January 27, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Washington Ecology shakes up dairy regulation
Environmentalists
slam rules
as milquetoast
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
New rules issued by the
Washington
Department
of Ecology on Jan. 18 will
change the regulatory land-
scape for the state’s 230 dair-
ies with more than 200 cows.
Embracing the rules may
shield dairies from govern-
ment fines or lawsuits by en-
vironmental groups, but will
mean taking on new obliga-
tions with uncertain costs.
“Every farmer will look
at this very differently,” said
dairyman Jay Gordon, poli-
cy director for the Washing-
ton State Dairy Federation.
“Some will sleep better
at night knowing they won’t
get sued, or at least are less
likely to get sued,” he said.
“Others will say, ‘Why do
I need this?’ It means more
regulations, more paperwork
and more burdens. We’re
very concerned about that.”
The rules, codified in a
revised permit for concen-
trated animal feeding opera-
tions, were years in the mak-
ing and are meant to keep
nitrates out of groundwater
and fecal coliform out of
surface water.
They are in addition to
the state’s 19-year-old Dairy
Nutrient Management Act,
which has the identical goal.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Dairy cows stand in a barn in Whatcom County, Wash. The state Department of Ecology announced
new rules Jan. 18 for how dairies can store and spread manure.
While all dairies must
follow the nutrient act, only
a few have had CAFO per-
mits. Environmental groups
hoped a revised permit would
be a vehicle to force dairies
to line manure lagoons with
synthetic material and install
wells to monitor groundwa-
ter, steps the department was
unwilling to take.
“Ecology was present-
ed with an unprecedented
opportunity to protect the
environment and public
health,” Andrea Rodgers of
the Western Environmental
Law Center said in a written
statement. “It is outrageous
that Ecology has given per-
mission for industrial agri-
cultural facilities to dump
pollution into our drinking
water.”
Dairies will need a CAFO
permit if they discharge
pollutants into surface wa-
ter or groundwater. Ecology
holds that manure seeps from
lagoons and almost certain-
ly reaches groundwater. If a
dairy has lagoons and more
than 200 cows, “they should
be applying,” Ecology wa-
ter quality manager Heather
Bartlett said.
Ecology will work with
Washington State Department
of Agriculture inspectors to
identify dairies that don’t
have permits, but should, she
said.
A dairy without a CAFO
permit may receive a warning
and could eventually be fined.
Penalties could be appealed.
“Ultimately, Ecology has the
burden of proof,” Bartlett
said.
WSDA has been in the
background in developing the
rules, but will now play a role
in enforcing them. “Hopeful-
ly, we can make this as seam-
less as possible for the dairy
industry,” WSDA Deputy Di-
rector Kirk Robinson said.
Here are more details
about the CAFO permit:
• Ecology exempted the
147 dairies with fewer than
200 cows because of the cost.
• The annual permit fee
will depend on dairy size.
A dairy with 200 to 400 ani-
mal-units will pay $592 the
first year. A dairy with more
than 800 animal-units will pay
$2,373. Fees are scheduled to
rise next year by 5 percent. An
animal unit is a cow that’s ap-
proximately 1,000 pounds.
• Dairies will have to test
fields before planting and af-
ter harvesting crops. Before,
dairies were required to only
test post-harvest. Washington
diaries will have to analyze
soils two to fives times more
often than Idaho dairies, ac-
cording to Ecology. Addition-
al testing will cost between
$3,150 to $9,250 per dairy
over five years, Ecology esti-
mates.
• Ecology estimates a
one-time WSDA assessment
will cost $460 per lagoon.
Lagoons that score low by
USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service stan-
dards will need to be repaired.
Repairs could cost hundreds
of dollars or hundreds of
thousands of dollars, accord-
ing to Ecology. Previously,
Ecology had proposed requir-
ing assessments by engineers,
which the department esti-
mated would cost $7,400 per
lagoon.
• Ecology will offer two
versions of the permit, a con-
cession to the dairy industry
and opposed by environmen-
tal groups. One permit will
be for dairies that discharge
pollutants into groundwater
and surface water. Because
the federal Clean Water Act
covers surface water, environ-
mental groups unhappy with
Ecology’s enforcement could
sue dairies that have this per-
mit. The other permit will reg-
ulate groundwater discharges
and wouldn’t be subject to en-
forcement through third-party
lawsuits.
• Dairies have WSDA-ap-
proved “nutrient management
plans.” Under Ecology, dair-
ies also must have “manure
pollution prevention plans.”
The plans will be similar and
adding a second one might
cost nothing, according to
Ecology. The department es-
timated writing a plan from
scratch will cost $9,800.
• Dairies already must
keep records to show WSDA
that they are not spreading
too much manure. Ecology
says additional record-keep-
ing costs should be minimal
and did not make a dollar es-
timate.
• Although dairies were the
focus as Ecology developed
the rules, the CAFO permit
could apply to other livestock
operations. By exempting
small dairies, Ecology has
excluded other producers as
well. For poultry, a farm with
fewer than 37,500 laying hens
would be exempt.
Calif.’s State Water Project increases allocation to 60 percent
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO
—
Amid what’s shaping up to
be one of California’s wet-
test winters on record, the
State Water Project on Jan.
18 upped its anticipated de-
liveries to at least 60 per-
cent of requested supplies.
The boost from 45 per-
cent is the Department of
Water Resources’ second
allocation increase in less
than a month, and it comes
as many of its gauges in the
Central Valley have record-
ed twice the normal rainfall
for this time of year.
Still, department spokes-
man Doug Carlson said it’s
too soon to know whether
the project’s 29 contracting
agencies will get their full
allocations for the first time
since 2006.
“We still have a ways to
go,” he said. “The winter
could turn off the spigot
as quickly as it turned on.
We’ll just have to contin-
ue to monitor and assess
whether this is a good, wet
year.”
It has been so far, he
said. In fact, precipitation
totals at more than a dozen
California Data Exchange
Center stations from the
northern Sierra Nevada to
the San Joaquin Valley are
trending higher than at this
point in 1982-82, the state’s
wettest year on record.
“That just jumps off the
page at you,” Carlson said.
The latest allocation in-
crease follows the DWR’s
announcement on Dec. 21
it would deliver at least 45
percent of requested deliv-
eries, up from its 20 percent
initial allocation in late No-
vember.
Under the current allo-
cation, SWP contractors
would receive more than 2.5
Grass
Expertise.
million acre-feet of the 4.17
million acre-feet they col-
lectively sought. An acre-
foot is enough water to sup-
ply two typical households
for a year.
Reservoirs have risen to
the point that water officials
have had to make releas-
es to make room for more
storms and spring runoff,
raising levels of the Sacra-
mento River and other riv-
ers to near their banks.
As of Jan. 24, Lake Or-
oville, the SWP’s principal
reservoir, was holding 81
percent of its capacity and
126 percent of its historical
average for the date. Shas-
ta Lake, the federal Central
Valley Project’s largest res-
ervoir, was at 81 percent of
capacity and 123 percent of
normal for the date.
California’s snow water
content statewide was 160
percent of normal on Jan.
24 and 225 percent of nor-
mal in the southern Sierra,
according to the DWR.
The latest allocation
means that contractors will
likely get at least as much
water as they did last season,
when a 60 percent final al-
location was given. Contrac-
tors received 65 percent in
2012 and 80 percent in 2011.
Water officials say a 100
percent allocation is diffi-
cult to achieve even in wet
years because of Sacramen-
to-San Joaquin River Delta
pumping restrictions to pro-
tect imperiled fish.
The U.S. Bureau of Rec-
lamation typically makes
its first allocation of CVP
water in mid-February,
though last season’s was on
April 1.
Over 40 Years
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