Big dairy, Scott Walker donor at center of high-capacity well controversy in Adams County

The Sept. 4 ruling by state Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Boldt is the latest wrinkle in the ongoing effort by Milk Source — which milks and manages 27,000 cows on four Wisconsin dairy farms — to build and begin operating Richfield Dairy roughly 80 miles north of Madison.

The $35 million confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, would house 4,300 cows and 250 steers. The dairy operation would be spread over 115 acres that would include farm buildings and production areas and another 16,300 acres for spreading manure from the more than 4,500 animals.

To accommodate the water needs of the industrial farm, Milk Source first applied to the state DNR for a permit to build two high-capacity wells — defined as wells with the capacity to pump 70 gallons of water per minute — on May 4, 2011.

Six months later, the DNR approved the permit that allowed for two high-capacity wells to be built on the site, with a combined capacity to withdraw 72.5 million gallons of water per year.

Roughly one month later, four Milk Source employees donated $85,000 to Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign fund on one day, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

In all, Milk Source employees have donated $117,000 to Walker between 2010 and the end of 2013.

The most recent donation to Walker, in the amount of $2,500, came April 24 from Milk Source owner James Ostrom. Milk Source owns the state’s top two largest dairies: New Chester, which like Richfield Dairy is in Adams County, and Rosendale Dairy in Fond du Lac County.

Six months after Walker’s campaign received the $85,000 in donations, the state Legislature approved and Walker signed a budget that included a provision stating “the failure to consider cumulative effects” when assessing the environmental impacts of a high-capacity well can no longer be grounds for appealing a permit.

“Once again, we see actions by Gov. Walker's administration coincide with contributions to Gov. Walker's campaign,” said Scot Ross, director of the Madison-based liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. “Gov. Walker has proven he will sell off Wisconsin to the highest bidder."

Ross cited the $700,000 donated by mining company Gogebic Taconite to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a pro-business advocacy group directed by Walker’s campaign adviser, and a $6 million tax credit to Arcadia-based Ashley Furniture Industries less than a month after Walker received $20,000 in donations from the company’s top executives.

“The donations, most would surmise, is driven by the ‘Open for Business’ mantra of the administration,” said Bob Clarke, president of Friends of the Central Sands, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the environment in the state’s Central Sands region. “The DNR is no longer advocating for the management of resources. It is very narrow in its interpretations of its duties and is often advocating against it.”

Given the proximity of New Chester Dairy and its approximately 8,400 cows to the proposed Richfield Dairy, and visibly dropping water levels in Fish Lake, Huron Lake and Long Lake, the Friends of the Central Sands, Family Farm Defenders and other petitioners appealed the permit on the grounds the DNR should be looking at the cumulative impacts to nearby water sources when issuing high capacity well permits.

When issuing such permits, the DNR was routinely looking at how a well would impact other water sources, but only on the same property.

In his ruling, Boldt said the DNR “took an unreasonably limited view of its authority,” and that the public trust doctrine, statutes and decades of court precedent required the state DNR to consider cumulative impacts.

“It is scientifically unsupported, and impossible as a practical matter, to manage water resources if cumulative impacts are not considered,” Boldt wrote.

Milk Source was represented by Michael Best & Friedrich, a firm involved in many of the state’s hot-button issues the past few years.

In a legal summary of the case on its website, the firm says Boldt’s ruling signals a potential shift in Wisconsin’s water law. While an administrative ruling is not precedent-setting, it is very likely the DNR will consider the decision a mandate to develop new internal processes in an effort to begin considering cumulative impacts prior to issuing high-capacity well permits for all uses, including industrial uses like frac sand mining and municipal water supply services.

“The Richfield Dairy high-capacity well permit decision creates significant uncertainty for businesses in Wisconsin that rely on high-capacity wells to operate and has a potential to create significant adverse economic impacts across the state,” reads the brief.

“We aren’t anti-agriculture or anti-business. If we manage the resources correctly, everybody can enjoy them and use them,” Clarke said. “All we are looking for is a balanced use of the resources.”

The ruling does not represent a total loss for Milk Source. While Boldt said cumulative impacts need to be considered when considering permits and lowered the annual amount of water that could be pumped from the Richfield Dairy’s two wells from to 72.5 to 52.5 million, the project is still moving forward.

At 7 p.m. on Oct. 14, a public hearing will be held on the new DNR permit request that includes the new limits set by the judge. The hearing on this draft environmental impact statement and related documents will be held at the Adams County Community Center, 569 North Cedar Street, in Adams.

The DNR is accepting public comments on the documents from Sept. 25 through Oct. 10. To view the documents, click here.