Community and Environmental Groups Join Legislators, Family Farmers, Homeowners in Battle
Media Contact: Bob Clarke, bclarke113@yahoo.com. 608-296-1443; Terry Tinkle, costink@uniontel.net. 715-228-3919
October 14, 2011 COLOMA – Eight community and environmental groups have joined forces with a grass-roots coalition of legislators, family farmers and homeowners in their battle to preserve their quality of life in light of the environmental threats posed by the specter of a nearly 5000-cow livestock factory that is seeking to locate in the pristine Central Sands region of Wisconsin.
The growth of the opposition comes on the heels of a new study by University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Center for Watershed Science and Education, which found that the proposed Richfield CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) would worsen existing problems with drinking water and stream levels in the area. State Representatives Louis Molepske, Fred Clark, and Brett Hulsey cited the study in urging the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) to reject the Richfield operation in a letter to WDNR Secretary Cathy Steppe dated today.
“When one of Wisconsin’s most respected hydrologists offers a state-of-the-art science-based analysis that suggests we have a problem, we should listen,” Clark said. Representative Fred Clark is a member of the Natural Resources Committee.
Additional evidence and comments have been submitted to the WDNR on behalf of the citizen’s group by Ken Wade, a professional engineer and geologist who served both with the WDNR and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation who’s duties included managing hydrologic assessments of WisDOT wetland program issues.
Meanwhile, a number of local and statewide groups have contributed emotional and financial solidarity with the effort to stop the livestock factory, including:
— Wisconsin Lakes
— The River Alliance of Wisconsin
— Elliott Donnelley Chapter of Trout Unlimited
— Lake Burnita Association
— Friends of the Central Sands
— Pleasant Lake Improvement Corporation
— Central Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited
— Pleasant Lake Management District
— Family Farm Defenders
“We value the work that these citizens are doing in protecting our lakes,” said Karen von Huene, Executive Director of Wisconsin Lakes.
“The proliferation of livestock factories has become a national concern, and we are overwhelmed with the support we’ve been getting across Wisconsin and the Midwest,” said Bob Clarke, one of the organizers of the Stop The Richfield CAFO citizen’s group (http://www.stoptherichfieldcafo.org). “The tide is turning as people are finally being informed about these significant threats to our drinking water and our aquifers, in addition to the economic harm that these corporations can wreak on small family farmers. The strong coalition that is forming around this issue will ensure that as a group we will not back down from our goal of defeating this proposed CAFO.”
A couple hours south of the proposed Richfield CAFO, Illinois opponents of a livestock factory near Galena celebrated a victory last month when the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency denied a permit to a California man’s bid to build a 5,500-cow operation, citing concerns about groundwater pollution. “We applaud the Illinois EPA for examining the facts and making a wise decision,” Clarke said. “We’re hopeful that the governmental guardians of our natural resources will do the same in Wisconsin.”
Milk Source, the conglomerate behind the CAFO, already owns and operates a number of other CAFOs in Wisconsin. According to the Milk Source website, its current sites include: Tidy View Dairy, 6,800 cows (Kaukauna, Outagamie County); Omro Dairy, 2,700 cows (Omro, Winnebago County); Rosendale Dairy, 8,000 cows (Pickett, Fond du Lac County); and Calf Source in Greenleaf (Brown County), with 7,500 calves. It is also moving forward with New Chester Dairy in Adams County, with 4,300 cows.
More information can be found online at http://www.stoptherichfieldcafo.org, or by contacting Bob Clarke, bclarke113@yahoo.com, 608-296-1443; or Terry Tinkle, costink@uniontel.net, 715-228-3919.
