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Your industry could be
next
Capital Press Editorial
July 25, 2008
A
comment from the back of the room provided the most telling
moment at an Oregon State Board of Agriculture meeting earlier
this year.
Jim Krahn, executive director of Oregon Dairy Farmers Association, notified participants in the meeting that although their industries weren't targeted at the moment, they should keep an eye on the Oregon Dairy Air Task Force.
"You could be next," Krahn said when asked if he wanted to comment on the progress of the task force.
The task force is a symptom of the regulatory creep that can occur as environmental groups target one agricultural industry, then another and another.
It turns out the task force's final report, which will be presented to the Board of Agriculture on Friday, Aug. 1, contains proposals dairy industry leaders believe are workable.
The report, which could form the basis of legislation in 2009, calls for reducing dairy air emissions largely through voluntary measures. It includes calls for the Oregon Department of Agriculture to request state funds for research to help identify best management practices. And it calls for the state to offer incentives to encourage dairies to adopt those practices.
Not until 2015, according to the report's proposals, would the state regulate dairy air emissions.
Though the dairy industry says it could live with the task force's proposal, the ultimate legislative outcome is not a done deal. Far from it. The scenario could still could be much worse for dairy farmers as the Legislature writes the report into law.
The legislative road to setting up the task force was a long and arduous one. Environmental groups in 2005 filed a petition opposing a 40-year-old agricultural exemption in Oregon's air quality laws. They claimed the exemption put Oregon out of compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.
The dairy industry responded in the 2007 Legislature by proposing the state remove the exemption - an exemption established under the premise the state's farms did not adversely affect air quality.
Removing the agricultural exemption, farm lobbyists concluded, would put the state in compliance with the federal law - with few repercussions to dairy operations.
The good-faith efforts of the dairy industry were nearly derailed when environmental groups convinced a legislative committee to amend Senate Bill 235, which contained the exemption removal. The amendments as proposed by environmental groups went beyond meeting the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act. One would even require the state to measure ammonia emissions from dairies - even though ammonia emissions currently are not regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Another would place the regulatory authority for dairies in the hands of the state Department of Environmental Quality instead of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which would profoundly change how dairies were regulated under the bill.
Agricultural lobbyists fortunately convinced lawmakers to remove those provisions, which could have placed draconian restrictions on dairying in Oregon. And by the time the bill reached the Senate floor, it had been returned to its original form.
The Dairy Air Task Force was the result of negotiations over the bill. For six months, agricultural and environmental interests, along with officials from the state departments of agriculture and environmental quality, worked on the report.
In the end, the report was lauded by dairy industry and environmental organizations alike.
But one can only wonder what the report might have looked like were it not for the efforts of dairy leaders like Krahn, who gave voice to the industry's concerns.
And all of agriculture might be wise to heed Krahn's message.
Today, dairies are the target of new air quality regulations.
Tomorrow, it could be another agricultural industry.
As Krahn notes, sitting on the sidelines and hoping for the best just won't cut it. Only when all of agricultural stands up for itself will it be able to ensure its interests are protected.
Jim Krahn, executive director of Oregon Dairy Farmers Association, notified participants in the meeting that although their industries weren't targeted at the moment, they should keep an eye on the Oregon Dairy Air Task Force.
"You could be next," Krahn said when asked if he wanted to comment on the progress of the task force.
The task force is a symptom of the regulatory creep that can occur as environmental groups target one agricultural industry, then another and another.
It turns out the task force's final report, which will be presented to the Board of Agriculture on Friday, Aug. 1, contains proposals dairy industry leaders believe are workable.
The report, which could form the basis of legislation in 2009, calls for reducing dairy air emissions largely through voluntary measures. It includes calls for the Oregon Department of Agriculture to request state funds for research to help identify best management practices. And it calls for the state to offer incentives to encourage dairies to adopt those practices.
Not until 2015, according to the report's proposals, would the state regulate dairy air emissions.
Though the dairy industry says it could live with the task force's proposal, the ultimate legislative outcome is not a done deal. Far from it. The scenario could still could be much worse for dairy farmers as the Legislature writes the report into law.
The legislative road to setting up the task force was a long and arduous one. Environmental groups in 2005 filed a petition opposing a 40-year-old agricultural exemption in Oregon's air quality laws. They claimed the exemption put Oregon out of compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.
The dairy industry responded in the 2007 Legislature by proposing the state remove the exemption - an exemption established under the premise the state's farms did not adversely affect air quality.
Removing the agricultural exemption, farm lobbyists concluded, would put the state in compliance with the federal law - with few repercussions to dairy operations.
The good-faith efforts of the dairy industry were nearly derailed when environmental groups convinced a legislative committee to amend Senate Bill 235, which contained the exemption removal. The amendments as proposed by environmental groups went beyond meeting the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act. One would even require the state to measure ammonia emissions from dairies - even though ammonia emissions currently are not regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Another would place the regulatory authority for dairies in the hands of the state Department of Environmental Quality instead of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which would profoundly change how dairies were regulated under the bill.
Agricultural lobbyists fortunately convinced lawmakers to remove those provisions, which could have placed draconian restrictions on dairying in Oregon. And by the time the bill reached the Senate floor, it had been returned to its original form.
The Dairy Air Task Force was the result of negotiations over the bill. For six months, agricultural and environmental interests, along with officials from the state departments of agriculture and environmental quality, worked on the report.
In the end, the report was lauded by dairy industry and environmental organizations alike.
But one can only wonder what the report might have looked like were it not for the efforts of dairy leaders like Krahn, who gave voice to the industry's concerns.
And all of agriculture might be wise to heed Krahn's message.
Today, dairies are the target of new air quality regulations.
Tomorrow, it could be another agricultural industry.
As Krahn notes, sitting on the sidelines and hoping for the best just won't cut it. Only when all of agricultural stands up for itself will it be able to ensure its interests are protected.
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