Pam Nieberg (April 2005)

After listening to public testimony at the April 5 hearing on regulations for mega-dairies, the Solano County Board of Supervisors sent staff back with instructions to modify the draft ordinances on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The supervisors asked staff to consider 3-mile buffers between large dairies and city growth boundaries and a two mile limit from the planned veteran's cemetery near Dixon; to require dual liners for manure lagoons to minimize leakage; and to require new dairies to post a financial bond. At the hearing, a variety of experts discussed technical issues including leaching of chemicals from manure lagoons, use of manure on crops, and public health effects of the large amounts of animal waste produced by large CAFOs.

This is good news for the Sierra Club, animal rights groups, neighbors of the existing Heritage Dairy, and other concerned citizens of Solano County. For two years, the Club and others have asked for much stronger regulations for large confined animal facilities. The Club has advocated in public and in writing for a minimum of 3-mile buffers, synthetic and dual liners for lagoons, better measurement and control of toxic air-borne emissions, and other management and operation regulations to minimize the impacts of these facilities on the environment and on human health. At the April 5th meeting, attorney Brent Newell representing the Sierra Club acknowledged that the Supervisors are making some significant steps toward creating good, solid ordinances, though it is too soon to say the Club will endorse the new regulations.

Not everyone was happy with the 3-mile buffer recommendation. City officials from Vacaville and Dixon want dairies far from their borders because of potential foul odors and air pollution. The cities have been advocating for 5 and even 10 mile buffers. Others fear that even a 3-mile buffer makes it very difficult to locate dairies in Solano County. The three mile buffer proposal could leave a strip of land east of Highway 113 that would accommodate no more than 12 to 15 more large dairies.

Air quality concerns are still an issue. Public health officials at the hearing testified that workers on large CAFOs are at risk for developing asthma. The effect on near-by communities is still a subject of research. Some experts believe that 2 to 3-mile buffers might help. Air quality issues and potential for pollution by toxic emissions from large CAFOs are being left up to the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Control District. The district is currently working on new rules to regulate emissions from agricultural sources including large confined animal operations.

Though there is still work to be done to protect communities and the environment from these polluting facilities, stronger regulations (such as increased buffers) restrict the number of large CAFOs that can be accommodated in Solano County, and increase the cost to potential CAFOs considering the move to the county. If the new regulations are adopted, future dairy operators will have to consider not only the cost of an EIR, but also that of posting a financial bond, installing and maintaining synthetic liners, and general increases in construction and operation expenses. This may make potential dairy operators think twice before moving to Solano County.

Contact Solano County Supervisors: Thank them for their work so far and encourage them to continue with research and discussion on impacts of large confined animal facilities on the environment and human health and on ways to minimize or eliminate these impacts. Contact information and other actions.