 |
| It's almost summer in Wisconsin. Vectoring millions of tons of pathogen-laden cow manure in liquid and aerial emissions into surface waters and aquifers has the go-ahead from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the Department of Natural Resources and Scott Walker, the titular and corrupt governor of Wisconsin. Image: Midwest Environmental Advocates |
Non-enforcement of regulations against pollution and poisoning of Wisconsin rural communities serves polluters, and a secondary objective to drive socially aware families out of state
The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Wisconsin Department of Justice (DoJ) refuse to act against water contamination by cow manure and pathogens in Kewaunee and Door counties, clean water activists noted this weekend. They say this non-enforcement stance is a statewide policy.
Kewaunee County residents, Nancy and Lynn Utesch, point to emails (below) sent and responded to by a Wisconsin assistant attorney general dated September 22, 2014.
In an email to Asst. Attorney General and Director of the Environmental Protection Unit with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Thomas J. Dawson, Nancy and Lynn Utesch reference a piece here entitled Sixteen CAFOs in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Define Devastation.
The Utesches write in part to Dawson, "I do believe you should know the truth of what is going on--on the ground and in communities suffering from the ill effects of non-enforcement, non-regulations and fines that should be warranted for their reckless and dangerous behavior to citizens and the environment."
When something does finally happen, Mr. Dawson, it will be with the full knowledge of yourself, and the DOJ department, and through informative articles and information that the self-policing citizens are doing."
Something had happened days before in Kewaunee County in northeastern Wisconsin.
Reports Jim Lundsrum in the Door County Peninsula Pulse (Nov. 12, 1014):
A young family visiting Door County for a weekend in mid-September, [2014, days before the Utesches emailed the DoJ's Dawson], were the subject of a public health investigation when they returned to their Calumet County home and their four-month-old daughter came down with an illness that was identified as E. coli bacteria from a bovine source, [cow manure].
‘The department of health got involved. They asked me where I was. That was several phone calls, to try to narrow it down,’ said the infant’s mother (she asked that we not use their names).
It turns out the family had stayed that weekend at a West Jacksonport, [Door County], home now identified as in the area of concern for well contamination after a Sept. 8 manure spreading session that included spreading into a sinkhole. This was the Monday after torrential rains wreaked havoc and saturated the landscape. …
‘The department of health nurse said since the E. coli was combined with a campylobacter bacteria, that’s really indicative of a bovine source. They were able to track it to the source based on the type of bacteria in the water.’
The mother said she does not understand why manure spreading is not more regulated. …
‘Especially with the fractured bedrock and shallow soil. It doesn’t take much for it to get in the groundwater.’ …
For other reports and analyses of water contamination across the state, see "Manure spraying under scrutiny," (Seely, WisconsinWatch); and "Health Risks of Manure Spray Irrigation," (Kewaunee CARES).
In all, 17 people including the infant were sickened in one September 2014 incident from one near-CAFO that then became a CAFO-sized factory farm, Haberli Farms, in 2105, (Lundstrum, Door County Pulse). The DNR and DoJ conducted no investigation of the incident.
The September 2014 incident was followed by a report issued some 14 months later showing, "More than one-third of wells in dairy farm-intensive Kewaunee County were found to be unsafe because they failed to meet health standards for drinking water, according to a new study," (Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
Today, drinking the water or bathing in the water in Kewaunee County and in numerous other areas across the state is rolling the dice with your health, ("Bacteria in state’s drinking water is ‘public health crisis’ Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents are at risk of illness from waterborne pathogens in private and public drinking water supplies," (Seely, WisconsinWatch).
Asst. Attorney General and Director of the Environmental Protection Unit, Wisconsin Department of Justice Dawson replied to Nancy Utesch:
Ms. Utesch: As indicated in our letter to you of September 6, 2013 (attached), the DOJ enforces Wisconsin’s regulatory laws on referral primarily from the DNR. Our office has no independent environmental investigators or authority to prosecute violations except upon investigation and referral from DNR. Therefore, your concerns should be directed there. Thank you.
A request for comment sent by Mal Contends in a May 23, 2016 email, (below), to the DoJ was not met with a response.
Since 2011, the DNR has been radically transformed by Scott Walker and Republicans and turned into a vehicle to facilitate pollution instead of protecting natural resources, (The Political Environment).
Industry is not only free to pollute, it now free to plunder Wisconsin aquifers and surface water.
On May 10, 2106, Wisconsin's Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel issued a formal opinion stripping "the ability of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to protect our waterways from wells that pump 100,000 gallons per day or more. This opinion ignores decades of legal precedent and sound science, and puts Wisconsin’s waterways at even greater risk of drying up," (Wheeler, The Capital Times).
Good news for industrialized, polluting agricultural operations such as Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy LLC in Kewaunee County, (Golden, WisconsinWatch).
Bad news for Wisconsin families.
"More streams, lakes, and wells will go dry at a time when these resources are already stressed, to the detriment of other property owners, recreational water users, and the environment. Citizens are already sick and tired of having to go to court and do the job the DNR should be doing to protect the state’s resources," said Christa Westerberg, attorney for Friends of the Central Sands, reacting to Attorney General Schimel's give-away opinion to Big Ag polluters, (Verburg, Wisconsin State Journal).
--
Wisconsin DoJ, and Nancy and Lynn Utesch Emails notes reproduced below:
---
Johnnie,
Looking for a comment Re allegations of non-enforcement of regulated pollution events in Kewaunee County. Allegation is made by Lynn Utesch of Kewaunee County.
Utesch references emails, (from 2014), sent to and received from Asst. AG Thomas J. Dawson.
Utesch says:
- There is no enforcement of regulations Re CAFO pollution in Kewaunee County
- That the DoJ has been made aware of pollution events
- And includes an email from Dawson (below), reading in part: "As indicated in our letter to you of September 6, 2013 (attached), the DOJ enforces Wisconsin’s regulatory laws on referral primarily from the DNR. Our office has no independent environmental investigators or authority to prosecute violations except upon investigation and referral from DNR. Therefore, your concerns should be directed there."
Can you email me an on-the-record comment Re Utesch's allegations?
Thx!
Mike Leon
Michael Leon
Marketing and Public Relations Consultant
http://malcontends.blogspot.com/
Date: Sun, 22 May 2016 14:51:24 +0000
From: lnutesch@yahoo.com
To:
Subject: Fw: MAL Contends . . .: Sixteen CAFOs in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Define Devastation
The non-enforcement going on in our communities, and the resulting pollution and contamination. The DOJ is aware.
n
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Lynn Utesch To: "Dawson, Thomas J." <DawsonTJ@DOJ.STATE.WI.US>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 4:47 PM
Subject: Re: MAL Contends . . .: Sixteen CAFOs in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Define Devastation
Thank you Mr. Dawson.
I do not send you things to inundate you with information.
I
do believe you should know the truth of what is going on--on the ground
and in communities suffering from the ill effects of non-enforcement,
non-regulations and fines that should be warranted for their reckless
and dangerous behavior to citizens and the environment.
When
something does finally happen, Mr. Dawson, it will be with the full
knowledge of yourself, and the DOJ department, and through informative
articles and information that the self-policing citizens are doing.
Sincerely,
Nancy Utesch
From: "Dawson, Thomas J." <DawsonTJ@DOJ.STATE.WI.US>
To: 'Lynn Utesch
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 4:20 PM
Subject: RE: MAL Contends . . .: Sixteen CAFOs in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Define Devastation
Ms. Utesch:
As
indicated in our letter to you of September 6, 2013 (attached), the DOJ
enforces Wisconsin’s regulatory laws on referral primarily from the
DNR. Our office has no independent environmental investigators or
authority to prosecute violations except upon investigation and referral
from DNR. Therefore, your concerns should be directed there. Thank
you.
Thomas J. Dawson, Director
Environmental Protection Unit
Wisconsin Department of Justice
17 West Main Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7857
(608)
From: Lynn Utesch [mailto:lnutesch@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 3:06 PM
To: Dawson, Thomas J.
Subject: Fw: MAL Contends . . .: Sixteen CAFOs in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Define Devastation
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 3:06 PM
To: Dawson, Thomas J.
Subject: Fw: MAL Contends . . .: Sixteen CAFOs in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Define Devastation
No comments:
Post a Comment