Outraged residents of Concord, WI packed the Town Hall on Monday night to voice their concerns about the stink raised by Ron Seely’s recent report in the Wisconsin State Journal. Seely was looking into the question of, “how the political and business ties of top DNR administrators appointed by Gov. Scott Walker are influencing their handling of law enforcement cases.”
Map of the affected area.
The focus of the report was a 2009 case in which Herr Environmental, Inc. allegedly injected three times the permitted amount of untreated human waste into farm fields in the Town of Concord. The fields border residential neighborhoods where the homes rely on wells for drinking water. DNR investigators raised grave concerns about public health and safety given the proximity of the raw sewage to the wells.
Investigators recommended that the case be forwarded to the Department of Justice so that Herr Environmental could be compelled to pay for the testing of each family’s well, but their suggestion was rejected. Instead, top administrators and political cronies of Richard Herr stepped in to deliver a slap on the wrist, issuing five citations that amounted to $4,338 in fines.
But even that was too much for Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc), husband of Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefish who is facing a recall election June 5. Kleefisch attended an enforcement hearing where, according to a DNR investigator present, he pleaded on behalf of Herr: “In the age of the DNR/Wisconsin Governor being pro-business, why is the DNR giving Herr 5 citations and why can’t 2 or 3 be taken away as a show of good faith?”
About 50 concerned citizens showed up to the meeting Monday night looking for answers to questions about the 2009 violations, and to express worries about the continued application of raw sewage to fields so close to their homes. Town Board Chairman Bill Ingersoll repeatedly urged residents to get their wells tested for nitrates, noting that it was only a $25 test. He downplayed the harmfulness of the nitrates, saying that the amount of nitrogen in the sewage was equivalent to the amount of nitrogen in commercial fertilizer applied to farm fields. Ingersoll offered to pay the cost out of his own pocket to any homeowner who couldn’t afford it.
Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison), member of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, informed Ingersoll that, while nitrates in the water are bad, there are viruses and pathogens in sewage that are far more dangerous. Testing for those is considerably more expensive, and not all labs are equipped to perform the tests. Hulsey also pointed out that nobody should be paying a dime for the tests since it was the illegal actions of Herr that raised concerns to begin with.
Kimberlee Wright of Midwest Environmental Advocates was involved with obtaining all of the DNR investigation records that led to the Wisconsin State Journal article. She attended the meeting and described the potential dangers to public health when scientists aren’t allowed to do their jobs due to political influence at the top. She also encouraged Ingersoll and others to seek copies of the investigative record, since it has all of the information they need to understand the scope and severity of the problem.
Seely’s report noted that the Deputy Secretary of the DNR, Matt Moroney, recused himself from handling the case because he was “acquainted with another officer of Herr Environmental.” That would be Todd Stair, Vice President of Herr Environmental who also serves on the advisory board of the Metropolitan Builders Association. Moroney was Executive Director of that organization before he was tapped by Walker-appointed DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp to be her Deputy in late 2010. A builder by profession, Stepp has also served as a member and on the board of the Metropolitan Builders Association.
Todd Stair attended the Concord Town Board meeting, and walked up to the front of the room to address the crowd. He claimed that, “Over-application did not occur. Bad record keeping did occur,” and then proceeded to blame the DNR for onerous reporting requirements and late mailings. In describing his recording keeping error, Stair said that the stack of papers with information on how much sewage went in and out of the holding tanks was, “this high,” indicating a height with his hand about five feet above floor level.
“That’s a lot of dumping,” said someone in the room.
Laura Callison, a resident of the subdivision next to the field, complained about the putrid smell in the neighborhood on the days during and after the spreading of sewage, saying that they can’t hang laundry out to dry because the laundry itself “smells like poop” when brought inside. Her husband led an earlier fight against Richard Herr’s proposal to open up a gravel mine in the area. He died recently from lung disease.
Another neighbor whose property abuts the field told the crowd that she was diagnosed with 4th stage ovarian cancer three years ago, just after the massive over-application of sewage was detected. She and her husband moved to their property 16 years ago. She said she wasn’t going to say anything, but when Stair kept saying that this was a three-year-old case, she felt compelled to say something since the date corresponded to her diagnosis.
Stair claimed that Herr Environmental was one of only a handful of sewage waste haulers who have been given “high use” designation by the DNR for the fields on which they are spreading human excrement. David Bolha of the DNR confirmed this, explaining that, “High Use designation allows a septage waste hauler to land apply septage at a rate up to the needs of the crop planted.” That is, they are only allowed to apply sewage containing the amount of nitrogen that the plants can take up as nutrients. Excess nitrogen not taken up by the plants can convert to nitrates that may leech into the groundwater.
For most crops on most soils, the rate of nitrogen uptake is 100 lbs of nitrogen per acre. For the field corn that was to be planted on the fields spread by Herr, the maximum rate is 180 lbs per acre. In order to receive this “high use” designation by the DNR, Herr Environmental had to conduct a third party site evaluation including additional soil tests and seek approval from the DNR.
They were granted High Use approval after the 2009 citations, but once again ran afoul of the permit in 2010 when they were found to have spread sewage at the rate of 204 lbs. per acre. The designation was removed in April 2011 but reinstated in September after another site evaluation was conducted.
Todd Stair complained that the media focus on Herr Environmental’s ongoing violations of DNR permit requirements is politically motivated. When pushed about what he was talking about, Stair said that the timing of this report being released, “one month before the recall” was suspicious to him.
But the fact is, despite the “I Stand With Walker” sign in front of Herr Environmental’s property and the direct ties of campaign donations and professional association between Richard Herr and Todd Stair on the one hand, and politicians Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch, Joel Kleefisch, and top DNR administrators Cathy Stepp, Matt Moroney and Scott Gunderson on the other, nobody in the room was talking about the recalls. They were there to talk about the threats to the health and safety of their families and neighbors by the reckless spreading of sewage by Herr.
If any political motivations are present, they are those of Herr Environmental and its political allies in the DNR. Concord residents are simply asking that the law be applied in defense of public health and safety. The collusion between Richard Herr and his high-placed supporters to suppress information and reject the recommendations of DNR scientists for stronger enforcement of legal and permit requirements is about as politically-motivated as you can get.
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Video 1 (below): Rep. Brett Hulsey explains to Concord Board Chairman Bill Ingersoll that the well test he recommended to Concord residents does not test for many sewage based pathogens that can hurt or kill people.
Video 2 (below): Kimberlee Wright of Midwest Environmental Advocates tells the Concord Town Board how field scientists with the DNR wanted the Herr Environmental case to go to the Department of Justice, particularly to have the wells tested, but were overruled by political appointees in the secretary’s office of the DNR.
Video 3 (below): Todd Stair, Vice President of Herr Environmental, tells a Concord resident he is mistaken when he says he has seen a tractor spreading continuously in fields for the last seven years.
Video 4 (below): Todd Stair asserts the article exposing Herr Environmental’s infractions was politically motivated. He discusses the volumes of paperwork involved in the case.
Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative 
Herr Environmental must be held fully accountable for ALL of their violations. If Walker allies get off with minimal fines, then the floodgates will open for environmental infractions all over the state. Nobody should get a pass for knowingly destroying the environment and putting public health at risk.
I wonder about another section of 12/18 between Fort and Cambridge. There are Herr trucks pumping waste all of the time into those fields.
What? I’m suppose to recall Walker for this? Tom Barrett allows billions of gallon of raw poop in Lake Michigan…..oh, but thats ok, cause he is a democrat. You guys wanting to recall Walker, GET A LIFE!! Quit trying to steal my vote. We finally have a leader looking out for the taxpayers. When Walker wins, are we going to keep recalling him til your side wins? Quit being such sore loosers. I pay enough in taxes for a bunch of spoiled teachers and uninformed people who listen to NPR. I STAND WITH WALKER TOO!!!!
besides that, Gov Doyle has always allowed poop to be spread in farmers field. Why didn’t you recall him for that?
I STAND WITH WALKER!!!!!!!!
duck duck goose wasn’t paying very close attention. Herr is in trouble for spreading THREE TIMES the allowable limit on fields, then cooking the books to lie about it.
Sewage contains not only chemical contaminants like nitrates, it also contains human pathogens, as well. These are living, disease causing organisms like bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and a host of parasites. Cholera is one of the best known diseases spread this way. Microorganisms in the soil attack and break down these pathogens. If, however, too much sewage is spread, these good bugs are overwhelmed by the bad bugs and the bad stuff finds its way into drinking water wells.
Farmers have been spreading manure for as long as they have been keeping livestock. Sewage can be legally and safely spread. Yes, it is done all the time. Plenty of testing has been done which shows the practice is safe, when performed in accordance with DNR regulations. Those rules are designed to provide a safety margin that protects our drinking water, while making use of the nutrients that sewage provides to the fields.
We know how to do this right. Herr knows how to do this right. He appears to have willfully ignored his responsibility to the community to pursue higher profits. The initial acts of spreading more than the allowed limits may have been the result of a lapse in training, operator error, or simple ignorance of the law. Changing records – cooking the books – is a conscious act.
Standing up for freedom is admirable. Standing up for lawbreakers just to support partisan interests is despicable and unpatriotic.