Congresswoman milks support for dairy legislation

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene spent time with local dairy farmers near Monroe on Thursday, Aug. 4, presenting a bill called the Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Act.

A cosponsor on the bill, DelBene serves on the House Agriculture Committee and is the co-chair of the Congressional Dairy Caucus, a group of house members tasked with representing the interests of dairy farmers. The bill, called House Bill 5489, would make biogas and nutrient recovery systems like at Qualco eligible for a 30 percent investment tax credit that could help cover capital costs.

The meeting took place at Qualco Energy, a collaborative venture near Monroe that uses an anaerobic digester to convert dairy cow manure and other food waste into renewable energy. Qualco Energy is less than two miles from the Werkhoven Dairy in the Tualco Valley, and is a nonprofit entity founded by the Werkhovens in partnership with the Tulalip Tribes, Northwest Chinook Recovery and the Sno/Sky Agricultural Alliance.

Werkhoven Dairy was started in 1959 by Sam Werkhoven. It's been co-managed by brothers Jim and Andy Werkhoven since 1984 and in recent years has been widely acknowledged for its innovative environmental strategies and good stewardship.

Werkhoven Dairy earned national recognition by winning the 2012 Elanco Award for Outstanding Diary Farm Sustainability, and was recognized in 2014 as the "Cooperator of the YearGÇ¥ by the Snohomish Conservation District for its efforts in conserving and protecting resources.

Manure is an inevitable byproduct of dairy farming. According to Andy Werkhoven, for every 10 gallons of milk a cow provides, a farmer has to deal with 30 gallons of manure. Enterprises like Qualco Energy have been seen as a major win; biogas systems and nutrient recovery technologies transform waste into usable products like energy and organic fertilizer.

The upfront implementation costs can be pretty daunting, DelBene said.

"If we can get legislation like this moving, that would provide extra incentives to help out efforts like this,GÇ¥ DelBene said. "More specifically, the legislation makes biogas and manure resource recovery technologies applicable for these tax credits, as well as the energy that is produced.GÇ¥

She opened up the floor for discussion about ongoing challenges faced by the industry.-á

Werkhoven said the increasing level of regulations and lack of cohesive relationships between farmers and state agencies like the Washington State Department of Ecology are taking their toll. He referenced a situation that occurred earlier this spring while pressure testing a new pump system. He was up and running for three minutes, he said, and received a call from Ecology questioning whether he was cleared for that activity.-á -á

"That was just this spring, so it tells me that their attitude still is one of, "The heat is on you, and don't you forget it,' GÇ¥ Werkhoven said.

It's a huge mental deterrent, he added. Change needs to come from the top down, he told DelBene.

"If the governor said, "I don't want my state department behaving that way,' I think it would have a major influence,GÇ¥ Werkhoven said. "It should disturb our governor that that kind of thing happens.GÇ¥-á

Washington State Dairy Federation executive director Dan Wood chimed in about the ongoing challenges, including a Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) permit update currently being considered by Ecology. The new permit criteria would increase buffer zones between productive agricultural areas and waterways by expanding the definition of water to "waters of the state,GÇ¥ which is a broader category than the previous "waters of the United States.GÇ¥

"Right now, they've got a proposed 100-foot buffer from any waters of the state, which is more expansive than waters of the U.S.,GÇ¥ Wood said. "The state considers prior converted wetlands to be waters of the state.GÇ¥

The update includes numerous requirements, including additional soil testing, a lagoon engineering assessment and daily and weekly inspections of systems.

According to Wood, dairy farmers are already heavily regulated. They follow United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) guidelines for lagoon construction to ensure that groundwater stays safe from contamination.

The CAFO update would be costly, and it inappropriately punishes the farms for lagoon leakage that hasn't occurred, he said.

"As we drive dairies out of business with these regulations that they can't comply with, we are impacting all of American agriculture,GÇ¥ Wood said.

He said the proposals for increased buffer zones have not had informed and balanced science behind them. Cow manure gets blamed for high levels of nitrates, when only 1 percent of nitrates have been sourced to dairy farming, Wood said. He referenced a recent lawsuit in Yakima that stemmed from an EPA conclusion that dairies were likely contributing to the high levels of nitrates in the groundwater, even though no one had directly sourced high nitrates to dairies as a major contributor.-á -á -á

Environmentalists then came in and sued the dairies, he said.

"Then we find out that at the same time that EPA was going after these dairies, they were also funding What's Upstream,GÇ¥ Wood said. "These folks at What's Upstream were overtly trying to shape public perception.GÇ¥

What's Upstream is a Washington-based water-quality advocacy campaign that was backed with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. That relationship is currently under scrutiny by the EPA's Office of Inspector General (OIG), which is investigating the EPA's alleged improper use of taxpayer dollars to fund the What's Upstream advocacy campaign.

The campaign was seen by members of Congress as an attack on agriculture and an effort to villainize farmers. It's been well-documented that the signs crafted by the campaign were misleading; showing a picture of cows standing in a stream that wasn't even taken in Washington. They also used a photo of salmon dead from supposed pollution, but it has been reported that the photo was of salmon that had just spawned, which is when they naturally die.

Billboards featuring the photo of the cows standing in the stream, which were posted in Olympia and Bellingham, were removed. On May 13, 2016, the OIG announced its intent to investigate based on a request from the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

"In that request, the committees expressed concerns over what appears to be EPA improperly funding an advocacy campaign, called What's Upstream, in Washington state,GÇ¥ wrote director John Trefry. "The request stated that the campaign unfairly targets and demonizes farmers and ranchers.GÇ¥

What's Upstream was trying to garner support for a conservation initiative, and when it learned through polling that the public trusted farmers, it unjustly attempted to erode that trust, Wood said.

"This is a very innovative group of people in the dairy industry. Very forward-thinking; very environmentally-minded people,GÇ¥ Wood said. "I think agriculture is that way in general, but dairy is that way in particular.GÇ¥

There are new innovations coming down the pike, but people are scared to invest, he said.

"There is a legitimate hesitancy of making major investments because it could all be upended by our friends in the government, who are ' and this is not an exaggeration ' they are coordinating and collaborating with the activists,GÇ¥ Wood said.

Snohomish Conservation District resource planner Brett de Vries agreed that dairy farms need to be better valued by state government. The industry is currently being stifled by regulatory barriers, he said, and something needs to change. The dairy industry is already highly regulated, and has been meeting environmental requirements for 26 years, he said.

State lawmakers have gone to great lengths to keep Boeing happy, he said, including creating tax incentives to get the aerospace corporation to stay. Earlier this year, Boeing announced it saved $305 million in state taxes in 2015.-á

"My thought is why isn't that conversation being had for Washington state dairy farms? Because it is critical to the state,GÇ¥ de Vries said. "Boeing has a lot of employees and I understand that, but dairies have a lot of employees also, and it's the small communities that they impact.GÇ¥-á

Werkhoven stressed the importance of advocating for change from the top down. It's one of the things that enabled Qualco to come together, he said. His son, Ben, left a successful career as a veterinarian to join him in dairy farming, and he deserves a reasonable chance at success.

"You won't find a harder working group of people in your life. That I'll tell you,GÇ¥ Werkhoven said. "You will not. They are salt of the earth. I'll go to the grave saying that.GÇ¥

He credited DelBene for her willingness to hear their concerns and thanked her for coming out. It is a level of support that is lacking, he said, which serves as a deterrent to young farmers. He recalled a time when George Bush visited the farm, before he was president.-á -á

"Whether he did anything right or wrong after that, I don't know, but you know what? He showed up. He showed up. I'll give him credit for that. It makes a big difference,GÇ¥ Werkhoven said. "We just don't have a lot of that happening in our state, and that's what drives these young ones away.GÇ¥

For more information about Qualco Energy, visit https://qualco-energy.com/about-qualco/.