oregon deq

A proposed bill in Salem would impose a moratorium on new mega farms in Oregon.  Lawmakers are considering two amendments to either pause new licensing of all factory farms for eight years, or only the largest poultry farms for two years.  Lucy Go...

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has revised the penalty against the Port of Morrow for additional violations involving overapplication of wastewater containing nitrogen to agricultural fields in the Lower Umatilla Basin, an area with longstanding groundwater contamination...

Cody Easterday has until July 15th to withdraw his application for a Confined Animal Feeding Operation permit, better known as a CAFO permit for a large dairy operation at the former Lost Valley Farm near Boardman. The Oregon Department of Agriculture and state Department of Environmental Quality have worked with Easterday since June 2019 on a permit to operate an operation with up to 28,000 anim

The Oregon Farm Bureau says legislation creating a new Department of Environmental Quality program could put farmers in the cross hairs.  House Bill 3044 would require applicators to report aerial pesticide and fertilizer application information on-line.  Th...

The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission has approved new smoke rules for the state that will allow more planned burns that reduce wildfire risk by getting rid of underbrush and dead trees.  Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that the rules approved Thursday are a tradeoff between having some smoke drift into communities during the winter months and the potential for devastating wildfires in th

A federal bankruptcy judge has allowed the proposed sale of the Lost Valley Farm to proceed despite objections by Oregon agencies over who will clean up the dairy’s wastewater and manure.  Court-appointed trustee Randy Sugarman recently entered into an asset purchase agreement for Canyon Farm LLC to buy the dairy’s land, equipment, property and water rights for $66.9 million.   ...

Forecasters are warning of unhealthy air in much of the Northwest as winds push smoke from surrounding wildfires into the region.  The National Weather Service has issued air quality alerts for much of Washington.  Air quality numbers started to increase Sunday, and aren’t expected to drop considerably until mid-week.  The service s...