Dairy opponents question panels
If you go
What: Public hearing on the Rock Prairie Dairy's application for a Wisconsin wastewater discharge permit
When and where: 4 p.m. Monday, May 9, at Craig Center, Rock County 4-H Fairgrounds, 1301 Craig Ave., Janesville.
Details: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will host the hearing. If you cannot attend, you may submit comments in writing to Mark Cain, DNR, SCR Headquarters, 3911 Fish Hatchery Road, Fitchburg, WI, 53711. Call Cain at (608) 275-3252 or mark.cain@wisconsin.gov.
When someone proposes a livestock production facility big enough to need state permits, a group of concerned citizens usually steps up to oppose it.
In Rock County, they are the Friends of the Rock Prairie, and members spent Wednesday night airing concerns and questions with two Rock County Board committees.
Since the state's livestock facility siting law went into effect in 2009, about 50 of confined animal feeding operation applications have been approved, county conservationist Tom Sweeney told the group. None have been denied, he said.
"With just about every application, a group has stepped up to learn what they can do to oppose the farm or to make it fit better into the community," Sweeney said during the land conservation committee meeting. "It's about impossible to stop it."
The conservation department has done all it can do to regulate the proposed 5,200-cow dairy in Rock County, Sweeney said. The department has issued three permits to the farm, including a manure storage permit, Sweeney said.
The Rock County Health Department also has been reviewing the proposal and learning about concentrated animal feeding operations, Rock County Environmental Health Director Tim Banwell told the group during Wednesday's board of health meeting.
In a couple weeks, the department will publish a list of recommendations for owner Todd Tuls of Columbus, Neb. The document will not be legally binding but could encourage Tuls to operate the farm with the health of the public in mind, Banwell said. But Banwell said he could not grant the group's wish of stopping the dairy.
"We're hoping with a health impact assessment, we can get the operator to make changes to his processes," Banwell said. "But I have to agree with you there are limits to what we are going to be able to do."
The draft recommendations include monitoring wells, notifying neighbors of manure application plans, monitoring emissions and providing health checks for workers.
Banwell said his department is working to get some " to test wells near the site of the proposed farm at Highway 14 and Scharine Road in Bradford Township. The county has some test results on file for wells near the site but wants to get a group of samples in a short amount of time, he said.
Tim Bliss lives in Bradford Township near the Walworth County line and is a member of the friends group. He knows the community and knows that people at risk for health issues, including children, live near the proposed site.
"I don't care how sparsely populated it is," Bliss said. "There's a strong likelihood of health impacts."
Apr 13, 2011 at 8:51 p.m.
Suggest removal
Methane Digesters will not make the Tul’s proposal green….
Although touted as "green power", this is not. There is nothing green and sustainable when you are losing your clean water and fresh air.
Methane Digester Basics
Manure and water is added to a sealed container where anaerobic bacteria break it down (digest it) if the temperature, pH, and time are monitored correctly. After digestion, a liquid slurry of manure must still be stored. Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfur Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide are given off. Ammonia is given off at a rate that is illegal for industry in all fifty states! Methane may be burned to heat either the methane digester or the barn. Or it may be burned to produce some electricity. If the methane is cleaned and compressed (expensive processes) it may be sold, but the costs of doing this exceed the return from the methane (unless heavily subsidized). The other gasses are all toxic and there is odor.
Manure + Water r~| J in the presence of two kinds of bacteria,
J L [ if the temperature, pH, and timing are correct
Methane + Ammonia + Hydrogen Sulfide + Sulfur Dioxide + Carbon Monoxide
Experts say NO:
Dr. Weida of GRACE states, "Odor from manure generated by CAFOs has become a major issue in many rural areas. It ruins people's ability to use their own property, causes health problems, and lowers property values. .Because manure must be covered to capture the methane generated by anaerobic digesters, they (and their subsidies) are touted as a way to clean up the air in rural areas. Unfortunately, this is largely false. Sixty percent of the odor from a CAFO comes from the barns, not the manure lagoons where digestion takes place. And methane digesters emit ammonia at rates that exceed the industrial pollution standards of every state. The National Academy of Sciences recently released a report on the dangers of agricultural-related greenhouse gasses and sessions held at the NCRS Anaerobic Digester Conference last June stressed the unsolved problems in this area."
Western Dairy News (September. 2006) says that, "The technology doesn't do away with odors, however, because cow housing and long term effluent storage can still be sources of gases and particulates." And there are still plenty of dangerous bacteria and viruses in that manure. Again, Western Dairy News says, "Don't believe the folks who tell you that all the bacteria are gone.... When you start with millions there are still a lot left, including some pathogens."
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