{"id":1937,"date":"2021-01-21T00:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmforward1.wpengine.com\/?p=1937"},"modified":"2022-11-22T03:20:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T03:20:38","slug":"mega-dairy-moratorium-bills-introduced-in-oregon-state-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/mega-dairy-moratorium-bills-introduced-in-oregon-state-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Mega-dairy Moratorium Bills Introduced in Oregon State Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<section class=\"normal_content bg-white padding-top-small padding-bottom-small\" style=\"\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row center-md\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-7\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content-styled\"><p>This week, thanks to groundbreaking legislation introduced by Oregon Representative Rob Nosse and Senator Michael Dembrow, a much-needed moratorium on new and expanding industrial dairies above 2,500 cows has a chance to see the light of day.<\/p>\n<p>As members of the Stand Up to Factory Farms coalition, Farm Forward supports the moratorium which would allow a pause in the permitting of new and expanding mega-dairies until meaningful protections can be enacted to protect Oregon\u2019s air, water, climate, rural communities, small farmers and animal welfare.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe growth of mega-dairies in Oregon is directly responsible for destroying small dairy farms, polluting our rivers, water, and land, and are a major contributor to the worsening climate crisis,\u201d says Erin Eberle, Director of Engagement at Farm Forward. \u201cIt\u2019s past time for Oregon to put our people, farmed animals, and planet before profits. We need a mega-dairy moratorium this session.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis legislation could not come at a more critical time for Oregon\u2019s climate,\u201d says\u00a0<strong>Emma Newton, Oregon Organizer with Food &amp; Water Watch and the Stand Up to Factory Farms coalition<\/strong>. \u201cRepresentative Nosse and Senator Dembrow lead the charge as Oregonians fight back against dangerous industrial dairy facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMega-dairy pollution doesn\u2019t impact all Oregonians equally. Our rural communities- particularly Latinx and indigenous communities- have long lived with polluted air and unsafe drinking water,\u201d says\u00a0<strong>Ana Elisa Wilson, Community Organizer at Oregon Rural Action.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cA mega-dairy moratorium would protect Oregon\u2019s rural communities from further harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMega-dairies use as much water as a city the size of Bend,\u201d says\u00a0<strong>Brian Posewitz, staff attorney at WaterWatch of Oregon<\/strong>. \u201cOur streams, rivers and groundwater aquifers are too strained to handle that extra load. We appreciate Representative Nosse and Senator Dembrow introducing these bills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince 2000, Oregon\u2019s small and pastured dairy farmers have struggled to compete with mega-dairies flooding the milk market and driving down prices,\u201d says<strong>\u00a0Amy Wong, Policy Director at Friends of Family Farmers.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cA mega-dairy moratorium is the break our small farmers need to stay in business and build a resilient local food system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mega-dairies cause air pollution, contribute to climate change, extract large amounts of water from Oregon\u2019s rivers, streams, and aquifers, contaminate drinking water, harm the welfare of animals, and push family-scale farms out of business.\u00a0<strong>Advocates warn that the increase in mega-dairies is a crisis for Oregon\u2019s communities and natural resources that can only be solved by a \u201ctime-out\u201d on the construction and expansion of these facilities.<\/strong>\u00a0Oregon is poised to be the next hot spot for mega-dairies unless the legislature takes immediate action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of lax state regulation, frontline communities pay for mega-dairy air and water pollution with their health. But Oregonians deserve a food system that is resilient, healthy, and fair for everyone. That\u2019s why we need a time out to ensure a just system that does not sacrifice people in the pursuit of profits,\u201d says\u00a0<strong>Amy van Saun, Senior Attorney with the Center for Food Safety.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is past time to protect our natural resources from the overuse and pollution of mega-dairies. A mega-dairy moratorium ensures Oregon\u2019s water supply, including treasured waterways like the Columbia River, will be safe from waste runoff&#8221;, says\u00a0<strong>Lauren Goldberg, Legal and Program Director at Columbia Riverkeeper.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cMega-dairies operate with little regard for the well-being of the thousands of cows forced inside their concrete walls or surrounding communities,\u201d says\u00a0<strong>Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells.<\/strong>\u201cOregon urgently needs better legal safeguards put in place to protect animals and residents from the threats posed by mega-dairies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Consider becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/donate\/\">sustaining supporter<\/a>\u00a0of Farm Forward to help ensure we can continue this important work.<\/p>\n<p><em>Image Credit: We Animals Media<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\n\t<section class=\"last_updated padding-top-small padding-bottom-large\" style=\"\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"last-updated-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"section-title small\">Last Updated<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"date small\">January 21, 2021<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,20,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation","category-animal-welfare","category-food-policy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}