CAFO operator runs amok in eastern Washington
April 12th, 2009 by Jim JustThe New York Times reports that in Franklin County in arid eastern Washington, Easterday Ranches Inc. is proposing to build a feedlot for 30,000 head of cattle that would withdraw about 1 million gallons a day from the ancient Grande Ronde Aquifer. The region is among the driest in the country, averaging only about 7 inches of rainfall a year. The proposal has touched off a wave of concern among local farmers, who worry that their wells could dry up.
The groundwater problems in eastern Washington are among the most serious in the country. In Franklin County, the aquifer is receding about a foot a year, while groundwater levels in neighboring Whitman County are declining at an even faster rate of 1.5 feet per year. A state-funded study released in January found that the deep aquifer in eastern Washington – especially in Franklin, Adams, Grant and Lincoln counties – is in serious trouble because a significant percentage of the area’s wells are tapping into the deepest part of the aquifer, where the water is 10,000 years old and is not recharged by surface water. The study found that some deep wells could recede so much that landowners would not be able to access groundwater.
A 1945 state law exempts withdrawals to 5,000 gallons a day from permit requirements. A 2005 interpretation of the law by the state’s attorney general concluded that groundwater withdrawals for “stock watering purposes” were not subject to any restrictions. Among those entitled to virtually unlimited water supplies, according to the interpretation, were large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, like the proposed Easterday Ranches feedlot. Several bills in the Washington Legislature this year would have capped livestock water-use to 5,000 gallons a day, but all died under intense lobbying from dairy and agricultural interests.
Reporter Scott Streater says local and state leaders appear ready to approve the Easterday feedlot. The Franklin County Water Conservancy Board has approved a water-rights transfer between Easterday and a nearby farmer – a critical component of the project. The Department of Ecology has final decision making authority over the project, and officials have indicated they plan to approve the feedlot water withdrawals. Many local leaders also support the Easterday development, touting the 40 jobs it will provide, the projected $60 million a year in tax revenue, and the $20 million a year in corn alfalfa and other feed that will be purchased from local farmers.
It’s a sad story, one that we’ve seen before in many permutations. The greedy rush in and are encouraged and enabled to exploit a common resource for their own and their enablers’ short-term benefit – leaving those who are content with enough, the innocent but unlucky, future generations, and Earth herself to bear the costs.