Friday, July 22, 2005
California Dairy producers face tougher air quality rules
Business calls it “shoddy science” (this is what they usually do- name calling instead of reasoned debate)
Issue Date: July 6, 2005
By Ching Lee
Assistant Editor
Dairy producers in the San Joaquin Valley expressed frustration and dismay over the latest findings that suggest their farms produce more smog than cars.
The findings were released last week by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, which proposed an emission factor quantifying smog-forming gases from the valley’s 2.5 million dairy cows. If adopted by the California Air Resources Board, the proposed estimate of 20.6 pounds of volatile organic compounds per animal per year would be used in determining how many dairies in the eight-county San Joaquin air basin will require air quality permits.
Prior to this news, the air board established a new state rule that requires dairies with 1,000 or more cows be regulated for air quality. By using the 1,000-cow threshold to define “large confined animal facilities,” local air districts will have until July 1, 2006 to adopt rules that require these facilities to reduce their emissions.
See California Farm Bureau: Ag Alert Archives 2005
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=390&ck=A01A0380CA3C61428C26A231F0E49A09