The Oregon Department of Agriculture will take public comments on a proposed water pollution permit for a mega-dairy planned near Threemile Canyon Farms.
Those wishing to comment should send written comments to William Matthews, ODA/CAFO Program, 635 Capitol St. NE, Salem OR 97301 or email wmatthews@oda.state.or.us. Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Aug. 4.
ODA will hold a public hearing on the proposal, at 4 p.m. Thursday, July 28 at the Port of Morrow Riverfront Center, No. 2 Marine Drive in Boardman.
According to the Statesman Journal, the proposed Willow Creek Dairy would house 30,000 animals. It would be the second-largest Oregon dairy, after Threemile Canyon, with 70,000 animals.
The department is taking public comment on the dairy’s proposed water pollution permit, which lays out how it must manage the 187 million gallons of manure it will produce each year.
California dairyman Greg te Velde has operated Willow Creek Dairy, with 8,000 animals, since 2002 on land leased from Threemile Canyon, according to the Statesman Journal. Last fall, te Velde purchased about 7,000 acres of the former Boardman Tree Farm, nine miles from the Columbia River, for $65 million. He plans to move and expand the dairy there.
The purchase came with water rights to the Columbia River, and the dairy will use about 325 million gallons per year.
That’s about three times the amount involved in a proposal to allow Swiss company Nestlé SA to bottle water from a state-owned spring in the Columbia Gorge.
Read the full story on the Statesman Journal website.
