Posted: Sunday, June 18, 2006 12:00 am
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Idaho's dairies will operate under the Clean Air Act under a new rule taking effect next month.
The rule - created after about 18 months of negotiations between the state, the Idaho Dairyman's Association and the Idaho Conservation League - requires dairies and other confined animal feeding operations to get air quality permits if they emit 100 tons or more of ammonia a year.
"Idaho is the only state in the nation that has regulation for ammonia emissions for dairy CAFOs," Martin Bauer with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality told The Times-News. "Ammonia is the largest emitter for the dairies."
Manure and urine from dairies, cattle feedlots, poultry farms and other large livestock operations emit ammonia gases into the air, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Though the emissions pose no health risk, Bauer said, they can cause water quality problems such as algae growth.
Most of the state's dairies already meet the requirements under the new rule, said Bob Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairyman's Association.
Dairies that aren't in compliance can correct their status by implementing "best management practices," such as by covering manure lagoons with a synthetic tarp or composting. Dairymen can pick which practices they want to use to comply, Naerebout said.
Dairymen and the Idaho Conservation League began working together last year to devise the permitting process, after the conservation group sued one dairy owner over emissions from a proposed dairy in Gooding County. In that case, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that the Department of Environmental Quality was responsible for issuing permits to dairies and other facilities emitting 100 tons of air pollutants annually.
Although dairies now must obtain permits, they are not required to report their emissions, said Courtney Washburn with the Idaho Conservation League.
"We would have liked to see a reporting mechanism," she said.
Instead, once the DEQ issues an air quality permit, the Idaho Department Agriculture will inspect the dairy for compliance. The DEQ will retain enforcement authority, Bauer said.
The agreement could help improve relations between the dairymen and the conservation group, Bauer said, though both sides had to compromise.
"We wanted to see more stringent controls," Washburn said, "and the other side wanted to see less."