Several local leaders asked Pierce County’s ad-hoc groundwater committee to look into local ordinances to protect the county from expanding factory farms
The momentum to protect Pierce County communities from the harmful impacts of massive factory farms has become stronger after county residents and farmers urged the Pierce County Groundwater Advisory Committee to look into local ordinances to protect the county from factory farm expansions. The public pressure comes as Ridge Breeze Dairy, a mega-dairy in the Town of Salem, is attempting to expand to 6,500 cows.
Residents and town leaders from the Towns of Isabelle, Maiden Rock, and Gilman gave the committee powerful testimony about the risks that factory farms pose to groundwater, surface water, and natural resources during an October 20 meeting. They urged the committee to hear a future presentation on town Operations Ordinances as a potential solution. The towns of Isabelle and Maiden Rock have adopted Operations Ordinances, while Gilman is one of several towns in Western Wisconsin considering adoption. The ordinance ensures local oversight of factory farms.
Judy Krohn, a member of a study group in the Town of Maiden Rock that was the first in the county to recommend adoption of an Operations Ordinance, explained the risks of factory farms polluting the private wells that many county landowners depend on. “In Pierce County, the entire county—including our township—lies atop karst bedrock, which is more easily susceptible to the intrusion and contaminants to the groundwater that fills our well, along with the wells of everyone else who lives in our town,” Krohn said. Krohn pointed the committee to a report from the Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council, which shows that 90% of nitrate contamination is due to application of manure and fertilizers.
Margaret Chesley, who chaired a study group in the Town of Isabelle, said, “With the Operations Ordinance, the town can be involved, not just in monitoring water usage and well testing of nearby wells and surface waters, but in other community concerns such as roads, fire response and financial surety. It is a reasonable, common-sense way to work with an industry that is using our town.” Isabelle’s town board unanimously passed the ordinance last month.
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