Citizens for Dairy Reform, Hobbs, New Mexico

Land of Many Poo Poo


LAGOON OVERFLOW FROM WASH AND STORMWATER BOTTLED BLACKWATER FISH KILL - IN AMERICA'S HEARTLAND

Citizens for Dairy Reform A group of local Hobbs citizens forced to stand and fight against CAFO's (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) and big dairy operations in New Mexico.

FACT: 60% of dairy operations in New Mexico are in non-compliance of regulations

due to ground water pollution.

Across the nation, ordinary folks are getting fed up with massive amounts of animal waste emitted by CAFO's in the never-ending quest to make more money. Most of these are not "family farmers" but according to the classification of their function, have become "factory farms", catering to the several huge conglomerates sprouting from an industrial root that discounts the environment and rights of others and forces thousands of animals into a small area to maximize profits. In this action, they have forced thousands of real "family farmers" that actually had land and "farms" as the word is defined, to fail and disappear from the American landscape like the buffalo of another century.

RUCH DAIRY PERMIT DENIED Hobbs area repeat and long term violator denied permit due to numerous NMED and WQA violations. (NMED, pdf))

Interview from KUNM discussing newly approved New Mexico Dairy Regulations. Is it reasonable to control millions of gallons of animal waste?

PRESS RELEASE DECEMBER 16, 2010. The Water Quality Control Commission has adopted new dairy regulations.

And, our upcoming chat with Governor-Elect Susana Martinez . It should be noted that this request for meeting with the new governor was sent out via certified mail with return receipt requested. Notice was received back that this was delivered on 12-21-2010, however we have received nothing from the Governors office.

The dairy industry in New Mexico touts the the same old company line about water pollution. They say: "No way...cows don't cause it!" But, in fact, New Mexico has the largest dairy herds in the nation, averaging 2,088 cows per facility.	According to the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), almost two-thirds of the dairies in the state have exceeded groundwater pollution standards. What does this mean? Don't drink the water! And support the NMED's push for real dairy regulations!
According to the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, a single cow can produce as much waste as 21 humans. A large-scale industrial dairy facility can confine thousands or tens of thousands of animals, and generate as much waste as a small city. This waste is finding its way into our drinking water!	The *Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production* was formed to conduct a comprehensive, *fact-based, and balanced* examination of key aspects of the farm animal industry. Their findings give reason for concern over the impacts of industrial livestock facilities on public health, the environment, animal welfare, and rural communities.

"New Mexico Dairy Pollution Sparks 'Manure War'" The picture on many milk cartons shows cows grazing on a pasture next to a country barn and a silo, but the reality is very different.	Wait a minute, are these "family farms" or factory-style industrial facilities? According to the NMED Water Bureau Chief, Bill Olson, they are very large facilities that need regulations to prevent their waste from contaminating groundwater.
Learn more about the safety of our food chain from the Dairy Education Alliance, a national coalition of farmers, grass-roots activists, environmentalists, scientists, public interest lawyers, and economists. Get the facts!	Ground Water Quality Bureau Dairy Regulation Development Writing dairy waste regulations for New Mexico.
Despite the fact that clay-lined waste ponds have leaked to the point that we can't drink our water, industry leaders oppose change and claim that NMED hasn't done their engineering. But Olson disagrees, saying “We’ve provided a full technical and scientific analysis of why clay doesn’t work. Their own documents support that clay liners seep. We can’t have the seepage – we already have extensive groundwater contamination across the state.”	Olsen says "the cost of pollution is very large" in the New Mexico Independent. If a dairy isn’t contaminating the groundwater, the new regulations won’t require them to install new liners in their lagoons. It’s only new lagoons, or lagoons that have polluted groundwater, that would need synthetic liners. Olsen says that if a polluting lagoon already has a synthetic liner, it may just need a simple repair rather than a completely new liner. And this requirement would only kick in for lagoons that are within 50 feet of groundwater.
Got milk? Yup, got manure, too...seemingly from out of nowhere. New Mexico has suddenly emerged as a major dairy state. 350,000 cows crowd scores of modern high-yield farms, most of them in the southeastern region of our state, making us the nation's no.7 milk producer.	New Mexicans are saying "enough is enough"! A group of citizen-based organizations have banned together to form a coalition to stop dairy pollution. Join the Caballo Concerned Citizens, Amigos Bravos, the Rio Grand Chapter of the Sierra Club, Citizens for Dairy Reform, and Food & Water Watch in standing up for clean water!
As far back as 1999, experts have shown that New Mexico's dairies are contaminating groundwater. See, Dairy Feedlot Contributions to Groundwater Contamination - A Preliminary Study in New Mexico	Cannon Air Force Base drinking water unsafe to drink Environment Department issues a "boil water" advisory. Drinking water at Cannon Air Force Base has become contaminated with high levels of the bacteria E. coli, possibly from sewage.
From Anthony, Vado, other communities within the area of "Dairy Row" south of Las Cruces. One dairy has sat empty and unused for 30 years, more	I’d never been to New Mexico before, but I pretty much knew what to expect. Majestic, still-snowy mountains. Low adobe buildings and scrub brush. An eclectic mix of indigenous, cowboy, and rugged outdoorsy cultures. Intense dryness.
And then there is the dairy industry, "the milk cartel" represented by, among others, Walter Bradley, former lieutenant governor of New Mexico and a representative of Dairy Farmers of America. In the written testimony he submitted before the hearing, Bradley complained about low milk prices – dairy farmers saw record-low prices for their milk last year – and argued that it was a terrible time to impose more costs on them through regulation. Read More about DFA	It's pretty ironic. Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) is the largest dairy cooperative in the country, controlling some 30% of the nation’s milk. It buys milk from farmers and processes it into cheese and other products in its own facilities, or sells it to even larger processors like Dean Foods. Although it’s technically a cooperative, it’s an extreme exaggeration to say that DFA represents the interests of U.S. dairy farmers. In fact, DFA is the subject of a class-action lawsuit brought in October of 2009 by 10,000 dairy farmers in 11 states, who allege that DFA deliberately drove down prices for farmers while reaping inflated profits. (After all, for DFA, milk is an input; it makes sense that it would want that input to be as cheap as possible.) Take Action

Tell the Water Quality Control Commission that protecting our waters is

important to New Mexicans!

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Other Partners R io Valle Concerned Citizens and Amigos Bravos

Honorable Mention to Conservation Voters of New Mexico.

"Bayanihan"

Pilipino for "Friends helping friends work together."

Compiled by Citizens for Dairy Reform, Hobbs, New Mexico.

Ground Water Quality Bureau Dairy Regulation Development