Groundwater Statement
This is a statement I presented to the Kewaunee County Board of Supervisors at the November 18th board meeting.
How many members
of this board want clean groundwater in our county? I’d
like to see a show of hands.
It goes
without saying if you want clean groundwater, it is also very likely that you
are concerned about the aquifer being polluted and the possibility of even having
your own well polluted. I believe
that if you surveyed the county, you would find 100% of the people of the same
opinion.
As we all have a tendency to do, we let
the people who yell the loudest kidnap a cause that affects us all, causes we
should have a say in, but as we have seen on a national level with the likes of
Al Sharpton and many others, their agenda is not to bring real solutions to the
table and participate in a healthy debate but to exasperate the problem for
their own self-interest and demonize those actually trying to solve the problem.
So, my question to this
board is “why are we allowing a small group of activists in the county to overshadow
OUR agenda and the critical urgency surrounding this issue?” Should we allow this group to speak on our
behalf on the issue of clean water? Granted,
this group has assisted in bringing the issue to the forefront, but at what
cost to the county? We certainly welcome
all who have both ideas and concerns but this issue is not theirs – it is ours
and we need to remember that and lead accordingly. This
board represents all the citizens in Kewaunee and we collectively owe our
constituents results – results based on an honest evaluation of the facts, a
clear assessment of all the options and most importantly a plan to execute and
actually solve the problem. Only working together can we accomplish this goal?
This group’s agenda reaches far beyond
the desire for clean water and their inflammatory rhetoric reflects that.
When people from this
group speak, their communications are often times sensational and without the basis of fact. And equally troubling, their contentions and
far-flung possibilities are often so remote that they skew both reality
and science, creating unwarranted fear. For example the
MRSA/Anthrax scare tactics and information put forth on a billboard south of
Algoma. Aside from the fact that it is
disappointing to see this group funding billboards that negatively impacts our
tourism, county visitation and our image in general, these billboards are only
meant to discourage meaningful debate to solve the problem, incite fear and
sensationalize a misplaced agenda.
The same
folks who are funding this billboard as well as various websites have shown
they are not interested in solutions to the problem we all know exists. Have
you ever heard of any workable solutions coming from this group? I haven’t.
What I hear
from this group is the same mantra -- CAFOs are the problem - Large Industrial
Farms are the bad - impose moratoriums on CAFO growth - curb the growth of the
dairy industry in our county - the only good farms are small organic farms – oh
and we also hear the continual drumbeat of threatened lawsuits and petitions
all too often, emanating from this group.
Oh, yes,
let’s not forget about the personal attacks on Farm owners, Board Members,
Committee members. Do any of you see any
real solutions in any of those words or actions that seem to continually put
our county in a bad promotional light? I
don’t.
I have a suggestion
– no a challenge for this group….help this board find a solution! Stop the personal attacks and stop the
negative advertising. Roll up your sleeves and join us - help this board
project a new forward-looking image for this county. Oh, yes, and one more thing…. TAKE DOWN THOSE
BILLBOARDS THAT ARE HURTING OUR COUNTY!
This board
is engaged in trying to find real sustainable and economically viable solutions
for all our residents. In collaboration with the County Conservationist and the
Land and Water Committee, this board unanimously passed a Groundwater Health
Ordinance that will restrict the application of manure on certain soil to
bedrock land in our county for winter months.
Will the passage and implementation of that ordinance alone resolve all
our groundwater issues? The answer is certainly
no, but we are sure it will have a positive impact. It is a step in the right direction that has
support across the county.
We have
members of this board who are already working with our legislative
representatives, DNR and DATCP to have the State assist us in finding solutions
to our problem - and they are listening.
By the way, the DNR has a trust deficit with many in this county that
needs to be rebuilt. Be that as it may,
they realize our ground water quality problem is not restricted to Kewaunee
County. It was confirmed to me last
Friday by Mr. Russ Rasmussen, the Administrator of the Water Division of the
DNR that they are currently forming a work group that will soon be
collaborating with Kewaunee County and our residents to help us solve our water
quality problem. They have been
listening to us and realize the concept of one-size fits all model does not
work. The complexities of our problem –
as acute as they are - are mirrored in other counties across our State and if
we are able to solve the problem in Kewaunee, our resolution could be used in
other counties that are experiencing similar issues with their ground water.
Kewaunee has
215 dairies with approximately 80,000 cows, generating over 2 million gallons
of manure each and every day - which represents thousands of manure truck trips
on our County roads each year. So what are our options? It seems to be the general consensus that the
only long-term and sustainable solution to resolving our ground water issue is
to treat a large percentage of the manure before it is spread on the fields –
in fact before it leaves the farm. Treat
the manure on the farm, convert the organics into as much renewable energy as
possible for farm use or sale, kill the bacterium, extract a large percentage
of the water in a form and quality that can safely be irrigated back to the fields
or repurposed on the farm and finally, store the remaining nutrients so they
can be delivered to the fields when the crops need it.
Interestingly,
there are a number of companies that are moving quickly to provide these types
of treatment solutions to dairy operators in Wisconsin which are both affordable,
highly efficient and commercially viable. Compared to traditional large scale
anaerobic digestion/nutrient management systems which come in around $5000-$7000
per cow, require grants and/or subsidies and are just not scaleable down to the
smaller dairies, these new systems are now in the range of $1000-$2000 per cow,
have compelling performance metrics and and can be installed at virtually any
size dairy.
As a result
of these technology advancements, I believe there are some new and exciting opportunities
for Kewaunee County to not only address our own groundwater quality issues but to
help our important diary industry thrive and grow in an environmentally and
economically sustainable way. And finally, I believe we have the opportunity to
demonstrate real leadership and innovation in the State and become a model for
other counties with similar issues.
So - we have
a big job ahead of us. In the summer of 2017, Kewaunee County will be hosting
Farm Technology Days – 2 ½ years. Prior
to that event, we have allot of work ahead of us to repair our image, an image that
has been tarnished by too much negative press.
So what does
our board need to do to present a more balanced communication to protect and
enhance our counties reputation?
·
We
have to take the lead in communicating a clear and positive message about our
county and the fact that we have a strategy to address the issues we are facing
– “we are on the offence – not defense”
·
To
that point, the county must frequently develop and distribute press releases
that accentuate the positives issues happening in Kewaunee County.
·
We must form a “Kewaunee County clean water
task force” that will be tasked to partner with the private sector, the DNR/DATCP
task force and legislators to implement our strategy. This task force would be comprised of board
members, Soil Conservation staff, Land and Water Committee members and the
private sector.
·
This
board needs to oversee the process to ensure that we are implementing our
strategy and providing dairy operators and other stakeholders with the support
they need as we move forward with the implementation of manure treatment
technology in Kewaunee County well before the summer of 2017
·
Work
hard with our townships to ensure we do not drop the ball on implementing the
new ground water ordinance we’ve already passed.
With support
from DNR, DATCP, our legislators and others, we have an opportunity to begin to
take a new approach - a public/private partnership if you will, deploying a new
distributed manure management model across the county with incentives to
encourage our dairy operators to participate with us. It is time for us to be
bold in our thinking and demonstrate the vision and leadership that our
residents expect and deserve. We cannot keep kicking this can down the road for
future generations. It is time to stop the infighting and denigrating and roll
up our sleeves together to develop a clear, viable and long-term strategy that
is technically and economically sound and get to the business of solving this
issue.
Speaking for
the board, I hope you will all join us – we have much to do.
Thank you…
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