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No Ban Yet On Manure Spreading

Task Force Close To Guideline Ok

The Capital Times :: METRO :: 1C

Thursday, May 19, 2005
By Bill Novak The Capital Times

The task force did not put its final stamp of approval on a draft report Wednesday night and will meet one last time next week, but the general tone of the report shows the county wants to restrict but not do an outright ban on the winter spreading of manure.

County Executive Kathleen Falk set up the task force in March, with County Board Supervisor Brett Hulsey chairing the nine-member panel made up of three farmers, four supervisors and two environmentalists.

Initially, Falk wanted an outright winter spreading ban modeled after similar legislation in Maine. But the task force showed restraint and instead will push for a "paper trail" for farmers to follow so the county's Land Conservation Department can keep close watch on the county's 450 dairy farms and beef and pork producers.

"Our goal is to get an ordinance in place," Hulsey said. "We'll see if we can get some more management in place and then we'll see how this works."

The draft report indicates farmers who plan to apply liquid manure to their fields during the winter, when fields are either snow- or ice-covered or the ground is frozen, must submit a spreading plan to the county and also keep their spreading away from waterways or steep slopes.

One of the manure runoff accidents in February was due to liquid manure being applied to steeply sloped fields near Mount Horeb. It resulted in the manure running off the fields and washing into the West Branch Sugar River, killing hundreds of fish.

The other manure runoff happened on relatively flat land, but due to the frozen and ice-covered fields, close to a half-million pounds of liquid manure washed into Dorn Creek north of Lake Mendota.

Short-term recommendations from the task force include:

A warning system to farmers when there is melting snow on frozen ground, an ice sheet on frozen ground or other adverse weather that could seriously hamper their ability to safely spread liquid manure.

Leniency for farmers who spill manure or cause runoff and take action to prevent the manure from getting into a waterway.

County funding for farmers wanting to improve their manure storage systems.

Long-term recommendations include:

Building an anaerobic digester that literally eats the manure, producing bio-solids used as fertilizer and methane gas that could power an electric substation.

Taking manure to a municipal treatment system such as the one in Mazomanie.

There's no estimated cost associated with the proposed recommendations coming from the task force, but when budgets are put together later this summer, the task force report will be front and center.

Since the task force didn't vote yet on the upcoming report, it will be brought up sometime later in May.

The expressed wishes of the task force are to have the guidelines in place before next winter.

"We have to have an ordinance in place by next winter," said task force member Andrew Hanson, an attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates.

"The public wants something enforceable. I don't see putting this off for another winter."

E-mail: bnovak@madison.com