About a dozen Yakima Valley dairies representing more than half of all dairy cows say they will participate in a one-year pilot project aimed at reducing pollution from their operations. After months of sometimes bitter criticism from dairy opponents, the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency on Thursday unanimously adopted a plan that proposes a variety of management practices to tackle emissions. The pilot project will test a series of 96 measures to deal with eight types of pollutants, including odors, dust, ammonia, methane, organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, nitrous oxide, and oxides of nitrogen.
Operators of dairies, one of the largest sectors in the Valley's agriculture-dependent economy, said they are confident the practices in the plan will work.
Bill Scheenstra, a Sunnyside dairyman and president of the Yakima Valley Dairy Federation, said the industry anticipates the project will "prove to be a benefit to the community and the dairy industry, and looks forward to it addressing the concerns of its critics."
Scheenstra will be a part of the pilot program, as will Jake and Genny DeRuyter, who operate a dairy near Outlook.
"Our families, employees and animals need clean air to thrive and prosper and we commit to doing our part to make this pilot project successful," Genny DeRuyter told the board.
More than 70 dairies operate in Yakima County with more than 120,000 dairy cows. The county is one of the top dozen milk-producing counties in the United States. PD
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