MONROE - Engineers for the concentrated animal feeding operation Pinnacle Dairy informed Green County conservation officials they hope to have the milking parlor operational by May 1, but a permit condition and new concerns by conservationists continue to nag the development.
Members of the county Land and Water Conservation Committee heard an update from Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson during a monthly meeting Thursday.
A pre-planned option to deal with higher than allowed water elevations has been chosen by Pinnacle, Jenson said.
Pinnacle Dairy LLC has the designation of CAFO by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Dairy CAFOs are large-scale facilities with more than 714 cows or 1,000 animal units. Currently being constructed on 127 acres along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road in Sylvester Township, Pinnacle will house roughly 5,800 cattle.
Owner Todd Tuls initially applied for a permit in August 2015, prompting attention from area farmers. Some voiced no opposition to a large provider of manure contracts and are against the idea of a dairy being held to more stringent standards by government officials. Others were less willing to have a massive farm in a market where family farms are struggling as milk and crop prices fall and worried over the possible contamination of local groundwater.
Now buildings have been put in place, and Jenson said two of the three permit conditions have been met. Recent action by engineers to meet the third condition out of order prompted Green County to hire outside lawyer Christa O. Westerberg of Madison-based Pines Bach, who specializes in land-use and environmental law.
Water elevation and ground conditions are the crux of the three permit conditions. An option in the initial project plans is now being pursued to ensure that the water elevations of five out of the eight monitoring wells meet the second permit condition. The wells were put in place around the site of four future manure lagoons to measure whether the structures could be installed a distance above groundwater - enough to avoid a high chance of contamination. Jenson said Pinnacle has indicated it would raise the lagoons if necessary.
The plan, referred to as Option 2 in schematics, includes placing a cutoff trench beginning south of the pits and looping around the eastern side and northward to encompass three of the four lagoons. The trench would be the width of a backhoe, Jenson said, roughly 4 feet. The beginning of the trench will be 6 feet deep, becoming 26 feet deep by the end. Clear stone, or uniform gravel, will be filled in and an 8-foot tile will be in the trench as well.
"They realize it's going to cost a lot of money, but they figure in the long run, it's going to be worth it," Jenson said.
The goal of the trench is to catch water draining on the north side of the lagoons, lowering the water levels in three of the monitoring wells. Part of the water captured by the trench would eventually evaporate while a portion would likely be redistributed to a nearby waterway, like Searles Creek.
Other issues persist with the facility as well. Jenson said when he visited the site with pre-approval by Pinnacle on Monday, he found water was still being pumped out of the monitoring wells. When asked why, he was told it was "out of habit." When Jenson mentioned that pumping needed to be halted for five days to accurately measure the water levels, he noted Pinnacle attorney Leah Ziemba said nothing in the permit conditions indicated water pumping was not allowed.
In an email issued via public affairs firm Wood Communication Group, Ziemba gave a statement that "several of the wells continue to be purged on a periodic basis" which "is simply accelerating the natural process of drainage into the drainage tile" and that the conditional permit does not "indicate that purging these approved well locations is prohibited and we are aware of no permit conditions to the contrary."
Jenson also said he was examining the wells logs and found that wells may not have been installed correctly, per state law requirements under Chapter NR 141. A sand filter may have not been put in place, which means it would not purge correctly. He concluded he needed to discuss the issue with engineers from the state DNR or Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Members of the county Land and Water Conservation Committee heard an update from Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson during a monthly meeting Thursday.
A pre-planned option to deal with higher than allowed water elevations has been chosen by Pinnacle, Jenson said.
Pinnacle Dairy LLC has the designation of CAFO by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Dairy CAFOs are large-scale facilities with more than 714 cows or 1,000 animal units. Currently being constructed on 127 acres along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road in Sylvester Township, Pinnacle will house roughly 5,800 cattle.
Owner Todd Tuls initially applied for a permit in August 2015, prompting attention from area farmers. Some voiced no opposition to a large provider of manure contracts and are against the idea of a dairy being held to more stringent standards by government officials. Others were less willing to have a massive farm in a market where family farms are struggling as milk and crop prices fall and worried over the possible contamination of local groundwater.
Now buildings have been put in place, and Jenson said two of the three permit conditions have been met. Recent action by engineers to meet the third condition out of order prompted Green County to hire outside lawyer Christa O. Westerberg of Madison-based Pines Bach, who specializes in land-use and environmental law.
Water elevation and ground conditions are the crux of the three permit conditions. An option in the initial project plans is now being pursued to ensure that the water elevations of five out of the eight monitoring wells meet the second permit condition. The wells were put in place around the site of four future manure lagoons to measure whether the structures could be installed a distance above groundwater - enough to avoid a high chance of contamination. Jenson said Pinnacle has indicated it would raise the lagoons if necessary.
The plan, referred to as Option 2 in schematics, includes placing a cutoff trench beginning south of the pits and looping around the eastern side and northward to encompass three of the four lagoons. The trench would be the width of a backhoe, Jenson said, roughly 4 feet. The beginning of the trench will be 6 feet deep, becoming 26 feet deep by the end. Clear stone, or uniform gravel, will be filled in and an 8-foot tile will be in the trench as well.
"They realize it's going to cost a lot of money, but they figure in the long run, it's going to be worth it," Jenson said.
The goal of the trench is to catch water draining on the north side of the lagoons, lowering the water levels in three of the monitoring wells. Part of the water captured by the trench would eventually evaporate while a portion would likely be redistributed to a nearby waterway, like Searles Creek.
Other issues persist with the facility as well. Jenson said when he visited the site with pre-approval by Pinnacle on Monday, he found water was still being pumped out of the monitoring wells. When asked why, he was told it was "out of habit." When Jenson mentioned that pumping needed to be halted for five days to accurately measure the water levels, he noted Pinnacle attorney Leah Ziemba said nothing in the permit conditions indicated water pumping was not allowed.
In an email issued via public affairs firm Wood Communication Group, Ziemba gave a statement that "several of the wells continue to be purged on a periodic basis" which "is simply accelerating the natural process of drainage into the drainage tile" and that the conditional permit does not "indicate that purging these approved well locations is prohibited and we are aware of no permit conditions to the contrary."
Jenson also said he was examining the wells logs and found that wells may not have been installed correctly, per state law requirements under Chapter NR 141. A sand filter may have not been put in place, which means it would not purge correctly. He concluded he needed to discuss the issue with engineers from the state DNR or Natural Resource Conservation Service.