Can WI, Burnett Co., regulate a 26,000-pig farm?

Bacon's on the menu almost everywhere; now some of the industry's nastier realities that put it on your plate will come to northwestern Wisconsin if ab Iowa producer prevails.

By the way, you can see why Iowa might want to export some of its production. Iowa already leads the nation in total fecal output, and a researcher ties that ranking to the state's massive pig farming operations.

The rankings put Wisconsin at number three - - see the chart - - and note also that for the second time in recent years, an Iowa business is looking to bring a 26,000-pig-raising operation to Wisconsin - - this time to Burnett County where the owners propose minimizing runoff pollution by directly injecting some pig waste directly into the ground.

Really? With wells, waterways and the St. Croix river close by or downstream?

A similarly-sized proposal fell through a couple of years ago in Bayfield County - - here is that history provided by the DNR - -  but the polluter-enabling Walker-led state government and a corporate ag-friendly GOP-controlled legislature have rolled back environmental standards, eased monitoring and banned local controls, so the Burnett County pig farm could happen.

Some local residents are furious. 

"This is not a farm, it’s a factory,” Howard Paul told the Natural Resources committee last week. “It will be a hog factory. It will produce obnoxious smells and could have lasting damage on our natural resources in Burnett County.”