Mega-Dairy coming to Rock Prairie

*Please see ACTION items at the bottom of this post Deadline, February 4, 2011 at 4:30 PM*

This is my first attempt at blogging, so please be patient :-)

After reading the Janesville Gazette's articles about the mega dairy coming to Rock County, I understand why people were not alarmed or alerted to the possible environmental hazards and concerns that this dairy could bring to our area. Add to that, the fact that the DNR doesn't feel that an environmental assessment is necessary, because they haven't heard "enough" opposition to the project. So far, the DNR project leader, Mark Cain has received only 25 calls about the project.
http://gazettextra.com/news/2010/aug/25/farmer-details-dairy-plans/

My Grandmother's favorite saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" would be great advice to follow in this situation. The precautionary principle states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action.
This principle allows policy makers to make discretionary decisions in situations where there is the possibility of harm from taking a particular course or making a certain decision when extensive scientific knowledge on the matter is lacking. The principle implies that there is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk. These protections can be relaxed only if further scientific findings emerge that provide sound evidence that no harm will result.

Since the Rock Prairie Dairy proposes to sit right smack dab in the Turtle Creek water shed, and the Turtle Creek watershed is ALREADY considered an impaired waterway, it seems only natural that we as a community would ask the DNR that there is some sort of assessment BEFORE the dairy is built, instead of AFTER, when there is little to do, except clean up the mess. The DNR has decided that the project does not warrant an environmental study. http://gazettextra.com/news/2011/jan/25/farm-impact-study-nixed/

This brings to mind my conversation with a local County Official, who tried to calm my concerns about the dairy. "Would you rather have 10 dairys with 500 cows each, which are not so highly regulated by the DNR, or one mega-dairy that is highly regulated"? My answer was immediate. "BP was highly regulated too." The other issues, in no particular order, are that this type of dairy is not a dairy, it is a factory, and should be regulated as such. This type of dairy is not sustainable - meaning, that the sheer amount of manure that will be produced is that of a city of 400,000 people, yet there is no sewage treatment facility. The amount of water being sucked out of our aquifer is staggering.... and the money brought in by this dairy will leave town the next day. Anyone that argues "jobs" as part of this project is fooling themselves. This highly automated operation will hire an on site manager (so far, Tuls' 18 year old son", and a dozen or so minimum wage workers. This operation will produce so much milk, that local farmers may soon find themselves out of a job, especially since there isn't a shortage of milk!

So would I rather have 10 dairys with 500 cows each, supporting 10 local farming families that care deeply about our local environment and give back to our community every day by eating, shopping and living locally? You bet. If you have strong feelings about this project also, take some time and do your homework. Educate yourself and make your own conclusions. But if you, like me, feel that an environmental assessment is THE LEAST that the DNR can do before this project is built - to protect local families from environmental concerns, or those that are living downstream, then take action. Get involved.

DNR Documents relating to this project can be found here:
http://search.dnr.wi.gov/search?q=rock+prairie+dairy&entqr=0&getfields=*&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&client=DNR_frontend&ud=1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=DNR_frontend&site=default_collection

**TAKE ACTION BY FEBRUARY 4TH AT 4:30 PM**

Contact Mark Cain at the DNR no later than 4:30 PM on 2/4/2011
Phone: 608-275-3252 FAX: 608-275-3338
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
3911 Fish Hatchery Rd, Fitchburg, WI 53711

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/es/science/eis/eis.htm

As local residents, we need to demand that there is an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before this project moves forward. This proposed dairy is sitting in the Turtle Creek Watershed, which is already an impaired waterway.

A group of concerned citizens have been meeting weekly to try to block the dairy. Contact Dwight Brass if you are interested in becoming involved at janicen@ticon.net