Stop letting businesses put pig poop in our water

From Crawford Stewardship Project:

Help stop another preemption of local control!  Our Wisconsin legislature is threatening to make CAFO Operations Ordinances illegal...we need all hands on deck to stop this!

This is a call to support the efforts of Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network (SRWN) to protect local control at the statewide level. Crawford Stewardship Project is a co-founding member of SRWN, a statewide coalition of partners working to hold Big Industrial Ag accountable for their impacts on our family farms and rural communities.

Our communities have the inherent right to self-governance in defense of public health and safety. Current regulatory structures for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have a singular focus on water quality, (and even that is lacking), leaving it up to local governments to protect public priorities including air quality, biosecurity, fire safety, disaster-mitigation, property values, road impacts, etc.  A growing number of Wisconsin counties and townships have put protections in place by passing Operations Ordinances. These are not bans, but through extensive study and public debate between area stakeholders Operations Ordinances put protections in place that have passed in both liberal and conservative municipalities. They are a basic and appropriate exercise of our democratic process and local control.  Operations Ordinances raise the bar on industrial livestock operations by asking them to address community concerns and behave as good neighbors. Big Ag's Madison lobbyists want to outlaw local ordinances, and they've tried this before: last year SRWN stopped the state from making these ordinances illegal through a concerted campaign that resulted in 900+ messages to the Governor!  Good work team! We need to pull together again. With your support, SRWN can retain our own lobbyist to help make our rural voices heard in Madison and protect our health and property. Grassroots action has gotten us far, but a lobbyist helps make sure we can be at all the right meetings, have an inside scoop on the Capitol as things develop, and can go in to meetings with all the insights we need to be effective.  Whereas CSP works primarily at the local level, SRWN is a coalition of grassroots groups working to take our local voices to the state level in Madison. SRWN has a statewide goal of raising $10k to retain a lobbyist, you can click here to contribute to SRWN's work protecting Operations Ordinances from current threats at the state level.

Stop the MN mine

From Houston County, MN friends

HOUSTON COUNTY NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: That an application has been made by G-Cubed, on behalf of Bruening Rock Products of 900 Montgomery St, Decorah, IA 52101 and Jarad and Clair Olson for a Conditional Use Permit to operate a quarry for mineral extraction in the Agricultural Protection District.

Please plan to attend the hearing in Caledonia on Thursday August 28th in the commissioners room, Houston County Courthouse at 5:15 pm and please send comments by email to Zoning@HoCoMN.gov.  

Comments must be received by this Tuesday, August 19th. 

We are not sure yet if you need to email your comments prior to being allowed to speak or if the comments received by Tuesday will simply be in the information packet. Comments are public information. 

Clair Olson wants to have a mine/quarry just across Highway 16 from Ferndale Road and Hatchery Drive. The Root River--a trout stream--flows right beneath the proposed mine!  This is one of the most scenic stretches of the Root River Valley. They would be allowed to blast, wash and sort.

In comments ask that the Olson permit be denied and state reasons: The Root River flows right next to the mine: tourism will be hurt;  property values will fall; truck traffic will be a hazard; roads will be damaged; the blasting and washing of the sand will hurt air quality and ground water quality. The scenic beauty will be ruined.   

We don't know if this will be for frack sand or construction/bedding purposes but who knows where the trucks go?

Comments from Wisconsin would be very important since so much damage was done by the mining companies to local communities there and many Wisconsin residents use and appreciate the Root River.

See the notice at https://www.hometownsource.com/classifieds/caledonia_argus/community/announcements/legal/notice_of_public_hearing/houston-county-notice-of-public-hearing/ad_01a01590-1035-56d0-a269-b89b16f77114.html

Compost time

This Project Drawdown article about composting notes, "For every million metric tons of organic wastes that decompose, 469 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases in the form of methane are released."

Composting organic material like food waste and lawn materials results in soil carbon rather than landfill methane emissions.

Learn how to compost at this "Scraps to Soil" workshop at People's Food Co-op on August 22 from 4 to 5 p.m. Register to attend and be entered to win a free compust bin. 

Learn more here: https://www.pfc.coop/classes-events/pfc-composting-class

Read more about how composting combats the climate crisis in this publication from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Bernie in Viroqua

Fighting Oligarchy: A Townhall Conversation with Bernie Sanders in Viroqua

With Special Guest Rebecca Cooke on Saturday, August 23

10:30 a.m. Doors Open

11:00 a.m. Music by Foreign Fields

12:00 noon Speaking Program Starts

Pierce Hill Performing Arts

S4706 Orchard Rd, Viroqua, WI 54665

Please note: the following items are not permitted inside the venue:

• No signs and no flags of any kind
• No weapons of any kind, including for attendees with open carry permits
• No hard water bottles
• No bags larger than a fanny pack (exceptions made only for medical needs)

Free parking is available on-site.

RSVP here: https://act.berniesanders.com/signup/rsvp-oligarchy-viroqua/

Coulee DSA Saturday

From Coulee DSA

COFFEE SOCIAL

Saturday morning at 10 at Cabin Coffee