Sunday, June 28, 2015

Huge hog farm on tap near Lake Superior in NW Wisconsin

[Updated 4:43 p.m.] Remember that giant hog operation which Iowa producers wanted to locate in Northwest Wisconsin close to Lake Superior?

Well, that plan to build "Badgerwood" is proceeding, the Journal Sentinel reports.

Update: It was reported last year that Wisconsin's DNR, under Scott Walker's "chamber of commerce mentality" direction, had only eight inspectors available to monitor 258 large animal feeding operations, or CAFO's. Walker's current budget greatly reduces DNR science and other operations.

And manure runoff is a documented and growing Wisconsin CAFO problem, a very recent independent review has found.

The proposed, 26,000+ hog operation, would be, by far, the biggest in Wisconsin and the Lake Superior watershed.

Its Iowa owners are looking for a fresh site far from disease outbreaks - - great! - - which may be among the reasons Native American tribes may convince federal officials it's all a bad idea.

For the people in that scenic part of the state near beautiful Ashland, and the Great Lakes basin who just fought off a huge open-pit iron ore mine in the same watershed, no rest for the weary.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This should be a no-brainer decision. Local official should say hell no you are not going to pollute our environment and our water supply. Go back where you came from. We that have lived here in this region for years have THE VESTED interest in the environment we have been nurturing and protecting. You cannot gain vested rights by simply writing a check.

Let me put it this way how would you feel if a bio-engineeering company bought land in the middle of your regional CAFO operations and announced that they were going to study Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, or PEDv virus in their virology labs to study it's mode of transmission. And that this same company was known to have a poor safety record and that they had done work for the government to developed bio-weapons by genetically altering viruses. Kind of sounds like a script for a new horror movie doesn't it.

I'm guessing you would not want them for neighbors.

Well we don't want a company that manufactures (byproduct) 7-8 million gallons of fecal material in our environment either.

Anonymous said...

Not only is the impact on water a concern, but how can the meat produced under such conditions possibly be good for people?

Maybe the meat is ear-marked for use in dog food ...

Anonymous said...

...and dog food is exactly what working Wisconsinites have to eat in anti-union Walkerstan.

Anonymous said...

BAN ALL CAFOs in WI.

Send written comments NOW or attend one of 3 public hearings on July 22nd, 2015 at which the DNR invites comments regarding water quality (coliform content). Public hearing announcement:

http://dnr.wi.gov/files/pdf/calendar/DG-15-13_Public_hearing_notice.pdf

...and note where the announcement says that the proposed rule will not have an effect on small businesses (...does that mean a "blip-sized CAFO small business?"...was that decided at a private meeting?).

Wisconsin is becoming a land where animal manure spreads, crude oil spreads, algae blooms spread and the deer and the elk play...in "hunting parks" where CWD spreads:

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/farmmap.pdf

Anonymous said...

Just consider the feces/urine waste ponds as another contribution to Scott Walker's presidential campaign.