December
2002
Perrier
Victory!
After two years of legal work, community organizing, and education, the
Concerned Citizens of Newport celebrated in September of 2002 when Perrier
announced that it was leaving Wisconsin. MEA won a significant court victory
last January when the court held that Wisconsin’s DNR had to redo
its assessment of the environmental impacts of Perrier’s proposal
to pump and bottle Wisconsin’s spring water. This lawsuit combined
with local citizens’ tenacious organizing efforts paid off this fall.
Read more about this case in
our Advocacy Archive under "Concerned Citizens of Newport
v. Department of Natural Resources".
Slaughterhouse Victory!
Last year, MEA uncovered a secret proposal to install a slaughterhouse
that would kill 1,000 cows a day, hold thousands of animals in nearby
feedlots and run an ethanol plant right outside the quiet cities of Adams
and Friendship in Adams County. We helped organize a local grassroots
group, the Concerned Citizens of Adams County, which waged a popular campaign
to oppose the slaughterhouse based on concerns about water pollution,
air pollution, traffic, road damage, and property value decline. This
fall, the company announced that it would not pursue plans to build the
slaughterhouse in Adams County. Read
more about this case in our Advocacy Archive under "Quality
Beef Slaughterhouse in Adams County ".
This is a picture of yard signs that were placed throughout Adams and
Friendship over the past year.
Petitioning
the EPA for Clean Air
With 46% of Wisconsin’s major sources of air pollution operating
without Title V operating permits, Wisconsin’s program ranks the
worst in the nation for states with more than 400 facilities. MEA and
the Sierra Club filed a petition with the EPA on December 16, 2002, seeking
EPA’s intervention to fix the program. The State must raise permit
fees on polluters in order to provide enough resources to run a program
that adequately controls air pollution. Link to story in Milwaukee
Journal http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec02/103919.asp.
Read
more about this case in our Advocacy Archive under "Sierra
Club, et al. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency ".
Press Conference announcing EPA Petition on December 16, 2002
Initiating
Legal Challenge to Toxic Herbicide
MEA is representing the Family Farm Defenders and Habitat Education Center
to stop the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection
(DATCP) from allowing a highly toxic herbicide, Balance Pro, to be used
in Wisconsin. Balance Pro’s active ingredient, isoxaflutole, is toxic,
a probable cancer causing agent, and builds up in the environment. This
herbicide could severely damage Wisconsin’s multi-million dollar
vegetable crop industry if farmers inadvertently irrigate their vegetable
crops with water contaminated with isoxaflutole. If DATCP signs a final
order allowing its use, MEA will file its suit in state court. Link to
story in Milwaukee Journal http://www.jsonline.com/news/State/dec02/102463.asp.
Read
more about this case in our Advocacy Archive under "Family
Farm Defenders et al. v. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture,Trade, and
Consumer Protection".
Protecting
Rural Wisconsin
With legal representation from MEA and Garvey & Stoddard, residents
(including farmers) in the Town of Gibson have mobilized to stop a 5,000
head feedlot from moving into the Manitowoc County. The grassroots group,
Citizens for Responsible Agriculture and a Clean Environment, obtained
a favorable decision on November 13, 2002, from the Manitowoc County Board
of Adjustment when that board unanimously decided to delay its determination
of whether to allow a 5,000 head feedlot to locate in the Town of Gibson.
The group is continuing to push for sustainable agriculture in its town.
Read more about this case
in our Advocacy Archive under "Dvorak Beef Farms, LLC".
For more information, contact Melissa K. Scanlan at mscanlan@midwestadvocates.org.