Last fall, serving as keynote speaker at a meeting of the Vernon Economic Development Association, former state Sen. Brian Rude spoke passionately about the direction of the Vernon County economy: “I think you have to start with our incredible natural beauty, whether it be the Great River Road or the hills and valleys inland,” said Rude. “Arguably, that beauty is the most important asset for economic development.”

This fall, serving as external relations director for Dairyland Power, Rude has been at the forefront of plans to literally rip a hole into that natural beauty, as Dairyland begins serving papers to landowners in these very hills about the possibility of appropriating their lands to build an industrial waste landfill.
And as a public utility, Dairyland has the power of eminent domain, meaning they can purchase land regardless of landowner’s desire to sell.

The downsides of chemical landfills needn’t be discussed here; most people know about their notorious history of groundwater pollution and general environmental negatives.

The particulars of Dairyland’s desire to dig are as follows: Due to EPA regulations, Dairyland’s Genoa plant is in need of updating to reduce atmospheric emissions of combustion byproducts; the catch is that while these new measures clean up air emissions, they necessarily create more solid waste.

So, the company began looking for places to dump.

Ironically, the places Dairyland is looking are the exact places Rude romanticized last September.

If you take the river road to Genoa and up Hwy. 56, the beauty of the landscape is inescapable. The potential landfill sites are the epitome of both natural beauty and economic possibility; they are up-and-coming organic farms sitting nestled in Amish country (an ever-expanding tourist draw) and above the streams of Newton and Romance Valleys to which tourist fly-fishers flock annually.

There are multiple possibilities of ways to dispose of this waste, typically known as fly-ash.

In Dairyland’s Landfill Siting Study, the company itself offers alternatives to digging in Vernon County, but quickly dismisses them as “cost prohibitive.”

One of these is estimated by the company to cost a shade more than $3 million more annually than would hauling to a new site near Genoa. While $3 million is a hefty sum to wrap your head around, for a company with Dairyland’s assets it is not truly “cost prohibitive,” just undesirable.

The study makes no mention of whether or not the possibility of subsidization was examined, whether governmental and/or through a slight increase in rates (dispersed among the half-million people Dairyland claims to provide for, the increase would essentially be negligible, and a small price to pay for avoiding landfill digging).

Questioning Dairyland’s practices and principles as a member of the Coulee Region community in this instance is a matter of great urgency. While some may dismiss this as eco-liberalism, it is much more so a stance of pride in — and protection of — the beauty and uniqueness that constitutes our home.

Deserving of further questioning is the moral issue of human displacement as Dairyland seeks to force people off their family farms.

Dairyland has other options to building this landfill but is attempting to adopt the easiest and cheapest measure; it is our responsibility to ensure that they embrace alternatives and are held accountable as our neighbors and community members.

To make your voice heard, contact your state or local representative and comment to Dairyland at genoaoffsite@dairynet.comm.

For more information, visit dontdumponus.org.

Simon Balto was raised in Chaseburg, Wis., and is a graduate of Westby High School; he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in history in Chicago.

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