ROSENDALE — An environmental group is accusing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources of failing to comply with environmental safeguards in issuing permits to Rosendale Dairy.

Members of People Empowered Protect the Land (PEPL) of Rosendale have filed a petition with the DNR seeking review of the Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit issued recently to Rosendale Dairy, a new industrial livestock facility in Fond du Lac County that plans to become Wisconsin's largest dairy.

Owner Jim Ostrom said the environmental community, including PEPL, asked the DNR to conduct an extensive environmental impact study, which preceded issuance of the wastewater discharge permit.

"The result was the most scrutinized, permitted and reviewed farm in our state's history," Ostrom said. "And after that very elaborate and extensive review, the DNR issued permits."

According to a press release from PEPL, the petition requests that the DNR make changes necessary to ensure what the group believes would be full compliance with the Clean Water Act and state law for the protection of the region's surface and groundwater.

DNR officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

"At the end of a hasty process that ultimately leaves citizens living a Russian roulette, wondering not if, but when, pollution will begin, DNR issued their flawed permit," said PEPL member Elaine Swanson, who lives on a 50-acre wildlife sanctuary one mile from Rosendale Dairy. "Prevention — not clean-up — is the sane and reasonable approach we request."

The petition alleges that the DNR failed to comply with legal requirements to prevent the degradation of surface waters and to ensure that waters combining with Rosendale Dairy discharge will meet applicable standards for acceptable levels of pollution, known as "water quality standards."

The petition also asserts that the DNR improperly approved Rosendale Dairy's nutrient management plan because that plan does not go far enough to identify underground tile lines that can transport pollution to the surface and groundwater or to prevent the contamination of the area's shallow groundwater reserves.

"The presence of old underground tile lines poses an enormous threat of carrying manure to our marshes, wetlands and private wells," said another PEPL member, Timothy Thiel, a Rosendale landowner and neighbor to the dairy.

Ostrom said the 3,800-cow herd is doing very well in the new facility, and all manure is contained in large concrete tanks that hold up to a year's worth of waste. The annual spreading will take place in late summer or fall. The waste would be applied to approximately 100,000 acres of cropland.

"The key point is the crops need natural, organic fertilizer. We do not over-apply," he said.

The milk produced is sold to a co-op that processes milk in Appleton and cheese in Chilton, Ostrom said.

"We are extremely committed to protecting the environment," Ostrom said.

PEPL, represented by Midwest Environmental Advocates, an environmental law center, says Rosendale Dairy will produce over 90 million gallons of manure and wastewater annually without a wastewater treatment process. PEPL contends that Rosendale Dairy plans to spread the waste on nearby fields, threatening waters that are already polluted with nutrients and sediment.