The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Board has advanced a plan to reduce harmful run-off from large dairy farms that are located in areas of the state with shallow soil.
Much of the plan comes from discussions over groundwater contamination in Kewaunee County. County resident Lynn Utesch told the DNR Board on Wednesday that the proposal should be an emergency rule, not one that might take a long time to put in place.
“Earlier today, we saw you pass emergency rule making for fish,” Utesch said. “Yet, while we live in Kewaunee County with a true human health emergency, we are going to have to wait for three to five years.”
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The DNR said it will only take a year or 18 months to actually pass the plan. DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp said she hopes other states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will say Wisconsin “got it right.”
But environmental groups said that a group representing large dairy farms watered down the plan before the DNR Board meeting.
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