NM Dairies, Environment Dept. Disagree

The New Mexico Environment Department and dairy producers disagree on how dangerous dairies are to groundwater and what should be done to prevent pollution. In this year’s legislative session, a bill passed requiring the state to enact statutes specifying what dairies must do to protect the environment. Now, the Environment Department requires various practices to prevent pollution. But there is no set common standard. “What the dairies are looking for is sound science,” said Alva Carter Jr., whose family owns a dairy south of Portales and one near Muleshoe. “We are not asking to be deregulated.” Carter, a member of Dairy Industry for a Cleaner Environment, said his industry believes dairies cause 2 percent or less of all water contamination in New Mexico. “And that’s not a number we’re proud of either, but it’s a far cry from saying we have a big problem,” he said. NMED Ground Water Quality Bureau Chief William C. Olson said 65 percent of New Mexico dairies have caused groundwater contamination. Olson said the main pollutant dairies may put out is nitrate from manure and organic waste. In infants, nitrate can reduce the ability of blood to carry oxygen, and the resulting oxygen starvation can kill the child, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site...Clovis News-Journal