Farmers have 3 years to meet new air standards

By Martha H. Shad
Sheboygan Press staff

Although state regulations on farm-generated air pollution changed this week, farmers won’t have to make changes for at least three years.

The state Department of Natural Resources has amended the definition of its hazardous pollutant control chapter to include “emissions associated with agricultural waste,” according to Mike Ballweg, University of Wisconsin Extension agricultural agent for Sheboygan County. But criteria for the new regulations haven’t been set yet.

“Over the next three years, the DNR will establish the criteria for farms,” Ballweg said. “We want to be able to foster agricultural development and at the same time we need to be good stewards and good neighbors. The key is balance.”

Mark Bohnhoff, who owns a 200-cow dairy in Plymouth, said he’s not concerned by the law change.

“Until we see what actually is defined as pollution and what we have to limit, it’s hard to know what the impact will be,” Bohnhoff said. “There are too many other concerns to worry.”

The rule change is a result of action taken by a group of Cleveland-area residents, who were frustrated with the odor from Maple Leaf Dairy, a roughly 3,300-head dairy operation on county Highway X just west of Interstate 43, according to Russ Tooley, a member of the group that calls itself Centerville Cares.

“We lived with the smell for years and just let it go,” Tooley said. “When the dairy said it was going to double its operation, we decided it was time to do something. Our homes should be a refuge, not a bunker.”

Tooley said Centerville Cares got help from the Midwest Environmental Advocates law firm and was prepared to take the dairy to federal court over what it said was an excessive amount of ammonia in the air.

Maple Leaf Dairy president Tod Leiteritz declined to comment.

Ballweg thinks the rule change is a good thing.

“It comes at a time when the Legislature has signed the farm-siting bill, which establishes a statewide standard for building or expanding livestock operations,” Ballweg said. “So, with the two together, when a farm operation plans to site a facility, air quality will be part of the siting.”

Reach Martha H. Shad at mshad@Sheboygan.gannett.com and 453-5167.