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.
To Report a Manure Spill
WSDA 1-800-258-5990
Central WA Ecology 509-575-2490
FOTC has compiled a summary of data from domestic well testing for Nitrate-N in South Yakima County since 2000
The map below shows wells with nitrate levels above the safe drinking water standard. The higher the nitrate level the taller the point on the map. To read the entire paper, please click HERE
Over the past quarter-century, various organizations have measured nitrate concentrations in wells across the Lower Yakima Valley. However, the results of these tests have not been shared with residents in communities affected by this contamination. This report shows that nearly 40% of the wells tested have met or exceeded the federal drinking water standard of 10 parts per million (ppm), indicating the water is unsafe to drink. By withholding this information, residents and community leaders lack a clear understanding of the health risks they face and the full extent and severity of nitrate pollution in their area.
Increasing Nitrate-N Levels at Outlook Elementary School
FOTC has researched recent test results for the Outlook Elementary School. It appears that nitrate-n levels are increasing somewhat and are currently around 4.85 mg/L. Nitrate levels at the Outlook School are increasing. Recent research shows that Nitrate-N levels above 5 mg/L are harmful to human health. In the Netherlands the safe drinking water standard is 5 mg/L Nitrate-N. Denmark has plans to accept this standard as well. To learn more click HERE
Friends of Toppenish Creek has completed analysis of data compiled by the WA State Dept. of Ecology that shows groundwater quality in the Lower Yakima Valley is worsening - Please read
Summary of Nitrate N Averages in Springtime in the LYV GWMA Target Area
Friends of Toppenish Creek has asked Yakima
County Planning to review whether a Lower
Yakima Valley Calf Ranch violates terms of a
Conditional Use Permit (CUP)
Fryslan Calf Ranch obtained a CUP in 2017 that authorized construction of 1,500 calf hutches on 30 acres. Today Fryslan has 7,000 calf hutches on 100 acres
Read our complaint HERE
Read a summary of the first meeting between Yakima County and Fryslan to discuss the FOTC complaint HERE We are very concerned that Yakima County will not address the permit violations, will simply modify the permit to allow Fryslan continue business as usual which means loss of groundwater and diminished groundwater flow to the Yakima river.
Read FOTC's analysis of the situation dated April 2025
Supplementary Data
Fryslan 2015.7 Determination of Significance
Fryslan 2015.7 Ecology Comments
Fryslan 2016.2 Conditional Use Permit
Fryslan 2016.2 Environmental Review
Fryslan 2016.4 Ecology Comments
Fryslan 2016.10 Hydrogeological Impact Assessment
Fryslan 2017.1 Ecology Technical Memo
Fryslan 2017.6 Stokes Lawrence
Fryslan 2017.7 Iller Statement
Fryslan 2017.7 Iller to Hearing Examiner
Fryslan 2017.7 Open Public Hearing Comments
Fryslan 2017.8 Hearing Examinaer Decision
Fryslan 2017.10 Well Monitoring Covenant
Fryslan 2017.11 Stokes Lawrence Opposition
Fryslan 2017.11 Yakima County Staff Report
Fryslan 2018.9 Sage Brush Dairy
Fryslan 2018.11 Sage Brush CUP Application
Fryslan 2018.11 Sage Brush Comments
Fryslan 2018.11 Sage Brush Ecology Comments
Fryslan 2018.12 Sage Brush MDNS
Fryslan 2018.12 Sage Brush Letter from Ecology
Fryslan 2019.1 Sage Brush Final MDNS
Fryslan 2020.7 Stokes Lawrence Moving Calves
Fryslan 2021.7 Verification of Compliance
Fryslan 2024 Well Monitoring Reports
Fryslan 2025 Violations of Yakima County Code
Stock Piling Manure in Pens and Corrals
A myth that impedes progress in effective regulation of animal agriculture is the idea that whatever industry does is an acceptable practice. Seventy years ago few people would have found it acceptable to store animal manure in million gallon lagoons next to people’s homes. Bit by bit that practice has wormed its way into everyday life in rural America. Today many people consider this “normal”. Is confining animals on top of manure next?
Not too long ago CAFO owners routinely removed manure from pens and corrals. That practice is now changing as operators simply pile up the manure in the center of the lots and let it accumulate for years. In a letter to the EPA Ag & Water Quality Advisory Committee, Friends of Toppenish Creek describes what is happening in the Yakima Valley and summarizes the few regulatory actions in place.
Cows stand on top of packed, stockpiled manure in pens in the Lower Yakima Valley
Fact Sheets regarding National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES) permits for CAFOs
1. Environmental Coalition Challenges NPDES Permits for CAFOs
3. Fees for Dairies are 20 Years Behind the Times
4. What are Technology Based Effluent Limits (TBELS)?
5. What is "All Known and Reasonable Technology" (AKART)?
6. What are Water Quality Based Effluent Limits (WQBELS)?
10. WET Testing
11. Opinion EPA & the Clean Water Act
12. Data Omission
14. Surface Waters
15. State Environmental Policy Act
16. Monitoring Wells
17. Motion for Summary Judgement
18. MSJ Argument A
FOTC Questions SEPA Review for an Anaerobic Manure Bio-Digester
On August 23, 2023 Friends of Toppenish Creek was scheduled to go before the City of Sunnyside Hearing Examiner to appeal a mitigated determination of non-significance for a proposed manure bio-digester, planned for construction at the Port of Sunnyside. That appeal was cancelled, although we did not see an official signed document from the Hearing Examiner. Stay tuned for updates.
Here are links to relevant documents:
Application for a Conditional Use Permit sent back for more data in 2021
Construction Application sent back for more information in 2021
Pacific Ag Presentation to Port of Sunnyside Sept 6, 2022
Interlocal Agreement City of Sunnyside & Port of Sunnyside October 22, 2022
Port of Sunnyside Property Sale November 16, 2022
DNS for Property Sale December 6, 2022
New Source Review Application for an Air Permit sent back for more data
Notice of Environmental Review May 17, 2023
Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance June 22, 2023
WSDA Air Quality Report for Yakima June, 2023
Sunnyside RNG Interrogatory Aug 5, 2023
FOTC Motion to Hearing Examiner Aug 5, 2023
Sunnyside RNG Interrogatory Aug 9, 2023
FOTC Appeal Brief Aug 16, 2023
Notice of Appeal Cancellation Aug 16, 2023
FOTC Response to Cancellation Aug 17, 2023
Traffic Impact Analysis July 10, 2023
FOTC TIA Evaluation August 28, 2023
FOTC Appeal to City of Sunnyside Sept 22, 2023
SS RNG Addendum Letter October 8, 2023
City of Sunnyside Notice of Addendum November 28, 2023
Notice of Addendum November 28, 2023
Addendum Comments Center for Food Safety December 5, 2023
Addendum Comments FOTC December 17, 2023
More Addendum Comments December 19, 2023
SS RNG MDNS Revised January 25, 2024
FOTC Appeal of MDNS February 1, 2024
Pacific Ag Response to Questions Feb 1, 2024
City of Sunnnyside Response to Appeal Feb 6, 2024
FOTC to SS City Council Feb 10, 2024
FOTC to SS City Council Feb 11, 2024
SS RNG MDNS Revision Revised March 22, 2024
Reasons for an Environmental Impact Statement March 28, 2024
The Port of Sunnyside currently has an enforcement limit of 78.2 mg/L Nitrate N for groundwater at port monitoring wells - nearly eight times the safe drinking water standard. This level of nitrate in groundwater fits into the highest readings in South Yakima County, or almost anywhere. Why has this happened? To read more click HERE
Another Win for Water
Press Release: June 9, 2023, In a court settlement filed today, DBD Washington, LLC and SMD, LLC, two factory farm dairies in Yakima Valley, WA owned by Austin Jack DeCoster, agree to clean up and limit water pollution in response to a lawsuit brought by Community Association of Restoration of the Environment (CARE), Friends of Toppenish Creek, and Center for Food Safety. Yakima residents affected by ongoing factory farm pollution brought the lawsuit in 2019 to stop contamination of local drinking water with animal waste from factory farm dairy operations.
Under the terms of the settlement, the dairies will help restore the aquifer by remediating nitrate and ammonia contamination beneath the facilities’ lagoons and fund research to compare two remediation methods that target shallow aquifers beneath porous soils. In order to prevent future pollution, the dairies will double line or close waste lagoons, install over a dozen groundwater monitoring wells, improve land application of waste to avoid further contamination, and make other improvements to the infrastructure for waste storage and transport. In the meantime, the dairies will fund alternative sources of clean drinking water for residents near the operations.
Press Release click HERE
Consent Decree click HERE
Civil Rights in Yakima County
On February 6, 2023 FOTC asked the EPA External Civil Rights Compliance Office to re-open our complaint against the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency regarding failure of the YRCAA to engage people with Limited English Proficiency. To read that letter click HERE or go to our page on Issues and People.
On March 6, 2023 FOTC submitted a revised and expanded complaint to the EPA External Civil Rights Compliance Office. To read that letter click HERE or go to our page on Issues and People.
Friends of Toppenish Creek Actions
Letter to Health and Human Services re Nitrates in Drinking Water
On May 5, 2026 FOTC along with 82 other organizations sent a letter to Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin calling on them to take emergency action on industrial agriculture’s nitrate water pollution crisis to protect Americans’ drinking water at the source and at the tap.
The letter comes on the heels of a recent Iowa Environmental Council and Harkin Institute report which found Iowa has the nation’s highest waterway nitrate contamination, linked to high and rising cancer rates. Iowa ranks second in the nation for cancer incidence, and is one of just three states where rates are rising. Iowa’s primary nitrate polluter is industrial agriculture, with more factory farms and more row cropped acreage than any other state. Read the Letter HERE
Petition to EPA to Acknowledge that Large CAFOs Discharge to Public Waters
Along with fifty other environmental groups across the nation, FOTC petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to acknowledge that large CAFOs with manure lagoons routinely discharge water pollution that threatens public health and the environment, including nitrogen, phosphorus, disease-causing pathogens, & pharmaceuticals. Read the Petition HERE
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
Petition to EPA to Enforce PFAS Regulations
The Friends of Toppenish Creek joined over 150 other groups in a letter urging the EPA to vigorously address the problem of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the nation's drinking water. Read the letter HERE
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
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
Friends of Toppenish Creek submits comments on policy issues that impact the people of the Lower Yakima Valley. You can read our comments below:
Climate Commitment Act Definition of Overburdened Communities: FOTC has attempted to describe the people who live in the Lower Yakima Valley and explain the challenges we face. Comment I CAFO Health Impacts, Comment II Public Health in Yakima County, Comment III Ignored by Govt.
Keeping of Animals: In 2022 the WA State Board of Health revised WAC 246-203-130, a rule that regulates management of animal manure. Read FOTC Comment I, Comment II, and Comment III
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permits for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). FOTC and Allies have submitted in-depth comments on Ecology's proposed 2023 permits. Read the comments: Comment I, Comment II, Comment III, Comment IV, Comment V, Comment VI, Comment VII, Comment VIII
Climate Commitment Act Implementation WAC 173-446: Read FOTC Comment I, Comment II Because Ecology did not respond to our concerns in their general response statement, FOTC sent this Letter to Ecology asking for better information.
General Permit for Biosolids: Read FOTC Comments HERE
WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife's Puget Sound Chinook Conservation and Rebuilding Scoping Document: Read FOTC Comments HERE
Victory for Water
On June 29, 2021 the Washington State Court of Appeals ruled in favor of environmentalists who challenged the WA Pollution Control Hearings Board approval of Ecology's 2017 NPDES General Permits for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. This is a major victory for clean water in our state. To learn more see the links below
In layman's terms the court ruled:
1. The permits fail to require All Known, Available, and Reasonable Technology to prevent groundwater pollution from manure lagoons and composting areas.
All Known, Available, and Reasonable Technology (AKART) is a legal term that requires any operation (municipal, industrial, or agricultural) to do everything reasonably possible to minimize pollution. In the case of manure lagoons, there must be liners in place that prevent pollutants from leaking into the soil and the groundwater. In the case of composting areas, this means composting must take place on a lined or concrete surface, or the ground must be compacted so it is hard enough to prevent leaking of pollutants into the underlying soil.
2. The permits fail to prevent pollution from tile drains that seep into Washington rivers and streams.
In some parts of the state, especially in lowlands, farmers install drains beneath the cropland to draw off excess water. This keeps soil moisture at levels that promote plant growth and avoids drowning the plants. If there are pollutants in the water from fertilizer or manure, then those pollutants follow the drainage. Because the drains have openings that discharge water into canals, rivers, and streams, it is easy to test the drainage for pollutants, such as nitrates. This is one way to fulfill the requirements in the law to measure how much of each pollutant is discharged to surface waters.
3. The permits fail to require adequate monitoring of discharges to surface and ground water.
NPDES permits allow businesses and other operations to discharge a limited amount of a pollutant to waters of the state (groundwater and surface water). Many operations cannot do their work without producing a certain amount of pollution. Ecology needs a way to measure how much of each pollutant is discharged. Then Ecology can decide whether a facility complies with their permit that limits the amount of discharge.
NPDES permits for CAFOs must address discharges when manure is spread as fertilizer. Those discharges include leaching of pollutants downward to the groundwater and runoff that reaches rivers and streams.
The 2017 permit assumed that simply measuring the amount of nitrate in the soil at 1-2 feet provided enough information to measure discharges. However, nitrate that leaches below the root zone is no longer tested and is no longer available for use by the plants. The court ruled that the only way to truly know how much contamination reaches the aquifer is to test the groundwater. This means placing monitoring wells in strategic locations.
4. The permits deny public participation in development of facility-specific nutrient management plans.
The Clean Water Act (CWA) tries to ensure that policy decisions consider the interests of the people who are affected by aions such as issuing permits. To do this the CWA requires public notices and an opportunity for the public to comment before NPDES permits are issued.
The NPDES permitting system must now require CAFO's to share their nutrient management plans with the public before Ecology issues the permit.
5. Ecology failed to consider the effects of climate change in authorizing discharges to Washington waters.
One of the Washington laws that protects the environment is the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA). Washington’s SEPA analyzes the impact of government decisions on the environment. An example would be whether a proposed highway interferes with the natural flow of a river. Permit decisions are included in Washington’s SEPA.
One of the state’s responsibilities under SEPA is to, “Fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environm
ent for succeeding generations.” The court ruled that Ecology must consider SEPA requirements when issuing permits.
6. Ecology’s standard for field application of manure satisfies AKART as applied to Eastern Washington.
The 2017 permit contained a requirement that manure cannot be applied to the fields until a calculation called T-SUM 200 is achieved. T-SUM 200 is the sum of average daily temperatures starting in January. The Dairy Federation appealed this requirement for Eastern Washington. The court ruled that using T-SUM 200 satisfies AKART mandates in the law.
Archives
USDA-Backed “Factory Farm” Takeover of Organic Milk Production Crushing Family-Scale Farmers and Forcing Them Out of Business
An Aurora feedlot: one of the six industrial-scale certified
organic dairy “farms” in Texas creating more milk than over
450 authentic organic farms in Wisconsin
From the Cornucopia Institute at https://www.cornucopia.org/2018/08/usda-backed-factory-farm-takeover-organic-milk-production/
For more information click here
Lower Yakima Valley Groundwater
In June 2019 the Lower Yakima Valley Groundwater Management Area delivered a Program to address groundwater pollution in the area. The Friends of Toppenish Creek wrote a Minority Report and later filed an appeal of Ecology's certification of the Program in August 2019.
Learn About FOTC's September 2020 Appeal to the WA State Pollution Control Hearings Board:
On March 19, 2021 the PCHB issued a ruling on this appeal. Click Here to read the ruling.
On March 27, 2021 FOTC filed a petition for reconsideration. We argued that 1. the LYV GWMA Implementation Team has not complied with the conditions for certification, and 2. Ecology's expert witness gave inaccurate testimony at the hearing.
Ecology filed an answer to the FOTC petition
FOTC filed a response to Ecology's Answer
On May 21, 2021 the PCHB denied FOTC's Petition for Reconsideration. Click Here to read the ruling. FOTC will not appeal because funding further efforts is beyond our resources.
How CAFOs Milk the Public
For decades, the federal government has enabled our dairy industry by subsidizing the excess production of cow’s milk even as American consumers drink less of it and we face a glut of 1.4 billion pounds of cheese in storage. Our milk supply is outpacing demand, but dairy farms continue to receive government support, which promotes further wasteful overproduction. Industrial dairies are exploiting tax breaks and other benefits to consolidate their influence, while smaller dairies are in crisis. Many of these smaller farms are going out of business, despite the government subsidies meant to keep them afloat.
The Washington Post, June 12, 2019 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/12/best-way-help-dairy-farmers-is-get-them-out-dairy-farming/
The estimated US$12.06/cwt support to U.S. dairy production in 2015 was equivalent to 45% of U.S. cost of production of milk or 71% of the market returns for milk as reported by USDA.
Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates, Limited Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2018: Congress Thumbs its Nose at WTO and the DOHA Round, U.S. Federal and State Subsidies to Agriculture - EXPENDITURES UNDER (greyclark.com)
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service https://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/Milk/index.php
To learn the cost of CAFOs in Yakima County click Here
To see examples of manure over application in Yakima County click Here
Northwest Environmental Advocates won a major legal victory on January 11, 2021. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle ordered the WA State Dept. of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take steps to reduce polluted runoff from land uses such as farming, logging, and septic systems.
While Washington has a state program to control logging pollution, it has no such program for farming and livestock grazing, and local governments have failed to carry out state laws to limit nutrient pollution from septic systems around Puget Sound.
This settlement also ensures that three federal agencies will review Ecology’s work to make sure that the size of streamside buffers will be sufficient to protect salmon and other threatened and endangered species.
To learn more click here or go to https://www.northwestenvironmentaladvocates.org/2021/01/11/court-settlement-benefits-washington-waters/
THE ORGANIC FARMING MOVEMENT was built on a loving, collaborative relationship between producers farming in consort with nature and consumers who are willing to more fairly compensate them for their efforts.
For the first 25 years, this relationship returned increasing and economically stable farm gate prices—unlike the rest of agriculture. But the lucrative and growing industry was just too much to resist, and corporate agribusiness, with the tacit endorsement of federal regulators, accelerated its takeover and is currently squeezing family-scale farmers out of business.
To learn more click here or go to DairyReport2018-full-report.pdf (cornucopia.org)
Lower Valley GWMA Budget Discussion
September 17, 2014 - The Lower Yakima Valley Groundwater Management Area was created in 2012 to address pollution of groundwater with nitrates. Various studies have found that 12% t0 20% of wells in the area have nitrates higher than the safe level -10mg/L. In the interest of keeping the public well informed, Friends of the Toppenish Creek will post videos of the ground water management committee meetings. These videos are from August 21, 2014, recorded at Radio KDNA in Granger WA. The purpose of this meeting was to... Read More »
Chief Sealth's Words
August 06, 2012 - Chief Sealth's Words - 1854
Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds.
My words are like the stars that never change. Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons.
The white chief says that Big Chief at Washington sends us greetings of friendship ... Read More »