WI DNR loses its mind: 1 day, 5 CAFO permit hearings

[Updated from 11/15/17] This blog has repeatedly covered the simultaneous deregulation and expansion in Wisconsin, and especially in already-beleaguered Kewaunee County, of manure-producing, groundwater-hogging, contamination-leaching industrial-scale dairy cattle feeding operations, (CAFOs).

And while Scott Walker intends a sweetheart handoff of CAFO oversight to a state agency also handling milk and dairy promotion, his "chamber of commerce mentality" DNR which still oversees his intentionally dismissive approach to CAFOs has outdone its contempt for common sense and fair play by scheduling for next month at a single hearing five separate CAFO wastewater permit applications that could add thousands more dairy cattle in Kewaunee County while maintaining several large operations:

The DNR published a single public notice for all five dairy farms’ Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit applications on Oct. 24. The public hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 28 in the Exhibition Building at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds, 621 Third St., Luxemburg...

Dairy Dreams LLC, Kinnard Farms LLC, Seidl’s Mountain View Dairy, and Wakker Dairy Farm Inc. are seeking renewals of their WPDES permits. Sandway Farms LLC recently passed the minimum threshold for being designated as a CAFO – the equivalent of 1,000 animal units or more – and is applying for a permit for the first time. 

[Update - - Kinnard permit issues have been extensive, and contested, given the scale of its operations.]

Which neighbors, on which working farms, have the time for all that, times five?

That's not due process; it's mindless excess for the convenience of agency managers and the applicants  they favor with kid-gloves regulation and blind-eye inspections.

Here are the details from just one of the five permit applications:

KINNARD FARMS INC., E2675 COUNTY ROAD S & N8200 TAMARACK ROAD, CASCO, WI

Receiving Water and Location: Surface water and groundwater within the Kewaunee River Watershed

Brief Facility Description: Kinnard Farms Inc. is an existing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). It is a dairy operation with 10,060 animal units and is proposing to expand to 12,860 animal units by 2022. Kinnard Farms Inc. has a total of 11,429.4 acres of cropland in approved nutrient management plan. Of this acreage, 1,879.5 acres are owned and 9,549.9 acres are controlled through contracts, rental agreements or leases or under manure agreements. At current size, approximately 105,355,750 gallons of manure and process wastewater will be generated annually. Current liquid storage capacity is 411 days of waste storage.

Bigger picture:

Walker will sell off, give away, pollute or otherwise sacrifice through state power every molecule of water in Wisconsin for his personal ambition, donor advantage or partisan advancement.