Tracy Loew

Statesman Journal

A second mega-dairy is planned for Eastern Oregon, close to Threemile Canyon Farms, one of the largest confined animal feeding operations in the nation.

The proposed Willow Creek Dairy would house 30,000 animals. It would be the second-largest Oregon dairy, after Threemile Canyon, with 70,000 animals, said Wym Matthews, who oversees confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) for the state Department of Agriculture.

The department is taking public comment on the dairy’s proposed water pollution permit, which lays out how it must manage the 187 million gallons of manure it will produce each year.

California dairyman Greg te Velde has operated Willow Creek Dairy, with 8,000 animals, since 2002 on land leased from Threemile Canyon.

Last fall, te Velde purchased about 7,000 acres of the former Boardman Tree Farm, nine miles from the Columbia River, for $65 million. He plans to move and expand the dairy there.

The operation should be running by January, te Velde said Monday.

The purchase came with water rights to the Columbia River, and the dairy will use about 325 million gallons per year.

That’s about three times the amount involved in a controversial proposal to allow Swiss company Nestlé SA to bottle water from a state-owned spring in the Columbia Gorge.

Morrow County officials signed off on the dairy’s Land Use Compatibility Statement last year, but expressed trepidation and requested a public hearing, which will be held Thursday.

The dairy is within the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area, designated for high levels of nitrogen in the groundwater, Morrow County planning director Carla McLane wrote.

“The addition of 30,000 cows has the ability to significantly contribute to the nitrogen loading of the LUB GWMA,” she wrote.

The full proposed dairy site is within a Critical Groundwater Area, designated by the Oregon Water Resources Department for areas with declining groundwater.

“The fact that there are already two dairies and a beef CAFO within a three or four mile radius, with some significantly closer, only increases concerns about the development of another, much larger dairy within the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area,” McLane wrote.

Dairy owner te Velde said all of the county’s concerns have been addressed.

The Oregon Water Resources Department does not have further concerns, spokeswoman Diana Enright said.

"If the Willow Creek Dairy manages its water use as outlined in its documentation, including proposed cooling water recycling, those measures should alleviate any additional stress on the Columbia River Basalt Group Aquifer System," she said.

Still, McLane said, the county plans to testify at the hearing.

“Our concerns are still valid until we see how the state agencies are going to address those concerns,” she said.

CAFOs also can contribute to air pollution, and in 2005 researchers found elevated concentrations of ammonia and other nitrogen compounds in the eastern Columbia Gorge, with Threemile Canyon as a possible source.

The discovery prompted the formation of a legislative task force on dairies and air quality. Its recommendations never were implemented, said Kendra Kimbirauskas, chief executive officer of Salem-based Socially Responsible Agriculture Project and a member of the task force.

"It essentially has been shelved," she said.

“Unfortunately, Oregon has exempted large-scale ag from air-quality oversight and DEQ is not monitoring air quality impacts from large CAFOs and feedlots,” Ivan Maluski, policy director for Friends of Family Farmers, said.

“If this new mega-dairy goes in, air quality in the region will likely get worse,” Maluski said.

More recently, high levels of ozone have been recorded in the Hermiston and Tri-Cities, Washington, area, said Mark Bailey, eastern region air quality manager for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

The ozone could be coming from CAFOs, coal power plants or other sources, Bailey said. DEQ began working with Washington state this summer to do more intensive monitoring in the region.

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

To comment

The Oregon Department of Agriculture is taking public comments on a proposed water pollution permit for Willow Creek Dairy.

Send written comments to William Matthews, ODA/CAFO Program, 635 Capitol St. NE, Salem OR 97301 or email wmatthews@oda.state.or.us.

Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Aug. 4.

ODA will hold a public hearing on the proposal, at 4 p.m. Thursday at Port of Morrow Riverfront Center, No. 2 Marine Drive, Boardman.

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