Pagel Ponderosa

Background:  After numerous calls to Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) concerning odors and water pollution from the ongoing expansion of Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy, Marge Wessely of Kewaunee, Wisconsin, decided to strengthen her voice through community organizing and legal advocacy.  She formed the Concerned Ryan Neighbors, a group of 21 people living near Pagel's livestock factory of over 1,000 dairy cows, and hired Midwest Environmental Advocates, to shape the permit the DNR was poised to issue to this factory farm.

Midwest Environmental Advocates submitted comments and testified at a DNR hearing on how the proposed Water Pollutant Discharge Elimination (WPDES) permit did not protect water quality or public health, in violation of state and federal law.  The Concerned Ryan Neighbors testified at two hearings on the matter and have documented ongoing problems with this facility.  The organization actively served as a watch dog over the community's water resources, and these efforts paid off on May 12, 2000, when the DNR issued the final permit for Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy.

Status:  Due to Midwest Environmental Advocates' administrative advocacy on behalf of the Concerned Ryan Neighbors, and other activist support, the final permit is more protective of environmental quality and public health.  The WPDES permit issued to Pagel's Ponderosa was the first in the state to contain the effluent limit of "no discharge" applicable to livestock factories.

[View a detailed comparison of the proposed permit to the changes we obtained in the final permit: Pagel.pdf  8KB]