Madison, Wisc.-Agriculture interests are applauding the decision by Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle that the state will not pursue court action against a Sawyer County cranberry grower for discharging phosphorus into the waterways. “To say that we are very pleased by this would be an understatement,” declared Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation President Bill Bruins. “We are ecstatic, and we want to whole-heartedly thank Governor Doyle for not pursuing this case any further.” Doyle’s office announced that the state would not appeal a district court of appeals ruling that while the grower was releasing the phosphorus, the action did not constitute a public nuisance. The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by former Atty. Gen. Peg Lautenschlager to compel William Zawistowski to stop releasing the phosphorus, to restore the bay, and to pay damages to nearby landowners. Zawistowski, who owns two cranberry marshes on the bay, withdraws water from the lake to flood the cranberry beds and then returns the water, containing phosphorus, when the beds are drained. “The appeals court decision affirming a trial court’s ruling in favor of the Wisconsin cranberry grower was great news for Wisconsin’s $51 billion agriculture industry,” said Bruins, a dairy farmer from rural Waupun. “To learn that the state will no longer pursue any further appeals builds upon that great news, and allows all of us in the farming community to breathe easier. The ruling gave confidence that our state’s Right to Farm law still affords agricultural producers protection from nuisance lawsuits, and that farming is still welcome in Wisconsin.” According to press reports, the appeals court agreed Musky Bay was changing as a result of the phosphorus, but said the state failed to prove the change resulted in significant interference with recreation or the bay’s ecology. Judge Gregory Peterson wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel that the state produced no evidence showing how many days the public could not use the lake and what part of the bay was inaccessible.
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