Our Mission
Friends of Toppenish Creek is dedicated to protecting the rights of rural communities and improving oversight of industrial agriculture. FOTC operates under the simple principle that all people deserve clean air, clean water and protection from abuse that results when profit is favored over people. FOTC works through public education, citizen investigations, research, legislation, special events, and direct action.
Friends of Toppenish Creek does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in its programs or activities.
Friends of Toppenish Creek Actions
Petition to EPA under SDWA
The Friends of Toppenish Creek and the Center for Food Safety have filed a petition asking the Environmental Protection Agency to act to protect human health and effectuate the goals of the Safe Drinking Water Act in the Lower Yakima Valley. Read the petition HERE
Petition to EPA to Enforce Air Regulations
For over 16 years the EPA has failed to regulate air quality related to concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). In 2021 FOTC was proud to join a national coalition of environmental groups in a petition to resume CAFO regulations for air quality. Read the petition HERE
Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO) for Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency
In August 2021 the Air Pollution Control Officer/Executive Director for the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency resigned after the entire staff for the agency created a hostile work environment. After five months the YRCAA Board of Directors has still not advertised the position. This delay means that significant air pollution in Yakima County is ignored.
Air Quality in Yakima County
The Yakima Clean Air Agency maintains two air monitors in Yakima County – one in the City of Yakima and one in the City of Sunnyside. The monitors test for fine particulate matter but do not test for the other five criteria air pollutants, or for air pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia or methane. During the month of January 2022 there were only six days in which all readings in Yakima were in the healthy category and no days in which all readings in Sunnyside were healthy. Click HERE to see Yakima & Sunnyside air quality in January 2022. Click HERE to read about the risk of Air Quality Non-Attainment in Yakima County.
Litigation against the DBD/SMD Dairy
Friend of Toppenish Creek, along with the Center for Food Safety and the Community Association for Protection of the Environment are scheduled to appear before the Ninth Circuit Court in October 2022. FOTC, CFS and CARE will prove that the DBD/SMD Dairy in Outlook has polluted the groundwater through leakage from manure lagoons, pens and corrals and overapplication of manure to cropland. Read our first amended complaint HERE
Leaking Manure Lagoons in the Lower Yakima Valley
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) produce huge amounts of manure that is stored in multi-million gallon lagoons. These lagoons leak – a lot. CAFO defenders incorrectly state that lagoon leakage is minimal. Now there is proof from the Lower Yakima Valley that earthen manure lagoons discharge huge amounts of nitrogen to the underlying soils and groundwater. To learn more click HERE
Lorraine Loomis Act
The WA Legislature has failed to pass legislation, SB 5727 and HB 1838 the Lorrain Loomis Act, that would require buffers necessary to protect Washington Salmon from extinction. Farming interests described the issue as a choice between farming and salmon and proposed that farms are more important.
South Yakima Conservation District Fails to Protect Us
In Yakima County critical aquifer recharge areas are now supposed to be protected by a Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) that is administered in the upper county by the North Yakima Conservation District and in the lower county by the South Yakima Conservation District (SYCD). The SYCD has a staff of two who are expected to approve Nutrient Management Plans for dairies, administer grants for irrigation updates and rent equipment for no-till farming. The SYCD is also the lead agency for administration of the Lower Yakima Valley Groundwater Management Area Implementation Program. Two people cannot do this amount of work, even if they work 24 hours a day which they do not.
NPDES Permit for CAFOs
In 2021 a coalition of environmental groups including the Puget Sound Keeper Alliance, Center for Food Safety, the Western Environmental Law Center, Water Keepers Alliance, Sierra Club, Community Association for Restoration of the Environment, and FOTC won a ruling by the WA State Court of Appeals that said Ecology’s 2017 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Discharge (NPDES) permit for CAFOs was inadequate to protect the waters of the state. We are working with Ecology to draft a more effective permit that will hopefully be presented to the public in the summer of 2022. Read a CAFO Permit Press Release HERE
CAFOs in WA Flood Plains
As Climate Change increases Washington faces more frequent and severe flooding. Many CAFO dairies in Western Washington are located near rivers and streams. Flooding washes manure from the CAFOs into the rivers and streams and ultimately to Puget Sound and the ocean where it contributes to nutrient pollution that kills aquatic life. There is already a dead zone in Washington State. To learn more about dairies and flooding click HERE To learn where dairies are located in Washington state click HERE
Washington’s Inadequate Environmental Report Tracking System (ERTS)
The WA Dept of Ecology relies on citizen complaints to identify discharge of pollutants to groundwater and surface water. WA laws require investigation of dairy discharges not by Ecology but the WA State Dept. Agriculture (WSDA). WSDA generally finds no evidence and the discharges are ignored. Read about one example of ERTS mismanagment HERE
In June of this year 157 people out of every 100,000 had died from COVID 19 in the Upper Yakima County and 200 people out of every 100,000 had died in the Lower Yakima County
Through a public records request, the Friends of Toppenish Creek received data from the WA State Dept. of Health regarding incidence rates and death rates from COVID 19 by zip code in Yakima County. To see that data and read FOTC analysis click here.
Yakima County - Worst Air in Washington State
Figure 8.28. Winter season NH3 emissions contributions by source for Yakima County, from the 2011 Washington Comprehensive Emissions Inventory. page 99 of the Yakima Air Winter Nitrates Study.
- Infections and deaths from COVID 19 are worse in Yakima County compared to the rest of Washington State. Research from Harvard finds increased sickness and death from COVID 19 in counties with higher levels of fine particulate matter.
- Incidence rates for cardiovascular disease are above average in Yakima County. The EPA has confirmed a direct connection between heart disease and PM 2.5 air pollution.
- Yakima County has the worst levels of PM 2.5 in Washington State and levels in the lower county are worse than levels in the upper county. (Monitor Reports, Design Value Reports, Tile Values)
- Air quality in Yakima County is getting worse.
- The Yakima Air Winter Nitrate Study found that over 30% of fine particulate matter in Yakima County is due to ammonium nitrate.
- A study by the Center for Disease Control in Harrah found hydrogen sulfide levels above the odor threshold; found PM 2.5 levels midway between levels in the City of Yakima (lower) and levels in the City of Toppenish (higher).
- A study by John Hopkins University found elevated levels of bovine allergens at distances up to three miles from dairy operations.
- A study by the University of Washington found decreased pulmonary function in asthmatic children during periods with elevated ammonia levels.
- A WA State University study of emissions from two LYV dairy barns estimates emissions of particulate matter, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and volatile organic compounds. The results suggest that these dairy emissions should be regulated in Yakima County.
- The WA State Dept. of Agriculture estimates that 35% of all nitrogenous by-products from dairy animals volatilizes - ends up in the air.
- A Friends of Toppenish Creek study in the Lower Yakima Valley found ammonia levels 63 times higher than levels in a control setting in the Upper Yakima Valley.
- A study by the Latino Community Fund listed air quality among the highest priorities for families that live in the LYV.
- FOTC has asked Yakima County to dissolve the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency and allow the WA State Dept. of Ecology to regulate Yakima County air, because:
- Yakima County has public health problems that the YRCAA refuses to address.
- Yakima County air emissions contribute to climate change and the YRCAA refuses to address climate change.
- The YRCAA does not comply with Washington laws regarding air quality regulation.
- The YRCAA supports dairy interests and ignores citizen concerns.
- Air quality in the LYV is bad and getting worse.
Victory for Water