MONROE - The Green County Conservation board decided Thursday to draft a county moratorium on all new large-scale dairy facilities.
The details of the moratorium have yet to be determined. The committee agreed by a 4-to-1 vote to draft the ordinance and assigned the details to staff at the county conservation department.
Under the moratorium, when a concentrated animal feeding operation, known as a CAFO, applies to build a new operation, it would also have to wait a period of time for local government to study how it would affect the community. If Green County approves the ordinance once it is drafted, any new applicants would trigger the moratorium within the county.
The state designates CAFOs as having 1,000 or more cows.
The conservation committee agreed to discuss a draft of the moratorium ordinance during its next meeting March 3.
The county ordinance comes as a response to concerns about a proposal to build a large-scale dairy, named Pinnacle Dairy, in Sylvester Township. That proposal calls for more than 5,000 on about 127 acres.
Some township residents see the proposed Pinnacle Dairy as a health hazard, and the township passed its own 6-month moratorium designed to allow more time to study the effects of CAFOs, particularly the effect on ground water. The township moratorium comes to an end in March.
T.J. Tuls, who manages Rock Prairie Farm near Janesville, was present for the committee meeting Thursday. His father, Todd Tuls, owns Rock Prairie and will be the owner of Pinnacle Dairy if it were to be built. T.J. Tuls said his cousin Parker will be managing Pinnacle with his help.
Tuls said his cousin will live in the area and all operations and purchases will be "as local as possible."
Despite the moratorium, "we still believe it can be a good site," Tuls said. "The research we've done shows that. We want it to be protected for the environment and taken care of correctly. They just need more information."
Pinnacle Dairy representative Ronnie Williams of Williams Engineering Services met with Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources representatives and a hydrogeologist from Pinnacle Dairy on the proposed location along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road. They agreed to put two monitoring wells in place at each of the four sites planned for manure pits. One will also be put in place north of the site.
The wells will be put in place at the request of the DNR to monitor the water table. Williams said they would "likely takes samples and review them privately" and that the DNR may require nitrate testing of water samples as a part of the application process.
Jenson said requests for soil pits would not be sought at this time.
Pinnacle engineers are attempting to work with the DNR after the state rejected its application plans based on a lack of proof that the manure storage facilities would not leach into groundwater. The wells approved should demonstrate whether or not there is a sufficient separation between the tanks and lower level groundwater. Williams said their clearance needs to be 4 feet, and that their findings greatly exceed that.
The committee also approved the commission of a hydrogeological water study as presented by Madeline Gotkowitz, a hydrogeologist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension. The study draft will be sent to the Finance and Accounting Committee. From there, it could move on to the Green County Board of Supervisors for approval. The study is estimated at $104,028 over the three years of the project.
Green County "hosts some of the most vulnerable groundwater resources in Wisconsin," Gotkowitz said. The purpose of the study is to create an inventory and analyze groundwater conditions. Maps and reports will be data on a technical basis for land-use planning and how to implement and monitor land use practices. She added that the study itself will not change water quality within the county.
"This is just information," Gotkowitz said. "It still needs to be acted upon. Those documents don't take the place of a site-specific investigation."
Those documents include a contamination susceptibility map for Green County, a database of all water wells drilled in Wisconsin, a map showing how far the bedrock is below the soil within the county, a water table elevation map, a map of what types of bedrock are present within the county, a table highlighting how much precipitation replaces groundwater and a landform map which will show where surface water runoff does not enter into a ditch or another water source.
Gotkowitz said internal runoff could cause sinkholes and other fractures.
The details of the moratorium have yet to be determined. The committee agreed by a 4-to-1 vote to draft the ordinance and assigned the details to staff at the county conservation department.
Under the moratorium, when a concentrated animal feeding operation, known as a CAFO, applies to build a new operation, it would also have to wait a period of time for local government to study how it would affect the community. If Green County approves the ordinance once it is drafted, any new applicants would trigger the moratorium within the county.
The state designates CAFOs as having 1,000 or more cows.
The conservation committee agreed to discuss a draft of the moratorium ordinance during its next meeting March 3.
The county ordinance comes as a response to concerns about a proposal to build a large-scale dairy, named Pinnacle Dairy, in Sylvester Township. That proposal calls for more than 5,000 on about 127 acres.
Some township residents see the proposed Pinnacle Dairy as a health hazard, and the township passed its own 6-month moratorium designed to allow more time to study the effects of CAFOs, particularly the effect on ground water. The township moratorium comes to an end in March.
T.J. Tuls, who manages Rock Prairie Farm near Janesville, was present for the committee meeting Thursday. His father, Todd Tuls, owns Rock Prairie and will be the owner of Pinnacle Dairy if it were to be built. T.J. Tuls said his cousin Parker will be managing Pinnacle with his help.
Tuls said his cousin will live in the area and all operations and purchases will be "as local as possible."
Despite the moratorium, "we still believe it can be a good site," Tuls said. "The research we've done shows that. We want it to be protected for the environment and taken care of correctly. They just need more information."
Pinnacle Dairy representative Ronnie Williams of Williams Engineering Services met with Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources representatives and a hydrogeologist from Pinnacle Dairy on the proposed location along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road. They agreed to put two monitoring wells in place at each of the four sites planned for manure pits. One will also be put in place north of the site.
The wells will be put in place at the request of the DNR to monitor the water table. Williams said they would "likely takes samples and review them privately" and that the DNR may require nitrate testing of water samples as a part of the application process.
Jenson said requests for soil pits would not be sought at this time.
Pinnacle engineers are attempting to work with the DNR after the state rejected its application plans based on a lack of proof that the manure storage facilities would not leach into groundwater. The wells approved should demonstrate whether or not there is a sufficient separation between the tanks and lower level groundwater. Williams said their clearance needs to be 4 feet, and that their findings greatly exceed that.
The committee also approved the commission of a hydrogeological water study as presented by Madeline Gotkowitz, a hydrogeologist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension. The study draft will be sent to the Finance and Accounting Committee. From there, it could move on to the Green County Board of Supervisors for approval. The study is estimated at $104,028 over the three years of the project.
Green County "hosts some of the most vulnerable groundwater resources in Wisconsin," Gotkowitz said. The purpose of the study is to create an inventory and analyze groundwater conditions. Maps and reports will be data on a technical basis for land-use planning and how to implement and monitor land use practices. She added that the study itself will not change water quality within the county.
"This is just information," Gotkowitz said. "It still needs to be acted upon. Those documents don't take the place of a site-specific investigation."
Those documents include a contamination susceptibility map for Green County, a database of all water wells drilled in Wisconsin, a map showing how far the bedrock is below the soil within the county, a water table elevation map, a map of what types of bedrock are present within the county, a table highlighting how much precipitation replaces groundwater and a landform map which will show where surface water runoff does not enter into a ditch or another water source.
Gotkowitz said internal runoff could cause sinkholes and other fractures.