A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks to mow down city and county ordinances banning the use of lawn fertilizers containing phosphorus.
According to the lawsuit, advocates of the phosphorus ban admit that lawns are only a minor source of phosphorus runoff into lakes. The suit refers to research by the UW- Madison’s O.J. Noer Turfgrass Research Center which asserts that poorly kept, unfertilized lawns contribute 40 percent more phosphorus to runoff than well-maintained, fertilized lawns.