DAILY WISCONSIN

Health

Environment, Factory Farming, Health, Water

Add 26,000 hogs, stir, then marinate

I’ve made the point earlier, as have activists and local residents, repeatedly, but these brief paragraphs towards the end of a news story summarizing the damage and deaths from last week’s heavy rains in Northwest Wisconsin….underscore the madness of proposing to Scott Walker’s “chamber-of-commerce-mentality” Department of Natural Resources the approval for a 26,000-hog feeding and manure storage operation within smelling and polluting distance of Lake Superior, Chequamegon Bay and numerous wells providing drinking water and economic life to the entire Northwoods region…

Via The Political Environment: NW WI flood washes away argument for 26,000-hog CAFO.

Environment, Factory Farming, Health

Central Wisconsin Citizens Oppose Massive Factory Farm

The Golden Sands Dairy is widely opposed and imperils a wold class golf resort in northern Adams county, property home valuations, and surface waters and acquirers in a four-county region looking for recreational and tourism investments.

Citizens have been opposing the proposed CAFO since plans were first announced in 2012.

Via MAL Contends . . .: Central Wisconsin Citizens Begin Petition Opposing Massive Factory Farm.

Ecology, Environment, Health, Water

Radium-contaminated water

In 2014, the village of Sussex in southeast Wisconsin made a dismaying discovery. The radioactive element radium, a contaminant that occurs naturally in bedrock throughout the region, had seeped into two of its seven water wells.

It was not exactly a surprise. Radium has long been a problem in drinking water for dozens of Wisconsin communities from Green Bay to the Illinois border….

Via As wells go deeper, radium levels rise in state tap water @ WisconsinWatch.org

Environment, Health, Water

Lead, Carrying Drinking Water

Experts, and even some regulators, say existing laws are failing to protect Wisconsin and the nation from harmful exposure to lead in drinking water that leaches from aging plumbing — a danger illustrated by the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan.

At least 176,000 so-called lead service lines connect older Wisconsin homes to the iron water mains that deliver municipal water, according to an estimate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Milwaukee alone, where 60 percent of the state’s known lead-poisoned children live, has 70,000 lead service lines.

Via Lead pipes, antiquated law threaten Wisconsin’s drinking water quality @ WCIJ.

Ecology, Environment, Health, Water

Not Just Michigan

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder (R-Michigan) is getting huge amount of lurid publicity for ignoring (indeed causing) the water crises in Flint, Michigan in which toxic lead was effectively vectored into the children and families of Flint, (Lederman, In These Times).

The coverage is spot-on, as Snyder now pushes back against the EPA efforts to mitigate a disaster.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker has ignored (indeed caused) the water problem in Kewaunee, Juneau, Adams, Wood counties, inflicting the same polluter-friendly, anti-family health agenda he has pursued since he was elected….

Via Scott Walker Is as Bad as Michigan Gov in Abandoning Water Protection @ MAL Contends…

Abortion, Health

Holding fast, both sides

Teri Huyck, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said in the statement the health and safety of its patients is Planned Parenthood’s top priority, and it will continue to assess security measures.

“Planned Parenthood has strong security measures in place to ensure that our health centers are safe, supportive, welcoming environments for all people accessing the high-quality health care they need,” Huyck said….

Pro-Life Wisconsin condemned the Colorado shooting in a blog post Monday.

In the post, state director Dan Miller said Pro-Life Wisconsin is categorically opposed to murder, and dignity of human life should be upheld at all stages of life — but that does not change the organization’s stance on abortion.

“Abortion destroys peace and creates a culture of violence and disrespect for human life,” Miller said.

Via Post-Colorado shooting, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin says they’re ‘not going anywhere’ @ The Badger Herald » News.

Agriculture, Environment, Factory Farming, Health

Factory Farm Threatens Tourism

“Opponents of a proposed massive factory farm sited in Wood and Adams counties are working on several fronts to stop the proposed Wycocki CAFO or Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Feeding Operation in the Town of Saratoga. One campaign has citizen groups reaching out to promote the tourism and and recreational potential of the region, located at…

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Agriculture, Business, Ecology, Environment, Factory Farming, Health

Factory Farmers Demand Water for Spraying Cow Manure

SB 291 is the end game of Republican strategy to pose as protectors of groundwater while directing the newly polluter-friendly Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) to expedite permits for high-capacity wells drawing more than 100,000 gallons of groundwater a day.

Krug’s spin is reported in a largely uncritical piece by Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on October 9.

The water is used by industrialized agriculture (Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Feeding Operations) and other large industrialized agricultural corporations combining the water with cow manure and sending back into the environment millions of gallons of liquid and aerialized cow manure with often tragic health and environmental consequences.

Via Scott Krug’s Betrayal—Sponsors Bill to Plunder Groundwater @ MAL Contends…

Agriculture, Business, Ecology, Environment, Factory Farming, Health, Water

Aerial Spraying of Manure

Central Sands Dairy gets to –

  • Spray in winds up to 15mph (because odors and mists fall to the ground at 14mph)
  • Self-monitor and self-report (WI’s water problems clearly indicate how well that works)
  • Spray in an area which has groundwater contamination so high in nitrates, the irrigation wells are considered a “major source of nutrients” (Hail to Irony!)
  • Well test for only one year (then…eh…we’ll see)
  • Self-monitor with two-hour observation intervals (please, have you read the Rap Sheets?  Years of reports are missing from WPDES Permit files and they still re-issue a permit every five years…there is no incentive to drive 55 when the cops are never around)
  • Shoot shit out of an end gun but only during the day (because they did not like “preliminary findings” the Workgroup research provided)
  • Spray at night (when there are no UV rays to kill pathogens and it is highly unlikely you will be able to observe equipment in the dark )

– DNR Approval document submitted by GOP-connected Michael Best and Friedrich LLP on behalf on Central Sands can be seen at Restore Kewaunee. –

Via Polluters Get Green Light, Manure Dumping Expedited @ MAL Contends…

Agriculture, Business, Environment, Factory Farming, Health

When the Model is Bad

The Central Sands Dairy in Juneau County Wisconsin is promoted as the state-of-the-art model for the proposed massive Golden Sands Dairy in Saratoga (Agri-View).

This frightens area residents in Wood and Adams County as a new report shows massive nitrate levels in area groundwater monitoring wells at Central Sands.

Both Central Sands and Golden Sands are owned by the Wysocki Family of Companies, whose corporate officers live safely off-site from the massive industrialized Central Sands Dairy site and Golden Sands sites.

Via Nitrate Levels in Groundwater at Central Sands Dairy Exceed Safe Standard by Seven Times @ MAL Contends…