Air pressure -- a battle to breathe

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Jim and Linda Dyjak say they are prisoners in their own home east of Moxee because of emissions from a nearby dairy.

"Everything I own is covered with fly specks and dried feces," said Linda Dyjak.

Over the years, the Dyjaks and others who live near the Yakima Valley's 72 dairies and 129,000 cows have complained long and loudly about poor air quality to any regulatory agency that will listen.

Now, the Yakima Regional Clean Air Authority is prepared to take action on those complaints by proposing that dairies better control pollutants like dust, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon-based compounds.

Studies show these pollutants more easily penetrate the respiratory system to affect breathing, and also pose an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

The operator of the dairy near the Dyjaks, Tom DeVries of DeVries Family Farms, said he is already doing much of what the Clean Air Authority's proposal calls for on his 4,800-cow operation.

"We do a lot of these things because I want to keep a good appearance and odors down as much as I can," DeVries said.

But the Dyjaks are anything but optimistic about the Clean Air Authority's plan. They and other longtime dairy critics say the industry has had too heavy a hand in drafting the new policy, and they suspect the authority is acting to head off potentially tougher federal requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The industry counters that the authority's efforts will reaffirm that dairies are already doing a good job in limiting emissions.

The proposed policy, which is available for public comment, was originally scheduled for adoption next month but may now be delayed until early next year.

For its part, the Clean Air Authority maintains the time is right to take action and the board is doing so quickly. For a regulatory proceeding, the process has moved at lightning speed since the initial formation of a joint agency-industry work group earlier this summer.

Authority Executive Director Gary Pruitt said he had encouraged the board 15 years ago to address dairy emissions. But he said there wasn't the political will to regulate agriculture, the primary driver of the Valley's economy.

All that has changed, he said.

"At some point, EPA will come into this area and say we need to be doing something," Pruitt said. "By that time, we want to have something established and be able to demonstrate it is effective."

As it stands now, the proposed policy requires dairies to submit an air-quality management plan to the agency for approval.

The plan will identify the management procedures--often called best practices--the dairy will follow to reduce emissions. The policy lists more than 100 practices covering eight pollutants.

The Clean Air Authority's decision to move head with a local emissions policy comes against the backdrop of a nationwide study, itself the product of a 2006 consent agreement between the EPA and the swine, poultry and cattle industries.

The $14.8 million study, led by Purdue University in association with other universities, including Washington State University, will determine the safe level of emissions from animal feeding operations. The contaminants included in the study are the same as those regulated in the proposed local air authority policy.

The study will give EPA the information on how to reduce pollution from animal feeding operations. Collection of the data -- including measurements from an unidentified Lower Valley dairy -- is completed.

A state dairy industry official said it's likely the results will require the dairy industry nationally to begin complying with the Clean Air Act within about 18 months. Should the federal agency impose tougher emission standards, the authority would have to update its policy to reflect them.

Jay Gordon, executive director of the Washington State Dairy Federation, said the industry felt it was wiser to deal with the issue now than wait for federal action.

At the same time, EPA officials are planning a public meeting on the Yakama Indian Reservation to hear complaints about air quality issues -- many related to dairies and feedlots -- on the 1.2 million-acre reservation. A date for the public meeting hasn't been set, according to Debra Suzuki, manager of the agency's state and tribal air programs unit in Seattle.

"There are a lot of air quality issues in the Yakima area. Some of them are about CAFOS (confined animal feeding operations) and some are about other concerns," she said.

Meanwhile, the Dyjaks and others say the Clean Air Authority's proposals look a lot like existing dairy nutrient management plans, which are meant to control emissions and manure handling. Those plans, which are secret, are regulated by the state Department of Agriculture.

Dairy nutrient management plans have been around a long time, the Dyjaks say, but people living near dairies still have breathing problems and suffer from coughs, runny noses and headaches.

Larry Fendell of Zillah, another dairy critic, said the practices in the proposal just don't work.

"A lot of people are getting mad because this is affecting their civil rights to enjoy their property," he said.

Critics like Fendell say they didn't get to participate in the work group that developed the Clean Air Authority's proposal. Participants included two authority board members, a dairy operator, a representative of the Yakima Valley Dairy Federation, an agronomist and agency staff.

Pruitt said previous efforts to include residents in policy development weren't constructive. He said residents can comment on the draft before it's finalized.

He defended the air authority's decision to move quickly.

"We are light years ahead of the EPA in these areas. We know our regulated community and how best to do what is best for the community," he said. "This is our best shot. If we don't do it now, the window of opportunity will close."

The draft proposal goes further than other policies in Washington and also exceeds programs in nearby states. For example, Idaho has had a rule in place since 2006 but it only addresses ammonia. So far, odor complaints from neighbors of Idaho dairies have declined, said Mike Simon, stationary source manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Oregon, which convened a dairy air quality task force in 2007, has not yet adopted regulations. Instead, the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association is surveying practices currently in use. The survey will produce a tool kit of measures to reduce emissions, said Jim Krahn, association executive director.

Locally, Steve George, the Valley dairy federation representative on the air authority's work group, said producers have embraced the process.

"I don't think the dairy industry looks at it as a negative but a positive to demonstrate to a high degree these practices have been implemented," he said.

The public comment period on the policy is scheduled to end Dec. 8. After that, the clean air board will look at the proposed policy and consider the comments, said Tom Gasseling, a Wapato farmer and chairman of the authority board.

"I don't know what the ultimate document will look like, but I have to believe that if it is adopted it will be better for all concerned," Gasseling said.

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.