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Dairy pollution cleanup rules get sour review
| Thursday, Jun 15 2006 10:25 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jun 15 2006 10:29 PM
Air pollution regulators have shied away from forcing dairies to install expensive and possibly ineffective technologies, such as lagoon covers and indoor pastures.
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Instead, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is allowing dairymen to choose 19 pollution-cutting measures from a menu of 69.
Environmentalists hate Rule 4570, calling it a gift to industry. The air district's governing board passed it unanimously Thursday
"I haven't seen a district rule that suffers so badly, that gives so much away," said Brent Newell, staff attorney with the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment.
The rule applies to all Large Confined Animal Facilities, which include 430 dairies in the San Joaquin Valley, each with more than 1,000 milking cows in addition to a smaller number of beef, cattle, swine and poultry facilities. Cow LCAFs are the largest source of volatile organic compound pollution in California, even more than cars, said George Heinen, supervisor for rule development at the district.
The board heard comments from 56 people over three hours at Thursday's meeting. Many critics wore black shirts with "got asthma?" printed across them. Their appeals ranged from legal to personal and logical to emotional. Some complained that family members had asthma or a respiratory disease and blamed pollution and dairies for the ailments, while others said the menu just requires what is already in practice at most dairies.
"The rule adopted today takes existing practices which contributed to the pollution we face today and makes them law, without requiring dairies to enact best practices that would get us to an actual reduction in emissions," said Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, in a news release. Passed in 2003, Florez's Senate Bill 700 removed agriculture's exception from being permitted or regulated by the air pollution control district.
Supporters, district staff and board members said the rule is based on the best scientific information available. Richard Cotta, chairman of dairy CARES, an organization advocating environmentally and economically feasible policy for dairies, echoed the comments of many supporters.
"The rule will require a lot of work. It reduces emissions and has a solid basis in science," he said. "By adding up the overall effect of the little items, the benefits are greatly multiplied."
The menu includes items like "clean(ing) animal waste from corrals at least four times per year with at least 60 days between cleaning," and "cover(ing) dry animal waste piles outside the pens with a weatherproof covering from October through May." Heinen estimated the rule will reduce the emissions by about 7,600 tons a year, or 28 percent of 27,000 tons. "We would anticipate some operations will go beyond what we're requiring to reduce emissions further," Heinen said.
Newell submitted a 14-page criticism of the rule, saying most dairies won't have to change a thing to comply with it. Only 233 of the 430 dairies aren't in compliance with the rule. Heinen said most of the reductions will come from these facilities once they adopt the additional controls needed to be in compliance. Newell does not think the reduction percentages are accurate and said the board is playing a shell game with the numbers.
"It's the position of our experts the reductions for dairies alone are totally unsubstantiated," he said. "Its just the district coming up with a number out of thin air."