EPA Region 10

Efforts to investigate the Northwest EPA office are now coming from D.C.  On Monday, central Washington’s Dan Newhouse sent a Letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin requesting an investigation into communications between anti-agriculture activist organizations and federal civil service employees.   "I am writing to...

Farmers are demanding transparency from the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice and a perceived campaign against Washington’s Ag industry.  Dillon Honcoop with Save Family Farming said public records indicate EPA has been pressuring Washington state agencies behind the scenes to assist their attacks on farms, specifically Lower Yakima Valley dairies.  Honcoop added...

A recent decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold an EPA’s preliminary injunction against a group of Yakima Valley dairies means those dairies must continue to test for nitrate contamination.  That recent ruling follows an appeal by the dairy farms against a previous court order mandating the expanded tests.   Larry ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a $4.6 billion competition to fund state, local, and Tribal programs to cut pollution, advance environmental justice and deploy clean energy solutions.

Late last week, the EPA announced it had reached settlements with several Yakima Valley cold storage facilities. The settlements come from alleged civil chemical accident prevention and preparedness violations with three separate companies operating eight cold storage facilities ...

On Wednesday the EPA announced that Simplot has agreed to pay a $65,248 penalty for federal pesticide handling and storage requirement violations. The violations occurred at their company’s Umatilla, OR and Moreland, ID retail facilities. I ...

Last week, Central Washington Representative Dan Newhouse hosted the Western Caucus foundation roundtable. The Fall Policy Roundtable: “When Agencies Weaponize Fake Science", highlighted the ongoing struggles Northwest dairies face because of a controversial 2012 EPA report that looked at the role Yakima Valley dairies played in nitrate levels in local groundwater. A h ...

After last months’ ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, denying an EPA motion to dismiss the case, the Washington state Dairy Federation and EPA are bound for federal court over a 2012-13 study regarding groundwater contamination in the lower Yakima Valley. The ...

Last week, the EPA Region 10, based in Seattle, issued a “Stop Sale” order to online marketplace Bonanza.com requiring the company to immediately halt sales of a dozen imported pesticide products not legal, or safe, for sale in the United States.  Among the...