APRIL 8, 2015
LINCOLN, WISCONSIN
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Three environmental groups accuse Kinnard Farms
of overspreading manure and polluting well water.
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The farm is located in the town of Lincoln,
where half of tested wells are contaminated.
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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