Kewaunee County Residents Challenge DNR’s Approval Of Dairy Farm Expansion

A potentially precedent-setting case regarding the Department of Natural Resources’ enforcement of water quality regulations for large livestock farms will begin on Tuesday in a Green Bay courtroom.

Neighbors of Kinnard Farms in Kewaunee County are contesting the DNR’s decision to allow the owners of the dairy farm to expand from 4,000 dairy cows to 6,000. The farm is expected to spread 70 million gallons of manure on area land each year.

The neighbors took issue because their well water is undrinkable due to E. coli contamination. They took their case to the group Midwest Environmental Advocates, which is providing legal representation. Kim Wright, the group’s executive director, said her clients aren’t seeking any changes to current law.

“We’re suing to ensure the existing laws will be followed,” said Wright. “That’s it. That’s absolutely the purpose. The permit was issued and was not technically sufficient under the law.”

Wright says the DNR doesn’t have enough staff to do required monitoring, but the agency will argue that water quality monitoring in the Kinnard case isn’t necessary.

“We look at each site on an individual basis for, how vulnerable is the site,” said Jane Landretti, a staff attorney for the DNR. “In this case, department staff looked very closely at the conditions that the permittees are saying are present. We decided that in this case it’s not vulnerable enough of a condition to require that of the permittee.”

The case will be heard by a state administrative law judge. It could take months for a decision to be made.

Editor’s Note: The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) has been following this issue. Read Kate Golden’s report.