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The plaintiffs argue the bans, which took effect Jan. 1, put area retailers at a disadvantage and will do little to clean up area lakes. “The City of Madison and Dane County believe that their ordinances will help alleviate the algae problem,” Jim Skillen, manager of formulator issues for RISE, said. “It is truly ironic that not only are they breaking federal and state law by instituting these bans, but by removing inorganic, phosphorus-based fertilizers from the marketplace, they will increase the phosphorus load in local lakes over the long term.”
According to research from the University of Wisconsin Turfgrass Research Center, healthy, dense grass fertilized with phosphorus improves turf better than fertilizer without phosphorus and thus, limits runoff to almost nothing. Unfertilized turf can contribute 40 percent more phosphorus in runoff.
“We made every effort to avoid the lawsuit, but our efforts were rejected,”noted Allen James, president of RISE. “We believe we have a strong case and will prevail on the basis of scientific fact and the strength of the law.”
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