I will forward to the citizen groups to which I have access.

Following are the suggestions discussed last night. I've included those I brought up, as well as those from attendees:

1) Encourage increased involvement of Land and Water Conservation Department (LWCD) and other departments with citizen lake groups. An example is the nine key element plan which was started as a citizen involved participation project, but was redirected with the change in the the LWCD. Another example is the minimal communication of lake issues at the LWCD committee meetings. We can do better than that.

2) Hire a part-time or contract grant specialist to assist LWCD and lake groups to obtain funds for improvement projects. We lost grant funding last year.

3) Hire a a part-time lakes expert to provide guidance to our young LWCD department, and to help spearhead lake improvement efforts like the nine key element plan and improvement projects for our other impaired waterways.

4) Enforce setbacks for all county waterways and expedite the rewrite of the shoreland protection ordinance. Determine if we can enforce the 35' buffer now, in spite of the state changes a few years ago. See Bar Association of Wisconsin.

5) Organize the county-wide septic system database. Improve inspection, reporting and condemnation process.

6)Strengthen and support the county lake alliance. Establish a stronger connection to the LWCD committee and others, including the county board. Help create a link between lakes dwellers and agriculture, and support water improvement projects in common.

7 Involve citizens in a county forest program

8) Consider a task force for CAFO regulation in the county

9) Consider a task force for high capacity well regulation in the county

10) LWCD and other build relationships with neighboring counties that share our watersheds. Promote producer led watershed councils, and facilitate interaction with other counties and with lake and agriculture groups within them.

And, perhaps even more importantly, place each of these suggestions on the county board agenda or agenda of related committees so that concerned citizens can be aware of progress.

For the citizens in attendance at the meeting, and those copied through the e-mail train, communication goes both ways. We need to be a part of this by inserting ourselves in the county government process. That means attending meetings, volunteering, and being an active part of the efforts to repair our county water bodies.

Respectfully,

Don Ystad

Clean Water Group Endorses David Gorski in Central Wisconsin Assembly Race

Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (R) is a factory farm champ
who runs political interference for the Wysocki corp. proposing
a massive factory farm in central Wisconsin. The clean
water citizen group, Saratoga Concerned, dumped on Krug
and endorsed David Gorski (D), a water warrior.

Saratoga Concerned Endorses David Gorski (D) over Rep. Scott Krug (R)

Candidate Synopsis
Saratoga Concerned
Tue 10/9/2018, 7:55 AM
                   
Saratoga Concerned

72nd Assembly District Race
Candidate Synopsis

Friends and neighbors,

The Saratoga Concerned group does not associate itself directly with any political party.  Our leadership team consists of individuals on various sides of the political spectrum and together we work every day to create a balance within our beliefs and messaging to our supporters.  We believe it is everyone's responsibility to VOTE and now more than ever we also believe it is extremely important to know where your candidate actually stands on the ISSUES and not depend on what you believe their political party once represented.

Over the past 2 months, our Saratoga Concerned team has connected with candidates for the 72nd Assembly District with one sole purpose, to dig deep with questions and make them prove their commitment to protecting and preserving Wisconsin waters.  We understand our supporters have multiple issues that are important to them personally and you need to weigh all the factors before voting. For Saratoga Concerned our one and only focus is the issue of Water.

Our Saratoga Concerned team has poured hours into the candidate questionnaire project, checked and rechecked candidate responses fact-checking information provided and made every attempt to provide a non-biased resource to our supporters regarding where each candidate stands in protecting Wisconsin Waters. Below, you will find our synopsis of each candidate, sharing both positive and negative aspects of their responses.

SCOTT KRUG
Scott Krug has been the 72nd Assembly District representative since 2010.   In his early years of holding this position, Representative Krug successfully acquired funds to study and address phosphorus levels within Petenwell Flowage to address the blue-green algae issue.  As Wisconsin citizens watched numerous bad water bills come through our state legislature Representative Krug on occasion made attempts to bring forth amendments to make these bills more palatable to his constituents.   In 2013 Representative Krug formed the Citizens’ Water Advisory group which consisted of local citizens, farming interests, and environmentalist to work together to design an acceptable legislative bill addressing high capacity well pumping in the Central Sands.  Although the intent of this group was positive and proactive the overall progress was not. According to participants, meetings were often disorganized lacking a specific agenda, minutes of the meetings were not published, and in the end citizens did not have input on, nor did they see, a copy of the bill prior to it being brought forth by Representative Krug, resulting in lack of support for the bill by actual members of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee and their associated groups.  In 2017 Representative Krug successfully proposed an amendment and acquired necessary funds, for a hydrological analysis of the Central Sands to study the overpumping currently being allowed.  Although the amendment was accepted into the bill, the actual area currently being studied by the WDNR is much smaller than originally promoted to local constituents.  The High Capacity Well bill itself is horrendous and was highly contested by conservation, environmental, and citizens groups as a whole.  The amendment proposed and passed by Representative Krug, although limited in scope, was a small positive step for the Central Sands and is currently underway.

Representative Krug has made documented efforts to support water initiatives over his time as our local Representative, however, he has also voted AGAINST water protections and in favor of loosening protections.  Just this last legislative session alone found Representative Krug voting to support the following bad water bills that are destructive to our Wisconsin waterways:

    AB105 High Capacity Well Bill - limits the ability of the DNR to address groundwater overpumping and grants ‘forever’ permits for high capacity wells

    Special Session (SS) SSAB1 Exempting Foxconn from State Clean Water Protections - Creating a special district/zone, the bill eliminates state environmental protections for isolated wetlands, navigable streams, and lake beds within this zone. 

    AB547 Removing State Protections for Identified Wetlands - Removal of protections of over one million acres of wetlands in Wisconsin, allowing them to be filled in for development, leading to potential increased flooding in our communities and decreased water quality

    AB499 Industrial Acid Mining Bill -  Eliminates Wisconsin’s “Prove It First” mining law that protects public health and natural resources by requiring mining companies to show a demonstrated track record on protecting water quality before being permitted.

Closer to home, Representative Krug has repeatedly shared that he supports a compromise between the township of Saratoga and the Wysocki organization regarding the proposed CAFO to our community, “With the project in Saratoga, I made my position clear in 2014 and have worked to make sure neither side loses or wins 100% of what they want”.  Representative Krug does not support a limited moratorium on CAFO’s and believes new technologies will solve the pollution problems associated with them.

In conclusion, of the 13 questions posed to Representative Krug he directly answered 7 and received a “non-answer” status on 5 questions for talking around the given subject matter. 

DAVID GORSKI
Candidate Dave Gorski is running as a challenger to Representative Krug for the second time.  As a legislative challenger, Candidate Gorski does not have a voting record as an elected official for us to share among our supporters. Therefore our synopsis consists solely on responses received from Candidate Gorski and on documented actions we could verify through public records and accounts.

Candidate Gorski solidly advocated for the protection of our water and the environment which is voiced clearly and openly in his response to numerous questions posed. He is a strong outspoken advocate of the Public Trust Doctrine believing in the State Constitution that the waters belong to all of us. Candidate Gorski states he would like to work with fellow legislators on the problem of high capacity well overpumping of groundwater and believes there is a need for legislation that balances the needs of the citizens and agricultural interest for water usage.  Most importantly Candidate Gorski believes that environmental polluters should pay for the damage done to our environment and compensate the citizens impacted. He is also an advocate of the Great Lakes compact and voices that Wisconsin should honor the Great Lakes Compact using the water withdrawal for residential use and not for business interests as the compact was designed.

Candidate Gorski states many of these issues can be addressed/accomplished by returning local control back to communities and creating the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as an elected position by the Natural Resource Board and removing it as an appointed position by the sitting Governor.

Saratoga Concerned was able to verify that Candidate Gorski works with numerous local and statewide environmental groups.  In 2016 he helped organize The New Peoples Environmental Summit in our local area, additionally, in 2016 he attended the Factory Farm Summit to learn about the impact of CAFO to communities across the country.  In 2017 Candidate Gorski attended the Citizens’ Water Lobby Day at the state capitol as well as attending numerous other water protection events such as Conservation Lobby Day and actively testified and spoke with legislators in Madison regarding water issues and proposed legislation. 

Closer to home Candidate Gorski has spoken out openly against the Wysocki Golden Sands CAFO proposal and supports a statewide CAFO Moratorium on new and expanding CAFOs until appropriate water and environmental protections are in place for Wisconsin citizens.  He actively attends and participates in our local meetings and has a clear understanding of what his potential constituents are vocalizing regarding water and environmental concerns.

In conclusion, of the 13 questions posed to Candidate Gorski he directly answered 11 and received a “non-answer” status on 2 questions for not answering the specific question completely.

FINAL THOUGHTS
It is imperative that we all exercise our right to vote.  It is also important that we step out of our former mindset of being either a Republican or Democrat voter and instead vote the issues.  Our area lakes and streams are in a state of decline and our control over our own environment is being taken away. That makes it all the more important to know what your candidate stands for on individual issues and vote based upon the issue.  Please remember you can access all our previous newsletters at the link provided www.saratogaconcerned.com/newsletter-subscribe.

After thoughtful conversation and reviewing answers provided by both candidates, Saratoga Concerned believes Candidate David Gorski will be the stronger water protector and support his candidacy for the 72nd Assembly District.

Central Wisconsin Vows to Continue Fight Against Proposed Factory Farm after Supreme Court Defeat

 An activist rightwing Wisconsin Supreme Court bends
law to arrive at a decision green-lighting a proposed
massive factory farm in central Wisconsin.

'No amount of compromise worth risking the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens,' says Saratoga Concerned, a Wisconsin citizens' group

Saratoga Concerned and allied clean water groups may be the most powerful citizen-action Wisconsin phenomenon since the peace movement.

These central Wisconsin residents appear injured and not surprised by the Wisconsin Supreme Court's 5-2 decision in favor of a proposed factory farm.

Looking for meaning in a corrupt court's decision appears a fool's game. But here goes.

The Court decision by Republican justices in Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga implies a new legal doctrine, (not acknowledged by state jurists because it suggests corruption), that broadly stated elevates a general claim of corporate vested property rights through the inclusion of a vague reference to 'land' in a state building permit application, against community zoning power.

The corrupt decision is revealed in the dissenting opinion of Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson joined by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, though the implication is subtle:

Today, the majority expands the Building Permit Rule to create vested rights to  particular uses of land so long as the land is 'specifically identified' in the building permit application.

This ill-advised expansion of the Building Permit Rule sacrifices the important public policies that the Building Permit Rule was designed to encourage, namely, 'predictability for land owners, purchasers, developers, municipalities, and the courts.'

Golden Sands is not an expansion of the Building Permit Rule, it's a perversion and warping of the Building Permit Rule. Put simply, property owners must strictly conform to applicable zoning regulations except when they don't.

Abrahamson and Walsh Bradley suggest as much in footnote 7 of their dissent, (p. 3):

At  the  time  Golden  Sands  submitted  its  building  permit application, the land at issue was enrolled in the DNR's Managed Forest Land  program, which precluded agricultural uses, and Golden Sands was aware of the Town's efforts to rezone the land. 

One wonders how reasonable Golden Sands' expectations were given what it knew at the time it submitted its building permit application.

For central Wisconsin residents, Golden Sands means residents' right to peaceful, healthy living in homes and communities is outweighed in this case by factory farms' right to degrade such peace and health by the industrial operation of private corporations.

The predictable effect of operating a factory farm is toxifying the water supply causing communities to zone for protection, but this is no longer a powerful basis for argument in litigation of corporations' claim to vested property rights in many situations now.  

Golden Sands applies statewide. After Golden Sands as long as corrupt Republican justices remain in the majority, the Court will find for corporations over other competing interests case-by-case.

The majority opinion in Golden Sands is a convoluted argument five justices threw together to find for the corporation.
---
An eruption of dejection was palpable in central Wisconsin after the Wisconsin Supreme Court announced its decision the morning of June 5.

An objective reading of the devastation Big Agriculture inflicts onto other communities concludes vast harm is subjected to non-corporate interests, an acceptable outcome for the Republican Party.

After the sixth year of the grassroots fight against this proposed factory farm owned by the Wysocki corporation, some residents appear locked in an abusive relationship with the Republican Walker administration, the Republican-dominated Supreme Court and the Republican-dominated state legislature.

As each new injury through policy decision is inflicted onto this region, many politically active residents walk on eggshells fearful that publicly calling out Republicans for corrupt policy decisions will upset their Republican abusers.

In Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga, the Republican Wisconsin Department of Justice filed an extraordinary amicus brief in November 2017 in favor of private corporate interest against Wisconsin communities after the Republican Wisconsin Supreme Court quickly agreed to hear the case in Sept 2017 with the clear intention of reversing the rare victory achieved in state appellate court in April 2017.

Many residents last year and in 2018 mistook their communties' presentation of a narrow legal issue in Golden Sands as mandating something other than what can be expected from the collective corrupt intent of five Court justices who arrived at in a predetermined result.
 ---
If central Wisconsin residents say nice things about legislative Republicans and Scott Walker, pretend Republicans on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are not corrupt and are not rightwing judicial activists, the policy outcomes will not change. Residents are not players or stakeholders, not even valid competing interests, in the minds of policymaker.

To this point, central Wisconsin clean water activists have not thrown all-in towards a concerted electoral effort to defeat the policymakers who are committed to the devastation of the activists' communities.

Unless this broad grassroots movement replaces Republican Party policymakers, residents' current status of not mattering with be replaced with in the way to predictable outcomes.

Stay tuned.

From Saratoga Concerned

Friends and neighbors,

Many of you have already heard from either radio, newspaper, or our Facebook page, the WI Supreme Court reversed the WI Appellate Court decision and ruled in favor of Wysocki. The decision was a 5-2 split with only Justice Abrahamson and Justice Walsh-Bradley ruling in our favor.  Although an extremely frustrating outcome, it was one to be expected when we look at the make-up of the current sitting Justices.  The full copy of the decision can be viewed here.

It is important to state loud and clear OUR FIGHT AGAINST WYSOCKI IS NOT OVER.  He may have won the battle but the war between our opposing sides rages on.  There are still roads untravelled that we can pursue in the fight to preserve our water, air, and soil.  The court decision has only reignited the fire in many of us, now more than ever, we need the rest of our citizens to re-engage and stand alongside us and fight.

Over the years many of you have donated your talents, sacrificed your time, and emptied your pocketbooks to assist in our battle.  We are again asking for your assistance in the coming weeks as we plan to be proactive in our battle and face the situation head-on.  No more waiting patiently for Wysocki to make a move and then react, it is time we start making our own moves as we continue forward.

Watch for an upcoming announcement and meeting date to learn how you can assist and get involved to protect our beautiful Saratoga.

Sincerely,
Saratoga Leadership Team

Criste Greening, Eric Peterson, Timm Rosenthal, Brian Hamm, Rob Borski, Bruce & Doreen Dimick, Bob and Mary Wright, Dan and Nancy Fara, Buzz and Helen Donahue
Concerned Rome Citizens (CRC) Representatives: Don Ystad, John and Jeanie Endrizzi

What happens next seems to be the million dollar question on everyone's mind. Please know, information provided below are possible ways of how this scenario could play out moving forward, there is no set path or predetermined avenue we (or our town board) may decide to take.  Only time will tell and determine future actions.

Contact with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Members of our group immediately rekindled relationships with our WDNR contacts to get an idea of what happens next with the CAFO permitting process.  The preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has been on hold while the WI Supreme Court determined the outcome of our case.  Communication with WDNR personnel indicated the following.

    No immediate plans have been made to reopen the EIR review and complete the pending EIS (simply too soon to have scheduled a planning meeting with necessary individuals)

    The WDNR is still awaiting Wysocki's
    Administrative code NR150 has changed multiple times since our battle started in 2012 and again since the EIS completion was placed on hold, WDNR personnel could not answer definitively how this would impact our case until it is determined which version of NR150 they would be following moving forward
    WDNR personnel state NR150 changes MAY impact our opportunity to have the WDNR complete an EIS and hold a public hearing as was the original plan prior to the WI Supreme Court appeal.
    Constant communication will be maintained with the WDNR and we will keep citizens abreast of information as it is received. 

EIS Hearing (IF GRANTED)
If the WDNR completes the EIS statement and a public hearing is granted, we will need every able body possible to pack the house and speak against the dairy and its plans.  Prior to the appeal being filed to the Wi Supreme Court, the plan was to host the hearing at the Wisconsin Rapids Performing Arts Center (PAC).  As of now future plans are uncertain.

CAFO Permitting
The cold reality is there has never been a CAFO permit denied in the state of Wisconsin, we fully expect the Wysocki organization to receive their permits with little opposition from the WDNR but hopefully with some restrictions due to all the natural resource data we have supplied over the years.  In reality, the WDNR's hands are tied and must follow the rules for permitting.  However, once permitted the town of Saratoga (or other invested parties) can file for a Contested Case Hearing.

Contested Case Hearing
A contested hearing is a formal court hearing, held when the parties do not agree on one or more aspects of the permit.  In this situation, it would be a contested case against the WDNR's ruling to issue a permit noting numerous issued involved.  A Judge hears both parties tell their stories and then makes a decision. Depending on who brought forth the contested case, individuals can speak for themselves, bring witnesses, and present documents. Court rules of evidence and procedure are followed.

Additional Points to Consider

    If reaching the point of a Contested Case Hearing the CAFO will again be on hold while it is battled in the courts, this could take years

    Over the past few years, Saratoga has put in place numerous ordinances that would make operating a CAFO within our community a tangled mess of hurdles for Wysocki to overcome, making business operations difficult

    Local volunteers under the guidance of the WDNR have compiled 5 complete years of extensive water data of our creeks, residents have supplied 500+ residential water samples, and our town continues to collect monitoring data from the 10 test wells drilled around proposed fields creating one of the most concrete water baseline data profiles in history.  We will know if our water becomes contaminated and WE WILL KNOW WHO IS GUILTY OF CONTAMINATING IT and can pursue legal action if necessary

    Adams County township of Rome has also started stream monitoring efforts as well as installed monitoring wells.  The town and local volunteers are actively collecting data on current water conditions to proactively protect their citizens and assist Saratoga in their efforts.

    With the Supreme Court decision, be prepared to see changes in our landscape as it was announced in the newspaper by Wysocki "The dairy will begin working on some farmland aspects of the project this year by clearing more land and putting some of the land already cleared into production"

Continued Concerns

For years we have worried about the proposed CAFO and the massive amounts of manure it would bring to our area but also about the effects of clear-cutting and cropping the thousands of acres within Saratoga.  To be clear, we do not want either within our borders - period!  It has been considered that perhaps the CAFO piece of the plan would go away and just the cropping of our lands would remain, clear-cutting thousands of acres will still have a significant detrimental impact to our groundwater and due to the numerous high capacity wells needed for irrigation, would significantly impact our groundwater levels as well.

There is no amount of compromise that is worth risking the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens.

Saratoga Concerned will continue to fight.

Wisconsin Gov Candidate, Flynn, Hits State Court Decision on Factory Farm

Update: Gov Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans leave behind death. From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and The Political Environment:

"Celina Stewart, a young mother in the tiny town of Nekoosa, lost an infant daughter to a fatal brain malformation that has been associated with high levels of nitrate, a fertilizer byproduct found in the community’s drinking water. Her tragedy led to a community well testing program this year, which found that 40 percent of the homes had nitrate concentrations that, like hers, were far above the legal limit."
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Madison, Wisconsin — Matt Flynn, candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for governor, responded to the Golden Sands v. Saratoga decision and opinions released today by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Flynn has taken an aggressive stance towards factory farms and Republican Party work in favor of factory farms against local control and state anti-pollution statutes and regulations.

Reads Flynn's press release:

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Matt Flynn today responded to the shortsighted decision by the State Supreme Court in Golden Sands Dairy LLC v Town of Saratoga, which will allow the concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) – also known as a factory farm – to proceed despite overwhelming community opposition.

"This decision ignores precedent and legalizes contamination and draining of our groundwater," said Flynn. "As governor, I will restore local control, enforce local ordinances, and support any county that rejects CAFOs which are poisoning our groundwater and must be stopped."

Golden Sands Dairy is owned by the Wysocki Family of Companies, which has been accused of violating state environmental laws, but has also contributed over $30,000 to Governor Scott Walker.

Flynn has been a strong opponent of unregulated CAFOs in Wisconsin, and has called for laws to limit their ability to use groundwater and contaminate wells.

Wisconsin Supreme Court to Release Decision on Proposed Factory Farm, Local Govs and Communties on June 5

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — The Wisconsin Supreme Court is not an impartial judicial body anymore.

That's not what the state's high appellate court is in business for. The Court serves special interests.

But the Court announced that on June 5 the decision and opinions in 2015AP1258 Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga will be released. See Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Release of Supreme Court Opinions. Find the case on June 5 at Wisconsin Courts.

In the Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide whether some 1.7 million Wisconsin citizens, some 30 percent of the state living in towns, can act locally to protect local conditions, property values, families, drinking water quality, and local character through zoning, (p. 14. Brief of Amicus Curiae - Local Business Amici. Filed by Christa Westerberg).

The Golden Sands factory farm is seeking a new and novel interpretation of the state's vested property rights doctrine to render a town's capacity to protect itself virtually non-existent. [For legal updates on the case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, enter 15ap1258 in the Appeal Number field.]

In April 2017, "the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Town of Saratoga, holding that the vested rights that the Wysocki Family of Companies have in a building permit for seven dairy buildings on 98 acres do not authorize them to use more than 4,660 acres throughout the Town for the application of manure ... ," (Apr 13, 2017; 015AP001258; Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga; District 4; Wood County,).

Stopping this massive application of manure could be a mortal blow to the business operation of this proposed factory farm, Golden Sands Dairy LLC.

The case was argued before the Supreme Court Jan 11, 2018.

No central Wisconsin resident contacted this weekend expressed confidence the Wisconsin Supreme Court would follow existing doctrine on corporate property rights and municipal authority. Anything is possible as powerful interests are parties to both sides of the case. Facts, law, long-observed doctrine and arguments are irrelevant in the Court's proceedings.

In action related to this case, since 2011 Republicans have implemented an unprecedented statutory framework according corporate property rights supremacy over any other competing rights, including public interest concerns.

Notes David Strifling at the Marquette University  Law School:

In 2016, the Wisconsin Legislature [enacted] Wis. Stat. § 227.57(11). The statute provides that a 'court shall accord no deference to the agency’s interpretation of law if the agency action or decision restricts the property owner’s free use of the property owner’s property.'

Though to this point Republicans have worked to change the nature of corporations' property rights vis a vis the public interest function of state agencies and local governments, the Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga case accords the Republican-dominated Supreme Court a way to expand corporate property rights over the health and safety claims of neighbors and communities.

Wisconsin Supreme Court

Corporate interests, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau and Wisconsin Realtors Association, have filed Amicus, (Friend of the Court), briefs in support of the Court hearing the Golden Sands-Wysocki petition.

Republican Supreme Court members protect corporate interests, and for years have refused to recuse themselves in cases in which the justices' political campaigns have benefited from heavy spending by litigants, (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign), (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign).

Some central Wisconsin residents contacted believe that because the remaining credibility of the Wisconsin Supreme Court as an independent judicial body is at stake, the Court may not overturn the well-grounded April 2017 state appellate decision in Golden Sands.
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From Saratoga (Wisconsin) Concerned Update

6/1/2018

Special Announcement:
Supreme Court - Golden Sands Dairy -vs- Town of Saratoga
Decision coming on Tuesday, June 5th, 2018

Earlier this morning the WI Supreme Court posted the list of cases whose decisions will be announced next week.  Saratoga's case is on the list for release on Tuesday, June 5th.

It is important to remind our followers the decision in front of the WI Supreme Court is NOT about whether Wysocki can build his CAFO in Saratoga, but specifically what he legally can do with the land he eventually purchased in 2015.  The decision ahead will either allow Wysocki to clear-cut the parcels for cropland or uphold Saratoga's current zoning ordinance which was in place before the land was purchased.

Although a win at the WI Supreme Court level would be cause for a huge celebration, it does not necessarily end completely our battle with the Wysocki's.  It would, however, be a significant roadblock for him moving forward with his proposed CAFO. 

The minute the decision is made public on Tuesday we will immediately break down the information and blast it out via our Newsletter and Facebook pages.  Please be thinking positive thoughts and keep your fingers crossed for a verdict in our favor.

Sincerely,
Saratoga Concerned Leadership Team

Wisconsin's Year of Water—2018

Increasing opposition to proposed massive CAFO in central
Wisconsin signals statewide, clean water sentiment.
- Photo by Mary Captain-Braund (creative commons)

In 2016, Election Day saw electoral defeats for two prominent clean-water candidates running for state assembly in central and northeastern Wisconsin.

The set-backs are temporary and the Wisconsin Blue Wave is acknowledged across the political spectrum as the terrain on which the 2018 campaigns are held.

Clean water champ and 2016 candidate, Dave Gorski, is back, running in the 72nd assembly district in central Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin's northeastern peninsula, a special election for state senate in a district held by Republicans is considered so vulnerable, Gov. Scott Walker went to unprecedented lengths to block the election before state courts ordered Walker to follow the law, forcing the gov to let people decide their representatives in free elections.

Anti-Trump and Walker animus, pro-women sentiment, public school defenders, local democracy, criminal justice reform and anti-Foxconn voters are poised to become electoral factors in 2018.

Clean water grassroots groups present the equivalent of a massive ground operation energizing the Wisconsin Blue Wave.

Candidates in 2018 have taken notice, bringing back a traditional Wisconsin commitment—clean and fresh water.

In the town of Saratoga, Wisconsin, (population some 5,100), in southern Wood County an entire municipal government is mobilized for survival, as one proposed factory farm, CAFO, in Saratoga would "likely contaminate residents drinking wells and pump out more groundwater than some cities," (Anderson, USA Today Network-Wisconsin).

Republican legislators, State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) and State Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) in central Wisconsin work against the interests of their constituents whom they sell out to Big Ag interests which pollute and deplete surface and ground waters in support of the Republican coalition.

Some leading clean water advocates include gubernatorial candidate Matt Flynn, and Ann Groves Lloyd running for a special election in central Wisconsin, assembly dist 42.

Writes Flynn in a message repeated across the state:

Wisconsin used to be known for clean air, clean water, and clean government. Now we have dirty air, dirty water, and corrupt government. This is unacceptable. Here's how I'll protect our clean water resources as #wigov https://t.co/QB1xZ2KZyO #bluewave2018 https://t.co/FfLh1BsqJ5

— Matt Flynn (@ForwardWFlynn) May 1, 2018

Groves Lloyd of Lodi, Wisconsin is running in the special assembly election to be held on June 12, one of two special elections that will draw national attention.

The Wisconsin people have become so disgusted with Scott Walker and the Republicans rigging law and water-safety regulations to help polluters against families that Walker in a historic first actually blocked special elections to stop Wisconsin voters from electing candidate who would protect their families.

Below is a TV spot running widely featuring Groves Lloyd's campaign commitment to protecting water.

EPA Drilling Wells to Probe Complaints Near Dangerous Factory Farm in Central Wisconsin

EPA investigating massive water pollution in central
Wisconsin in Juneau County. Factory farm is culprit.

Residents hope Central Sands Dairy CAFO pollution gets recorded in extensive water testing in Armenia, Juneau County 

Residents in Juneau County want what most take for granted: Clean, safe water to drink, shower and bathe children.

Following radical changes from Gov. Scott Walker and every Republican legislator with no dissents allowed, safe water is asking too much in Juneau County thanks to the Republican pollute-all-you-want water policy.

Central Wisconsin citizens are chronicling extensive water testing in Juneau County. The testing is believed to be conducted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

From an email from Don Ystad who is fighting the siting of a massive factory farm in central Wisconsin by the same corporation ruining lives in Armenia, Juneau County.

Concerned citizens,

I think you'll recall that the Wysockis said they would pattern the proposed 5,300 cow Golden Sands dairy CAFO in Saratoga after the one they operate in Armenia. You should also recall that a monitoring well at one of Wysocki's fields near the Armenia CAFO tested nitrates at 77mg/L, nearly eight times the state and federal limit for drinking water. And, you may recall hearing about a nearby Armenia neighbor whose drinking water well tested at 51 mg/L for nitrates. She can't drink, cook or bathe with her well water

I had heard some time ago that the EPA was investigating complaints about the state of the groundwater around the Armenia CAFO. It has evolved to a full-fledged test all around the CAFO and in neighboring properties. These photos and video, along with comments from the friend who visited the site, confirm it. I hope for the sake of those neighbors and us that the EPA follows through.

For those of us living with the specter of this proposed CAFO in Saratoga, think about what the Armenia people are going through, and imagine a scenario like that in our communities around Saratoga. It's going on six years. Let us not let up now or ever.

Thanks,

Don Ystad, for Concerned Rome Citizens
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EPA will be drilling 41 boreholes around the Armenia area and Wysocki fields all the way to the river. They are testing for your basic contaminates nitrates, ammonia, phosphorus, coliform, and others. Typical drilling is going down about 60-80 feet with both a shallow and deep water sample taken. Drilling is occurring Mon., Tues., Wed this week.

Thursday their focus is shifting to undisclosed residential wells in the area.  When asked how many they planned to test I simply got the bug eyes look and the comment ... "A Lot"

Here is a link to a quick video.

Wisconsin Clean Water Advocates Are in Fighting Mood

'Why do we, as a democratic society, allow the rich and powerful to trample over the rights and health of the average rural citizen!'

Updated - Commenting on children drinking manure-laden water caused by factory farms, Janet McConaughey of Ixonia, Wisconsin, (Jefferson County), said:

"What I'm concerned about is (5-year-old grandson) Jordan's world. So, I want to know that when he's grown up, he'll have a decent place to live. He'll have clean air, clean water," (Bowden, Wisconsin Public Radio).

Ms. McConaughey is not alone as Gov. Scott Walker has ceded rural Wisconsin as a colony to Big Ag, without regard to the consequences to families and communities.

Walker's brazen give-away of private homes and public communities is a major political fight that is bearing electoral fruit.

But a major battle is the Wisconsin courts.

In central Wisconsin, 10,000s of residents are waiting to hear what the Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide to do with their communities and homes in Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga case, awaiting opinion and decision.

Golden Sands is a name of a proposed factory farm of the infamous Wysocki corporation.

The stakes are high.

1. The Court can eliminate the democratic capacity of families to protect local conditions, property values, drinking water, health, and local character.

2. The Court can decide to impose onto Wisconsin a radical, new conception of corporate vested property rights.
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Clean water advocates have built a movement in Wisconsin.
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On April 3, Big Ag's candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Michael Screnock, Scott Walker's candidate, was decisively defeated by Rebecca Dallet who campaigned in part on protecting clean water as a value.

Consider the unofficial results from four central-Wisconsin counties, much of which would be devastated by an adverse Court decision in Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga case.

Next to each county below is the Trump victory margin in 2016, and the Democratic swing.

Adams County: (Won by Trump 58 to 36 percent)

Rebecca Dallet       - 1892 votes (49 percent)
Michael Screnock  - 1912 votes (50 percent)
—Democratic swing of 21 points

Wood County (Won by Trump 56 to 37)

Rebecca Dallet       - 6471 votes (52 percent)
Michael Screnock  - 5933 votes (47 percent)
—Democratic swing of 24 points

Juneau County (Won by Trump 60 to 34)

Rebecca Dallet       -  2157 votes (45 percent)
Michael Screnock  -  2600 votes (54 percent)
—Democratic swing of 17 points

Portage County (Lost by Trump 44 to 49)

Rebecca Dallet       - 7455 votes (62 percent)
Michael Screnock  - 4435 votes (37 percent)
—Democratic swing of 20 points

[Trump figures are rounded. Dallet-Screnock figures omit scattering votes.]

Conclusion: The Blue Wave is building in Wisconsin, and clean and safe water advocates are energizing the momentum.
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The Wysocki corporation has a factory farm in Juneau county, and it is polluting families unfortunate to live near the shit-emitting monstrosity, the Central Sands Dairy, LLC.

Central Sands is applying for a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit.

An update from central Wisconsin residents, Bruce Dimick and Doreen Dimick follows:

Hello all,

On March 22, 2018 there was a WPDES public renewal hearing for the Wysocki CAFO, Central Sands Dairy, in Armenia, Juneau County. This public hearing was conducted by the DNR as are all these public hearings. Wysocki has been in frequent violation of his current WPDES permit, but that appears to be of no great concern to the DNR.

I did not have any great expectations about how this hearing would go, but I was greatly encouraged by the outcome.  First of all at least 9 citizens from Saratoga showed up and 5 of those citizens spoke in opposition to renewal of Wysocki's WPDES permit. But what was the biggest surprise was that at least 50 people showed up for the hearing and an additional 13 people, all from Armenia and the surrounding area spoke up against.  No one spoke in favor of granting Wysocki a renewal.  The people from Armenia spoke from the heart. They had had their wells contaminated, their property devalued, and their way of life degraded.

Sheri Red Fox, who can't use her water for much of anything, spoke of having to distill enough water just to brush her teeth and have enough to drink and cook with.  She lives quite close to the CAFO.  A former employee of Wysocki spoke of how he had been ordered to spread manure on frozen ground and on snow covered fields, all of which is illegal.  When he complained he was fired by Wysocki's managers and threatened if he ever told anyone about what was going on.  One member of the Armenia Town Board spoke up on how the contaminated water was adversely affecting his constituents.

Many people from Armenia thanked those of us from Saratoga for standing with them.

I could not identify anyone from the Wysocki organization being at the hearing, but I am sure they had at least one plant to report back to "Jimmy".

No one is under any illusion that the DNR will not renew the WPDES permit, but the testimony given is now a matter of public record and could be used in court proceedings in the future.
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WPDES PERMIT HEARING FOR CENTRAL SANDS DAIRY – MARCH 22, 2018

Geologically speaking, the Central Sands area was a large lake called Glacial Lake Wisconsin formed after the last ice age.  There was a large ice dam in the Wisconsin Dells area that allowed the lake to persist for 5 or 10,000 years. During those years, the lake filled up with sand from the Wisconsin River and its tributaries. Once the ice dam gave way, the lake drained and our current environment was slowly established. We might envision that we are living over a huge washtub of sand filled with water. The sand is quite porous, so this washtub is continually replenished with rainwater and snowmelt. There is no real distinction between surface water and ground water in this porous environment.

 Most of us who live in the Central Sands in rural areas have our own private wells, whether they be drilled wells or sandpoints.  For the most part we are all drinking from the same aquifer.  This aquifer is both plentiful and vulnerable to pollution due to the porosity of the sandy soil. It is incumbent on all of us that live here and use this aquifer to protect it for the good of all. 

Excessive nitrates are a particular pollutant that easily are dissolved in rainwater and flow down into the aquifer. The EPA limit for dissolved nitrates in drinking water is 10 ppm for municipal water supplies for health reasons. Colorectal cancer, blue baby syndrome, and other deadly ailments are among the diseases linked to nitrates in drinking water.

The Central Sands Dairy has a total of 9 monitoring wells strategically placed around the CAFO.  Many of these monitoring wells have consistently exceeded the EPA limit of 10 ppm by wide margins.  The worst reading that I have seen recorded was 88 ppm for CSD 7S in October 2017.  Think of that – almost 9 times the EPA limit!

So all this contaminated water flows in a predominately southeasterly direction on its way to the now highly contaminated Lake Petenwell. Along the way it contaminates the water supplies of the rural residents in its path.

All of us siting here today know that the DNR will renew the WPDES permit for the Central Sands Dairy. The question is why do we, as a democratic society, allow the rich and powerful to trample over the rights and health of the average rural citizen!
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WPDES PERMIT HEARING FOR CENTRAL SANDS DAIRY,
Mar. 22, 2018

The hearing today centers on the DNR’s decision whether or not to give the Central Sands Dairy a permit to continue operations for the next five years and under what conditions it may operate. One would think that this permit would be based on what effect the dairy has and has had on the groundwater in the area of and around the dairy. 

The EPA standard for maximum nitrogen in the groundwater is 10 ppm, yet almost all the monitoring wells in and around Central Sands Dairy show levels well above that standard. So it is very concerning that it seems that there have been  no real efforts to enforce that standard. There is no way that the houses around the CSD have drinkable well water and must choose expensive bottled water and/or a reverse osmosis system.  Indeed one would wonder where the dairy is accessing the water that is given to the cows that produce the milk. 

Municipal water supplies must stay within the 10 ppm limit. Restaurants or other service businesses that rely on water must stay within that limit. Central Sands Dairy is not even close. I would urge the DNR to deny the permit under present business practices and enforce some meaningful limits.

Doreen Dimick
Wisconsin Rapids, WI