Baldwin CAFO assessed $86,000 in wastewater forfeitures

A St. Croix County dairy farm has been ordered to pay $86,000 for damages resulting from manure flowing into a waterway in 2017.

Attorney General Josh Kaul says Jon-De Capital, Inc. of Baldwin, Wis., was fined for allegedly allowing one of its manure storage facilities to overflow in September 2017 causing it to flow into a tributary of the Rush River. Kaul also notes that Jan-De Capital failed to install permanent markers in its waste storage facilities in 2017; constructed a facility without approval from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in 2017; and stored manure in unapproved locations and facilities in 2017 and 2020.

“CAFOs face significant fines when they fail to stop our water from being contaminated by manure,” said Attorney General Kaul. 

After the May 2020 discharge, Jon-De Capital agreed to construct a new barn to prevent similar discharges in the future, and the DNR included that requirement in the Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit reissued to the CAFO in 2021.

The agreement was approved by the St. Croix County Circuit Court.