Wednesday, April 8, 2015

KINNARD DAIRY FARMS ACCUSED OF POLLUTING WATER WELLS IN LINCOLN, WISCONSIN




APRIL 8, 2015

LINCOLN, WISCONSIN

·         Three environmental groups accuse Kinnard Farms of overspreading manure and polluting well water.
·         The farm is located in the town of Lincoln, where half of tested wells are contaminated.
·         Kinnard Farms has a permit to grow from 4,000 to 6,000 cows, producing 70 million gallons of manure.

Three environmental groups are calling on federal and state regulators to investigate a large farm in Kewaunee County for polluting private drinking wells and public waterways.

Kinnard Farms is accused of causing or contributing to pollution by spreading millions of gallons of liquid manure on local fields. The groups sent a letter Wednesday to the Environmental Protection Agency, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and state attorney general's office, urging them to investigate, take enforcement action and block the farm from expanding.

The three groups are Kewaunee Citizens Advocating Responsible Environmental Stewardship, the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin and the Washington D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project.

Kinnard Farms in the town of Lincoln has more than 4,000 dairy cows that generate almost 35 million gallons of manure every year, according to the farm's 2013 annual report. The manure is spread on 5,000 acres of nearby farmland.

The farm has a state permit that will allow it to expand to more than 6,000 cows by late 2017. At that size, the farm would create about 70 million gallons of manure a year, according to the permit fact sheet.

"In light of the problems we're having there with safe drinking water, to add millions more gallons of animal waste in light of the current problems just doesn't seem justified," said Dean Hoegger, president of the Clean Water Action Council.

The owners of Kinnard Farms could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Northeastern Wisconsin is particularly vulnerable to contamination because of porous bedrock that allows pollutants to easily seep into groundwater.

As many as 50 percent of private wells in the town of Lincoln and 44 percent of wells in neighboring Red River are contaminated, according to research compiled by the environmental groups.

A 2014 pilot project found seven of 10 wells tested in Kewaunee County contained bacterial contamination, and three were contaminated by cow manure. The study was done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, the U.S. Geological Survey Wisconsin Water Science Center and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

"We hope the EPA will act quickly because we believe it is a public health threat, and people can't wait forever," said Tarah Heinzen, an attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project.

The three groups targeting Kinnard Farms are among six that petitioned the EPA in October to exercise emergency powers under the Safe Drinking Water Act to intervene in Kewaunee County.

The EPA has not responded to the petition.
Source: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com