Your WCA Legislature - Wisconsin Cattlemen's Association

Gov. Doyle Lifts Road Weight Limits to Give Farmers More Time to Harvest Crops
Contact: Donna Gilson 608-224-5130

MADISON -- Wisconsin’s wet autumn has led Gov. Jim Doyle to issue an executive order allowing farmers to haul overweight loads on most roads to get their crops to storage or processing.

The order will last through the end of December, except for the Christmas holidays, Dec. 24-27, and exempts vehicles from weight restrictions if they are carrying corn, potatoes, cranberries and soybeans to storage or processing. These loads can exceed weight limits by 15 percent. Farmers must meet all other vehicle requirements for size, operation and driver qualifications, and cannot travel on roadways with special weight restrictions or on most interstates. The only portion of the interstate system included in the exemption is I-39 between Hwy. 51 and I-90/94 in northern Dane and southern Columbia counties.

“Unseasonably cool and damp weather has resulted in significantly above-average crop moisture in the state’s soybean and corn crops, and it will take through December for the crops to be harvested,” the Governor’s order reads in part, and says the order is necessary “to avoid a disastrous loss of the 2009 harvest.”

Normally, virtually all of the state’s soybean crop and nearly 90 percent of the corn crop is harvested by this time. But a cool summer delayed development, and by the time crops were ready for harvest, the wet fall had set in, keeping farmers out of the fields. As of Monday, Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service was reporting that only 59 percent of the corn crop was in, and 94 percent of the soybeans. To make matters worse, the wet fall means a higher-than-normal moisture content for crops, so the loaded vehicles carrying the harvest are heavier than usual.

Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen asked the Governor for the exemption at the request of a coalition including the Wisconsin Agri-Service Association, the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau.

Since 2005, Wisconsin law has granted an automatic exemption to roadway weight limits from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 for vehicles carrying harvested crops. “The Legislature could not have anticipated the extreme conditions of 2009 that create the need for higher weight limits to transport the harvest beyond Nov. 30 through the end of the year,” Nilsestuen said in his letter to the Governor.

LEGISLATIVE ALERT!!

EPCRA REPORTING REQUIREMENTS IN EFFECT FOR LARGE FEEDING OPERATIONS—JANUARY 20, 2009 INITIAL REPORTING REQUIRMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Last month, the EPA determined that all large CAFOs, including operations with more than 1,000 cattle must notify state and local emergency response officials about ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions from their operations if they emit 100 pounds or more of these substances during any 24 hour period. This requirement was issued under the EPCRA law (Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986.)

On or before January 20, 2009, any cattle feeding operation with a capacity 1,000 head or more that emits 100 pounds or more of ammonia or hydrogen sulfide during any 24-hour period must report these emissions by a telephone call to state emergency response committee (SERC) and your local emergency planning committee (LEPC).

A written report must be submitted within 30 days after the telephone call was made.

Smaller AFOs and ranching operations are not required to submit notifications.

Complete Summary

Feedyard EPCRA Report

EPCRA Fact Sheet

Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Legislative Committee
The Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association Legislative Committee evaluates local, state and federal public policy proposals and changes in order to identify issues that will impact Wisconsin Cattlemen Association members and in order to advise the WCA with regard to action needed on a public policy issue.

WCA Legislative Committee Members
Chairman: Terry Quam - email: marda@verizon.net
Byron Freeman
Hank Handzel
Dick Hauser
Richard Klossner
Erick Koens
Steve Springer
Gregg May
Jordan Lamb - DeWitt Ross & Stevens - email: jkl@dewittross.com

2008 Elections: Legislature's Understanding of Agriculture, at risk in 2009

Wisconsin’s agriculture industry is facing significant changes in the Wisconsin Legislature in 2009. Over the past few months, agriculture has lost approximately twenty percent of its reliable and consistent state legislative voting bloc due to legislative retirements. This is an alarmingly high number of losses. As a result, we urge WCA members to take extraordinary efforts to help elect pro-agriculture candidates in November.

How can you help protect Wisconsin's Cattle Industry?

Make a financial contribution. The members of the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association have a long history of support for pro-agriculture candidates for public office. In 2008, the Cattlemen’s Association members need to provide even greater financial support to assist pro-cattle candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, get elected. Elections are expensive and your contributions do make a difference. If a financial contribution is not an option for you, then consider placing a sign in your yard or field as a way to show support to a candidate’s efforts to win an election and as a way to increase his or her name recognition in your area.

Meet your legislators and candidates for elective office. WCA strongly encourages its members to take the time to meet their elected senators and representatives and, at this time of year, those running for elective office in your district. Your legislators will both appreciate your interest in their candidacy and appreciate any knowledge and insight that you can provide to them about your business, its successes and its obstacles. Getting to know those who represent you is the best way for them to gain an understanding of the issues that are important to you.

PREVIEW OF ISSUES COMING IN THE 2009 SESSION:
The following issues will likely appear during the next legislative session:

Revisions to NR 151’s Runoff Management Performance Standards. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is currently revising the agricultural performance standards for runoff management. According to the DNR’s scope statement, the revised rule will “develop an agricultural buffer or equivalent performance standard and a performance standard to address manure runoff from smaller, non-permitted farms.” The revision of these performance standards will also require the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to revise Wisconsin Administrative Rule, ATCP 50, which provide the technical requirements for meeting the performance standards that are established under the DNR’s NR 151 rule. It is expected that the DNR will release a draft of the proposed revision late in 2008 or in early 2009. WCA is monitoring the development of the revisions to these administrative rules.

2009 – 2011 Biennial Budget Bill. It is no secret that Wisconsin is facing a very large structural budget deficit that will need to be addressed in the forthcoming budget bill. WCA will monitor the budget negotiations closely to protect the cattle industry from facing new fees and/or taxes that could harm the cattle business.

Uniform Application of Wisconsin Livestock Facility Siting Law. Several Wisconsin Counties, including Vernon and Calumet, have proposed livestock facility siting ordinances that are more stringent than the statewide standards contained in Wisconsin’s Livestock Facility Siting administrative rule, ATCP 51. ATCP 51 does allow counties the ability to enact more stringent siting ordinances for new or expanding livestock operation if those more stringent standards are based on reasonable and scientifically defensible findings of fact, which “clearly show that the standards are needed to protect public health or safety.”. WCA will continue to work to ensure that Wisconsin’s Livestock Facility Siting law continues to be applied uniformly across the State of Wisconsin.

Protecting a Wisconsin’s Farmers Right to Farm. Wisconsin farmers should not be subject to years of drawn-out, unmerited litigation, and forced to incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, to protect their right to lawfully farm. In May of 2008, the WCA, as well as other farm organizations, assisted with the successfully defense against a nuisance suit filed against a Wisconsin farmer who was not in violation of any state law or rule.. The suit, which alleged that the farmer created a nuisance through discharges of phosphorus to a water body, threatened Wisconsin’s Right to Farm Law. WCA will not waiver from its commitment to protect Wisconsin farmers from nuisance lawsuits and its goal of maintaining their right to farm.

WCA Endorsements:

Representative Al Ott – Republican (District 3 - Forest Junction)
Representative Lee Nerison – Republican (District 96 - Westby)
Representative Mary Williams – Republican (District 87 - Medford)
Representative Jeff Mursau – Republican (District 36 - Crivitz)
Representative John Murtha – Republican (District 29 - Baldwin)
Representative Gary Tauchen – Republican (District 6 - Bonduel)
Representative Louis Molepske – Democrat (District 71 - Stevens Point)
Representative Andy Jorgensen – Democrat (District 37 - Fort Atkinson)
Representative Amy Sue Vruwink – Democrat (District 70 - Milladore)
Representative Phil Garthwaite – Democrat (District 49 - Dickeyville)
Senator Julie Lassa – Democrat (District 24 - Stevens Point)
Senator Sheila Harsdorf – Republican (District 10 - River Falls)
Senator Dan Kapanke – Republican (District 32 - La Crosse)
Keith Ripp – Republican (District 47 - Lodi)
Ed Brooks - Republican (District 50 - Reedsburg)
Debi Towns - Republican (District 43 - Janesville)
Nathan Russel – Republican (District 51 - Sauk City)

How To Contact Your Legislators
Contacting your legislators regarding issues that are important to your family and your business can be important in order to inform your representatives about how proposed rules or laws could affect you.

In order to determine who your legislators are, go to the State Legislature’s web page at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/, click on “Who Represents Me?” and enter your voting address information to bring up a list of your representatives. You can use the links from this site to get your representatives’ addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.