After Scott Walker's office alerts farm lobby, clean water regulations scaled back [View all]

Source: madison.com



After Scott Walker's office alerts farm lobby, clean water regulations scaled back
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/after-scott-walker-s-office-alerts-farm-lobby-clean-water/article_2215adcc-238e-5f45-ab82-2b9a093e560a.html


STEVEN VERBURG sverburg@madison.com, 608-252-6118 8 hrs ago 61

Responding to strong complaints from Wisconsin’s dairy industry, the state Department of Natural Resources quietly narrowed the scope of rules it is writing to reduce health hazards from hundreds of millions of gallons of manure spread on farm fields each year.

An industry representative said the DNR’s initial plan for rule-making would have been much too costly, in part because it would have generally reduced the amount of manure that could be applied per acre, requiring dairy operators to obtain more land.

But conservationists said the narrowed rule-making plan delayed indefinitely the consideration of public health and water resources protections that were identified through lengthy scientific study and extensive public discussion.

And they said the changes exposed the way a 2011 state law has allowed Gov. Scott Walker and the DNR to give industry opportunities to sharply limit crucial administrative rules before the public even knows they are under consideration......................

Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/after-scott-walker-s-office-alerts-farm-lobby-clean-water/article_2215adcc-238e-5f45-ab82-2b9a093e560a.html

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This IS a national problem-esp. in states with mega dairy farms!

Also in WI, some of the run-off goes into streams and rivers which flow into the Great Lakes. Walker appointed many new people in the DNR--many of the old employees have left. These new appointees, including the head of the DNR are political hacks for Walker and the Republicans in WI who favor business--including the powerful Dairy Industry!!


**long article with lots of details.


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