October 30, 2015
CapitalPress.com
13
Dairy
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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
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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.
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