Demand runs high for DNR magazine Gov. Scott Walker wants to cut

Demand for Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine ran high after news of Gov. Scott Walker's plans to shutter the publication became widely known.

Subscription requests for Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine ran high two weeks ago after a flurry of news coverage about Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to shut down the self-supporting, nearly 100-year-old publication. The state Department of Natural Resources received 1,394 subscriptions orders in the eight days between Feb. 13 and Wednesday, DNR spokesman Jim Dick said in an email Monday.

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The CAFO Industry's Devastating Impact on the Environment and Public Health

Subscribe for more from Sierra Club: http://smarturl.it/SierraClub_Subscribe Founded by legendary conservationist John Muir in 1892, the Sierra Club is now the nation's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization -- with more than two million members and supporters. Our successes range from protecting millions of acres of wilderness to helping pass the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act.

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DNR break up just another quick ‘fix’

The Little Plover River in 2014 was below minimum levels set by the Department of Natural Resources. Stephen Born argues that it would be a mistake to break up the department into several different agencies.

Organizational “reshuffling” too often gets identified as the remedy for agency failings. Institutional arrangements can expedite or frustrate agency objectives, but changing them does not address basic problems that impair an agency’s functioning. It’s interesting to note that in states with fragmented management, legislators propose consolidation; and where superagencies exist, the legislative remedy is dismemberment. Maybe instead of knee-jerk proposals to break apart the DNR, we should take an in-depth look at how state government manages the environment, and where changes to ensure Wisconsin’s environment for the future are really needed.

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Life with Nitrates: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Contaminated water upends your life. Learn how here. https://www.facebook.com/SaratogaConcerned/ https://www.facebook.com/romesaratoga/?fref=ts

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Des Moises Waterworks was suing the counties to their north for polluting the water they provided for 500,000 Des Moines residents

While we are disappointed in the decision of the Court not to provide an opportunity for relief to Des Moines Water Works ratepayers, we respect the opinion of the Court.  Unresolved questions of permitting and, ultimately regulation, are not addressed yet, and remain at the heart of the federal case,” said Bill Stowe, CEO and General Manager, Des Moines Water Works.  “The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision was an opportunity for moving 100-year old Iowa law progressively forward on water quality issues never before considered, but that opportunity did not command a majority on the Court. We were pleased Chief Justice Cady stated in his separate opinion that ‘Pollution of our streams is a wrong, irrespective of its source or its cause” and look toward a day when a majority of the Court may agree.

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Bayfield woman leads opposition to corporate farms near Lake Superior and beyond

With the nitrogen and phosphorous that comes from it, what really frightens me is the specter of pathogens," former chief of runoff management for the Wisconsin DNR said. "With more and more of this untreated liquid manure we're putting rural populations at health risks." Depending on its size, a single CAFO can produce the same amount of waste as a town or small city with none of the waste treatment requirements of a municipality, several sources explained. CAFOs are only required by the DNR to have the requisite amount of land to spread their large amounts of manure.

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New Goal to Improve Water Quality in Minnesota

Without an ambitious, achievable goal, the quality of our water will continue to deteriorate,” said Governor Dayton. “Minnesotans must set this goal now, and then work together to achieve it. I ask all Minnesotans to join me in finding solutions that will ensure our children and grandchildren inherit clean water to drink, swim, and fish in. This is everyone’s challenge, and everyone’s responsibility.

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State water woes drive 'unpolished' effort to sway lawmakers

Blue-green algae is among the water quality problems residents want to address.

Representatives of two dozen groups from around the state plan to tell lawmakers how their lives have been affected by things such as hazardous bacteria in drinking water, toxic algae that has killed pets and closed swimming beaches, and receding lakes that have left docks high and dry, Greening said. While not aimed at any particular legislative proposal, the effort is intended as an initial warning shot across the bow of a state government that has rolled back water protections for the better part of a decade, Greening said.

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Proposed hog confinement killed after rural neighbors speak out

Fulton County farmer Matt Howe speaks out against hog confinements during a news conference Jan. 24, 2017, at the Capitol in Springfield. The Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water organized a news conference during which several residents from around Illinois spoke about the adverse effects hog and dairy confinements have had on their lives.

Facing opposition from local farmers, one of the state's largest pork producers has pulled its application to build a hog confinement in downstate Fulton County, handing opponents a rare victory in their efforts to slow the growth of the massive livestock facilities in the state. The hog producer, an affiliate of Professional Swine Management, formally withdrew its notice of intent to construct from the Illinois Department of Agriculture last week after sustained protests from neighbors who feared that waste from the proposed 20,000-hog confinement could foul rivers and creeks, and that the operation might ruin roads and jeopardize their rural way of life.

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Emerald Sky Dairy, under new ownership, is back to spreading the manure much like our grandfathers did

Emerald Dairy originally installed a state-of-the-art digester to separate manure solids & liquids in hopes of reducing contaminates in liquids being released back to the environment and solids to be re-used for bedding for the cows. However, the digester has proven problematic, with the equipment starting fires on two separate occasions - once in 2009 in which it destroyed other equipment housed in the same building and also in 2014, rendering the digester useless, thus it was permanently taken off-line and remains so to this day. Now, Emerald Sky Dairy, under new ownership, is back to spreading the manure much like our grandfathers did - without the technologically advanced pre-treatment that Emerald Dairy had done in the past.

2009 Fire Details from New Richmond News
2014 Fire Details from Leader-Telegram

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Changes scale back Wisconsin DNR

MADISON (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker promised to transform the state Department of Natural Resources. And he has, cutting scientists, shrinking its budget and pushing the agency to be more receptive to industry. And even more changes could be in store. Walker and Republican lawmakers, who hold their largest majorities in decades, are pondering whether to eliminate the agency and spread its duties across state government as well as charge people more to get into state parks and to hunt. It all adds up to a picture of a struggling agency no one recognizes any more, critics say.

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DNR's Cathy Stepp says a law on water use would help

Elected officials have been unable to agree on how to regulate the contentious issue. The agriculture and food-processing industries have demanded more water, but in some areas lakes and streams have dried up, raising the ire of waterfront property owners and conservationists.

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The Political Environment

GOP Gov. Scott Walker has just signaled he will keep trying to fool all of the people all of the time by stealing the very issue - - clean water for everyone - - which should disqualify him from further public service to keep his inevitable 2018 re-election campaign afloat.

Though he has thumbed his official nose for 5+ years at his US Clean Water Law obligations, has overseen a statewide reduction in pollution inspections and enforcement, and has carried water (sorry) for whichever wetlands and water abusers needed an official shoulder shrug or pass  - - whether sand mining companies, iron mining special interests, big ag, animal feeding and manure producing operations

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7 UW-Madison faculty: Purging DNR's website doesn't change climate facts

Failing to accurately inform the public about these threats and the opportunities to reduce them violates the trust we place in our public institutions. Even more disturbing, the Wisconsin DNR is repudiating its
own longstanding tradition of applying the best available science in the
public interest.

As a public agency, the Wisconsin DNR is responsible for managing our state’s natural resources and protecting the health and welfare of its citizens, forests, waters and wildlife. Rapid changes in climate are threatening public health, safety and natural resources.

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Plain Talk: Website scrubbing adds insult to injury at DNR

Thanks to Tommy Thompson's success nearly 20 years before in making  the DNR secretary a gubernatorial appointment and Doyle's failure to overturn it, one of Walker's first acts was to make an outspoken critic of the DNR, former state Sen. Cathy Stepp, the department's new secretary. It's been downhill ever since. The department has been complicit in weakening permitting regulations. An audit has found it derelict in enforcing its own policies when dealing with polluters. Large animal-feeding operations, CAFOs, have gone virtually unchecked. The science services division was dismantled. Large cutbacks were made in the staffs that deal with hunting and fishing.

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Tiffany and Jarchow shortsighted in approach to Northwoods

Such damage is exactly what Tiffany’s and Jarchow’s policies risk allowing — and have in fact allowed by weakening protection of our lake and river shorelines. How severely would degraded water resources damage the economy? What happens to the stores, gas stations, restaurants, motels, car dealers and other businesses
when people no longer visit because the lakes
have lost their luster?

Tiffany and Jarchow seem to wear it as a badge of honor that the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters gives them failing grades for their legislative performance. In reality, that is a badge of shame. In reality, it’s Tiffany and Jarchow who are dogmatic in advocating for private property rights with no mention of responsibilities to protect our natural resources for the benefit of all. In particular, they have pushed through legislation, hidden in the state budget bill, that makes it much more difficult for local and county governments to enact rules to protect our lakes, streams and groundwater from irresponsible development.

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The Physics & Chemistry of Karst Topography

Learn how limestone caves are formed and how the process can impact drinking water

Watch Video >

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UW-Madison faculty challenge DNR climate change revisions

“The Wisconsin DNR has a responsibility to accurately inform the public about the challenges presented by climate change,” the scientists said. “Ignoring facts and this responsibility hobbles the state agency entrusted to manage natural resources and protect the public. It also portrays the Wisconsin state government as anti-science.”

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Wisconsin's climate may need to adapt to Donald Trump

So it’s likely Trump will replace Robert Kaplan, the interim regional administrator of the EPA Chicago office who last summer sent a team of investigators to review water pollution permit files in the state Department of Natural Resources office in Madison, said Tressie Kamp, an MEA attorney. Kaplan also spearheaded months of public discussions that resulted in detailed recommendations for keeping dairy manure out of water as well as a plan for supplying emergency water to Kewaunee County, where one-third of test wells have been tainted with hazardous bacteria from animal waste.

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Matthew Rothschild: Tiffany and Jarchow’s bad defense of their pro-polluter records

People in Wisconsin understand that when liquid manure is flowing out of their faucets, now is not the time to weaken our protections against polluters. For instance, one-third of the people in Kewaunee County can’t drink the water that’s coming out of their faucets because it’s contaminated with manure from nearby factory farms. Moms and dads have had to drive to Algoma High School to get clean water and then haul it home for cooking and drinking.

Tiffany and Jarchow claim to be on the side of people in our rural communities, but it’s these very people who are suffering the most from the pollution that’s devastating their water supply.

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