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MADISON, Wis. - Two winters ago, Judy Treml turned on the faucet to
start cooking dinner. Out came a stinky sludge. Days later, everyone in
the 39-year-old stay-at-home mother's family was sick.
Treml
blames it all on a so-called factory farm near her Luxemburg home in
Kewaunee County. She claims the farmer dumped thousands of gallons of
liquid manure on a snow-covered field nearby. She says the melting snow
carried the manure into her yard and down into her well.
"It went from clear to cow manure with the flip of a switch," Treml said. "It was disgusting."
The state Department of Natural Resources has proposed new rules that
would for the first time prohibit large farms from spreading liquid
manure in the winter. The Legislature's agriculture committees are
scheduled to take public testimony on the rules Thursday morning.
Farm advocates say the rules are too rigid and rob farmers of being able to spread when the weather allows.
"We have to use common sense," said Shelly Mayer, executive director of
the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. "Mother Nature throws a
lot of curve balls. She doesn't allow you to necessarily manage out of
a textbook."
Under the changes, farms with at least 700 milking
cows wouldn't be allowed to apply liquid manure to the surfaces of
frozen or snow-covered fields. They wouldn't be allowed to apply solid
manure to the surface in February or March.
The changes also
ban factory farms from spreading manure when weather forecasts call for
a 70 percent or better chance of precipitation and mandate the farms
construct facilities that can store six months of manure.
Existing operations would have to comply with the rules beginning in
2010. New operations would have to comply when they become operational.
According to DNR data, 146 factory farms currently operate in
Wisconsin, with permits pending for another five. The farms in
operation produce 10 percent to 11 percent of all the manure in the
state.
Gordon Stevenson, the DNR's chief of run-off management,
said dumping liquid manure on frozen ground or snow is akin to pouring
it on a pane of glass. The ground can't absorb it and it sometimes
winds up in wells and rivers.
Still, farmers spread in the
winter because it's easier for tractors to travel on frozen ground,
they may run out of storage space or they have more time during that
season, he said.
Contaminating wells and causing fish kills
with pollution run-off is illegal in Wisconsin, but spreading manure in
winter is permitted and it's difficult to prove a specific farm caused
contamination, Stevenson said.
"The regulations currently on the books are not adequate," Stevenson said.
The Assembly and Senate agriculture committees could vote Thursday to
adopt the rules, enacting them. The committees also could object to
them or ask for changes.
Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse,
chairman of the Senate committee, said he doesn't like the proposed
rules, particularly the precipitation forecast and the manure storage
requirements, but the committees might reach some compromises during
the hearing.
Rep. Al Ott, R-Forest Junction, the chairman of
the Assembly committee, didn't immediately return messages The
Associated Press left at his Capitol and district offices.
Jeff
Opitz owns large farms in Adams and Ozaukee counties. He sat on an
advisory board that helped the DNR craft the rules, but he doesn't like
the final draft. Large farms are responsible for only a fraction of
run-off contamination cases, he said.
According to DNR data, 12
of the 68 run-off incidents the state has seen from mid-2004 through
June 2006 were caused by 10 so-called factory farms.
"They just are being way overly reactive," Opitz said.
The Tremls reached a federal settlement earlier this year with farmer
Glen Stahl over contamination in her family's well. The agreement
called for Stahl to pay them $80,000.
Stahl also settled a
state lawsuit. That deal calls for him to pay the state $100,000 or
$50,000 if he completes pollution control measures. Stahl's attorney,
Steven Means, didn't immediately return a message Wednesday. A call the
AP made to a listing for Stahl in Luxemburg went unanswered.
Judy Treml said the rules aren't good enough because they don't go into effect for years.
"It's going to continue to happen in communities all over northeastern
Wisconsin for sure because they're not changing the rules for four
years," she said. "They're compromising with my kids' health. And they
have no right to compromise that."
Stevenson said the DNR is dealing with an industry that is a major economic player in Wisconsin and needs time to adjust.
And the farms' permits do allow some pollution, he said.
"I wish we would say no way, no how would any speck of manure ever get
into the waters of the state," he said. "That's not political reality."
