WED AM News: Council urges Legislature to do more to address nitrate contamination; MCW’s Raymond ‘very skeptical’ about RFK Jr.’s leadership of HHS

September 3, 2025

— The state’s Groundwater Coordinating Council is urging lawmakers to do more to address nitrate contamination in groundwater, calling it one of Wisconsin’s top water contamination concerns.

The council at the end of August submitted its latest annual report to the Legislature, providing an overview of groundwater quality and quantity in the state, management efforts, and related threats such as PFAS and pesticides making it into the water supply.

The GCC is made up of multiple state agencies, the Universities of Wisconsin, the governor’s office and the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey.

Joe Van Rossum, the council’s chair and environmental management deputy administrator for the DNR, says the state’s groundwater is “essential to the well-being of our communities and environment” and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

“By advancing the primary recommendations put forth by the GCC, we have an opportunity to further protect groundwater and create a healthy future for Wisconsinites,” he said in a statement on the report.

In a section focused on nitrate contamination, report authors note areas with more agricultural activity generally have higher nitrate levels in their wells, with clusters in southern, central and western Wisconsin. The contamination is due in part to ag fertilizer runoff, creating risks to human health and ecosystems.

The council says agencies need to implement “improved strategies” for reducing nitrogen losses and groundwater contamination, to protect drinking water sources and public health.

Along with expanding monitoring efforts to evaluate nitrate levels, the GCC is urging lawmakers to assess and quantify nutrient losses linked to crop-specific nitrogen applications, as well as looking at management plans aimed at reducing those losses.

The council also says lawmakers should expand regulation of nitrogen losses beyond large concentrated animal feeding operations, called CAFOs, to include farms of all sizes. And it’s calling for “revamping, funding and enforcing” nutrient management planning to further protect groundwater resources.

Other recommendations on nitrates include: developing fertilizer decision report tools with farmer input; improving related data assessment and visualization tools while boosting outreach; establishing an inter-agency team to coordinate state and federal funding for conservation; developing an outreach plan for farmers; and more.

See the release and report.

— Medical College of Wisconsin President and CEO Dr. John Raymond says he’s “very concerned” about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading the federal government’s efforts around health.

Speaking during yesterday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, Raymond slammed the leader of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He said he doesn’t “have a lot of confidence in Secretary Kennedy’s ability to discern gold-standard science from fluff,” adding he’s keeping an open mind but remains very skeptical.

“I was shocked when he made an announcement in early April that after many, many decades of science, that by September, there would be a singular cause of autism that would be announced to the public,” Raymond said. “Science does not work on a schedule, it doesn’t comply with a calendar.”

He also noted federal support for health research funding has a somewhat brighter outlook after President Donald Trump proposed dramatic cuts to the budget for the National Institutes of Health. The proposed 40% reduction for NIH would amount to an $18 billion cut, Raymond said, noting that would have massive disruptions to research institutions including MCW.

“That was a huge threat, and something that we had to do some very significant scenario planning for … initially there was a significant slowdown in the awarding of grants, that pipeline seems to be opening up,” he said. “We provided bridge funding for outstanding scientists who were in limbo. And right now, it looks like the NIH budget may end up being what it was last year.”

While the U.S. Senate version of the federal budget bill would boost NIH funding by a “modest” $450 million, the U.S. House version announced yesterday would cut the agency’s funding by the same amount, according to Raymond.

“That probably will end up somewhere in the middle when they do reconciliation, that is a lot better than an $18 billion cut,” he said.

He warned that further threats to U.S. research efforts could jeopardize “an entire generation of scientists,” driving away those who might choose science as a career.

“America’s biomedical research platform, driven by the National Institutes of Health, and the partnership that universities and the NIH have created over the last 50 years is the envy of the world,” he said. “It is the most effective and most efficient biomedical research platform ever conceived, and it’s under threat. It’s under attack right now. So I’m hoping that we’ll continue to have bipartisan investment in the value of research.”

Watch the video.

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— UW-Stout is applauding a recent donation of advanced manufacturing equipment worth more than $3 million from the Ronald and Joyce Wanek Foundation.

The donation includes production-level 3D printers, an automated manufacturing system, robots, AI-powered cameras and more, according to the university’s announcement.

UW-Stout Chancellor Katherine Frank says the foundation’s investment in labs and high-demand programs “will serve thousands of students prepared to enter the workforce and contribute to the economic vitality of Wisconsin and beyond.”

The foundation was created by Ronald Wanek, founder and chairman of Ashley Furniture Industries, and his wife, Joyce. It’s focused on supporting STEM education and other community efforts. Todd Wanek, their son and current president of Ashley Furniture, graduated from UW-Stout in 1988.

See the release.

— While the state’s corn and soybean crops are running slightly behind last year and the average, cutting of alfalfa hay is proceeding more quickly, the USDA reports.

The latest report from the agency’s National Agricultural Statistics Service shows corn fields in Wisconsin were 38% “dented” as of Sunday, a mark of crop maturity. That’s one day behind last year and the five-year average, the report shows.

Soybeans coloring was at 11%, which is three days behind both last year and the average.

Meanwhile, the third cutting of alfalfa hay was 93% complete and the fourth cutting was 50% complete — 11 days ahead of last year and six days ahead of the average.

See the report.

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