MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – State officials have been told they can’t impose monitoring requirements as a condition on high-capacity wells at an Adams County factory farm.
The ruling came down from Outagamie County Judge Mark McGinnis, who decided the case of New Chester Dairy in an oral ruling Thursday.
The dairy asked the Department of Natural Resources for permission to construct two high-capacity wells in 2012.
The DNR agreed to issue the permit, if the dairy dug three other wells to monitor and collect data on the other wells’ effects on groundwater.
New Chester has challenged those conditions.
The judge found that under a 2011 law, state agencies can’t impose permit or license conditions unless those conditions are explicitly permitted by statute or rule.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
