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Take 2 Minutes to
Protect Wisconsin's Waters Act Before February 4! Right now, Wisconsin's DNR is on its way to permitting the biggest farm in its history. This case will be precedent setting, and you can help make sure that the best precedent is set. The first phase of this farm will generate a quantity of manure equivalent to the waste produced by a city of about 75,000 people! Special interests are leaning on the DNR to not require a wastewater treatment plant so it is imperative that we let the DNR know that Wisconsinites do indeed want a wastewater treatment plant at Rosendale Dairy. Right now, we need to make sure that the DNR require Rosendale Dairy to treat its waste through a wastewater treatment plant. It is inconceivable that a city of 75,000 wouldn't need a waste water treatment plant; we should expect the same from Rosendale Dairy. We need your help! First, please send an email to the DNR, asking them to require Rosendale Dairy to treat its waste through a wastewater treatment plant. You may send your email to Liz Spaeth-Werner (at Elizabeth.spaethwerner@wisconsin.gov). Talking points for your email are included below. Comments must be received by February 4. Second, please forward this email to your friends and family. This is such an important precedent setting situation and we need to be sure that the best interest of all of Wisconsinites are met. More and more, the iconic family farms of Wisconsin are giving way to factory farms that create an enormous amount of waste that can have devastating effects on our waterways if not properly managed. These problems are only going to get worse as this industry expands if we don't step up and create better requirements. Talking points for your email to Liz Spaeth-Werner: -Nearly 50% of Wisconsin's waters are polluted, and can't be used in the ways they traditionally have been. -I believe that farmers are a vital part of our food system and Wisconsin economy, and we must all work together to clean up our waters. -Rosendale Dairy, as proposed, will generate 46 million gallons of manure per year, and if it is allowed to dispose of this on farm fields, poses an enormous risk to local waterways, including Silver Creek which leads into Green Lake, and tributaries to both Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. -Rosendale Dairy will be creating an amount of waste that is the equivalent of a medium-size city in Wisconsin. Taxpayers have to pay to properly treat and dispose of their waste. Just like us, Rosendale Dairy should have to properly treat and dispose of its waste. Rosendale Dairy should be required to have a wastewater treatment plant. -If Rosendale Dairy is allowed to do any landspreading of manure, it must be monitored for contaminating surface and groundwater from landspreading manure, and the monitoring should happen before and after they spread manure, and before and after significant rain events. -One of the most pervasive pollutants is Phosphorus, which is suffocating our rivers' and lakes' ecosystems, enabling invasive species to take over, and -in the Great Lakes- contributing to cladophora problems. -Besides ecological problems, Phosphorus contamination in our waterways is hurting our economy by limiting fishing, boating, and family recreational opportunities, and hurt property values. A recent study from the University of Kansas demonstrates damage that breaks down to a loss of $100-200 million per year for Wisconsin. -Studies in the Milwaukee and Madison area watersheds show that most of our Phosphorus pollution comes from agricultural sources. Thank you, Becky Weber Clean Wisconsin beweber@cleanwisconsin.org |
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