Was that opportunity knocking?

Tonight, May 23, from 4:30-5:45 p.m. there will be an informational hearing held at the Kewaunee County Highway Department, E4280 County F in Kewaunee (near Footbridge). Wisconsin DNR staff will be there to answer questions about a proposed expansion by Kinnard Farms near Lincoln. Following at 6 p.m., a formal hearing will be held to hear public comments about the expansion.  The DNR has completed an environmental assessment and has concluded that the project is not expected to cause significant environmental effects and that no environmental impact statement will be required.

Well testing of 100 wells, many in the Lincoln area, from May, 2012 has determined that 30% of the private wells are unsafe for drinking due to bacteria and nitrates. That appears to be a significant environmental effect, even before expansion of animal numbers, an additional multimillion gallon manure pit and additional manure spreading on land with less than 50 feet of soil over karst bedrock.

Comments by the public at tonight’s hearing and written comments or objections submitted by May 30 will be used to make the DNR’s final decision. Casey Jones, ag specialist with the DNR was quoted in a recent story in the Kewaunee Star-News that if no changes to the permit are needed, she anticipates a final permit by July 1. It will be interesting to hear the justification for proceeding with a major dairy expansion in an area known to be susceptible to runoff contamination.

Whether you are for or against this expansion project, this is your opportunity to have your input recorded. Stay tuned!

Free Public Seminar

The Door County Environmental Council seminar series at “Crossroads at Big Creek” will begin on Wednesday, May 23rd at 7:00 p.m. with a powerful documentary titled “BLUE GOLD” World Water Wars Coming.

This is a very graphic video presentation about the worldwide water crisis that is affecting many nations now and will increase drastically as the population rises and global temperature changes modify our world fresh water supply. “Blue Gold” the exciting documentary, explains the long-range plans that oil barons have been developing to control water resources all over the planet as the oil profit diminishes.

Prominent and powerful people in Washington and in other countries have been buying up huge parcels of land bordering fresh water lakes in South America to give them unlimited access to the water rights and ultimate control over access to use the water.

This film is a sobering warning for our future generations about the dangers of privatization of essential public resources, and you will witness first-hand the resulting disaster when someone else owns the water you must have to live.

This must-see documentary by Sam Bozzo is sponsored by the Door County Environmental Council and will be presented at “Crossroads at Big Creek” Environmental Center at 2041 Michigan St., Sturgeon Bay, on Wednesday May 23^rd at 7:00 p.m.

Snippets from “Animal Factory”

The following statements are from the book Animal Factory by David Kirby. Kirby will speak about his book at a special presentation August 22 at the Baileys Harbor Library. This presentation is co-sponsored by the Door County Environmental Council and Kewaunee Cares. Mark you calendar.

 A THREAT TO AIR AND WATER:

● Raising cattle produces more greenhouse gases than cars, a UN report warns.

● Manure-based emissions of methane and other CO2 containing gases contributed 7.4 percent (2 million tons) annually to total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

● Agricultural waste is the top cause of well water contaminants in the US. At least 4.5 million Americans are exposed to dangerously high nitrate levels in their drinking water.

● A CDC study of well water in nine Midwestern states showed that 13 percent of the supply had nitrate levels above the EPA standard of 10 milligrams per liter.

● Waste lagoons do not destroy all pathogens: About 15% of viruses and 55% of bacteria survive and could reach groundwater supplies.

● There is ample documentation of water pollution from runoff of animal waste. More than half of all US fish kills were attributed to livestock.

A THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH:

● Manure can contain deadly pathogens, antibiotics, drug-resistant bacteria, hormones, heavy metals, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, etc. that can seriously impact human health.

● Odors from 170 separate chemicals can cause respiratory disease, diarrhea, depression, violent behavior, nausea, vomiting, headache, insomnia, coughing, appetite loss, and irritation to the eyes, nose and throat.

● Animal factories can release nitrates into well water in levels that may cause diarrhea, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, spontaneous abortion and “blue-baby syndrome.”

● Excess nitrate exposure in pregnant women may cause central nervous system problems in children, and even neural tube defects, which has been linked to autism.

● Animal factories can help breed dangerous levels of organisms such as dangerous E-coli, salmonella, listeria, viruses, protozoa and worms.

● Factory farmed animals often receive low dose antibiotics, creating bacterial resistance that is passed between bacteria and conferring resistance to drugs needed by humans.

● Another study found airborne enterococci, staph, and strep bacteria with resistant genes: 98% were resistant to two or more antibiotics.

A THREAT TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES:

● Economic concentration of agricultural operations tends to remove a higher percentage of money from rural communities than when the industry is dominated by smaller farms.

● Many studies have shown that social and economic well-being in small towns improve by increasing the number of farmers, not increasing the volume of commodity produced.

● The agriculture sector boasts that it is so productive it only employs 2% of the population. For every job created by a hog factory, three local jobs are lost.

● One poll said that 42% of rural respondents said a neighboring farm detracted from quality of life “a great deal” or “somewhat.” Odor was the main concern, followed by flies, manure run-off, noise, and dust.

● Agribusiness leaders have political contacts and access to government uncharacteristic of the average citizen.

● When individual concerns and complaints are taken to the state level they are often regarded as being scientifically unfounded and “emotional” in nature.

● Quality of life is an issue. One study said that “highly cherished values of freedom and independence gives way to feelings of violation and infringement.”

● Local redress can be restricted: 13 states have laws limiting disparaging speech about agriculture.

● All 50 states have some type of “right-to-farm” rules that protect animal factories from zoning laws or lawsuits

New item at Algoma Library

Kewaunee Cares has donated “All Washed Up”,  a movie about Lake Michigan’s algae problem to the Algoma Public Library. Check it out.

 

 

Karst.

When you hear people talk about karst topography as it relates to groundwater quality all you have to do is look at the fractures in the carbonate limestone bedrock forming direct conduits from the surface to the aquifers below. Here we’ve highlighted a karst cross-section photo to illustrate how many paths surface water can follow on its way to the groundwater. In this particular location there is almost no surface soil or organic matter to help filter out contaminants. The point to be made is that there is serious risk of groundwater contamination in areas where karst bedrock is present. Once the aquifers are tainted, regardless of the source of contamination, they remain that way for all of us to share.

To learn more about the karst bedrock throughout the state view the UW Extension factsheet below.

Karst Factsheet

Time to Reintroduce Wisconsin to Aldo Leopold

contributed by Hank

Aldo Leopold, though born in Burlington, Iowa, is claimed by many of us as a Wisconsinite.  And why not?  He ran the forest products lab in Madison, and later became a professor of “ecology” at the University of Wisconsin, where he was in charge of the arboretum.  His famous book, “A Sand County Almanac” was inspired by experiences along the Wisconsin River.

Leopold’s pioneering work in what is now called “restoration ecology,”  pointed the way for a sustainable future.  Although he died in 1948, he is still way ahead of our time.  He was that rare combination of scientist and poet whose writings carried great depth of meaning in a deceptively simple prose.

Leopold’s famous Land Ethic:

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

Our downfall is in considering land a repository of resources for our taking.  Or as Leopold said, “Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Perhaps nowhere is this “commodity” perspective more evident than in the so-called “CAFO’s” (confined animal feeding operations) so predominant in Wisconsin these days.  So many animals are crowded into small spaces, that liberal use of antibiotics becomes a necessity.  The amount of manure produced by just a couple of CAFO’s is comparable to that of large cities.  This manure in liquid form is simply hauled in huge tankers and dumped over vast acreage as “fertilizer.”  But mere fertilizers don’t normally  serve as vehicles for a bothersome brew that can contain, among other things, artificial hormones and cleaning compounds.  This potion sullies the countryside, finding its way into streams, lakes, and groundwater.

There is also an aromatic element, infusing the air across Kewaunee County with a pungent odor.  Some have referred to this as smelling Wisconsin’s “dairy-air.”  Pun intended.

The animals in confinement, whether chickens, pigs, or cows, are also reduced to mere commodity.  These so-called “animal units” live an awful life callously crammed into cages.  In some cases they can’t even turn around.

It’s been pointed out that farm subsidies make this kind of “factory farming” possible.  Actual “family farms” are squeezed out, despite being a more efficient means of dairy production, more sustainable, and less harmful to their surroundings.

Conservation in Leopold’s view was far more than mere protection of native flora and fauna.  He saw it as an affirmation of community.  The human connection to land is crucial.

A restored landscape when done “right” is stable, diverse, and beautiful.  Examples can be spotted in Wisconsin, where modest family farms dot the countryside along with forests, meadows, and clean streams.

If we are to provide a future for our own grandchildren and for their grandchildren, we had better change our consumptive ways and get back to a meaningful relationship with the land.  It starts in our own home landscapes… minimize use of toxins and maximize habitat.  Buy dairy products from dairies that are certified BGH free… that is, that don’t purchase from CAFOs.

“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land… In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.”

Support family farms.  Buy dairy products free of rBGH…

rBGH is recombinant bovine growth hormone, genetically engineered and injected into dairy cows to make them produce more milk.  Don’t give this stuff to your family!   For Wisconsin dairy products free of rBGH enter the attached address and click on Wisconsin:

http://www.sustainabletable.org/getinvolved/statepdfs/WI.pdf

For more information:

http://grist.org/politics/food-2010-10-06-court-rules-on-rbgh-free-milk/

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/foodsafety/dairy/

DNR Writes Fewer Tickets

The chart above appeared in an April 29th article in the Wisconsin State Journal. These numbers are just opposite of what seems to be needed at this time of big dairy expansion. DNR Secretary, Cathy Stepp, says she won’t apologize for taking the Department in a direction of more customer service. Rather than write tickets, they choose to sit down and talk to the violators about what they’ve done. That simply means there is more to be lost by pursuing violators of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, than gained in environmental protection and human health. Special interest involvement and influence on the state government has a strangle hold on the DNR.

Read the entire article linked below. Then write to the editor of the State Journal with your opinion on how the DNR is doing. http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/shift-in-philosophy-dnr-writing-fewer-tickets/article_dbfe52f6-91f8-11e1-9e2b-001a4bcf887a.html

As Secretary Stepp put it in the article, “judge us by our actions”. We are, and you’re not serving the best interest of the people of Wisconsin. You are serving those “special” interests  who support turning a blind eye to the huge environmental mess being made right under your nose. That’s our opinion.