In a Green Bay hearing beginning Tuesday, a controversial attempt to expand a dairy farm set to become the fifth largest in Wisconsin will be challenged in a case that could have a far-reaching impact on how the state regulates industrial-size livestock farms.
Five neighbors of Kinnard Farms Inc. in Kewaunee County are arguing that the state Department of Natural Resources should allow the farm to expand but tighten environmental protection by requiring surface and groundwater monitoring and limiting the number of cows.
The neighbors, represented by the Madison-based environmental law firm Midwest Environmental Advocates, allege that the DNR has permitted Kinnard’s expansion without assuring that the farm’s discharges would meet state water quality standards or allowing sufficient public input.
“It’s a big test case for all of us,” said Bob Clarke, a founder of Friends of the Central Sands, an environmental advocacy group that is suing for water quality and quantity monitoring at Richfield Dairy, a large farm in Adams County.
The DNR is defending its approval of the Kinnard Farms permit, which will allow the farm to grow by 55 percent — from 5,627 to 8,710 animal units, about 6,200 cattle. The farm, classified as a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, because of its large size, is located in the town of Lincoln.
Gretchen Wheat, the DNR engineer who led a review of the farm’s plans, said in written testimony that its design will be “among the most protective designs of any CAFO in the state.”
The petitioners contend that the permit’s standards are not explicit enough.
“Numeric limits are the only limits that are enforceable,” said Byron Shaw, an emeritus University of Wisconsin professor and soil and water expert, in written testimony for the petitioners.
The Kinnard and Richfield cases are among the first challenges to CAFO permits thus far, said Mary Anne Lowndes, the DNR’s runoff section chief. The DNR has never turned down a permit.
Source: Green Bay Press Gazette
