MONROE - A proposed dairy farm in Sylvester Township, which has pulled $50,000 in resources from the Green County Land and Water Conservation Department since its proposed application in August 2015, still has a number of issues, according to reports by Natural Resources Conservation Service and Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection officials.
The county Land and Water Conservation Committee voted unanimously on April 6 in favor of Pinnacle Dairy's application to build. Pinnacle Dairy LLC staff said site tests had proven successful under state and county law. Despite this, Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson attached conditions to the permit agreement, which were added as a result of reports by NRCS and DATCP officials.
Pinnacle Dairy Farm is a proposed 5,800-cow facility over 127 acres of land. It includes four storage lagoons roughly spanning the length of a football field. Some containers store manure while others have a mixture of water and liquid waste.
Currently, the largest CAFO, or concentrated animal feeding operation, in Green County is Spring Grove Dairy in Juda, which has a total of 1,800 milking cows, Jenson said. In total, there are five farms designated as CAFOs within the county. Most facilities barely meet the minimum animal requirement to be considered a CAFO.
The primary point of contention with the Pinnacle project has been groundwater. While project planners point out all tests have proven the proposed site is sound, residents of the township and Green County have called for the project to be stopped because of what they say is the high susceptibility of groundwater in the area.
Officials have their doubts about whether the facility would hold up on the land as well. NRCS Standard 313 outlines conditions in which waste storage containers can be used and the need for groundwater to be separated from possible pollutants. This means a perched condition, a ground composition in which unsaturated material like clay separates shallower saturated material, is needed.
An email from NRCS State Conservation Engineer John Ramsden emphasized these concerns. The message was sent to DATCP officials. Conservation Engineer Dave Russell provided the research materials to Ramsden for evaluation.
"In my opinion, the methods offered by the consultants to support a perched condition are not acceptable," Ramsden wrote. "If the present subsurface saturation is determined to be a perched condition, I offer the opinion that the current drainage proposal presented in the construction plans do not meet the criteria in NRCS Standard 313 to relieve hydrostatic loads on the facility."
In reports from Nov. 30 and Dec. 22, Russell reviewed plans and specifications for manure storage and provided commentary on groundwater monitoring of storage submitted by Pinnacle consultants.
In comments on groundwater monitoring, Russell considered a soil investigation report, groundwater monitoring network summary and plan addendum, and a report of soil sampling and lab testing procedures provided by Pinnacle engineers as well as a third-party evaluation of the permit proposal by Syverson GeoConsulting and observation of test excavation hole No. 2. Consultants for Pinnacle Dairy concluded shallow depths of wet soil are part of a perched condition and provided six separate reasons for the conclusion. Russell rebukes some assertions in the reports.
Russell noted that the "variation in color, texture, depth, elevation, and thickness raise questions about the conclusion that the separation layer is uniform throughout the site," referring to the clay Pinnacle engineers contend is cause for perched conditions. Dry layers' locations appeared to change from month to month between December 2015 and March 2016, he added.
"The fact that virtually all the highest water levels were on the same day and virtually all the lowest water levels were on the same day for all wells shows a significant correlation in the fluctuation of levels between the shallow and the deep wells," Russell wrote in his report. "This could indicate a hydraulic connection between shallow and deep saturation, and casts doubt about the existence of a perched condition."
Evidence was also found that deep well water existed "approximately 4-6 feet" above the bottom of the proposed manure storage facility, which is not consistent with Standard 313 due to the likelihood of water contamination.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials granted conditional approval of Pinnacle on Dec. 28.
After Pinnacle submitted a permit application in August 2015, three staff members of the county conservation department have dedicated time to stacks of reports over 2 feet high and a number of hours on site. Jenson said he and staff Tonya Gratz and Chris Newberry used $50,000 worth of salary time to the project. Jenson said the department has also worked alongside DATCP officials who eventually enlisted the help of NRCS officials.
"We basically hired (DATCP's) engineer and nutrient management planner," Jenson said. "Lots of people have looked at it."
The county Land and Water Conservation Committee voted unanimously on April 6 in favor of Pinnacle Dairy's application to build. Pinnacle Dairy LLC staff said site tests had proven successful under state and county law. Despite this, Green County Conservationist Todd Jenson attached conditions to the permit agreement, which were added as a result of reports by NRCS and DATCP officials.
Pinnacle Dairy Farm is a proposed 5,800-cow facility over 127 acres of land. It includes four storage lagoons roughly spanning the length of a football field. Some containers store manure while others have a mixture of water and liquid waste.
Currently, the largest CAFO, or concentrated animal feeding operation, in Green County is Spring Grove Dairy in Juda, which has a total of 1,800 milking cows, Jenson said. In total, there are five farms designated as CAFOs within the county. Most facilities barely meet the minimum animal requirement to be considered a CAFO.
The primary point of contention with the Pinnacle project has been groundwater. While project planners point out all tests have proven the proposed site is sound, residents of the township and Green County have called for the project to be stopped because of what they say is the high susceptibility of groundwater in the area.
Officials have their doubts about whether the facility would hold up on the land as well. NRCS Standard 313 outlines conditions in which waste storage containers can be used and the need for groundwater to be separated from possible pollutants. This means a perched condition, a ground composition in which unsaturated material like clay separates shallower saturated material, is needed.
An email from NRCS State Conservation Engineer John Ramsden emphasized these concerns. The message was sent to DATCP officials. Conservation Engineer Dave Russell provided the research materials to Ramsden for evaluation.
"In my opinion, the methods offered by the consultants to support a perched condition are not acceptable," Ramsden wrote. "If the present subsurface saturation is determined to be a perched condition, I offer the opinion that the current drainage proposal presented in the construction plans do not meet the criteria in NRCS Standard 313 to relieve hydrostatic loads on the facility."
In reports from Nov. 30 and Dec. 22, Russell reviewed plans and specifications for manure storage and provided commentary on groundwater monitoring of storage submitted by Pinnacle consultants.
In comments on groundwater monitoring, Russell considered a soil investigation report, groundwater monitoring network summary and plan addendum, and a report of soil sampling and lab testing procedures provided by Pinnacle engineers as well as a third-party evaluation of the permit proposal by Syverson GeoConsulting and observation of test excavation hole No. 2. Consultants for Pinnacle Dairy concluded shallow depths of wet soil are part of a perched condition and provided six separate reasons for the conclusion. Russell rebukes some assertions in the reports.
Russell noted that the "variation in color, texture, depth, elevation, and thickness raise questions about the conclusion that the separation layer is uniform throughout the site," referring to the clay Pinnacle engineers contend is cause for perched conditions. Dry layers' locations appeared to change from month to month between December 2015 and March 2016, he added.
"The fact that virtually all the highest water levels were on the same day and virtually all the lowest water levels were on the same day for all wells shows a significant correlation in the fluctuation of levels between the shallow and the deep wells," Russell wrote in his report. "This could indicate a hydraulic connection between shallow and deep saturation, and casts doubt about the existence of a perched condition."
Evidence was also found that deep well water existed "approximately 4-6 feet" above the bottom of the proposed manure storage facility, which is not consistent with Standard 313 due to the likelihood of water contamination.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials granted conditional approval of Pinnacle on Dec. 28.
After Pinnacle submitted a permit application in August 2015, three staff members of the county conservation department have dedicated time to stacks of reports over 2 feet high and a number of hours on site. Jenson said he and staff Tonya Gratz and Chris Newberry used $50,000 worth of salary time to the project. Jenson said the department has also worked alongside DATCP officials who eventually enlisted the help of NRCS officials.
"We basically hired (DATCP's) engineer and nutrient management planner," Jenson said. "Lots of people have looked at it."