Wisconsin Abandoning Great Lakes to Big Ag Pollution and Deadly Pathogens

Bayfield County Wisconsin,
bordering Lake Superior

Virus and bacteria contamination, including the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, is coming to Lake Superior and Wisconsin watersheds, courtesy of Dale Reicks and his sociopathic CAFO from Iowa

Human beings, as all Earth life are water beings.

We are composed of mostly water, and we need it to survive.

In Wisconsin, beyond our 15,000 lakes, we are the stewards of some 15 percent of our planet's fresh water in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

Yet, our water, our lives are under assault and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is leading the charge for the Koch brothers, dark moneyed interests and Big Ag polluters and their we-have-no-further-comment mantra. (Mullen, Ashland [Wisconsin] Daily Press]

Walker, displaying his typical anti-intellectual bent, said last year that Wisconsin's ancient Golden Sands deposits demand we facilitate out-of-state corporations to extract the sands for use in fracking. (Karoli, Crooks and Liars)

"Thanks to the gods and the glaciers, we have some of the best frack sands in the world," Walker proclaims, urging a destructive sand extraction process for even more dangerous fracking operations.

Walker has a similar disregard for Wisconsin and the Great Lakes' water, and like other disasters Walker has left behind, our children and their children will pay the price.

Those looking for a get-away to the great Northwoods, the Apostle Islands and Lake Superior soon are going to have try Minnesota and Michigan instead because the Reicks operation's corporate headquarters—located 300 miles south in Iowa—does not share the pedestrian environment and health concerns of far-northern Wisconsin that up to now has been spared the siting of CAFOs.
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A Tale of Two Wisconsin Counties

By Mary Dougherty, Bayfield County Wisconsin

Bayfield County, Wisconsin’s Crown Jewel, will soon join the ranks of the 57 other counties in Wisconsin with a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) operating within its borders.

Except unlike the 57 other counties, Bayfield’s northern border is Lake Superior and 10 percent of the world’s fresh water.

Reicks View Family Farms from Iowa submitted an application on Dec. 19 requesting a permit for the 6.4 million gallons of manure produced annually by 100 boars, 7,500 sows, 4,125 (55 pound – market weight) pigs and 14,625 (0-55 pound) piglets in its CAFO.

We should tell Reicks to stay in Iowa, but they are not taking a poll.

Kewaunee County, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, has many of the same features as Bayfield County: Marinas, tourism, lighthouses, Great Lakes, rolling hills, fishing boats, trout streams, harbor towns, beaches, sailing, watersheds and commercial fisheries.

Kewaunee also now has one of the largest concentrations of industrial dairy farms in the state and provides a cautionary tale about what happens when CAFOs come to town. (Robyn Mulhaney, Kewaunee County business owner, Peninsula Pulse)

Kewaunee is home to 200 dairy farms and 15 dairy CAFOs– 80,000 cows producing an equivalent amount of waste equal to 1.6 million humans. And all that manure is causing a lot of problems. In a Capital Times article from Oct. 23, 2014, the DNR estimates that "the county’s cropland has a carrying capacity for 11.3 million pounds of nitrogen, while manure produced there accounts for about 12.4 million pounds — leaving a surplus of about 1.2 million pounds."

According to WisconsinWatch, "As of June 2013, 31 percent of the wells (in Kewaunee County) had tested as unsafe due to nitrates or bacteria, with individual townships ranging from 14 to 51 percent." (Golden, WisconsinWatch)

Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Boldt declared, in his decision in the water pollution permit challenge by residents of Kewaunee County, that there has been "a massive regulatory failure to protect groundwater." (Seely, WisconsinWatch)

The Cornucopia Institute reported on Oct. 31, 2014: "Midwest Environmental Advocates joined Clean Wisconsin, Environmental Integrity Project, Midwest Environmental Defense Center, Kewaunee CARES and the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin to jointly file a written Petition for Emergency Action detailing the need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exercise its emergency powers under the Safe Drinking Water Act and other federal pollution cleanup laws."

Make no mistake, the water in Kewaunee County’s wells, streams and watersheds, as well as Lake Michigan, are polluted due to the massive proliferation and expansion of the CAFO industry in Northeast Wisconsin in the last decade.

Bayfield County, on the shores of Lake Superior, relies on tourism for much of our economic stability and growth – in 2013, tourists spent 40.75 million dollars in our region. The 2014 ice cave phenomenon brought over 138,000 people and 13.8 million dollars into our community in less than 3 months.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism publication, The Power of Wisconsin Tourism 2014 Key Messages for Wisconsin’s Tourism Industry: "Tourism continues to be one of Wisconsin’s most important economic resources and investing in tourism promotion and marketing at both the state and local level is one of the best things a state can do to attract visitors, enhance the state’s image and keep the economy growing."

How are 24,000 pigs in the Fish Creek Watershed, less than 10 miles (as the crow flies or water flows) from Lake Superior going to support our tourism-based economy? They’re not; the end game is Kewaunee County and it’s not pretty.

Dale Reicks is leaving Iowa because of the PED (porcine epidemic diarrhea) virus, a corona virus with a nearly 100 percent mortality rate in suckling pigs. The National Hog Farmer states, "Huge numbers of virus particles are shed in feces. One thimble-full of feces could contain enough virus to infect all the pigs in the United States. The PED virus is being detected in samples collected from pig collection points, slaughter facilities, transportation vehicles and innumerable fomites illustrating the vast potential for transmission. It is expected that survivability and transmission of virus will be enhanced in cold weather. Farm biosecurity efficacy is likely to be tested aggressively in the coming months."

And that’s why Reicks is seeking to open a factory farm in Bayfield County– his bottom line is threatened by an incurable disease that’s the result of poor animal husbandry practices in his home state of Iowa.

He’s bringing his dirty business to a county with six nationally designated areas (more than any other place in the State of Wisconsin): Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Iron River National Fish Hatchery, North Country National Scenic Trail, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge.

Some 7.125 billion people are walking on this planet right now. The sum total of the populations of Ontario, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin is 34.65 million.

In essence, less than .0049 percent of the world's population are the direct stewards of 10 percent of the planet's fresh water. How do we handle such a weighty responsibility? A good place to start would be to tell Dale Reicks to keep his hogs out of Bayfield County.

At some point, we all have to decide the resources we’ve so generously been given are not endless and deserve our utmost respect and gratitude. If I had one wish for my children and grandchildren, it would be that Lake Superior and its watershed continue to provide for the people who live on its shores. I would wish for a legacy of gratitude and stewardship for one of the great wonders of the world. I don’t want Bayfield to become the next Kewaunee County.
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Reicks View Farms
1020 Pembroke Ave
PO Box 150
Lawler, IA 52154

Telephone: 641-364-7843
Fax: 641-364-2029
Email: info@reicksview.com

Public Bashes Proposed Factory Swine Farm at Bayfield County Hearing

"Control of our food is control of the life in us," read the mural
on the famous Mifflin Street Coop (now closed) urging sustainable
agricultural and organic foods grown by small farmers. As
giant corporate CAFOs devastate Wisconsin waters and
spread disease through pathogens and lack of oxygen in water,
we can say, 'we should have listened to these people.'

Some fifty to sixty people attended the joint Bayfield County Land Conservation Committee and the Bayfield County Planning and Zoning Committee of the County Board of Supervisors hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 6.  Bashes

And if the attendees are any indication, a proposed swine concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO) is about as popular an idea in this picturesque Lake Superior county as the millions of gallons of liquid pig manure the CAFO would produce annually by the projected 14,625 hogs. (Mullen, Ashland Daily Press)

Out of the some twenty speakers at the hearing, only one supports the proposed CAFO, the rest of the speakers are vehemently opposed, a hearing attendee reports.

Public input lasted for about an hour and speakers were allowed three minutes to speak.

The Iowa-based Reicks View Family Farm LLC has not applied for a high capacity water well yet, as is typical in massive, polluting CAFOs.

At the some five-hour hearing, the "two committees also voted unanimously that the Bayfield County Board considers adopting an ordinance prohibiting the application of liquid animal manure and agricultural wastewater using spray irrigation systems based on an ordinance passed by the town of Sevastopol in Door County," reports Amber Mullen today in the Ashland Daily Press.

The Reicks corporation is adopting a terse public posture issuing only short statements and issuing no comment on the unpopularity of siting a CAFO some ten miles from Lake Superior, and in the midst of pristine watersheds.

Scott Dye, a field associate with the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP) spoke at the meeting and reflects the public sentiment against the proposed CAFO, sentiment the Reicks corporation—applying for a permit with the DNR under the name, Badgerwood LLC—disregards.

Said SRAP's Dye: "People that have chosen to call Bayfield County home have done so for reasons that do not involve the stink and pollution and the impacts of quality of life that come with a corporate hog factory. This application isn’t the end of the discussion, it’s the beginning of a discussion."

Badgerwood LLC

Information about Badgerwood LLC is not available online at the Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions (DFI).

Badgerwood LLC are representing themselves as a LLC, but they are not registered as a LLC with Wisconsin's DFI, per a search of business entities, and a phone conversation this morning with a DFI official.

The DFI site reads:

"Chapters 178, 179, 180, 181, and 183 of the Wisconsin Statutes contain a general provision that a foreign (out-of-state) corporation, nonstock corporation, limited partnership, limited liability company, cooperative association, or limited liability partnership, shall not transact business in this state until it has obtained a certificate of authority or registration from the Department of Financial Institutions."

This raises the question whether Badgerwood LLC is doing business illegally if they filed an application with the Wisconsin DNR under the name, Badgerwood LLC, without registering with the DFI.

Reicks View Farms LLC registered with DFI on 08/27/2014.

Reicks' registered agent is: INCORP SERVICES INC of Madison, Wisconsin (901 South Whitney Way).

Reicks' principal office is located in Lawler, Iowa.

Halting Rapacious Polluters as Scott Walker Opens Wisconsin for Sale

Peninsula Pulse

"Mired in Manure" is the 2014 year-in-review headline in the Peninsula Pulse, a bi-weekly covering the Cape Cod of the Midwest, aka Door County Wisconsin.

Impressive journal for a region where people go for romantic trips, honeymoons and visits from around the country to get away to stunning northern forests and streams jutting into Lake Michigan.

Door County is what Aldo Leopold had in mind when he said, "The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land."

Surly, Wisconsin wants to protect areas such as Door County, Bayfield and Ashland counties, Wood and Adams counties, and the abundant fresh water and forests in general.

No. Not while Scott Walker is governor.

Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are proliferating in Wisconsin, and they are a catastrophic threat to the environment, having already inflicted damage around the state.

Scott Walker is silent, he won't protect our water, Walker gets paid by the polluters to run interference. His administration policy is more production for CAFOs, less protection for people.

Scott Walker worked to make it possible for foreign investors to buy farm land and lease it.

The Republican Attorney General issued an advisory opinion that foreign ownership of Wisconsin agriculture and forestry is legal for tracts 640 acres and less.

Attorney General Van Hollen quietly issued his announcement the Friday before Christmas.

Wisconsin is for sale to the highest foreign bidder with 640-acre lots for CAFOs.

Big Ag is polluting waters so badly that in one Wisconsin county, Kewaunee, a child cannot wash out a cut in the summer with water from the faucet because of the pathogens from CAFOs have made the water undrinkable and unsafe.

Many still in parts of Brown County will only drink bottled water.

Turns out it's terribly unhealthy to vector liquid cow manure into aquifers and surface waters.

And if the proposed Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) massive open pit mine is allowed, "toxic residue will literally flow into the clean waters of northern Wisconsin," notes the New York Times last summer, but Scott Walker's campaigns were well-paid.

Adams County resident, Don Ystad, notes Wisconsin counties are fighting back against the polluters.

Writes Ystad in an email:

An ad appeared in last week's shopper inviting residents to attend a meeting being held by the Adams County Planning and Zoning Committee at the Adams County Community Center on January 13th at 7:00 PM to discuss the possibility of creating a county forestry zoning district. It's called a public informational hearing for gathering information and public input only. Anyone interested is invited to attend, participate and provide input.

Adams County ranks 16th in tourism within our state, largely because of access to quality hunting,fishing and water sports. As large scale agriculture and mineral-based industries expand in Wisconsin, much of the forestland is being clear cut and converted to cropland or sand mining. Not only would this change the complexion of our Adams County environment, it reduces the habitat for wildlife, reduces hunting land for sportsmen, and opens us up for environmental damage caused by increasing high cap wells and fertilizer and waste runoff. I would hope that a forest zoning district would establish a balance that protects our resource.

Many of you moved here for the same reasons I did; to live in a clean, natural environment with access to woods, water and recreation. Please attend this meeting on the 13th, share your thoughts, and encourage Adams County to protect our wonderful forest environment.

Today in Bayfield County, there is a public hearing on the massive proposed swine CAFO.

That a CAFO is even contemplated in this pristine region is absurd.

Construction of the Reicks View "Family Farm" LLC CAFO has already begun.

Want to know what a swine CAFO looks like?

Have a look. From North Carolina, owned by China:

And unless we stop this 560-acre CAFO coming to Bayfield County, it is available for sale to China.

By the way, China doesn't care so very much about pollution; clean and safe water won't be a priority once China gets a foothold in Wisconsin.

Thank you, Scott Walker.

Industrial Dairy Threatens America's Dairyland, U.S.

At some point in the near future look for the PR mavens of industrial agriculture to assert liquid cow and swine manure are good for you and your children and that pathogens are beneficial.

This is because of the ascendency of industrial agriculture model (concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO)) and the somnambulistic nature of American political culture.

Watch this space next week for a particularly appalling account of poisoning from a CAFO from Wisconsin.

In the meantime, I recommend the following account of a massive liquid manure spill in Door County, the Cape Cod of the Midwest, by John Bobbe in the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute (Dec. 15), and a story breaking that organic foods are not so organic in a comprehensive fraud investigation of CAFOs masquerading as organic small farmers, also appearing in the Cornucopia Institute (Dec. 11) revealing "... a systemic pattern of corporate agribusiness interests operating industrial-scale confinement livestock facilities providing no legitimate grazing, or even access to the outdoors, as required by federal organic regulations."

Proposed Liquid Pig Manure in Lake Superior Spurs Opposition

Lake Superior Water Trail- Threatened by Proposed
Massive Factory Pig Farm CAFO

Bayfield and Ashland County Residents Are "Extremely Concerned"

Updated - "A proposal to establish a large-scale Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in the Town of Eileen in Bayfield County is one step closer to being a reality now that Reicks View Family Farm LLC has officially purchased approximately 560.6 acres in the Town of Eileen for $1,237,500," reports Amber Mullen in the Ashland Daily Press (Wisconsin).

The proposed CAFO is the first CAFO proposed in far-Northern Wisconsin in a move that many fear is the beginning of a large-scale incursion of industrial agriculture into the region.

Opposition is already growing.

"We met in the Town of Bayfield yesterday. There were about 20 residents from Bayfield and Ashland counties, including a man with the Bad River Band. People are extremely concerned about the negative impact on their economy and their health and the life blood of their communities—Lake Superior—if this CAFO goes through," said Lynn Utesch of Kewaunee County and the clean water group, Kewaunee Cares.

The residence of the meeting in Bayfield is located about a half-mile from Lake Superior.

The Lake Superior Water Trail (LSWT)
is a network of mapped access points
and recreational resources along
Wisconsin’s Lake Superior. The CAFO
would be located in just southwest of the land
jutting out into Lake Superior on the upper-right.

Utesch made a 10-hour, round trip drive to Bayfield from Kewaunee County out of concern that the swine CAFO would devastate the pristine beauty of the area as has already happened to Kewaunee County located on Lake Michigan.

"The spray irrigation of liquid pig manure is an inherent practice of swine CAFOs," said Utesch. "The volatility of liquid swine manure and the ammonia smell, its range and the effects of this practice alone make this CAFO siting unthinkable. What this will do to the water is worse."

Any visitor to the far northern region would agree, but several workers of the hotel where Utesch stayed had no idea about the proposed CAFO siting.

Residents and Utesch hope to change this.

Pig CAFO Farm Moves Forward—Sited Close to Lake Superior

Bayfield County Wisconsin - Future Home
of massive swine CAFO generating
millions of tons of liquid pig shit

Updated - In the annals of stupidity and greed, the proposed GTAC mine in Iron County (Wisconsin) will have to take a back seat to the proposed swine CAFO (concentrated agricultural feeding operation) in Bayfield County.

Bayfield County is the northern-most county in Wisconsin and juts into Lake Superior, site of pristine inland lakes and streams, and near the Chequamegon National Forest, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the Bad River watershed and Native American habitats in the ceded territory. [A legal challenge is expected on that basis of protected habitats in the ceded territory, a swath across northern Wisconsin.]

The Iowa-based Reicks Pig Farm LLC maintains the corporate farming model, and this model does not call for a show of hands or concern for the environment.

Corporate farming is predatory and devastating to the environment.

A County resolution for a 60-day planning moratorium of the swine operation failed this week. (Mullen, Ashland Daily Press (Wisconsin))

Scott Walker has given the go-ahead to virtually any type of devastation imaginable as Wisconsin's DNR is now a functional adjunct of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Those looking for a get-away to the great Northwoods, the Apostle Islands and Lake Superior soon are going to have try Minnesota and Michigan instead because the Reicks operation's corporate headquarters—located 300 miles south in Iowa—does not share the pedestrian environment and health concerns of northern Wisconsin that up to now has been spared the siting of CAFOs.

Welcome to Wisconsin: Open for Devastation and Pollution: