Comment Log Display

We are providing this supplemental comment on the AB 32 Livestock
Digester Protocol and Regulations on behalf of ourselves as private
citizens and on behalf of the Citizens Climate Lobby, a non-profit
group based in San Diego, CA and concerned about climate change.

We are submitting the press release below to document the pressures
that dairy's are under to improve manure management and insure that
they do not impact other local agriculture and waterways.  As this
press release provides additional evidence that it is not possible
to discern whethere a dairy or other livestock farm decides to use
an anaerobic digester because of the offset program/payment and
when this decision would have occurred otherwise, in the absence of
the offset program, as a result of other pressures, including the
threat of regulatory enforcement against discharges and potential
nuisance and tort actions by neighboring landowners and
communities.

As noted in our prior comments (August 2008, December 13, 2010,
July 27, 2011, and August 10, 2011) offset credits that lack
integrity and are not additional will undermine the integrity of
the entire AB 32 program and its accounting of reductions, and is
contrary to the requirements of AB 32 

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/0fdbab7c7ab964d28525791700614ae0?OpenDocument
  
U.S. EPA Orders 13 Chino Dairies to Control Manure Runoff // Joint
effort with local Water Board to protect Santa Ana River 

Release date: 09/26/2011 

Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, (213) 244-1815, Cell (213)
798-1404,arcaute.francisco@epa.gov

(9/26/11) LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is
ordering 13 Chino area dairies to comply with Clean Water Act
requirements to prevent dairy manure waste and other pollutants
from reaching local waterways.

Among the violations discovered at the dairies subject to EPA’s
orders were: 

· failure to construct or maintain controls necessary to prevent
manure and other contaminants from discharging into waterways
· failure to take reasonable steps to minimize or prevent
discharges
· failure to develop and implement Engineered Waste Management
Plans
· failure to conduct proper routine inspections of the facility 

“To protect the Santa Ana River watershed, we’re taking action to
ensure these dairies are prepared for the upcoming winter rains,
when animal waste could flow from their dairies into nearby creeks
and streams,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator
for the Pacific Southwest. “We will also be evaluating whether
monetary penalties are appropriate, pursuant to our authority under
the federal Clean Water Act.”

Inspections to evaluate permit compliance at dairies are an ongoing
focus of the EPA and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Between November 2010 and February 2011, Water Board
representatives inspected dozens of dairies in the Chino area. 

“The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board welcomes and
benefits from its partnership with U.S. EPA in regulating waste
discharges from dairies within the Santa Ana Region,” said Kurt
Berchtold, Executive Officer of the Santa Ana Regional Water
Quality Control Board. “We look forward to continued cooperative
activities with the EPA in the future to enforce Clean Water Act
requirements at the dairies within our region.”

Through its administrative process, the EPA is ordering the
following dairies to immediately comply with their permit
requirements issued by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control
Board: 
· Bachoc Dairy #1
· Bollema Dairy
· Bosch Dairy
· Costa Dairy
· El Dorado Dairy
· Falloncrest Farms/ Legend Dairy Farms
· Goyenetche Dairy #3
· John Weststeyn Cattle
· H&R Dairy
· Koot Dairy #2
· Legend Dairy Farms #2 
· Syann Dairy #2 
· Three D Dairy

The EPA orders are intended to improve the dairies’ environmental
performance as quickly as possible by bringing them into compliance
with the basic requirements of their permits.

For more information on the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation
(CAFO) program, please visit: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/index.cfm
and click on the following links, NPDES Information, NPDES Permit
Program Basics, and concentrated animal feeding operations. 

For more information on the EPA Administrative Orders, please
visit: 
http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/npdes/compliance.html

For more information on the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality
Control Board,
please visit: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb8/