Groups demand state and federal action on nitrate pollution in letters to Oregon governor, EPA
By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | Oct. 31, 2024
Nonprofit community groups in Oregon and nationwide are calling on elected leaders and officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exercise their regulatory power to stop growing nitrate pollution in drinking water caused by farm fertilizers.
Nitrate, a compound found in fertilizers and in animal manure, has contaminated an underground aquifer in northeast Oregon for decades, drawing outcry and concerns in recent years over the public health threat it poses to residents in the area. Nitrate contamination has become a problem in rural communities and cities in many parts of the U.S., spurring a group of nearly two dozen nonprofits from several different states to band together to demand the EPA do more to regulate farms and sources of nitrate. Ingesting elevated nitrate concentrations over long periods is particularly bad for pregnant people and infants, and has been linked to adverse health impacts including different cancers and thyroid problems.
In an Oct. 29 letter to the EPA’s water administrator, leaders at Oregon-based WaterWatch, Columbia Riverkeeper and Oregon Rural Action, along with 20 other groups from around the country, requested the EPA meet with them to discuss what the agency could do under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to protect people living in areas with high contamination. Under that act, people can petition the EPA to take “primacy” over state agencies and to regulate and enforce penalties against water polluters that the state has not.
Exposing Oregon's Mega-Dairies, with Oregon Rural Action & Food and Water Watch
By Michael Gaskill | Coast Range Radio | Oct. 17, 2024
Oregon Rural Action and Food and Water Watch recently conducted a rare flyover of Threemile Canyon Farms, one of Oregon’s most notorious factory cattle farms, also known by the simultaneously anodyne and horrifying technical name: confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, in Morrow County.
In conjunction with that, both organizations have released detailed, interactive maps highlighting the extent of factory farms and associated pollution in Oregon. These maps, and the accompanying reports, show that factory farms are expanding in Oregon, even as the public awareness of the devastating impacts grow.
The View from Above: What Oregon’s Mega-Dairies Don’t Want You to See
By Aimee Travis | Food & Water Watch | Oct. 1, 2024
In July, Food & Water Watch and Oregon Rural Action partnered up with a local pilot from the organization LightHawk to get a bird’s eye view of Eastern Oregon — a region with a high concentration of factory farms. What we saw has strengthened my dedication to fight against factory farming, an industry defined by cruel and unethical practices and propped up on the exploitation of the environment and workers.
My name is Aimee Travis and I am the Oregon Organizer for Food & Water Watch. After many years of being an outspoken advocate against factory farming, seeing the sheer size of these operations from up above — everything from the manure lagoons to the individual cows — pushed me even further to work toward finally ending this industry.
Oregon Rural Action releases map of nitrate contamination in Lower Umatilla Basin
Thomas Metcalf | Oct 1, 2024
BOARDMAN, Ore. - Oregon Rural Action (ORA), an organization pushing for the decontamination of nitrate-contaminated drinking water in the Lower Umatilla Basin, released a map detailing the level of contamination in various areas.
The map uses information gathered from federal and state agencies on the sources of pollution affecting groundwater and air quality in the Lower Umatilla Basin.
The map states that exceptionally high levels of nitrate contamination were found in the 97818 zip code (Boardman), with 68.8 percent of the 176 tested wells deemed unsafe. Zip code 97882 (Umatilla) also sees very high rates with 56.5 percent of the 69 tested wells deemed unsafe.
Zip codes 97875 (Stanfield) and 97844 (Irrigon) also have high rates of nitrate contamination with more than 50 percent of all wells in each area being either at-risk or unsafe.
New Photos Reveal Scale of Oregon’s Largest Factory Farms
Madeline Bove | Food & Water Watch | Sept. 30, 2024
New photos released today by Food & Water Watch and Oregon Rural Action reveal in stark detail the scale of factory farms in Eastern Oregon, particularly the Threemile Canyon Farms Facility. The aerial photos of factory farms in Eastern Oregon show tens of thousands of cows confined on a landscape developed beyond recognition with little to no shade cover and vast manure lagoons, which are notorious for their contributions to air pollution, planet warming methane emissions, and nearby groundwater contamination in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area. Unfortunately, this is just one glimpse into the industrialized reality of Oregon’s largest factory farms.
These photos bolster what climate advocates and residents living near these facilities have been saying for years: factory farms like the Threemile Canyon mega-dairy should not be allowed to get any bigger than they already are, and we should not allow more to be built.
Oregon Rural Action publica un mapa de fuentes de contaminación en la cuenca baja de Umatilla
By y Félix Amaya | Telemundo Yakima Tri-Cities | Sept. 27, 2024
Boardman, OR – Oregon Rural Action ha presentado un nuevo mapa interactivo de los condados de Morrow y Umatilla que muestra cómo la área está afectada por la contaminación del aire y las aguas subterráneas.
El Mapa interactivo de contaminación de la cuenca baja de Umatilla, disponible en inglés y español, contiene información recopilada por agencias federales y estatales sobre las fuentes de contaminación que afectan las aguas subterráneas y la calidad del aire en el área conocida como la cuenca baja de Umatilla.
Las personas que viven en el área se ven afectadas por los altos niveles de nitrato en las aguas subterráneas que se utilizan para beber, así como por una concentración desproporcionada de
contaminación atmosférica industrial.
“Este es uno de los lugares más contaminados de Oregón, pero la mayoría de las personas que viven aquí no saben lo grave que es”, dijo Kaleb Lay, Director de Políticas e Investigación de ORA. “La gente de clase trabajadora no puede pasar todo el día completando solicitudes de registros públicos y revisando documentos para permisos. Este mapa coloca la información en un solo lugar donde cualquiera puede ver por sí mismo lo mal que está la situación”.
State agencies pledge action on Eastern Oregon nitrates crisis — eventually
By Monica Samayoa and Antonio Sierra | OPB | Sept. 21, 2024 | Updated: Sept. 23, 2024
For decades, many residents of Eastern Oregon’s Morrow and Umatilla counties have relied on well water contaminated by nitrates, chemicals linked to cancers and thyroid disease — and especially harmful to infants.
On Friday, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the Oregon Water Resources Department and the Oregon Health Authority released an eight-year Nitrate Reduction Plan that outlines short-, medium- and long-term goals on how each state agency will work to lower nitrate levels in Eastern Oregon.
The ultimate goal is to reduce nitrate concentrations below 7 milligrams per liter — below federal standards in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area.
But even as the state looks to change the practices that led to contaminated drinking water wells, residents may not see results until the 2030s. A local organization says the plan lacks clear and effective strategies like specific timelines to reduce nitrate contamination and enforced regulation from state agencies.
“Maps highlight nitrate contamination in Eastern Oregon drinking water”
By Monica Samayoa | OPB | August 1, 2024
“State officials are inching closer to understanding the scale of nitrate pollution in Eastern Oregon drinking water. That is after the state released data that pinpoints the location of where contamination is found in the region, but local advocates say the map fails to protect residents’ privacy.
The Oregon Health Authority released updated data, including four maps, that show the scale of nitrate contamination in domestic well water in Morrow and Umatilla counties. Groundwater in the region has been polluted with nitrate contamination for more than 30 years. It was designated a groundwater management area in 1990 known as the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area or LUBGWMA.”
“LUBGWMA well users should retest water for nitrates, OHA offering free well testing”
Hermiston Herald | July 11, 2024
“The Oregon Health Authority is encouraging people in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area to get their well water retested for nitrates for free, even those who tested it in 2023.
According to a press release from OHA, retesting households with well water close to the health action level of 10 milligrams nitrate per liter of water is especially important because nitrate levels can fluctuate during different seasons of the year.
Nitrate in well water is a potential health hazard, and levels above 10 milligrams per liter are considered dangerous for human consumption. Pregnant people and babies face the greatest risk, and young animals can be affected in the same way as babies.”
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“Kotek responses to demand for action on water contamination”
By Phil Wright | East Oregonian | June 25, 2024
“Activists pushing Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek to take action to help alleviate the contaminated water crisis in Boardman and nearby areas have received a response.
Kotek sent a letter Friday, June 21, to “Oregon Rural Action and Letter Signatories” laying out what the state has done, what she has has directed and what is coming next to help residents who rely on domestic wells for their drinking water in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area.
”The conversations we have had during my visits to the region to hear from community members have been substantive and informative,” Kotek said in the letter. “As I have said during those visits, my administration is committed to addressing the significant concerns to safe drinking water in the near term as well as making progress towards long-term solutions.””
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