Dairyland Power Cooperative has proposed three possible sites for an ash landfill — two in the town of Harmony and one on Asbury Ridge.

The Asbury Ridge site is the one that, until now, has been referred to as the site next to the landfill, or the landfill site. This association with a pre-existing landfill along with claims of minimizing farmland lost and displacing no families has painted a tidy picture of a promising site. The reality of what Dairyland is proposing for this site, however, is far from tidy and its effect on the area deserves further consideration.

The image created has been that this ash would sit among or just beyond the other piles of rubbish and recyclables visible as County LF gives way to Asbury Road. Precious little has been said to clarify that this would be a separate landfill and not an extension of, or an addition to, the existing one. Sure, the land owned by the two would adjoin, but the county landfill entrance and Dairyland’s proposed site are a mile apart.

The site itself is 55 acres of productive farmland just west of the county landfill. Because the existing landfill provides the buffer zone, it has been said this is all Dairyland will need. Will there be a buffer only on one side? Asbury Ridge residents have pressed this issue and been told by Dairyland officials in fact some 300 additional acres to the west would have to be acquired. This would displace farms and families.

Beyond farms lost and lives disrupted, imagine a 600-acre stretch with two landfills. What would this look like now and what would its creation mean to our future? Alliant Energy has already turned its eyes this way in search of a destination for its coal ash. And this is just three miles from our county seat on a porous ridge directly above the Seas Branch of the beloved Kickapoo River.

It is understood that one of the reasons Dairyland added the Asbury Ridge site was because of resistance in the town of Harmony. There is resistance at Asbury Ridge as well. No site is a good site, Dairyland. Take the high road and be part of a solution.

Kelsey Sauber Olds

Viroqua

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