Two of the state’s dairy farms have been fined for violating runoff regulations according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Attorney General Josh Kaul made the announcement that Kostechka Dairy of Whitelaw in Manitowoc County is now required to install better runoff controls at the dairy. The farm will also be forced to make a payment of $30,000 in attorney fees such as forfeitures and court costs. The complaint alleges that the diary released polluted runoff into the Branch River, which violates the farm’s water discharge permit. The dairy also failed to make permanent runoff controls for their feed storage location and the areas where animals are kept. Kaul reassured that the owners of the dairy already fixed a lot of the issues that were to blame for the violations.
Rolling Hills Dairy Farm in Luxemburg also has claims against them for discharging polluted runoff into a tributary that leads to the East Twin River. The farm has been forced to pay $144,000 in fines and also to build more runoff controls in order to fix the violations against the dairy’s wastewater permit. The decision to make the farm pay that amount came as a part of a settlement with the dairy that was approved by the Kewaunee County Circuit Court.
The Wisconsin DNR alerted the farm’s owners about the issue and how the dairy was most likely discharging pollutants into the water system. The department warned Rolling Hills that they needed to do something to stop the runoff immediately. Kaul said that people who pollute Wisconsin waterways have to be held accountable for their actions. The state also claims that the dairy didn’t let the DNR inspect the farm to see where the runoff was coming from, didn’t create the runoff controls that were required, stored feed in a location that wasn’t approved, and spread manure right before it rained, which created runoff from the fields.
Kaul said that the Public Protection Unit and Wisconsin DNR are going to keep working to enforce environmental laws in order to protect our waterways.
