Lake Michigan Basin Update
Court Halts Livestock Factory Expansion, Cites DNR
Failure to Evaluate Effects on Air and Water
The Manitowoc County Circuit Court
ruled on Thursday, June 9, 2005, that
the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) failed to adequately
review the potential negative effects
on air and water in southern Manitowoc County that could be
caused by the expansion of Maple Leaf Dairy, one of the
largest livestock factories east of the Mississippi River.
The Court’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit by Centerville
Citizens for Air, River, and Environmental Solutions (Centerville
CAREs) filed in December of 2004 challenging the DNR’s
environmental review of Maple Leaf Dairy’s expansion plans.
The Court held that the DNR failed to consider significant
information showing that Maple Leaf Dairy’s operation would
harm streams that drain to the fragile shoreland area of Lake
Michigan.
The Court also noted that the DNR failed to consider air
quality data indicating that Maple Leaf Dairy would pollute
the air with significant levels of ammonia and hydrogen
sulfide.
The Court ordered the DNR to prepare an air impacts study
of Maple Leaf Dairy’s ammonia and hydrogen sulfide air
pollution – the first formal study of its kind in Wisconsin.
Members of Centerville CARES have suffered the gagging air
pollution caused by Maple Leaf Dairy for years and are
concerned that Maple Leaf Dairy’s manure management
practices are worsening the algae blooms that wash up on
Lake Michigan’s shore every summer.
“We turned to everyone we could think of for help – the DNR,
local officials and our State Senator, Joe Liebham. When they
failed to step in, we finally turned to the court for justice,”said
Russ Tooley, president of Centerville CARES. “Now the court’s
decision confirmed what we already knew – the DNR has not
given our community a complete accounting of the air and
water pollution that will result from Maple Leaf Dairy’s
expansion.”
“Even giving the DNR the benefit of the doubt, the Court
reached the only reasonable conclusion that it could after
reviewing the facts of this case – the DNR failed to address
credible scientific data showing Maple Leaf Dairy’s past,
present and future impacts on the air and water in southern
Manitowoc County near Lake Michigan,” said Andrew Hanson,
attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates, a nonprofit
environmental law center that provided legal representation
to Centerville CARES.
“We think the DNR could have done a better job evaluating
Maple Leaf Dairy’s impacts, but legislative cuts by the
powerful Joint Finance Committee are preventing the DNR
from fulfilling even the most basic mandates of Wisconsin’s
environmental laws,” said Hanson.
Senator Joe Leibham, who represents the district in which
Maple Leaf Dairy planned to expand its operation in
Sheboygan and Manitowoc Counties, sits on the Joint Finance
Committee, which plays a significant role in creating the
DNR’s budget. Maple Leaf Dairy currently confines 3,798 cattle
at its Main Facility on County Trunk Highway X and five “satellite
facilities.” In the past, Maple Leaf Dairy has submitted formal
plans to the DNR to expand its operation to approximately
9,000 cattle. Although Maple Leaf Dairy claims that it only
proposes to expand its cow numbers through “slow growth
and reproduction,” a report submitted by Maple Leaf Dairy to
the DNR shows a master plan of a major expansion of thousands
cattle and up to 35.5 million gallons of animal waste.
Further, Maple Leaf Dairy has already obtained the building
permits necessary to expand the cattle confined and animal
waste produced at its operation.
“Given the court’s decision that the DNR’s environmental
review was inadequate, Maple Leaf Dairy must also halt construction
of its expansion facilities immediately until the DNR
has complied with its environmental review responsibilities,”
concluded Hanson.
GLAHNF Lake Michigan Advisor
Rolls out New Name
Thirty-five years after becoming what is now the oldest Great
Lakes organization in North America representing citizens who
care about the region’s waters, the Lake Michigan Federation is
changing its name to the Alliance for the Great Lakes. The
Federation will remain a project of the Alliance to work on
issues of particular concern to the largest lake within U.S.
borders.
With the announcement, the Alliance will continue working on
Basin-wide policies including the Council of Great Lakes
Governors’ water conservation agreement, while mobilizing
local efforts to punctuate the need for such policies. The
Alliance will also continue to work in partnership with other
organizations already doing excellent work in the Basin. Key
goals for the coming years will be implementation of the
Alliance’s volunteer Adopt-a-Beach program on other lakes,
enhancement and broadening of our educational curriculum
and urban habitat recovery initiative, and other programs
throughout the region.
For more information on the new Alliance for the Great Lakes,
contact Cameron Davis at the Alliance for the Great Lakes at
312-939-0838x2 or cdavis@lakemichigan.org.
Disclaimer:
The interpretations and conclusions presented in this newsletter represent the opinions of the individual authors. They in no way represent the views of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the C.S. Mott Foundation, subscribers, donors, or any organization mentioned in this publication.
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