Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Publication:Arkansas Democrat-Gazette NW; Date:Jan 27, 2015; Section:Editorial; Page Number:7B

Good news for us?
A judge rules

Mike Masterson



Afederal judge in Washington state ruled earlier this month on a case that likely sets a national precedent for preserving the cleanliness of our own state’s natural waters and streams such as our treasured Buffalo National River.

District Judge Thomas O. Rice of Spokane ruled that manure waste from an industrial dairy farm in that state posed an “imminent and substantial endangerment” to the environment and drinking water there.

The judge determined he “could come to no other conclusion than that the dairy’s operations are contributing to the high levels of nitrate that are currently contaminating—and will continue to contaminate … the underlying groundwater,” an Associated Press story reads. “Any attempt to diminish the dairy’s contribution to the nitrate contamination is disingenuous, at best,” the judge wrote in granting a partial summary judgment.

This finding matters a great deal legally, according to the story. For instance, an attorney for Public Justice said this marked the first time a federal court has ruled improperly managed manure to be a solid waste, rather than a beneficial farm product.

It’s also the first time the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which specifically governs the disposal of solid and hazardous waste, was applied to farm-animal waste.

More importantly to our state and others, the judge’s ruling now means similar contamination standards can be applied to natural waters and private wells across America should animal-waste generators be discovered polluting with their animal manure and waste.