State Lawmaker Comes Out Against High-Capacity Wells At Proposed Mega-Dairy Farm

Plans for a mega-dairy farm in Wood County have been dealt a blow by state Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, who has come out against high-capacity wells for the project.

Krug has asked the Department of Natural Resources not to issue high-capacity well permits for the proposed Wysocki Family of Companies project, which would be named Golden Sands Dairy. Krug said he was motivated by the closure of beaches on two popular lakes.

“With the closure of three …very popular area beaches due to E. coli, it became apparent that the time for compromise just has passed us by,” said Krug. “So I gave my recommendation to the DNR to deny the high-capacity well permits for the Wysocki project until we can find some answers to some of the ongoing water quality issues.”

Scott Krug said he has been working to find a compromise between the dairy and its opponents for a year and a half. He says his decision was not influenced by his re-election.

“If for one second I thought my election was going to hinge on this one issue, I probably would have come out a lot quicker than this,” he said.

Krug’s Democratic Party opponent, attorney Dana Duncan, said that he doesn’t believe it.

“Given his history of trying to play both sides of the fence, I have little faith that he will stick to his support of a moratorium come Nov. 5, the day after the election,” he said.

Duncan not only wants to stop Golden Sands Dairy — he wants to ban all future Combined Animal Feeding Operations in Wisconsin.

“I’m opposed to any new ones in the state, and I’d like to see significant regulations on those already in the state,” he said. “A CAFO to agriculture is the equivalent of a sweatshop or child labor to manufacturing.”

The proposed Golden Sands Dairy would house 5,300 cows on 7,000 acres in the central Wisconsin town of Saratoga.