Wisconsin Ag Connection - Another Judge says Kinnard Farms Must Monitor Well Water

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Another Judge says Kinnard Farms Must Monitor Well Water
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 07/21/2016

The legal battle continues over a Kewaunee County dairy farm's efforts to obtain a water pollution permit in order to expand its operation. Last week, a Dane County judge ruled that the state's natural resources department must reinstate regulations set for Kinnard Farms, despite Attorney General Brad Schimel's recent opinion that state agencies cannot impose permit conditions that are not expressly laid out in state statute.

Judge John Markson's ruling essentially reinstates what Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Boldt ruled in late 2014 when he said the farm could proceed with a plan to expand from 4,000 cows to 6,200 if at least six monitoring wells are installed in the process. At that time, the farm's owners felt the added conditions went beyond the DNR's authority, so they appealed. That prompted a different ruling by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which stated that such actions would violate Wisconsin law.

In October 2015, local residents filed an appeal of the agency's final decision to permit Kinnard Farms to operate without a limit on the number of animals in the facility or a requirement to monitor the conditions of groundwater where the company spreads manure offsite.

A spokesman for the DNR said they will review the impact of Judge Markson's ruling and may consider filing another appeal over the issue.

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