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Crawford Stewardship Project is grateful for the generous support of the Wisconsin Community Fund.
"CAFOs are only profitable because so much of the cost and damage is externalized onto the environment, neighbors and wildlife. The monitoring, supervision, clean-up, restitution, fines are not happening, thus the true cost of CAFOs never find the way onto the balance books." Talking point from the CAFO Conference.
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Most Recent Update from Save Copper Creek
December 27, 2011
As 2011 draws to a close, I want to give you an update on what's
been happening -- and NOT happening -- on the high-capacity well issue.
First, though, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the Save
Copper Creek cause in a dozen different ways: for all your ideas, encouragement,
donations, petition-signing, putting up yard signs, attending meetings,
writing letters, the rummage sale, and on and on and on and on . . .
. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
* There have been several articles in the Crawford County Independent/Kickapoo
Scout about the status of the well. They report no action on the test well,
but also suggest that Dr. Long may be focusing more on bottling the water
and perhaps giving up on the use of the water for emergencies. Check the
papers for the stories -- also, the articles sometimes appear on the newspaper
chain's website, http://www.swnews4u.com/ -- click on news or headlines.
The DNR also reports that it has not heard anything new on the test well
in the last couple of months.
* The SCC legal team and science team remain vigilant in light of Dr. Long's
changeable motives and actions on this project. We continue to explore the
revised zoning ordinance in the Town of Utica as another alternative for
preventing the use of the well.
* At the suggestion of Edie Ehlert and Ellen Brooks of Crawford Stewardship
Project, I attended a presentation in Prairie du Chien by Don Barrett, who
is conducting research on aquatic invasive species in a nine-county area,
including Crawford. He spoke to the Crawford County Land Conservation Committee.
He has identified Japanese hops, an invasive species, in segments of Copper
Creek. I talked to him after the meeting about whether well-induced changes
in flow and temperature could make Copper Creek more susceptible to invasive
species. He couldn't give a definitive answer, but said that anything that
changes the natural baseline characteristics of a stream has a potential
for harm. While there, I also was asked to give the Committee a brief update
on the status of the well, which I did.
* Save Copper Creek received a letter last week from Kim McCarthy, Chair
of Wisconsin Trout Unlimited, notifying us that Save Copper Creek will be
receiving the TU's Appreciation Award for our efforts to protect the creek.
The award will be presented at the TU annual State Council evening banquet
in Wausau on February 4, 2012. We plan to have a representative of Save Copper
Creek on hand to accept the award.
I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season so far and that we can all
look forward to a happy new year.
Bob Van Hoesen for Save Copper Creek
savecoppercreek@gmail.com
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Letter to the DNR outlining our concerns.
DNR document which represents its proposed conditions and responses to public comments on the proposed high-capacity well. Download the document here.
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