Factory Farms, CAFOs, Are Breeding Ground for Superbugs

Germ warfare is a grave threat to the American population.
See the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the
Milken Institute School for Public Heath

'The most diabolical villain could not design a better system for creating superbugs than factory farms'

Madison, Wisconsin — Designing drug-resistant superbugs is the purview of demented bad actors, like black biology out a Richard Preston or Daniel Kala bio-terrorist thriller.

The prospect of malignant perpetrators releasing superbugs on unsuspecting populations ought to alarm everyone from the most dull state representative to research scientists working at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The problem is government-subsidized industry is creating superbugs and the worst perpetrator is the factory farm, or CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, aka feedlot, or in the words of micro-biologist, Lance Price, "diabolical villain(s)" working out of a "fecal wasteland."

Dr. Lance B. Price is the Director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center (@battlesuperbugs) and professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (#GWSPH).

Price is sounding the alarm on this grave and growing threat of Big Ag against everyone else.

If you live in Wisconsin, the last seven years have seen the complete abdication of public health by the Scott Walker adminstration in favor of actively promoting and aiding Big Ag against the population.

Below is an excerpt and video of Price's TEDx talk Manhattan delivered Mar 11, 2014.

From Dr. Price:

I track super-bugs. I use DNA to see where these things are coming from. On one hand my job is super-exciting and fun because I get to see how these amazing little microbes exchange genes, pick up mutations and become resistant to antibiotics and then take off around the world. ...

On the other hand my job is pretty depressing for some of the same reasons but also because I see the victims of these super-bugs. I've met the victims who've barely survived with their lives and sadly I've met parents who've lost their children to these superbugs.

And this, (superbugs), is just a cute name that we use for anti-biopic-resistant bacteria. So, these are bacteria that are resistant to our best antibiotics.

And it turns out that the CDC is saying that those parents that our losing children are not so rare. 23,000 Americans die, this is a conservative estimate, 23,000 die of super-bug infections each year. And so understanding their origins is really essential. And on some levels it's really simple, it's just a matter of evolution. So let's pretend for a minute that this is a very small group of bacteria. Bacteria usually travel in packs of billions. Every now and then when you have a big group of bacteria, one of them is going to pick up a mutation or a gene from another bacterium that makes them resistant to antibiotics.

If that's happening in an environment where you have a lot of antibiotics, then the susceptible bacteria, that is the non-resistant ones, are going to die off and the resistant ones are going to go on to multiply.

And the thing about bacteria is that they multiply very quickly. So E-coli, for instance, can double every thirty minutes, and you go a from a single cell, a single drug-resistant e-coli, to a billion, more than a billion, in 24 hours. This is simple Darwinian evolution, but Darwinian evolution is real time. So, if you're like me and you're interested in knowing where these super-bugs are coming from then you have to go to the places where we're using a lot of antibiotics. ...

Factory Farms or CAFOs

We're using 30-million pounds of antibiotics in food-animal production each year, 30-million pounds. The best estimates suggest only 20 percent of those antibiotics to used to treat sick animals.

Eighty percent are being used as production tools. They're being used to make animals grow faster. They're being used to prevent disease, or treat diseases, that are occurring just because of the way we are raising animals. The industry calls these 'production diseases' but rather than change production, we are just using antibiotics. ...

When I see these (animal) factories, when I see these operations, ... I see factories making trillions and trillions and trillions of drug-resistance bacteria.

The most diabolical villain could not design a better system for creating super-bugs than the modern CAFO. You have everything you need. ...

See also:

• Horrigan, Leo, Lawrence, Robert S., Walker, Polly, "How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture," Johns Hopkins University's Center for a Livable Future, July 9, 1999, n.d. web 24 Sept. 2014
•  Hribar, Carrie. Understanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities (n.d.): n. pag. National Association of Local Boards of Health. Center for Disease Control. Web.
• Ikerd, Dr. John. "The Inevitable Economic, Ecological, and Social Consequences of CAFOs." University of Missouri-Columbia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. [See also Past and Recent Papers of Dr. John E. Ikerd.]

Wisconsin Citizen Activism Fights Against Big Ag

Clean water activists in Saratoga, Wisconsin fight for
water and oppose the siting of a proposed factory farm.

On Tuesday, May 2 the Wisconsin legislature will hold key vote(s) on a radical new policy that would obliterate protection for ground and surface waters.

Republicans exercise total control in the gerrymandered legislature and bear responsibility for the results.

By Don Ystad

Concerned friends and neighbors,

Here in Rome, Wisconsin it's not hard to project what life would be like were our lakes to be drained like Huron and others in the central sands around us. Imagine the effect on the $3/4 billion in property valuation around the lakes in Rome, and the reduced spending in area businesses as visitors stopped coming. Those are the concerns being ignored by our legislators and the agriculture lobbies as they consider fast tracking SB 76. They appear blind to the $20 billion in state tourism revenue affected, the quality of life of residents who enjoy these lakes, and the effect on local communities when their tax base erodes because the lakes have diminished.

Consider that our legislators in Wisconsin are being bought off for a paltry quarter of a million dollars per year by ag lobbyists. That is peanuts compared to the value of your combined lake properties. In Adams County alone, lakes properties account for one billion dollars in valuation, nearly a half of the counties $2,2 billion valuation. Agriculture; less than 1%. You pay the taxes, and the ag industry gets the benefit. And, we're ruining our lakes to boot, as 3 of our 4 in Rome are on the state's impaired list. If this doesn't stir you to action, you share some responsibility in allowing this to happen.

The solution?  Citizen activism. Speaking out. Sending letters and e-mails. Let your representatives know there is a down side to ignoring your rights. There are over 5,000 lakes area property owners in Rome. Thousands more in Adams County, and twice that in our whole central sands area. And, ten times more lake property owners than farmers in this state. And, we are allowing a lobby funded by a few dozen industrial farmers and growers and their suppliers to determine the future of our lakes, streams and drinking water wells. We have to speak out, and we have to stop voting in the people who blatantly ignore our rights to clean and abundant water. And, before you slam me as being anti-agriculture, consider that four generations of my family milked dairy cows in Clark County, WI. These big ag interests are doing the same to family farmers as they are doing to us, and that's not good for any of us. Where politics is concerned, silence is consent.

By Todd Richmond - Associated Press

TOWN OF OASIS, WISCONSIN - Cris Van Houten thought he was getting a little bit of paradise when he built his house on Huron Lake in Wisconsin’s central sands region. He could look out from his deck at the blue water and scuba dive in the shallows.

Less than 10 years later, he and his neighbors are watching their beloved lake dry up. The shoreline has receded at least 20 feet, leaving Van Houten with a new beach he never wanted, his dock high and dry, and scuba diving impossible.

Like other lake property owners, Van Houten blames the high-capacity water wells serving agriculture, particularly potato farmers. As the number of wells grows, Wisconsin finds itself in an unexpected fight. Despite being bordered on three sides by Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River and cross-hatched with innumerable rivers, streams and lakes, the state no longer can take water for granted.

"We’re all pretty sick of what’s going on here," Van Houten, 73, said. "We’re losing our lake to make junk food."

Wisconsin Edges Towards Medieval Times in Wastewater Management

Political corruption and public lethargy embolden corporate agriculture's plundering of public waters

Madison, Wisconsin — Gov. Scott Walker cares too much about people to see them become dependent on government for safe water and sewage systems.

So Republican thinking goes.

If people believe government is some kind of wishing well, then the next thing you know is you get Jewish socialists advocating everything from municipal sewers to safe drinking water to healthcare to vibrant public universities where then there's a whole bunch of Jews, socialists, identifying lesbians, sociologists, and Art History types infecting young minds with the democratic virus—constantly mutating, changing form and killing Jesus, (Slate Magazine), (Dreier, Huffington Post), [(Seymour Martin Lipset Ph.D., Gary Wolfe Marks Ph.D; It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States, (W.W. Norton and Company)].

For the world casting eyes upon the Badger state's political culture and asking, 'what's the matter with Wisconsin?' know it's nothing that a competent Democratic Party of Wisconsin, (we don't have one of those), and the tiniest bit of increase in civic involvement among a slice of the population cannot cure.

It's that easy, though a favorable decision in the potentially landmark gerrymandering case challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin's Republican-drawn state legislative and congressional maps that are intended to elect as many Republicans as possible would help too, [Whitford v. Gill, (Nichol), (District Court (Case 3:15-cv-00421)) (2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155022 (W.D. Wis., Nov. 17, 2015)), (Redistricting legal reporting, Election Law blog), (Supreme Court of the United States, No. 16-1161, Beverly R. Gill, et al. v. William Whitford, et al.)] See Parsons for analysis on the landmark nature of this November 2016 decision, now before the Supreme Court of the United States, (No. 16-1161, Beverly R. Gill, et al. v. William Whitford, et al.).

Here's a problem with the One-Party-Republican rule for those Wisconsinites enamored of drinking safe water. Wisconsin Republicans do not care if your kids die or are hospitalized by drinking or bathing in water poisoned by huge agricultural interests that vectors manure into aquifers. Until white, rural Wisconsin voters realize this fact, rural voters will keep reelecting Republicans, (Mal Contends). [See also Ikerd, Dr. John. "The Inevitable Economic, Ecological, and Social Consequences of CAFOs." University of Missouri-Columbia.]

We should really consider the wisdom of Milwaukee's sewer socialists and how their politics matter today. That is, disposing of untreated manure and waste safely matters to human beings. In Medieval times, this focus on sanitation was not a public concern.

The latest from Wisconsin safe water warriors sees journalism and citizen action soaring:

We note again the reporting of Steven Verburg of the Wisconsin State Journal.

By David Gorski

You won't believe this one.

Verburg reports on the introduction of a new legislative bill, (Assembly Bill 226, (AB 226).

After Republicans have facilitated the contamination and depletion of your drinking water with CAFOs and other Big Ag corporate operations, AB 226 would increase the monies available to you so you can actually drink your water, and safely bathe infants, (which in Door and Kewaunee counties, for example, has resulted in the hospitalization of infants, children and adults who thought bathing in and drinking water were safe pursuits).

Here's an idea. How about we ensure that any corporate operation that pollutes and contaminates our water is not allowed to operate without the consent of the community whose families' health and lives are endangered? Guess who is sponsoring AB 226? State Rep. Scott Krug, (R-Nekoosa, Wisconsin) and State Rep. Joel Kitchens, (R-Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin), the polluters' top go-to lackeys.

On another matter, In February, Verburg reported on the only privatized of Wisconsin's 80 drinking-water public systems.

The system serves the city of Superior and charges more than twice the average of what folks pay for water now in the rest of the state.

Folks, corporate control, corporate pollution, corporate befouling and depletion are coming our way. The first step is stopping the proposed Wysocki CAFO. Then we get rid of the people in the capitol who do the work of polluters. For now, Republicans like Krug and Kitchens are working against us to encourage the polluting and depleting of our water, followed by corporate out-of-state control of our water.

Well, who ever said you have a right to water?

By Don Ystad of Adams County Wisconsin

Concerned friends and neighbors,

Why is this article about an Iowa editor winning a Pulitzer important to us?  It's about perseverance in pointing out the pollution of a watershed in Iowa by upstream agricultural , and uncovering the dark money fueled by big agricultural interests to hide the truth and undermine efforts to stop the pollution.  Think about it in terms of the dark money flowing in to the last local campaign here to unseat our environment friendly Senator, this past fall's attempt by the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers, (WPVGA), to sell a junk science groundwater 'fact book', and the quarter million dollars big ag interests contributed to our representatives to further ag friendly groundwater bills. Then, remember the misleading ads by the WPVGA trying to convince us that drawing down the aquifer won't affect lakes levels, and misleading photos presented by growers at a public meeting suggesting that lakes have recovered from the effects of high cap well pumping. These people are not our friends, [The Guardian, The Independent].

This article is an important reminder about the self serving nature of the big ag lobbies as they try to hide behind the family-farmer label while destroying that very ethic.  And, it's a reminder of how our legislators pander to that lobby. But, it's also a confirmation that we may not have the support of our lawmakers or the DNR, and certainly not the big ag community, but we have two things going for us; our vote and our collective voice. We have the ultimate power if we choose to use it.

As a property owner concerned with the future of your well, your lake or your stream, you need to be an active citizen. There are local grass roots groups, and the new statewide citizens lobby available to you, among others. Get involved and protect what's important to you.

It's the only way.

Wisconsin citizens are leading the way.

Journalists are leading the way.

Know that Big Ag and its defenders care about one thing, and it isn't life. Ask Iowa's Alex Kuhn, driven to suicide by factory farm trolls and agribusiness lackeys for Kuhn's standing up for his community, families and safe water.

Consider as well the words of Gordon Stevenson, runoff chief for the Wisconsin DNR (2001-2011):

"Manure management is essentially the same as it has been since the Middle Ages; untreated manure is disposed on untreated on the landscape. We have already seen severe public health consequences from these practices and I am certain that we will see more. Much of Wisconsin’s environmental protection efforts with agriculture center on nutrient management planning. Many of my former colleagues have labored long and hard to persuade farmers to adopt the NRCS 590 Nutrient Management Standard. The problem is that 590 is not a water quality standards, it as an agronomic standard that seeks to optimize crop production. Plus evaluation of a farmer’s compliance with that standard is somewhere between difficult and impossible."

Consider the Parable of Smithfield Foods. In 1936, a family built a small hog slaughtering and packing plant in Smithfield, Virginia. Their products were very good, the plant grew and town of Smithfield came to be known as the Ham Capital of the World. During the 1980s, the company vertically integrated. In plain English, that means they not only owned the processing facilities, but they figured out that if they controlled the production of hogs as well as processing they could be more profitable. By the end of 1998, Smithfield owned not only multiple packaging plants but 460 large hog farms and had contracts with 2,100 other pork producers 12 states. Smithfield Foods had become the number one pork producer in the United States and was growing internationally. They continued to grow, aggregating the assets of American pork production into larger and fewer blocks. Next time you go shopping, checkout the pork products. You will see labels like Morrell, Farmland, Armour and others. Smithfield owns all of those companies and multiple others. On September 26, 2013, Smithfield Foods and all of its holdings were sold to another company for $7.1 billion. [Bittman, NYT] The name of the company is Shuanghui International Holdings Limited.[Shuanghui changed its name to the: WH Group (BusinessWeek)]

"Yes, a company from the People’s Republic of China now owns 26 percent of all of the assets of the American pork industry. This is the largest single Chinese purchase to date of American assets. China has successfully established an offshore economic colony on American soil. Let’s leave Virginia and Beijing and return to Wisconsin. We have dairy CAFOs in Wisconsin that are in the process of aggregating the assets of Wisconsin’s dairy industry into larger and fewer blocks. Any of those blocks can be bought and sold. I don’t believe I need to spell out why I told you the Parable of Smithfield Foods."

Where There Are Factory Farms, There Is Impaired Water

Interactive map shows the causal relationship between
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, (CAFOs
or industrialized agriculture) and impaired waters.

Madison, Wisconsin —The continuing Republican give-away of Wisconsin waters to industrialized and polluting agricultural interests has predictably negative consequences.

The immediate and perhaps most-alarming effect is on ground and surface water, and on human and other life depending on water.

Befouling and depleting water is madness.

Below is a Wisconsin map of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, (CAFOs or industrialized agricultural factories) and the proximity of impaired waters.

Not geographical proximity, spacial proximity. Where there are CAFOs, there are impaired waters — ground water, drinking water, surface waters.

The relationship between CAFOs and impaired waters is a causal relationship.

The interactive map shows this causal relationship between Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, (CAFOs or industrialized agriculture) and impaired waters.

Wisconsin Pro-Water Citizen Groups Hope Unity Leads to Success

Madison, Wisconsin — Can citizens coming together to protect fresh water garner political and legal victories against polluting corporations who befoul and deplete this life-sustaining resource?

Chuck Quirmbach explores the question on Wisconsin Public Radio.

Reports Quirmbach:

Some small citizen groups in Wisconsin are teaming up in hopes of stopping local proposals for more large-scale farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.

Criste Greening and some neighbors have spent about five years battling a proposed CAFO near their homes outside Wisconsin Rapids. The battle hasn't been easy, Greening said.

'And because as citizens we have issues and concerns about agriculture, I was termed "the radical environmentalist," Greening said.

Greening told an Environmental Law and Policy Center conference in Madison last week that there's nothing radical about her, saying she's as a special education teacher who wants clean water for her three children.

She said small groups like hers are hoping to boost their clout against CAFOS by banding together and calling themselves the Citizens Water Coalition of Wisconsin. (Facebook), [Links added]

Writing from Rome, Wisconsin in Adams County, John Endrizzi, Rick Antin, Steve Raap, Rick Georgeson and Don Ystad sent a message this week that echoes Quirmbach's piece:

Rome friends and neighbors,

It's called citizen activism.  It's what we have accomplished joining forces with our friends in Saratoga, but even more importantly here in Rome, it's what we have been able to accomplish in elevating the need to protect the lakes that made this town what it is. 

A year and a half ago, we struggled to get permission to hold a citizen meeting about the threat to our lakes in our own town hall. 

Citizen pressure made that happen.   Subsequent citizen involvement at planning meetings, TriLakes meetings, and town board meetings resulted in action by those same groups to recognize what citizens feel is important to the future of our community.  Here are some of those actions:

• Groundwater testing wells where our town line meets Saratoga so we can establish a baseline should it ever be necessary to protect ourselves from the effects of the proposed CAFO.
• Money budgeted and a citizens TriLakes committee formed to assess and resolve the water quality issues in our lakes
• CAFO informational meetings and follow-ups for Rome property owners.
• Water Quality informational meeting with legal, scientific and economic experts
• Funding from TriLakes and Town of Rome for lakes evaluation and cleanup
• Funding from our town board for an Amicus brief challenging high capacity well permits in the central sands area
• Town Board resolutions challenging the potential effects of the CAFO and relaxed high capacity well regulations.
• Planning commission refusal to rezone forest land to agriculture in the critical area along our town line.

The common denominator here is citizen involvement with town government, committees and community organizations to communicate concerns and force the issue when necessary.  While some bureaucrats might suggest our activism is being seen as "politically incorrect", complacency is the bigger danger.  So, to those who took the time, or spoke out, or put their money where their mouth is, thank you for your efforts.  It is helping to elevate the importance of protecting the lakes in our town, and it's making our officials more responsive to the real needs of the community.

It started with our involvement with our friends at Protect Wood County in Saratoga and escalated this year with our Water Lobby Day in Madison on on Feb 8th and the founding of the statewide coalition Criste mentions, Citizens Water Action Coalition.

Thank you to everyone involved, and let's keep it going!

Concerned Rome Citizens Core Group

Wisconsin Citizens to Capitol on Feb. 8 for Water Days

Wisconsin families over generations know the Badger state is a great place to live.

A running feud with Minnesota is which state really has more lakes, and whose people are really more nice.

But the gentle folk of Wisconsin have been targeted by Big Ag as entire regions are threatened by the massively polluting industrialized agriculture, CAFOs or Confined Animal Feeding Operations.

Big Ag is rapacious, toxic and it will not look back as its operations devastate families, ruin rural economies and pollute Wisconsin surface and ground waters.

From Don Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin

Rome and Saratoga friends and neighbors,

This all started with a suggestion from our neighbor and friend Bob Benkowski, and it grew when another Rome friend and neighbor offered to donate buses to get us to Madison. And, it really grew when Concerned Rome Citizens reached out to a statewide group, Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network.

Five hundred of us are traveling to Madison next week Wednesday (Feb 8th) to take our message to the Legislature. The right to clean and abundant water belongs to all of us. It doesn't belong to just a select group of industry lobbyists blowing into the ears of our representatives. And that is the message we plan to deliver respectfully and without screaming and shouting.

We are bringing with us citizens and progressive farmers concerned with protecting our water and our environment. All with a clear message about protecting water for all of us. Our buses are full, but we invite like-minded citizens to drive down and join us.

Concerned Rome Citizens

Big Ag in Wisconsin: Depleted, Fecal-Infused Water Is Good for You

 Big Agriculture PR Offensive: Lies and Lies

Update: Big Ag's presentation in Portage County in central Wisconsin falls flat. About 14 member of Protect Wood County went to the Portage County Board meeting Tuesday night. The place was absolutely packed and a number of us had to sit in an adjoining courtroom and watch the
proceedings through a video link. Louis Wysocki gave the WPVGA, [agri-business] presentation and did a remarkably poor job of it.  After that 10 citizens gave three-minute minute rebuttals that were uniformly articulate and fact-based. Our Criste Greening did exceptionally well. Then three County Board members spoke in favor of protecting our water.  Louis and Big Ag had no one speaking in their support!
 ---
Amid safe drinking-water concerns among Wisconsin families, Big Agriculture has launched a new public relations project just in time for the holidays, as 1,000s of citizens revamp efforts to stop a massive a factory farm from operating.

The project includes a new, high-end website purporting to be devoted to water conservation, offering readers a 180-page Orwellian "High Capacity Wells Fact Book," cloaked in the language of conserve-and-protect our water. [Nice piece of work, if content is ignored.]

High-capacity water wells draw 70 or more gallons of groundwater a minute, or 100,800 or more gallons of water a day. Under Republican administration, the safety and protection of private water wells in Wisconsin is now virtually nonexistent, a regulatory regime that is being litigated by clean water advocates, as clean water groups look to federal law in the face of Republican hostility.

The industrial-scale water depleters operate under the prevailing Big Ag assumptions that water is in endless supply; rural Wisconsin is an unlimited sewer; and rural, Wisconsin folks' abiding belief that huge agribusiness are the inheritors of the mythical small farmer—the Wisconsin volk, (Mal Contends).

Who knew Big Ag was in league with the Sierra Club, and not the corporate institutional imperatives of generating profits and transferring costs onto society? No, Wisconsinites are led to believe the Big Ag industry are water warriors.

Boat launch at Long Lake, near Plainfield, Wisconsin, no longer
reaches the water, depleted and drained by high-capacity wells.
Nothing to see here, assures industrialized agriculture.
Photo: Kate Golden, (Wisconsin Watch)

Asked about Big Ag's all-we-want-is-clean-and-safe-water messages emitted last campaign season, clean water activists laughed, pointing to Wisconsin's Republican attorney general, Wisconsin's Republican state assembly, and everything Republican. 

Popular sentiment notes industrialized agriculture's costs inflicted onto communities in water pollution, water depletion, air pollution, and medical illness.

So, the Big Ag propaganda offensive omits mention of these unpleasant consequences of vectoring millions of gallons of untreated cow feces into the air and water.

Big Ag assures us factory farms are carrying on the tradition of Wisconsin's "great grandfathers" believing in the manner of a zealot the holy mission that Big Ag must "protect the land and protect the water for without both of them, your life as a farmer will be forever forgotten." Big Ag will say and do anything.

Big Ag owners are not farmers, they are corporatists.

What's next? In the next legislative session, Republicans and too many Democrats are poised to legislate a massive give-away of public water to Big Ag.

Having decimated state government protection of water, in Wisconsin's counties and municipalities Big Ag is on the offensive:

From Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The attack has officially begun!  We have heard rumblings that bad water bills are staged to be presented as soon as our Wisconsin Legislature is back in session. To promote a smooth transition for passage of these bad bills, large scale AG groups are hitting local governments with preplanned presentations promoting  their “Water Fact Book” created by the industry which is packed full of false claims and misleading information.

It is apparent Big Ag is setting the stage for an all-out assault on our groundwater resources.

A memo from the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Grows Association (WPVGA) outlines how they are planning to target all the central sands county boards and have someone present these boards with the High Capacity Wells fact book 'facts', graphs, data during the December board meetings.

Purpose: (taken from the memo)
Our main goal is to head off local activist pressure on county and town boards to prevent them from passing irrational resolutions or writing letters to the legislature which could have a negative impact on our legislative efforts.

Our group was notified a few days ago that Louis Wysocki is scheduled to present at the upcoming Portage County board meeting on Tuesday Dec 20th.  We have also heard that the plan is to hit all local county boards in a very short time period.  We have looked over the Wood and Adams County Board agendas for this month and so far have not come across a planned presentation.  If it does hit either county we will let you know ASAP.

What does this mean for you and me?
#1 – We need all our supporters to reactivate and re-engage.   A concerted effort is needed in showing a presence at local meetings both in Wood County and in our sister communities that need assistance.

#2 – Be ready to contact your local and state officials with your questions and concerns about groundwater legislation.

#3 – Be vigilant at checking your emails and Facebook accounts for last minute updates and alerts.  Often hearings for legislative bills are given only 24 hours’ notice and plans are made at the last moment to hit Madison.

#4 – SHARE, SHARE, SHARE – Share information about bad legislation, upcoming meetings, encourage participation on our email list and Facebook page.  KNOWLEDGE IS POWER we need everyone sharing information with family and friends to successfully beat back the bad water legislation coming our way.

Environmental Statement on CAFO Factory Delayed; Pro-CAFO State Rep. Faces Mounting Opposition

Updated - The Wysocki corporation's proposed factory farm in central Wisconsin has caused a political furor since detailed plans were first sprung on citizens at a community forum in Wisconsin Rapids in July 2012.

The sitting State Representative, Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa), was present and told a clean water activist, Nancy Koch, to "quit your bitching," (Mal Contends).

Koch and 1,000s of clean water supporters have never let up, (Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors, Rome and Saratoga Concerned, (Facebook)).

Before plans can proceed with the construction of this massive facility, (a CAFO or Confined Animal Feeding Operation), an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has to be released by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, (DNR).

The Republican-led DNR is sensitive to the political fortunes of Krug, so once again the EIS release has been delayed so Krug, a Wysocki CAFO supporter, will not face more opposition than he already has arrayed against him.

Republicans and school privatization forces are dumping $100,000s in an attempt to beat back a challenge by clean water activist, David Gorski, (Facebook). Scott Walker and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos have held fundraisers for Krug.

So, naturally the DNR is doing its part with the Republican Party for the benefit of the CAFO champ, Scott Krug.

From Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors:

EIS release delayed and public hearing cancelled I received a call today from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regrading the pending Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS release has once again been delayed and the pubic hearing scheduled for October has been cancelled.

Although this does not come as a huge surprise we do feel the DNR is indeed getting closer to the actual completion of the document. No future release date or public hearing date has been determined at this time.

Of course, no release or public hearing has been determined, and the release date won't be until after the election.

Special delivery of liquid cow manure to Wisconsin streams and
lakes - Courtesy of Scott Krug, Scott Walker, and the
Dairy Business Association

Kriss Marion: Big Ag Hits Tourism, Communities, and Way of Life

By Kriss Marion
Wisconsin State Farmer
USA Today Network - Wisconsin

Wake up Wisconsin! We are very much on the road to sacrificing our state’s primary natural resources — clean lakes, streams and wells and the beauty they support — for the opportunity to beat California at the dairy game it has already lost by ruining its water. Why are so many mega-dairy developers being lured to Wisconsin from California, Nebraska and Iowa? Because the cost of doing business there has risen as water woes have increased. Do Wisconsin citizens really want to be the cheapest state in which to operate industrial agriculture?

I encourage all of you who love living here to keep your eyes open for the ways in which Wisconsin’s primary industries, Agriculture and Tourism, are being pitted against each other by industrial ag interests, rather than working together to coexist with each other and with the frogs, birds and bugs that make our landscape so vitally alive. Perhaps the most tragic result of the takeover of Wisconsin lands by corporate interests, and possibly the most ultimately damaging to our shared culture, is the accelerated loss of the family-scaled farms and dairies which have defined our lifestyle and captured our imagination for decades.

Wisconsin Towns—Saratoga, Rome—Promote Their Region, as Big Ag Targets Area for Destruction

No rational, healthy human being deals well when sociopaths live in their midst.

In central Wisconsin, the industrial agricultural operation, the Wysocki corporation, and its partners are doing their worst to upset residents and poison, (literally), the environment.

Long-time residents are fighting back as two small Wisconsin towns, Saratoga and Rome, are hitting the Net to promote the recreational and tourism attractions the central Wisconsin region holds dear.

Several citizens reached the last several days said their communities are experiencing feelings they find difficult to describe as Big Ag is willfully toxifying this picturesque area known as the Golden Sands.

Folks are not taking this lying down.

This writer has standing invitations this summer to fish on ponds and lakes, drink cold beer, and have some laughs.

Central Wisconsin invites the world to visit and enjoy life.

From Rome:

Weekend in Rome, Wisconsin

From Saratoga: Water is for all to share. It knows no town, county or state boundary.

The Town of Saratoga and its citizens are working hard to protect this wonderful resource for all. Please join us in our efforts to keep Golden Sands Dairy -- and any other entity that might threaten our resources -- out of Saratoga.

Report: Wisconsin Public Health Water Crisis Abetted by Republicans

Wisconsin Republicans are some sick bastards to abet poisoning children such as the Treml family in Kewaunee County in northeastern Wisconsin.

Ron Seely has the story at WisconsinWatch.

Seely reports the Treml family moved away from Kewaunee County after their then baby girl was hospitalized following taking a bath in water poisoned by a local industrialized dairy operation or CAFO.

Poisoners such as CAFO owner John Pagel have the political support of Scott Walker and State Rep. Joel Kitchen (R-Sturgeon Bay) who with fellow Republicans blocked groundwater protection legislation proposed last year by State Rep. Eric Genrich (D-Green Bay) and State Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay).

In central Wisconsin, another hot spot for CAFO poisoners, State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) runs political interference for the local poisoners in his district.

Study: Wisconsin Trout Streams, Lakes, Rivers, Grounwater Being Sucked Dry by Big Ag

Those factory farms you smell on rural Wisconsin highways.

The stench is the best part.

Big agricultural interests are killing Wisconsin surface waters and aquifers with toxins, and the withdrawal of massive amounts of water by high capacity wells drawing over 100,000 gallons of fresh water per day are sucking Wisconsin dry, a new scientific study concludes.

A one-two punch to Wisconsin residents.

Lee Bergquist in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story:

The results of the state-funded research may also provide clues on how large-scale groundwater withdrawals are impacting streams, rivers and lakes elsewhere, according to scientists.

Groundwater issues have become increasingly contentious in Wisconsin, especially in the 1.75 million acre Central Sands region — home to a large potato and vegetable growing industry. 

Of course. Bergquist is reporting on major scientific research of water depletion. As the study pertains to Big Ag polluters and its Republican protectors, the political culture in Wisconsin is: Tell it to someone who cares.

Wisconsin Citizens Fight off Environmental Disaster of Massive Wysocki Factory Farm

Residents Fight Filthy Wysocki Secret in Central Wisconsin

In factory 'farms' there is no calling the cows to pasture, naming the cows or laughing at a quirk one cow may have after her name is shouted.

In industrialized agriculture, cows are "units," and the operations are vicious, confined, inhumane, toxic and dangerous.

If you live near a Concentrated (Confined) Animal/Agricultural Operation (CAFO), property values plummet, environmental and health hazards are guaranteed, and millions of tons of pathogen-laden manure is vectored into the environment.

In Wood and Adams counties in central Wisconsin region, citizens are continuing their work against the proposed, massive Wysocki CAFO.

CAFOs in Wisconsin are protected by Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans, and Wysocki's proposed CAFO is backed by State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa, Wisconsin).

"The present system of producing food animals in the United States is not sustainable and [CAFOs present] an unprecedented level of risk to public health and damage to the environment," said Robert Martin, Director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production

Below is a video about the proposed Golden Sands Dairy CAFO proposed by the Wysocki Family of Companies in the township of Saratoga in Wood County and the environmental devastation it will bring if permitted.

From Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors:

Wisconsin Citizens Promote Their Communites in Face of Legislative Betrayal

Paradise in quiet, low-profile Wisconsin region

In the Central ("Golden") Sands of Wisconsin, residents are promoting their communities.

Genuine pride for many is a place to have the grand-kids over in the summer at small lake houses among the many waters dotting the region.

Golf, restaurants, trails, recreational centers, the area is among the least-known treasures of Wisconsin.

Lake Arrowhead in Adams County is an anthology, termed a "hidden gem" in a region where the paper mills and mill workers used to dominate the economy and culture.

Citizen groups are calling for protection and cultivation of the natural resources to fill in the void left by a paper industry that is but a shadow of past decades.

Venal hi jinx at the Wisconsin capitol by the local state legislator will not stop a growing citizens' movement from promoting their community, a common effort right as Scott Walker and Republicans remove state money from the state park system and call for higher fees in the last budget, (Dee J. Hall).

By Bob Benkowski, Don Ystad, John Endrizzi, Rick Antin, Rick Georgeson, and Steve Raap

All,

Listening to the families interviewed on this clip​ included below​, ​we are reminded that many of us have spent 30 years or more enjoying the Rome lakes, and have retired here in this beautiful community of lakes and recreation.  We appreciate our area and hope for many more years of enjoyment here.  At the risk of being a "downer", we want to share a couple other things that come to mind, the "elephant in the room", so to speak.

First, are you aware that 3 of our 4 lakes in Rome are on the state's impaired list because of pollutants in the water? In the case of Lakes Arrowhead and Sherwood, it's the high levels of algae attributable to phosphorous, quite probably from upstream sources. Even worse in Lake Petenwell, where heavy metals from upstream sources also add to water issues.

Second, are you aware that a 5,300 cow dairy CAFO is being proposed next door in Saratoga?  If you've followed the news, then you know of the contamination of drinking water wells in Kewaunee, nitrate levels nearly 8 times the state and federal level across the Petenwell in Armenia, all related to dairy CAFOs.  Probably, you've also read about the lakes and streams decimated by high capacity wells in Almond, Plainfield, Hancock, and Plover, among others. You do know that 33 high capacity wells are being proposed with the CAFO next door in Saratoga, and that nearly 1,500 of your own drinking water wells are within it's cone of depression? And maybe you read this week that a spill at a dairy CAFO in Fennimore spewed a 2 mile stream of cow manure down a local waterway. The proposed CAFO in Saratoga will produce 55 million gallons of manure annually. [Verburg, Wisconsin State Journal; Larson, WKOW-TV]

Tourism PR people don't like to talk about this. But, if you value Rome and the recreational aspects as ​we do, you can love and promote the Rome area and still work towards protecting what we all have here. Petenwell is addressing their issues through PACRS (Petenwell and Caste Rock Stewards). We can take an active role in Rome to protect our other 3 lakes, Arrowhead, Sherwood and Camelot, through more citizen involvement with our TriLakes Management Association in their efforts to get more involved in corrective action (trilakesmanagement.com). Also, with pressure on our town government to help clean up our lakes for the issues we know about today. An even bigger issue is the proposed CAFO next door, which could foul our lakes and our air, reduce stream flow affecting lake levels, and pollute our drinking water. As we approach the DNR's Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and permitting process, we all need to be involved by attending the public hearing when the EIS comes out, and by contacting agencies and politicians now about our concerns for the future of our area.

So, in summary, what ​can ​​citizens like you do?

- Watch the video.  Let it remind you of what we have here
- Contact TriLakes and let them know you want to help clean up and protect our lakes (trilakesmanagement.com) lakedist@wctc.net
- Contact our town board and let them know you want them ​actively ​
involved in protecting our recreational assets here McLaughlin@romewi.com
- Contact state agency heads and politicians in advance of the EIS [Environmental Impact Statement] of a proposed massive industrialized factory farm (CAFO)] and let them know you expect their help in protecting our recreational area from the proposed CAFO (from CC: above)

Lake Arrowhead Video link

​Thanks,

Citizen to State Rep. Scott Krug: YOU SOLD US OUT

Long Lake in Wisconsin - Used to be a lot of water
Kate Golden, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

By Patt Pisellini (of central Wisconsin)

Scott [Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa)],

I have tried - really tried - to believe you. As our local representative, I have always given you the benefit of the doubt, hoping your motives were concerned with protecting your constituents. But, your performance on bill AB 874 leaves little doubt that you care very little about us.

First, your method of contacting me, by hacking Criste's (Greening's) email list, is unconscionable. It demonstrates a total lack of concern for private communications.

From your opening paragraph, you have shown total disrespect for the intelligence of your constituents. Intimating this bill would have gone forward out of committee regardless of your vote, is ridiculous. 

Second, the fact you offer elaborate scientific studies of watersheds, is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. There is scientific research already available. The vegetable growers have been conducting research for years. They know exactly what the performance of each watershed is. They just choose not to share it with the general public because it might force them to admit their agricultural practices need to be altered.

I watched your entire performance on the floor. Suggesting we drill more HCWs (High Capacity Wells) to fill up dried-up lakes, such as Long Lake, to study the hydrology is ludicrous. There are 5 monitoring wells already in place around Long Lake, that could, and should, have been used to study the hydrology over the past few years, but NOTHING has been done with them. We don't need to study the hydrology; all we need to do is take a drive around the perimeter of Long Lake, and the other Channel Lakes, and look at the proliferation of HCWs.

Your letter is a ploy to justify your actions, in hopes of getting back into our good graces.  Unfortunately, it is disingenuous, and lacks any substance. YOU SOLD US OUT - period. You have lost our trust, and do not deserve our respect.  I agree with Criste, I intend to support your opponent, and to actively campaign to oust you from office.

Rep. Krug Votes Against His Own Proposal … After He Voted for It

State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) cannot decide what lie to tell his constituents as he works to deplete and poison his own constituents' waters.

So Krug last night decided to vote against his own bill.

Notes Assistant Democratic Leader Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point) in a press releases: 

MADISON – Last night on the Assembly floor, in a highly unusual action, Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) voted against final passage of his own substitute amendment to Assembly Bill 874, which grants indefinite water rights to some large water users at the expense of the average citizen.

This comes on the heels of Rep. Krug casting the deciding vote in favor of Assembly Bill 874 just two days prior in the Assembly Committee on Environment and Forestry, and voting in favor of adoption of his substitute amendment on the Assembly floor last night.

“In all my years, I have never, ever, seen someone write their own amendment, vote for it in committee, and then vote against it on the Assembly floor. These are the kinds of twisted, political games that people are just fed up with,” commented Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha).  “Does he really think he can have a vote in both pockets, mislead his constituents, and get away with it?”  

When asked on the Assembly floor why he voted against his own proposal, which he claimed to have worked on for three and a half years and previously voted for, Rep. Krug said the proposal “fell a little bit short.”   

“The only person that can be blamed for this proposal falling short is Scott Krug. He wrote the proposal that he voted against. Is this really the best he could do for his constituents?” said Assistant Democratic Leader Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point).  “In a desperate attempt to protect himself and save face in an election year, he is willing to intentionally mislead our Central Sands community.” 

“The people of the Central Sands have asked for and negotiated in good faith for years for responsible groundwater management policy,” continued Rep. Shankland. “Instead, Rep. Krug fulfilled the Republican party’s and special interests’ bidding by casting the deciding vote in committee, voting for the adoption of his proposal, and then voting against its passage. This continues a clear pattern of Rep. Krug promising his constituents one thing and then doing another. It’s cynical and manipulative politics that he believes will fool people and protect his seat while selling out his constituents’ water interests.”

Walker Sells Out Wisconsin Peoples' Water

"As Flint residents are forced to drink, cook with and even bathe in bottled water, while still paying some of the highest water bills in the county for their poisoned water, we turn to a little-known story about the bottled water industry in Michigan. In 2001 and 2002, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued permits to Nestlé, the largest water bottling company in the world, to pump up to 400 gallons of water per minute from aquifers that feed Lake Michigan," (Goodman, Democracy Now).

Now that Scott Walker and legislative Republicans are set on a course of giving away the people of the state of Wisconsin's water, the water that has not been polluted yet, residents from around the state remain in a state ranging from trauma to disbelief.

Notes a friend from central Wisconsin:

In Rome, Wisconsin in Adams County, in there is a 40-acre piece of property on Alpine Drive and 15th, that is up for sale. It contains a high-capacity well that was never used by the former owner, Jim Hoffman. Jim lost the property through foreclosure. If this bill, (AB 874), goes through, anyone purchasing that piece of property could set up for extraction for bottled water, and no one will be able to do a thing about it. Very few people realize that the well is there.

Wisconsin is a trajectory as the new Flint, Michigan. Whether this stops is up to the people.

Central Wisconsin Legislator Has Residents Seeing Red, Feeling Betrayed

Increasing opposition to a proposed massive CAFO in Wood
County in central Wisconsin spurs State Rep. Scott Krug (R)
to lie he has support of clean water advocates for legislation
he is co-sponsoring in the state assembly. Krug's bill would
facilitate the permitting of high capacity water wells drawing
100,000 gallons of groundwater per day and used by CAFOs
to create pathogen-laden liquid cow manure that is dumped
into the environment.
- Photo by Mary Captain-Braund

Update: WisPolitics notes, "The GOP author, (State Rep. Scott Krug) of a sub amendment for a high-capacity well bill got his proposal adopted and then voted against the bill."
---
State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) has rarely made a promise he has kept.

Krug was elected in 2010 after a solemn promise to serve two terms, and never accept a penny of per diem money. Both were lies. "I'm for real," two terms and I'm out, declared Scott Krug in a campaign plank in 2010.

Now Krug has committed another betrayal on protecting fresh water.

Wisconsin Assembly Bill 874, a dangerous anti-groundwater bill that would facilitate the operation and permitting of high capacity wells drawing over 100,000 gallons of water per day, was passed out of the Assembly Committee on Environment and Forestry yesterday. Krug voted for AB 874 and broke his promise.

Krug serves as Vice-Chair of the Committee. He had promised citizen groups privately in the Central Sands region AB 874 would not advance in a series of emails last year.

"We are under assault by the state legislature. Krug has totally betrayed us," said a Saratoga man fighting the siting of a Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Feeding Operation (CAFO) in central Wisconsin. CAFOs use massive amounts of water, and vector it back laden with toxins and feces into the environment.

Krug is a champion of Big Ag in Wisconsin and polluting CAFOs but in a particularly brazen series of moves has has told groups such as Protect Wood County and Our Neighbors that he opposes a proposed massive new CAFO and anti-clean water legislation opposed by citizen groups

"I’m very disappointed that Rep. Krug had the opportunity to kill Assembly Bill 874, but instead he chose to side with the lobbyists and special interests. I’ve heard overwhelmingly from you about your strong opposition to this legislation and appreciate your advocacy on this vital issue for the Central Sands," said State Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point).

Krug's advocacy for AB 874 comes after a raft of anti-clean water bills and other legislation giving away the fresh water of Wisconsin to special interests have been passed by Wisconsin Republicans. Special interests have also enlisted the Republican attorney general to provide legal backing to water depletion initiatives.

The betrayal following other betrayals and broken promises by Krug was feared.

"As feared, Assembly Bill 874 (Gudex bill) was approved in committee and now moves to the Assembly for approval.  It shortcuts the process for high cap well replacement, creates a 'de facto' water right and takes the DNR out of the permitting process when wells are replaced or ownership transferred.  Notice that our Representative Scott Krug was one of those approving it in committee.  So much for protecting groundwater in our district.  Don't forget the over 3,000 high cap wells in our central sands area.  It's up to voters like you and me," writes Don Ystad of Adams County in an email to fresh water advocates.

Writes the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters in a press release:

From the start, the intent of the Death by a Thousand Straws Bill has been clear. Big Ag has lobbied legislators to advance the interests of their thirsty clients at the expense of the state’s valuable groundwater and the many people who rely on it.

Today, in the year 2016, there are people whose drinking water wells are running dry and lakes and rivers are drying up because high capacity wells are over pumping our groundwater supply. Yet, Death by a Thousand Straws moves forward and heads to the floor of the Assembly later this week.

We are very concerned that, despite an outpouring of opposition from thousands of Wisconsinites, including many who are directly impacted by loss of groundwater, legislators chose to listen to special interests rather than their constituents. We have a real groundwater crisis in this state and Death by a Thousand Straws not only refuses to address this problem – it makes it so we can never reach a commonsense, bipartisan solution.

The people of Wisconsin – especially those affected by careless and irresponsible groundwater management – deserve better.

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters was disappointed to see Representatives Mursau, Krug, Czaja, Kitchens, Swearingen, Edming, and R. Brooks vote in favor of AB 874 during the executive session committee vote. Representatives Mason, Milroy, Hebl, Stuck, Considine, and Allen voted against the bill.

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is calling on members of the Assembly to stand in opposition to Death by a Thousand Straws and with their constituents who have taken action thousands of times and urged their decision makers to vote no on this bill.

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to electing conservation leaders, holding decision makers accountable, and encouraging lawmakers to champion conservation policies that effectively protect Wisconsin’s public health and natural resources.

The lifeblood of civilization, clean water, is now a just another commodity Republicans are giving away to special interests, as they eviscerate protections against polluters.

Water Crisis Isn't Looming, It's Here

Note: Our friends in Wood and Adams counties are reminding us what's at stake, (Anderson, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune): Jan 16; 1 p.m. Saturday with the Rome Town Board to discuss the possible implications of the proposed Golden Sands industrial farm. Rome, located in Adams County, is adjacent to Saratoga.
---
Thanks to our friend Charles P. Pierce at Esquire.

Big Ag is, in an act of lunacy unhinged even for these scoiopaths, working with Republicans at the state and national level to eviscerate the Clean Water Act.

Writes Pierce:

The commodification of something as fundamental to human survival as water already has begun. It's tied into climate change. It is the battle of the next 100 years and, unlike the oil wars, you can always decide not to drive a car or use gasoline. You can't decide not to drink any water.

Notes Pierce in his lede:

It has long been the opinion here at the shebeen that we are dooming ourselves to nearly endless political, cultural, and perhaps literal fistfights over water over the next several decades. We're seeing a particularly grotesque example of this underway in Flint, Michigan, at the moment. (Most recently, Governor Rick 'Accessory Before The Fact' Snyder has called out the National Guard to help hand out bottled water and other supplies. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the need for possible 'pacification' duties if the residents of Flint finally get completely fed up with being poisoned.) But there are things happening in the Congress as well. 

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker has already handed over clean water to the polluters. Time for Wisconsin's sleepy rural municipalities to wake up, and protect their water ... by any means necessary.

Citizens Fete Win in Stripping Controversial 'Vested Rights' Initiative

Citizens groups in Wood County Wisconsin and
surrounding region oppose CAFOs and aerial
liquid manure spraying. Photo by Martha Karris of
Rome and Saratoga-Friendly in Wisconsin
(Facebook)

Citizens fighting an industrialized conglomerate's agricultural factory before it begins operation scored a success yesterday at the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison.

In Adams, Wood and surrounding counties in central Wisconsin, residents have been fighting a proposed CAFO or Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Operation centered in the town of Saratoga.

Earlier this week, residents tracked down to the capitol to be heard on their objections to the "vested rights" language in two piece of legislation, Senate Bill 464 and Assembly Bill 582.

The vested rights provision would strip away local control in an unprecedented manner in Wisconsin.

They claim success, noting the vested rights provisions has been stripped out of legislation.

Writes Wisconsin State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma), often mentioned as a possible 2018 gubernatorial candidate:

In a bill, introduced just before Christmas ... the simple action of applying for a driveway permit or a state culvert permit could 'freeze in place' any local ordinance or state law.

For example, on the date a person applies for a driveway permit and discloses a proposed project, the ordinances and rules of all levels of local and state government could be frozen in place on that date provided the driveway is constructed within a stated deadline — even though some aspects of the project may not be completed for many years. (Winona Daily News)

Vinehout notes the pollution, health and property valuations hits that would follow passage of the proposed diminution of local control: "When does your neighbor’s property right limit your own rights? What if your neighbor built a fireworks factory next door? How about a large hog operation? Or an industrial sand mine?

Notes Criste Sullivan-Greening of Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors: "Hearing on AB 582 was today. Rep. Jarchow [(R-Balsam Lake] informed the committee that the ENTIRE vested rights provision has been removed from the bill. Great news for Saratoga and for citizens and municipalities across Wisconsin. Mark one in the WIN category for the little people!"

Reports Don Ystad of Nekoosa in Wood County:

Friends and neighbors,

Here's what happens when you take the time to state your case with your politicians. 8 people from Rome and Saratoga sat for 8 hours on Tuesday at a Senate public hearing in Madison to express our concerns with the "vested rights" and retroactive provisions of a very bad land use bill. People showed up again yesterday to contest the Assembly version of the bill. These bills could have made the proposed CAFO in Saratoga a "slam dunk" had no one contested it. As a result, we are back on an even playing field where that CAFO is concerned.

So, it demonstrates the need for us to be aware and be involved to protect our community. These are not the only poisonous bills out there. In fact, the year started with 7 environment threatening bills in the first week of the year. While you may not have the time or desire to sit at a hearing all day, you may find time to communicate your concerns through e-mail, letters or phone calls. That's becoming more and more important as we hear the DNR's Environmental Impact Statement may be released in the next month or so.  It's time to exercise that "court of public opinion".

For my fellow Rome property owners, your opportunity to be better informed about the proposed CAFO is at the Rome town hall on Saturday, January 16th at 1:00 PM where a meeting supported by your Rome town board and TriLakes will separate rumor from reality.  You'll hear factual information from Dr George Kraft of UWSP, our Assemblyman Scott Krug, and a DNR representative, among others. And, it will help you to know what you can do to help keep this CAFO out of our area.