Groups Holding Stink-In To Ask For Better Enforcement Of CAFO Permits

Around 30 state and national groups are raising a stink in Madison this weekend over what they see as the state’s failure to properly oversee concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.

Groups such as the Sierra Club and Kewaunee CARES are calling on Wisconsin lawmakers to direct the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to do a better job regulating the large farms.

The gathering is part of the second annual Stink-In at the state’s capitol building.

Mary Dougherty of Bayfield’s Farms Not Factories said lawmakers have tied the hands of the DNR when it comes to overseeing large farms through budget cuts and legislation, Dougherty said.

“They need to direct the DNR in a very clear and robust and detailed manner that WPDES permits, the CAFO permit in the state of Wisconsin, need to be enforced,” she said.

Dougherty pointed to a June legislative audit that found water quality regulators failed to follow their own enforcement policies more than 94 percent of the time in the last decade.

“Let’s just enforce the rules we have,” Dougherty said. “Let’s fund the DNR to enforce what’s on the books. While we’re doing that, let’s look at what’s really happening when a CAFO moves in.”

A DNR spokeswoman said the agency is preparing a response to the audit by the Tuesday, Nov. 1 deadline.

The DNR recently requested shifting four positions to review CAFO permits. The DNR’s budget request cuts spending by about $23 million from the last biennium.