Act III in EPA’s Ongoing Effort to Destroy Dairy Farms in the Northwest

Farm groups call it the “war on farming,” pointing to a series of actions by EPA Region 10 that have caused great embarrassment to EPA headquarters.

 

Latest Attack

On June 26, 2024, EPA Region 10’s enforcement office, led by Ed Kowalski, sent a shocking message to three dairy farms in the Yakima Valley, informing them they are being sued for supposedly failing to comply with a Consent Order related to alleged water pollution. This move completely blindsided the farms, which have been working cooperatively with the EPA on pollution controls for years. That same day, the EPA issued a press release in an attempt to publicly make an example of these dairies. The agency used inflammatory language and scare tactics to paint these farmers as bad actors despite good faith efforts that included investing 10’s of millions of dollars to meet the EPA’s demands.

Farmers, particularly dairy farmers, throughout the five states included in Region 10 are all too familiar with this enforcement team’s animosity toward dairy farms. If the EPA’s unjustifiable and unprovoked actions against these larger dairy farms were applied to others, none could survive.

 

Par for the Course

The blatant effort to attack these farms with false accusations is consistent with previous actions by Region 10 dating back to 2010 when work on the falsified science study on nitrate contamination began. 

In 2013, the Region 10 enforcement office issued a report on nitrates in groundwater within the lower Yakima Valley. The report blamed the same three dairy farms they are attacking now, along with two other family farms who have since left, for endangering public health. The report was shown to be highly misleading in supporting their accusations to such a degree that a leading agricultural expert and a top official from the National Resources Conservation Services said it was not merely falsified but “fraudulent.” 

The study’s required peer review was not conducted. When called on it, Kowalski and his staff covered up their failure by reclassifying it to a lower science category –– a reclassification not supported by the category definitions. Kowalski’s staff member, Eric Winiecki, was caught in outright lies to then-Region 10 Director Christopher Hladick when he claimed in a meeting attended by farmers that the peer review was robust. Winiecke then lied about why one of the reviewers had withdrawn. The truth is that EPA staff substantially changed the report after the reviewers provided their comments, but it was not submitted for additional review. In those changes, they went far beyond what the data showed to concoct accusations against the farmers.

For more information on what the Region 10 staff did, check out SFF’s report titled, “EPA Lied, Farms Died.” This report is a series of documents outlining the lack of a proper peer review, the reality that EPA staff changed the report after the review had been completed, and when called out for this fraud, EPA changed the category of the report to a lower level category that gave them the freedom to have it peer-reviewed or not. However, the category they lowered to cannot be used for a government science study like this nitrate report. All in all, this was a blatant cover-up and a clear violation of federal law.

In late 2015, the EPA used $570,000 of taxpayer money on a malicious grant campaign to plan and execute a vicious and false attack on farmers called “What’s Upstream.” As the “What’s Upstream” illegal campaign progressed, a bipartisan group of 135 members of Congress agreed to sign a letter expressing outrage to the EPA national office. In 2018, EPA Director Gina McCarthy was called before Congress to account for the actions that Region 10 Director Dennis McLerran had conducted. Director McCarthy told the Senators grilling her that the EPA was “distressed” by the abuse exhibited by Region 10 leadership and staff. She promised it would not happen again.

As Capital Press reported, the EPA’s McCarthy assured the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on April 19 that her agency was distressed by the use of the money and the tone of that campaign. Yet, the Washington Attorney General refused to prosecute the tribal and environmental groups who received the EPA money and violated state law against unregistered lobbying.

 

Unjustified Abuse

More recently, the EPA’s discredited nitrate report against dairies keeps raising its fraudulent self. In August 2020, twelve regional and national farm groups wrote letters to the national EPA Director demanding the EPA retract the nitrate study. 

Likewise, through the efforts of the Washington Dairy Federation, dairy farmers in Washington state sued the EPA in the federal Ninth Circuit Court for hiding the study’s failings and falsely claiming it had undergone proper peer-review. The EPA refused to turn over key documents to address the accusations and engaged in a blatant coverup of crucial evidence. The delay was intentional and caused the Court to reject the petition based on exceeding the statute of limitations. The EPA showed it can lie, cover up its fraudulent activities, withhold critical documents until too late, and then hide behind the statute of limitations.

In this most recent attack, the dairy farmers targeted by the EPA have made every good-faith effort to comply with the Consent Order required by the Court. They cooperated with the EPA enforcement despite facing relentless bureaucratic harassment. When the farms had completed, to the best of their understanding, all that was required and more, the EPA went silent for two years despite repeated efforts to resolve the Order. Then, on June 26, these three farms received notice of violations, which included many utterly frivolous claims.

The EPA’s June 26 press release was a disgraceful attempt to sensationalize the issue while implying that dairy farmers endanger public health. Save Family Farming has detailed how the supposed link between diseases and nitrate exposure is based on thoroughly discredited studies.

The biggest problem with Kowalski and his staff’s fear-mongering statements is that their own studies show that nitrate levels in the groundwater near the dairies existed before the farms did. The United States Geographical Survey maps nitrate levels in groundwater and, in nearly all areas with intensive agriculture after World War II, nitrates are higher than the EPA allows.

 

It’s Not Going Away, & Neither Are We

Save Family Farming, as it has done before, is committed to bringing this abuse of government power to the public’s attention. As the repeated abuses by Region 10’s staff become more well-known, the EPA’s credibility as a trustworthy enforcer of federal laws is at risk. It is imperative that all who are concerned about the future of family farms in this state and region get involved and demand accountability from these government bullies. 

The inflammatory language that the EPA used in their press release, along with the decision to pursue this in court, demonstrate that this was a publicity stunt designed to show the EPA’s aggressive enforcement. Any concerns they had with the farmers’ actions could have been dealt with by direct contact as it had been for the past several years under the Consent Order.

This Region 10 staff has already caused the EPA Director to apologize for their behavior. Only if those responsible for holding these longtime government employees accountable take action will this unjustified vendetta against dairy farms in general and these three dairies, in particular, come to an end.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION FOR REFERENCE:

Region 10’s lies and coverups in defending the false and fraudulent nitrate report

It is a federal crime to lie while conducting government business, which is precisely what Region 10 staff did. Here is the proof that there was no proper peer review of the completed report, that the staff completely changed the report after the peer review had been completed, and that when called out for this fraud, they changed the category of the report to a lower level category that gave them the freedom to have it peer-reviewed or not. But, the category they lowered it to cannot be used for a government science study used for the purposes of this nitrate report. This was a blatant cover-up and a clear violation of federal law.

 

Congressional opposition to EPA abuse of dairy farms

Representative Dan Newhouse, speaking to the Western Caucus Foundation in 2020:

“In our region [Region 10], regional EPA employees have been unfairly punishing dairy farmers for years, forcing several dairies to permanently close their doors – all based on a flawed report. We cannot allow federal agencies’ regulatory decision-making to demonize whole industries, weaponize shoddy science, or rely on data that has not even been peer-reviewed. I appreciate EPA’s willingness to have these important discussions and their commitment to working with rural communities to achieve our shared goals of protecting the environment while providing for jobs and economic development.”

 

Farm groups nationwide joined to protest the false and fraudulent nitrate report issued by Region 10’s enforcement staff.

The letter provided to the EPA national office identified the specific problems with the nitrate report:

During the development of the Yakima Report, Consent Order process, and lawsuit, EPA:

  • Failed to acknowledge the study parameters were designed to produce specific outcomes.
  • Failed to act when the study was roundly criticized by PhDs, agencies, and more as having poor data, poor processes, and poor outcomes
  • Failed to follow federal policy concerning external peer review.
  • Changed the designation of the level of science in an apparent attempt to lower external peer review requirements.
  • Made false claims that it never changed the designation of the level of science.

These are the groups who submitted letters to the EPA national director:

  • Washington State Dairy Federation
  • Save Family Farming
  • American Dairy Coalition
  • National Milk Producers Federation
  • Texas Association of Dairymen
  • Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative
  • Northeast Dairy Farmers Cooperatives
  • Dairy Producers of New Mexico
  • Idaho Dairymen’s Association
  • Oregon Dairy Farmers Association
  • Dairy Producers of Utah
  • Northwest Council of Farmer Cooperatives

 

What’s Upstream was an illegal use of government funds to falsely accuse farmers and lobby for state legislation.

This same Region 10 staff, then led by Dennis McLerran, provided funding  to local tribes and environmental groups, then worked with them to plan and implement a public lobbying campaign aimed at passing state laws requiring massive buffers. The campaign was full of falsehoods, even using images of cows in streams taken from the UK and Pennsylvania because it is illegal in Washington to allow cows near streams. The actions of Region 10 caused great embarrassment to the national office and resulted in the EPA Director, Gina McCarthy, apologizing for the actions of this out-of-control office.

 

What’s Upstream was an illegal use of government funds to falsely accuse farmers and lobby for state legislation.

This same Region 10 staff, then led by Dennis McLerran, provided funding  to local tribes and environmental groups, then worked with them to plan and implement a public lobbying campaign aimed at passing state laws requiring massive buffers. The campaign was full of falsehoods, even using images of cows in streams taken from the UK and Pennsylvania because it is illegal in Washington to allow cows near streams. The actions of Region 10 caused great embarrassment to the national office and resulted in the EPA Director, Gina McCarthy, apologizing for the actions of this out-of-control office.

 

Washington is losing farms, farmers, and farmland.

Sadly, this kind of government action against farmers is a significant reason why farms are leaving Washington for more friendly states and why only the largest farms can survive this kind of unwarranted enforcement. 

 

Nitrate in groundwater

  • Facts About Nitrate and Dairies: Despite the extreme scare tactics used by EPA Region 10 in their effort to secure press coverage of their accusations against dairies, the health risk is far from what they claim. The EPA’s own study in California showed that incidences of blue baby syndrome, the primary concern, were related to other causes than farm activities.
  • A National Look at Nitrate Contamination of Ground Water: Nitrate in groundwater well above the EPA limit is widespread across the nation wherever legacy farming activities have occurred. That is because post-WW2 government farm experts advised farmers to apply far more commercial fertilizer than is currently used and irrigate heavily. This added significant nitrates to the soil, which, over the years, entered the groundwater.
    The EPA’s Yakima nitrate report showed that the groundwater in the Lower Yakima Valley contained similar amounts of nitrate as other legacy farming areas that dated to over 50 years. This was well before the dairy farms they blamed for this contamination were operating. Nitrate in groundwater takes years, and science studies show that it will take 30 to 50 years to decline if nitrate inputs from the soil are reduced.