State Environmental Groups Urge DNR to Reject “General Permits” for CAFOs

Contact:               Jamie Saul, Staff Attorney, Midwest Environmental Advocates
                                (608) 251-5047 x1 / jsaul@midwestadvocates.org

4/1/2010

MADISON - - State environmental organizations today urged DNR to rescind its draft General Permits for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), citing the agency’s current inability to fully fund and staff a robust compliance and enforcement program.  Environmental advocates pointed to the threats to water quality posed by such facilities, some of which store up to 100 million gallons of manure and wastewater in open-air lagoons before spreading it on nearby cropland.

“DNR has stated that the use of General Permits will allow staff to spend more time in the field, conducting CAFOs inspections and verifying compliance with water quality requirements,” explained Jamie Saul, Staff Attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates.  “The concept is sound, but due to current budget shortfalls and undue political influence, we simply cannot take anything for granted.  Our lakes and streams deserve a genuine commitment from DNR and a means for the public to track compliance with pollution standards.”

In a letter sent recently to DNR Secretary Matt Frank, environmentalists stated that two conditions were necessary to earn broad public support for the General Permits.  First, DNR and the legislature must substantially increase the permit application and annual fees charged to CAFOs, now a paltry $345.  DNR’s resource-starved CAFO program has remained stagnant over the past 15 years, despite a nearly five-fold increase in the number of CAFOs in Wisconsin.  DNR inspected only 19 of Wisconsin’s 192 CAFOs in 2009.

Second, DNR must develop a public “CAFO Compliance Strategy” so that citizens have a means to track the agency’s progress and ensure that resources aren’t stripped away from this already-weakened program.  Environmentalists have suggested that DNR develop a Memorandum of Understanding with the citizens of Wisconsin similar to the one signed with the industry lobby group Dairy Business Association in 2009.

“DNR staff have indicated they’d like to strengthen the CAFO program,” said Russ Tooley, of Centerville CARES.  “Now they need to prove it before we can support the General Permits.  Unfortunately, we’ve seen firsthand what the heavy influence of politics can do to crucial regulatory programs.”

“Without these commitments from DNR, the General Permits for CAFOs will surely be viewed by the public as just another regulatory rollback,” said Will Stahl, Conservation Chair for the Sierra Club’s John Muir Chapter.  “Those living next to factory farms could lose the chance to push for tougher permits and get nothing in return.”

DNR has already released the two Draft General Permits, and will accept public comments through April 23, 2010.  Public hearings on the permits will take place in Wausau, Grand Chute, Viroqua, Eau Claire, and Fitchburg.  Details are available at www.midwestadvocates.org or at www.dnr.state.wi.us.

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Fast Facts

• Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc. (MEA) is the first and only non-profit environmental law center in Wisconsin. MEA provides legal and technical support to grassroots groups that are working for clean air, clean water, and environmental justice in the Western Great Lakes region. More information is available at www.midwestadvocates.org.
  
• The Sierra Club is the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States.  Since 1892, the Sierra Club has been working to protect communities, wild places, and the planet itself.
  
• Centerville Cares is an independent organization that identifies issues and advocates change to protect the shoreline of Lake Michigan and all water resources throughout Manitowoc County and Northeastern Wisconsin. More information is available at www. centervillecares.com
  
• Currently permitted CAFOs currently pay $345 annual fee to DNR.  This amount falls far short of what is needed for a robust regulatory program and has kept DNR understaffed, overworked, and at times ineffective.
  
• Municipalities that handle and dispose of as much waste as Wisconsin’s largest CAFOs pay tens of thousands of dollars annually to support DNR’s programs.  They also have to spend money actually treating their waste before disposal, unlike CAFOs.
  
• DNR has only one staff expert dedicated to reviewing the nutrient management plans for all of Wisconsin’s 194 existing CAFOs.  In addition, DNR currently has over a dozen pending permit applications for CAFOs that must be reviewed.
  
• According to an investigation by the Wisconsin State Journal, DNR conducted inspections of only 19 CAFOs in 2009.  At this rate, it would take the agency nearly ten years to inspect all of Wisconsin’s existing CAFOs for permit compliance.  Other WPDES permittees are inspected several times during a typical 5-year permit cycle.
  
• For more information please see Midwest Environmental Advocates’s Factsheet: General WPDES Permits for CAFOs.
  
• For more information about how CAFO regulation compares to other industries please see Midwest Environmental Advocates’s Factsheet: CAFO Regulation in Wisconsin is Lax Compared to Other Industries