Another dairy in the Lower Valley has been threatened with a lawsuit over allegedly contaminating the environment.
Environmental groups CARE, Friends of Toppenish Creek and the Center for Food Safety have sent View Point Dairy in Sunnyside a letter of intent to sue in federal court.
The environmental groups accuse the dairy of mismanaging animal manure. Dairies typically store animal waste in lagoons and apply it to land as fertilizer.
The Monday letter triggers a 90-day period in which the dairy can respond by agreeing to fix the alleged problems or be sued.
Dairy owners Bill and Lisa DeRuyter couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Several dairies have been threatened with litigation or sued by the environmental groups in recent years.
They’ve sued two Outlook dairies — SMD LLC and DBD Washington LLC — and threatened to sue Sunnyside Dairy.
Those dairies have entered settlement negotiations with the groups.
In January, the groups sent a letter of intent to Majestic Dairy in Outlook.
The environmental groups accuse dairy operators of contributing to high levels of nitrates in Lower Valley groundwater.
Dairy industry officials dispute that, saying the high nitrate concentration here existed long before the industry became a major footprint in the agriculture industry.
Nitrates naturally occur in soil but heavy use of fertilizers — including animal waste — and leaky septic tanks can lead to higher nitrate concentrations.
The ongoing litigation involving dairies tipped off in about 2015, when an EPA study linked a handful of Lower Valley dairies to groundwater contamination.
Those dairies, known as the dairy cluster, agreed to sweeping changes in the way they operate under a federal consent decree after being sued by CARE.
Industry leaders now question the study, saying that it wasn’t given a full peer review and unfairly blames the dairies.
Industry leaders are asking the EPA for a full peer review or to conduct another study.
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse also has asked for a full peer review.
Source: Yakima Herald
