Oregon Farmers Applaud the Denied Vote to Regulate Dairy Air Pollution
The Oregon Dairy Farmers Association (ODFA) is applauding the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Environment Quality Commissions denied votes regarding a petition to regulate air pollution from large dairies in Oregon.
ODFA’s executive director, Tami Kerri, says she is proud of the continual investments and improvements Oregon’s dairy farmers have made in their best management practices.
“Contrary to comments in the petition, our producers prioritize the care of their animals and the environment their employees and family members work in,” Kerr says.
A group of 22 advocacy groups believes that large dairies, particularly in the Columbia Gorge area, located on the eastern side of the state, are the main driver in the source of ammonia emissions.
The mission of the petition would apply to dairies with more than 700 mature cows, which DEQ estimated to be around 20% of the state’s dairies. In addition, new dairies and dairies that expand would also have needed to obtain an air quality permit.
Altogether, nineteen lawmakers from both parties from the House and Senate opposed to the petition and wrote, “Oregon’s dairy farms are critically important, not only to many of our legislative districts but also to the state, providing $9.73 billion in total economic impact amounting to 3.8% of Oregon’s GDP.”
"It is nice to have support of prominent House and Senate D’s. So bicameral and bipartisan," Kerr adds.
Fifteen years ago, in 2007, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill to allow state agencies to regulate air pollution from agricultural operations and created a special task force devoted to dairy emissions. In 2008, the task force recommended an air quality permit program, like the one proposed by petitioners that was rejected last week, but it was never funded.
Bobbi Frost, who alongside family, owns and operates a dairy in Creswell and also serves as ODFA Board Vice President, says she was satisfied to see that the Environmental Quality Commission followed the DEQ's recommendation and denied the Dairy Air Emissions Regulatory petition.
“The petition was extremely misleading and contained no baseline scientific evidence to support their claims,” she says. “Too often, dairy is the target of these kinds of deceptive and ambiguous regulatory pressures. This petition was another great example of an attempt to create complicated bureaucratic solutions to non-existent problems. Animal care and environmental quality are the bedrock of what we do, not just for my family but for all the other Oregon Dairy families just like us."
