Dear Governor Tony Evers,

On November 23, 2020, Midwest Environmental Advocates submitted a formal request to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requesting that they prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Roth Feeder Pig II CAFO proposal. This request was submitted on behalf of Crawford Stewardship Project and more than 200 Crawford County residents and landowners who are asking the agency to do due diligence before permitting what would become (in combination with its nearby sister facility) the largest hog CAFO in the state. This request was followed shortly by a letter of support from 46 different organizations from national, state, regional, and local levels, including all regional chapters of the Farmers Union and Trout Unlimited.

The additional diligence requested for this operation is merited not only based on the scale of the proposal, but that the area where this CAFO would be operating includes some of the steepest slopes and most fractured bedrock in the state. While the karst hydrogeology of this area is generally understood to be extremely susceptible to groundwater and surface water contamination, regional and current detail and analysis is lacking, to the extent that the DNR used bedrock maps from 1876 and incorrectly identified the bedrock encountered at the CAFO site.

We remember your commitment to return science-based decision making to the DNR and protect clean water for all, and this is an opportunity for you to build that legacy. We understand that many of your clean water initiatives have been thwarted by the broken administrative rule-making process and the legislature, but this decision is entirely within your administration’s power to act, so we look to you to make this happen. Please request that the DNR use its discretionary authority and conduct an EIS for Roth Feeder Pig II, and please respond to this request before a notice of final determination is issued. We, the people of rural Wisconsin, need to see strong action from you to protect the water we all rely on.