for a copy of the legal petition, contact Melissa Scanlan
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to Veto DNR Permits for Big Livestock Factories |
April 7, 2000Madison, WI - Four Wisconsin citizen’s groups have filed a petition asking the federal Environmental Protection Agency to object to and modify all of the water discharge permits that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has proposed to issue to livestock factories. The groups charged that the permits violate federal law by failing to prevent manure from spilling into streams, rivers, and wetlands.
Contact:
Melissa K. Scanlan, 608-251-5047
Legal Director of Midwest Environmental Advocates
“Federal law clearly prohibits discharges from livestock factories except during very limited situations,” said Melissa K. Scanlan, Legal Director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, “yet the DNR’s permits allow manure discharges to occur at the time a new operation begins and in some cases, for up to five years afterwards.”
“Large livestock factories get an unfair economic advantage over Wisconsin’s family farms when the WDNR fails to require them to meet basic federal law requirements,” according to Dave Zaber of Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade.
The groups’ petition to the EPA also charged the DNR with illegally allowing manure to be spread in 10-year floodplains, within 200 feet of streams, rivers or lakes, and within 200 feet upgradient of sinkholes, cracked bedrock and wells.
“The DNR is also allowing spreading of animal waste on frozen fields where it can quickly wash into nearby streams when the ground thaws,” said Zaber.
“We don’t allow our communities to discharge untreated human waste into our waterways and we shouldn’t be sanctioning the discharge of untreated livestock waste,” said Kerry Schumann of WISPIRG, a public interest research group. “Livestock manure contains numerous types of bacteria and other pathogens along with phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrients that pollute our drinking water and turn our streams and rivers into breeding grounds of disease,” Schumann asserted.
Under federal law, any livestock operation with more than 700 dairy cows must obtain a water discharge permit from the WDNR.
The groups call these operations “livestock factories” because, unlike traditionally smaller family farms, they tend to concentrate large numbers of animals in small confined feeding areas, have corporate investors and operate like factories. The permits for these factories should be designed to ensure that all livestock factories have systems in place to safely handle the large quantities of manure produced.
for a copy of the legal petition, contact Melissa Scanlan