Thousands of pigs perish in barn fire

The barn was reported a complete loss. The nursery barn for feeder pigs was engulfed when the Fire Department arrived in scene. No human injuries were reported and damage was limited to the barn.

Another reason why factory farms are dangerous, lives of animals are not taken serious and these are not humane operations for the animals, consumers and also workers at these places. Barn fires can occur without warning and can kill animals in several hundreds because the livestock is crowded in these mega barns under inhumane conditions. In this case, 7,500 to 8,000 pigs perished. This fire started in the office. Spread up the wall into the ceiling and throughout the building. The reporting party reportedly tried to put the fire out but was not able. Another reason to doubt the unsafe operation of these facilities.

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Scott Walker: Proposal to split DNR might have merit

"He criticized a measure where the Department of Environmental Protection would not have a citizens board to help guide policy. Meyer said it would shut off an avenue of input if the public is not pleased with the direction of the department. Meyer said land management under the new regime would lack continuity, with agencies such as agriculture and tourism suddenly moving into new areas without expertise. While Jarchow's plan calls for no new spending, Meyer pointed to an analysis by the Fiscal Bureau showing that costs could rise in time as positions are reclassified and salaries spike upward. The concept of two bureaucracies leads to higher costs, Meyer said. "And with two agencies, you have different priorities," he said."

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How Scott Walker Dismantled Wisconsin's Environmental Legacy

But since Gov. Walker took office, she says, “We have not been able to settle one permit—we’ve had to litigate every single challenge. We’re often told by [DNR] staff, ‘We know you’re right, but you’re going to have to sue us because the people above me won’t let me issue a technically sufficient permit.’ That’s a really big difference—the interference in science-based decision-making is pretty complete."

Kimberlee Wright, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, an environmental law center, works closely with DNR engineers and scientists to review and comment on pollution permits for activities such as wastewater disposal and groundwater pumping under the Clean Water Act. In the past, Wright says, the process was typically straightforward, and she and colleagues were routinely able to hammer out permits that followed the technical requirements of the law.

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'Climate Change' Deleted From Wisconsin DNR Website

Wisconsin DNR Decision to remove "Climate Change" is making global news.

And let's not forget that in April 2015, state officials banned employees of a state agency from talking about climate change, conducting any work on it or even responding to emails about it.

Whoever is managing Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources website must be wearing out the delete key. The word "climate" has been quietly stripped from the department'swebpage dedicated to explaining the state's response to climate change, Raw Story reported. In total, 13 original appearances of the word "climate" have been kiboshed. The only place you'll see the word now is in the "climatechange.html" URL and a tiny footnote link. Not only that, any reference to humanity's contribution to global warming has been deleted.

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DNR breakup plan called a boon to polluters

A Wisconsin lawmaker wants to break up the DNR, creating a fish and wildlife department seperate from the environmnetal regulators.

A sweeping plan drawn up in Wisconsin’s Republican- controlled Legislature would scatter Department of Natural Resources parks, forestry, environmental, hunting and fishing programs among three existing agencies and two new ones.

The proposal’s sponsor provided scant specific reasons for seeking the change except to say he wants to help business operators and outdoors enthusiasts who have told him the DNR “is just not working in its current form.”

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DNR purges climate change from web page

Officials replaced this wording: “Earth’s climate is changing. Human activities that increase heat-trapping ('greenhouse') gases are the main cause.”

The State Department of Natural Resources recently scrubbed language from an agency web page on the Great Lakes that said humans and greenhouse gases are the main cause of climate change. The DNR now says the subject is a matter of scientific debate. The department made the changes on Dec. 21, striking out whole sentences attributing global warming to human activities and rising levels of carbon dioxide. It’s the most recent example of the DNR removing information related to climate change. More broadly, the changes reflect how the administration of Republican Gov. Scott Walker has de-emphasized the subject since he took office in 2011.

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AG’s Ruling on Wells Praised by Special Interests that Spent $2.2M to Elect Him

Schimel’s decision was praised by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business group, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, and Americans for Prosperity, founded and funded by Charles and David Koch.

Among Schimel’s contributions from the agriculture industry in 2013 and 2014 was $4,400 from about a half dozen factory farm owners. Topping the list of Schimel’s factory farm contributors was $1,000 each from Todd Willer, of Freedom, John and Keri Vosters, of Freedom, and James Ostrom, of De Pere, all owners of Milk Source, which operates about a half-dozen large farms throughout the state.

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Hearings Set on Changes to Soil and Water Conservation Rule

The revised rule would also clarify that, whenever a nutrient management plan is required by local regulations, it would have to meet state standards.

The department is proposing revisions primarily to incorporate changes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 590 Nutrient Management Standard. Those changes, in turn, incorporated changes to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources farm runoff standards. Together, the three sets of regulations establish a framework for the state's "nonpoint source" pollution control program. The program works with counties to install and share costs of farmland conservation practices, plan for soil and water conservation and farmland preservation, oversee manure storage and local livestock operations, and train conservation professionals. The proposed changes include new restrictions aimed at keeping manure and other nutrients away from direct conduits to groundwater, while allowing farmers to choose conservation practices that are appropriate for their operations and still protect resources.

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State to hold hearings on stricter manure runoff rules

The proposed changes include new restrictions aimed at keeping manure and other nutrients away from direct conduits to groundwater, while allowing farmers to choose conservation practices that are appropriate for their operations, and still protect resources

Farm runoff standards are set to be tightened in Wisconsin, so state officials want to hear from the public about the proposed changes.

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection will hold four public hearings in January on the changes to the rule known as ATCP 50, with the changes precipitated by changes to the USDA's nutrient management standard.

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Farms to subsidize cost of safe drinking water for those with tainted wells

The Emerald Town Board denied a citizen-led resolution asking them to support a one-year moratorium and Environmental Impact Study prior to expanding Emerald Sky Dairy to over 6,000 cows. There are 90 families within a 2 mile radius of Emerald Sky Dairy concerned about this expansion because of the proposed 80 million gallons of sewage stored on-site, equal to a city of 1.4 million people according to EPA estimates.

Recent history in other parts of Wisconsin (Kewaunee County) reveal our State Government's inability to protect water quality when 1/3 of the tested private wells in the vicinity of these industrial dairies were contaminated with bacteria and nitrates. Our State Government gave itself an “F” for protecting our water quality in their Legislative Audit Bureau report last month.  The DNR's Secretary agreed with the findings of the report.

These are significant facts – not to be ignored.

When some say, “I don't care what happened in Kewaunee County,” they miss the point how our State government failed to protect our water quality. When no one is “watching the store” businesses have opportunity and incentive to “cut corners” and others (we) pay the price. The cost of drilling a new well can exceed $20,000 for a homeowner, and is not covered by insurance.

This affects you because a compromised lagoon or over application of manure in fields can spread this contamination throughout the County quickly. Dry Run Creek runs behind Emerald Sky Dairy, into the Willow River through New Richmond, Willow River State Park, Lake Mallalieu, and into the St. Croix River.

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Dead zones haunt Green Bay as manure fuels algae blooms

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"Yet the old pollution culprits of heavy industry and human sewage are no longer the primary drivers of the problem; the amount of phosphorus pouring from their pipes into Green Bay is just a fraction of what it was four decades ago.....So what is the problem?  Take a look at Wisconsin's license plate. The answer lies in the farm fields just above the sailboat flying across a blue lake."

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Impacting rural drinking water wells, waterways and wetlands

Phosphorus flowing into the lower Fox River watershed, defined as the 39-mile stretch of river between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay.

Kewaunee County CAFOs generate and land-apply over 340 million gallons of untreated liquefied manure and 81,332 tons of untreated solid manure annually to the county’s cropland (Mueller, 2014). At current rates, Kewaunee County dairies and its small beef cattle herd disposes of over 12.4 million pounds of nitrogen annually, exceeding the crop nutrient uptake capability of county farmland by more than 1.15 million pounds each year (Petition for Emergency Action Pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §300i, 2014). This excess nitrogen, once a potentially valuable crop amendment, is then released into the local environment, where it converts to nitrates at harmful levels that have had devastating effects on the region’s shallow groundwater resources, negatively impacting rural residents’ drinking water wells, local waterways and wetlands. The Rap Sheets: Industrial Dairies in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, 2015

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With more change coming, DNR retirement concerns remain

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources leaders are seeking new ways to ensure that they retain crucial institutional knowledge as they unveil a reorganization to wary employees amid a wave of retirements that now includes high-profile managers. DNR shortcomings in hiring and training new workers came to light in June when a state audit linked them to flaws in DNR enforcement of laws aimed at preventing pollution of lakes, streams and drinking water.

At the DNR, there were almost 40 percent more retirements from 2011 to 2015 compared to 2006-2010. In the latter five years, there were 806 retirements in a department with about 2,500 full-time employees.

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State audit finds DNR ignoring own rules on water pollution

Kewaunee County citizens documented runoff from wastewater lagoon flowing through a parking ares and directly into a ditch leading to the East Twin River.

Wisconsin’s water quality regulators failed to follow their own policies on enforcement against polluters more than 94 percent of the time over the last decade, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau said in a report released Friday. From 2005 to 2015, there was a general decline in state Department of Natural Resources enforcement activity to protect lakes, streams and groundwater from large livestock farms, factories and sewage treatment plants that discharge liquid waste, according to the bureau’s 124-page report. During a period when elected officials from both political parties have decreased DNR staffing, notices of violations were issued to polluters in just 33 of 558 instances serious enough for such citations under DNR policies, the audit found.

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Natural Resources Board wants answers on 'surprising' DNR audit

DNR employees didn’t have time to adequately review annual reports submitted by concentrated animal feeding operations or plans describing how millions of gallons of manure they generate annually would be kept out of lakes, streams and groundwater. The DNR didn’t meet its goals for inspections and failed to document that it took any action for months or even years in five incidents where monitoring wells showed feedlots were contaminating groundwater with substances harmful to human health, auditors said.

State Sen. Rob Cowles: “I can tell you the DNR board is steaming mad,” Cowles said last week. “This was a surprise to them. Three of them called me, and a lot of my constituents did, too.”

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EPA joins public hearing about groundwater quality concerns

"Organizers said that, in part, this meeting is in response to the number of frac sand mines and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that are not being regulated properly by the DNR and other local bodies, citing reasons of not having enough staff, not having enough funding, and not having enough support from legislators."

This meeting is in response to the number of frac sand mines and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that are not being regulated properly by the DNR and other local bodies.

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DNR to alter handling of pollution, parks, enforcement

Stepp touted the plan as a first-of-its-kind “business plan” detailing agency functions in ways that should help shield the department from budget cuts and make the shrinking DNR workforce happier and more efficient.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources leaders on Wednesday announced a sweeping reorganization aimed at providing relief to overburdened workers in its troubled water quality program and making state parks and wildlife management more efficient. George Meyer, a former DNR secretary who directs the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said some of the changes could prove helpful, but the ailing DNR needs more employees, not a reorganization, Meyer said. The DNR has come under fire from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for deficiencies in Clean Water Act enforcement and by the audit bureau for failing to conduct timely inspections of large dairy operations or adequately review manure spreading plans or annual compliance reports.

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New questions raised on how Wisconsin will protect lakes, drinking water

The DNR collects $5 million to $7 million annually in fees from concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs, municipal sewer plants and private industry, but it typically keeps less than $90,000, with the rest going to the state’s general fund.

After years of complaints about tainted drinking water and weed-choked waterways, proposals for tighter state restrictions on industrial-scale dairy operations are in the works. Without adequate law enforcement, the state could slide back toward the polluted conditions that existed before enactment of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, and he’s not sure the Legislature is prepared to make needed changes. “The people of this state believe in water quality. We brag about our lakes and rivers and having great places to fish in and swim in.”

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Coliform Bacteria and Nitrate Well Contamination

This summer, the Wisconsin DNR required the Picnic and Group area wells and drinking fountains be closed to the public; they cannot be re-opened until steps are taken to resolve the coliform bacteria problems.

The Homestead Park well has had nitrate levels above safe drinking water standards for six years. During this timeframe, the well/drinking fountains have been closed to the public and bottled drinking water has been purchased for full-time and seasonal park staff. The Homestead well was constructed in 2002. At the time every precaution was taken to avoid nitrate contamination, the well is 325 feet deep, is 10-inches wide with a 6-inch casing going down 313 feet, the cavity between the well and casing is grouted to 303 feet.

View here well failure PDF

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Tax assessment lowered due to proximity to hog farm

“The smell is so bad that I can smell it on the hair on my arms when I come in from outside,” Knutson said.

Mike Koles, executive director of the Wisconsin Towns Association, said he wasn’t familiar with the case, but if Knutson’s tax assessment was indeed lowered because of the proximity to the hog facility, “it has the potential to open up a can of worms. “We’ve got to look into it a little more, but it has the potential to have broad implications across the state,” Koles said. “I’d be really concerned that we have all these people around farms who are going to make challenges to their assessments.”

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