Groups ask Oregon Legislature for mega-dairy moratorium

A dozen state and national health and environment groups are calling on Oregon leaders and legislators to impose a moratorium on new or expanded mega-dairies.

Poor state oversight has allowed large dairies to pollute the state’s air and water, and forced family-scale dairies out of business, the groups said in a news release Monday.

“Oregon’s inadequate oversight of mega-dairies has become clear over the past two years, since the state ignored red flags and widespread public opposition to authorize operation of Lost Valley Farm, which was permitted to confine 30,000 cows,” the groups wrote.

Since it was approved in April 2017, the dairy, near Boardman, has been cited for more than 200 environmental violations, and fined nearly $200,000.   

The Oregon Department of Agriculture regulates air and water pollution from dairies. It has been trying to shut the dairy down for almost a year, through a civil lawsuit and by moving to revoke the dairy’s wastewater permit, but has been unsuccessful.

“The state’s inadequate handling of the Lost Valley debacle, along with a catastrophic decline in Oregon’s small and mid-sized dairy farms, make it clear that we need a time-out from new or expanded mega-dairies until we have stronger environmental, animal welfare, public health and family farm protections in place," said Ivan Maluski, policy director for Friends of Family Farmers.

ODA officials cannot comment until they have more time to study the letter, spokeswoman Andrea Cantu-Schomus said. 

"We're continuing our enforcement out at Lost Valley Farm," she said. 

More:Troubled Oregon megadairy Lost Valley farm to be shut down and sold

Lost Valley is one of at least five mega-dairies in Morrow County that supply the Tillamook Cheese factory in Boardman. Tillamook officials have not responded to multiple requests for comment over the past eight months. 

All five dairies are in an area designated as having compromised and limited groundwater. State and federal studies have shown that air quality and groundwater quality have been declining in the area.

The amount of manure produced by industrial dairies rivals the amount produced by mid-sized cities. The manure is stored in large, open-air lagoons, then applied on fields as fertilizer.

“Air pollution from the enormous manure lagoons of mega-dairies in the Columbia Plateau harms air quality in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, increasing the smog that mars Gorge scenery, damaging the natural and cultural resources of the Gorge, and harming Gorge communities," said Steve McCoy, staff attorney at Friends of the Columbia Gorge. “These emissions can and should be controlled.”

The groups also expressed concern about the large amount of water required for cows to drink and to clean barns. Lost Valley Farm illegally tapped an endangered aquifer after its application for a water transfer was held up in court.

And they pointed out documented poor treatment of animals at some farms.

“The cows are more often subject to extreme confinement, without access to pasture, and are more likely to be treated like machines instead of living things,” said Rajesh Reddy, a board member for Humane Voters Oregon. “The pictures from Lost Valley Farm, of highly confined cows standing knee-deep in manure, show us where that can lead.”

State law does not allow ODA to consider animal welfare when approving permits for new or expanded dairies.

State Sen. Michael Dembrow, chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, has been leading a work group examining dairy oversight, and has said he likely will introduce legislation on the topic during the 2019 Legislative session.

Dembrow, D-Portland, could not be reached for comment.

Other groups calling for a moratorium on new or expanded mega-dairies are Columbia Riverkeeper, Environment Oregon, Oregon Rural Action, WaterWatch of Oregon, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, Factory Farm Awareness Coalition and Food & Water Watch.

Contact the reporter at tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew