EPA Is Probing Dairies’ Waste

Several dairy farmers in the Chino area have been served with federal subpoenas in an apparent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation into how manure was illegally discharged into the Santa Ana River, industry officials confirmed Tuesday.

The subpoenas, written by the U.S. attorney’s office on behalf of the EPA, seek records detailing the farmers’ waste-discharge practices over the past decade, said leaders of the California Milk Producers Council and the Western United Dairymen.

In addition, a state water official who inspects dairies in the region was subpoenaed to testify today before a federal grand jury in Santa Ana.

The Chino basin, which includes Corona, Ontario and other cities in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties, is home to more than 300,000 cows, the largest concentration of dairy animals in the world. The cows in the Chino basin produce more than 1 billion pounds of manure annually. Manure-laden runoff from the farms for years has flowed into tributaries of the Santa Ana River and into the groundwater that serves more than 2 million people in northern and central Orange County. Such contamination violates the federal Clean Water Act, except during extreme rain.

Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office and EPA would neither confirm nor deny Tuesday afternoonwhether an investigation is taking place.

However, a state water official confirmed that EPA investigators have been inspecting dairies in the area for a few years.

“Over the last couple years, they have taken a greater interest in dairies in general and dairies in our region in particular,” said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer with the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is responsible for regulating the dairies along with the federal agency.

“EPA has been down here and has been doing some inspections for a while now, for the last couple of years.”

Berchtold said that although the board has had problems with the dairies for as long as it has regulated them, “the general trend has been that their compliance record has gotten better over time.”

The subpoenas indicate that the documents will be reviewed by the federal grand jury in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, the dairymen said.

In addition, Athar Khan, a dairy inspector with the Santa Ana regional water board, has been subpoenaed to testify today before the grand jury, Berchtold said. Attempts to reach Khan were unsuccessful.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard Cutler, whose name appears on the subpoenas, declined to comment. He was involved in several criminal prosecutions of dairy farmers in California’s Central Valley, including one that sent a man to jail for 90 days.

Officials representing the dairymen expressed concern about the subpoenas, which request documents relating to waste discharge permits, notices of violation, manure handling and related topics.

In the California Milk Producers Council’s weekly newsletter, attorney David Albers said, “We would strongly recommend that if you are served with such a subpoena, that you immediately seek legal counsel prior to communicating with the United States attorneys or their agents prosecuting the case.”

Bob Feenstra, general manager of the council, said he believes that up to 11 area dairymen have received subpoenas.

He said that regional water board officials understand how winter rains can wash contaminants into streams.

Federal officials know less about the area, and about recent construction above the dairies that has increased the runoff problem, he said.

“The EPA is missing a lot,” Feenstra said.

“They’re missing an opportunity to work with the industry and work with other regulatory agencies to do the right thing, and to work with the industry to benefit clean water, and to benefit the Santa Ana River, rather than send out subpoenas.”

Michael Marsh, chief executive of Western United Dairyman, said the industry has made great strides in recent years.

“We’ve really taken an active role in getting dairymen involved in quality-assurance programs, which teach environmental stewardship,” he said.

“As we’ve made this kind of sea change in the way we’ve been dairying in the state of California ... it’s kind of frustrating that [the EPA is] going back 10 years for potential problems.”