The Vernon County Alliance Concerned for Environmental Safety (ACES) and Crawford Stewardship Project (CSP) are co-sponsoring a Public Meeting, Thursday, March 4, to hear concerns related to the State Livestock Siting Law, ATCP 51, the law established in 2006 to handle siting of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Wisconsin. CAFOs are agricultural facilities with over 1,000 animal units. The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is currently holding listening sessions at four locations around the state to consider changes to the current rules. Because of widespread concern in Vernon County last year over the proposed Petry CAFO and the Roth CAFO in Crawford County, ACES and CSP want to give area citizens who are unable to attend one of the DATCP sessions the opportunity to voice concerns and suggest changes in a public forum.

All comments will be forwarded to DATCP and to the State Legislature. The public meeting will take place from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Wisconsin Technical College, Rm. 115, in Viroqua. Citizens are invited to speak and/or drop off written comment anytime over the two-hour period.

Written comment can be submitted directly to DATCP by March 10 at the following address: Michael Murray, DATCP, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708, michael.murray@wisconsin.gov. To receive a DATCP ATCP 51 comment form, contact Leah Call at 608-634-4261. Concerns of the law can be read on the CSP website, crawfordstewardshipproject.org, or call CSP at 608-735-4277.