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October 30, 2015 CapitalPress.com 13 Dairy Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters USGS report may help dairies, attorney says Multi-year study determines how nitrates move in groundwater By DAN WHEAT Capital Press SUNNYSIDE, Wash. — A new U.S. Geological Survey report on groundwater flow in the Yakima Valley may not be all that meaningful because it contains a lot of assumptions and vague conclusions, says an attorney for four dairies that settled a lawsuit last May over nitrate contamination. But the attorney, Brendan Monahan, also says the report could help show dairies were not significant sources of con- tamination. “How and when the aquifer was recharged was a signifi- cant issue of dispute between the experts,” said Monahan, the Yakima attorney repre- senting Cow Palace, George DeRuyter & Son Dairy, Hen- ry Bosma Dairy and Liberty Dairy. “My experts and I will study this report in more de- tail, but it may well provide a basis for demonstrating that the dairies in fact were not significant contributors to the contaminated wells, and in turn a body of data that allows for the early termination of the consent decrees,” Mona- Dan Wheat/Capital Press Liberty Dairy near Sunnyside, Wash., is one of four Yakima Valley dairies involved in a long-running dispute over nitrate levels in the area’s water wells. A new model by the U.S. Geological Survey is aimed at helping agencies understand where the nitrates came from and how fast they move in the groundwater. han said. Matt Bachmann, a USGS hydrologist in Tacoma and author of the report, said as- sumptions have to be made on best understandings in dealing with the complexities of natu- ral systems. He said the study wasn’t designed to blame any- one but to determine where nitrates are coming from and that they are coming from a large area that includes the dairies. Individual consent decrees were reached between the four dairies and the U.S. En- vironmental Protection Agen- cy, Community Association for Restoration of the Envi- ronment and the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety. The decrees averted a U.S. district court trial and came after the court ruled Cow Palace was contaminating ground water. Most of the set- tlement duplicated voluntary commitments the dairies had already made to the EPA, Mo- nahan said. The decrees only involve the four dairies. They pre- clude litigation from EPA, CARE and the Center for Food Safety, but not from well owners. Other dairies in the area are not protected by the decrees. In 2012, the EPA conclud- ed the dairies likely were sig- nificant contributors to high nitrate levels in the ground- water. In 2013, the dairies entered into an Agreed Order on Consent — called an AOC — with the EPA. They agreed to install 20 groundwater monitoring wells, provide reverse osmosis water filter systems to residences with contaminated water, line ma- nure lagoons and implement stringent protocols ensuring manure application to fields is limited to nutrient needs. Under the consent decrees, the dairies agreed to install 14 more monitoring wells, ex- pand to scope of mitigation to 2.5 miles from the dairies and give residents experienc- ing 10 parts per million con- tamination a choice between bottled water and reverse os- mosis filters provided by the dairies. Residents with greater than 60 ppm get both. The maximum allowable nitrate level in drinking water is 10 ppm, according to the EPA’s website. Nitrates are converted into nitrites in the body. An excess of nitrites can damage the health of young infants. In 2010, EPA collected wa- ter samples and identified 121 locations with nitrate contam- ination. USGS created a comput- er simulation of groundwater flow in the 6,200-square-mile Yakima River Basin based on a groundwater model it pro- duced in cooperation with the EPA over 12 years. Using a particle tracking tool analysis, USGS said its model shows high nitrate ap- plication rates are most likely to contaminate drinking water wells between the source area and the Yakima River. The model also showed that water in the contaminat- ed wells typically comes from areas farther away from the Yakima River than the well location, with shallow wells drawing more recent water from nearby areas and deep- er wells drawing older water from farther away, USGS said in a news release. Most of the wells in the simulation re- ceived their water from aqui- fer recharge that took place less than three miles away and less than 10 years ago, USGS said. A 2012 EPA analysis in- dicated that about 95 percent of the nitrogen applied to the land in the Lower Yakima Valley is from agriculture, and more than half of that is from dairies. The USGS model pre- dicts that, in most cases, any reduction of nitrogen applica- tion rates at aquifer recharge locations should result in re- duced nitrate concentrations in the drinking water wells within 2 to 10 years. Dairy markets remain Dairy industry urges Senate action on COOL mixed for week By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press By LEE MIELKE For the Capital Press C ME Cheddar blocks closed Friday at $1.6125 per pound, down 5 1/4-cents on the week and 52 3/4-cents below a year ago. The barrels finished at $1.55, down 9 cents on the week, 37 1/4-cents below a year ago, and 6 1/4 cents be- low the blocks. Six cars of block traded last week at the CME and 24 of barrel. The blocks inched up three-quarters on Monday and were unchanged Tues- day, holding at $1.62 per pound. The barrels were up a quarter-cent Monday and dropped 3 cents Tuesday, slipping to $1.5225, which pushed the spread to a larger than normal 9 3/4-cents. Spot butter fell to $2.42 last Wednesday but rallied Thursday and closed Fri- day at $2.47 per pound, up 2 cents on the week and 66 cents above a year ago when it dropped 19 cents to $1.81. Eighteen cars traded hands last week at the CME. Unfilled bids took the Double A spot butter up a penny on Monday and added a nickel on Tuesday, hitting $2.53 per pound. Dairy Markets Lee Mielke Butter is “rebelling against conventional wis- dom that prices must fall seasonally,” says FC Stone’s Dave Kurzawski in his Oct. 20 Early Morning Update, but he credits America’s “fat demand renaissance” for the strength. Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk closed last week at 84 1/2-cents per pound, down 4 1/2-cents and 45 1/4-cents below a year ago. Twen- ty-eight loads were traded at the CME last week. The spot powder was un- changed Monday and Tues- day. Plenty in the fridge Cheese and butter stocks are well above year-ago lev- els, according to USDA’s latest Cold Storage report. The Sept. 30 butter inven- tory stood at 187.5 million pounds, down a healthy 24.7 million pounds or 12 per- cent from August 2015, but is 35.1 million pounds or 23 percent above September 2014. It’s the largest month- ly butter inventory since March 2015. Organizations representing the dairy industry are asking the U.S. Senate to resolve the long-running trade dispute with Canada and Mexico over country-of-origin labeling be- fore those countries impose retaliatory tariffs. In May the World Trade Organization found that US- DA’s 2013 amendment to its original 2009 COOL rule vi- olates trade rules by discrimi- nating against imported cattle and hogs from Canada and Mexico. The WTO will soon rule on the authorized amount of retaliatory tariffs. In a letter to members of the Senate, National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Dairy Export Council and International Dairy Foods As- sociation urged lawmakers to immediately pass legislation to bring the U.S. into com- pliance with its WTO obliga- tions. The concern is the grow- ing risk to U.S. dairy exports to Canada and Mexico, said Shawna Morris, vice presi- dent of trade policy for the Export Council. In 2013, Canada released a list of U.S. products it might target with retaliatory mea- sures, and it included dairy products, she said. She said access for U.S. dairy products to Canadian markets is already difficult with extremely high tariffs on major dairy lines. Additional tariffs would be adding insult to injury, she said. Canada could also retal- iate through U.S. exports of less traditional dairy products, such as ultra filtered milk, which have lower or nonexis- tent tariffs and represent a sig- nificant portion of U.S. dairy access to Canada, she said. Mexico hasn’t released a list of potential targets, but it’s the top market for U.S. dairy exports, and any risk there brings a high level of concern, she said. The dairy industry wants 8826789-rop-P3678-FarmersEndHunger - Page 1 - Composite Farmers Ending Hunger ... Begins With You! Help End Hunger in Oregon... one acre at a time! Farmers Ending Hunger begins with Oregon farmers and ranchers who raise hundreds of acres of produce, grain and cattle. With a little extra effort, each farmer donates an acre or two to feed the hungry and suddenly our network has thousands of tons of fresh food! No new cases of illness linked to dairy’s raw milk By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Reported cases of illness- es likely related to raw, un- pasteurized milk from a Kuna dairy are holding at 12, and the outbreak appears to be over, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. “Luckily it did not turn into a very large outbreak at all,” Leslie Tengelsen, state public health veterinarian with the department, told Capital Press on Tuesday morning. No new illnesses have been reported in the last week to week and a half, she said. The department reported an investigation into eight cases in Canyon and Ada counties on Oct. 20 and re- ceived four additional self-re- ported cases following media coverage, which is common, Tengelsen said. Those additional reports were from people who had become ill after consuming raw milk from Natural Farm Fresh Dairy in the same time period (early October) as the earlier cases but did not seek medical attention, she said. Milk samples taken from the dairy as part of the inves- tigation tested negative for E.coli and Campylobacter, which were the sources of illness in the original eight reported cases, she said. The dairy “is being very cooperative and reviewing all of their processes,” she said. All of the follow-up prod- uct testing and water testing have been negative for the pathogens, Scott Leibsle, Ida- ho State Department of Agri- culture deputy state veterinar- ian, said Tuseday. ISDA performed a facility inspection at the dairy Tues- day morning. The dairy only bottles once a week and had suspended operations follow- ing the report of illnesses, he said. The inspection went well, with the facility passing all criteria. The dairy is back distributing as of Tuesday, he said. “They have met all re- quirements and have done ev- erything we asked and more,” doing due diligence trying to find the source, he said. Health and Welfare put out a press release last week regarding the investigation of four Campylobacter and four E.coli 0157:H7 cases involving people who drank raw milk produced by Natural Farm Fresh Dairy. The depart- ment advised anyone who had recently purchased raw milk from the dairy to discard it. The investigation was be- ing conducted by Southwest and Central District Health departments, working in asso- ciation with the ISDA. The Health Department can’t disclose personal medi- cal information, but the cases involved mostly adults and no young babies, Tengelsen told Capital Press at the time. Two of those affected were hospitalized and were recov- ering, she said. the Senate to take steps to comply with WTO obliga- tions before tariffs are put on products and the U.S. is forced into a reactionary posi- tion, she said. In June, the House passed legislation to repeal COOL re- quirements for beef, pork and chicken products. Farmers Ending Hunger Needs ... Fresh Vegetables, Potatoes, Wheat, and Cattle. • Farmers Ending Hunger donated over SIX MILLION POUNDS of food crops to Oregon Food Bank since 2006! • More than 240,000 people per month eat meals from emergency food boxes. • 33 percent of those who receive emergency food boxes are children. Visit www.farmersendinghunger.com to meet our generous farmers and partners, and find out what crops and services they are donating. Where your donation goes: Donated produce, grain and cattle is processed into canned (and fresh) vegetables, pancake mix and ground beef and donated to the Oregon Food Bank and their network of 20 regional food banks throughout Oregon and Clark County, WA. Please Donate Today: Contact John Burt , Ending Hunger burtjgb@aol.com 503-931-9232 Executive Director, Farmers farmersendinghunger.com Like us on Facebook
