Agricultural lobbyists are expressing frustration over what they see as a lack of understanding among leaders at the California Air Resources Board over industry emissions in the San Joaquin Valley.
In July CARB approved the extension of a plan by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to tackle various pollutants. After public comments on the plan, several CARB board members shared skepticism over the benefits of FARMER, a state grant program incentivizing growers to upgrade tractors to low-emission models. Board members also questioned staff over ammonia emissions from dairies, after environmental justice advocates raised alarms.
“The valley needs to adopt stronger ammonia controls and ag equipment controls,” said Perry Elerts, an attorney at Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability. “Dairies are increasingly a problem for nearby communities.”
Senator Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park, a nonvoting member appointed by the Legislature, followed up on those concerns. He argued lawmakers have failed to put appropriate scrutiny on the air district, reflecting sentiment behind a bill legislators are considering this week that would put more scrutiny on the district’s emission reduction credits to agriculture.
“From what I've heard from a lot of stakeholders here, there's still a general lack of trust with the follow through [on enforcement from the district],” said Stern, who pressed staff on the role of dairies with fine particulate pollution known as PM 2.5.
Michael Benjamin, who leads CARB’s Air Quality Planning and Science Division, attempted several times to explain to Stern that while ammonia from dairies contributes to PM 2.5, diesel engines are a larger factor and CARB, alongside the district and U.S. EPA, is already regulating those emissions.
“It certainly would make meaningful contributions if you could ratchet down the ammonia that's coming off for both dairies and fertilizer operations,” responded Stern.
From a scientific perspective, Benjamin explained, targeting ammonia “is not a very effective way of doing that unless you were to literally get rid of dairies in the valley.” Benjamin and his staff struggled to clarify the science for the senator.
“I'm really hoping the board considers moving forward more aggressively on direct regulatory measures in that arena,” concluded Stern, who then confused ammonia with methane. “I just don't see a cow in the chart [on emissions], and then I don't see any anything related to dairy in any of the measures.”
Benjamin tried twice more to explain the issue. Reducing ammonia emissions as much as 30% would still not lead to meaningful PM 2.5 reductions, he said.
Board member Gideon Kracov then decried ammonia as “the elephant in the room — or maybe the cow in the room” and wondered if dairy digesters would reduce ammonia emissions. Staff said they had not found any relationship between the methane-capturing digesters and ammonia reductions.
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“It was just mind blowing to me how much our society relies on ammonia actually,” said Kracov, after reviewing the emissions report. “All these things are going to have to be on the table in the future.”
The discussion was cringeworthy for Roger Isom, president and CEO of the Western Agricultural Processors Association. During a recent hearing for the air district’s governing board, Isom said he was taken aback at remarks from other CARB members that the district has had years of inactivity and that it has not addressed emissions from offroad agricultural equipment like tractors.
“Frankly, ag, without any regulation, has stepped to the plate to get significant reductions on more than one occasion,” said Isom, before calling the board member’s statement “completely inaccurate and inappropriate.”
He noted that most of the CARB board is new and “just don't have the education or the experience” and urged district staff to perform more outreach to those members.
Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League, called the miscommunications a failure of senior staff at CARB.
“We had no way to defend comments made by board members that were totally wrong,” said Cunha. “It made us look like we do nothing.”
He worried CARB could decide to enact new rules mandating farmers purchase new tractors without grant support, now FARMER funding has dried up amid a deficit-induced state budget shortfall. He pointed out that growers have likely reduced annual nitrogen oxide emissions by as much as 14 tons through the program and shared deep disappointment for the lack of recognition.
“Agriculture will do its part,” said Cunha. “But we're not going to get screwed as an industry for bad science and because of whack jobs who just want to destroy my industry. The rural communities are dang important to our valley, to this country. They feed the world.”
Following the CARB hearing, Kevin Abernathy, general manager of the Milk Producers Council, felt like someone was “kicking the three-legged milk stool out from underneath you.” He praised the district for generally making CARB — "which is a pretty inept institution to begin with”—look like rockstars, though that was not reflected in the hearing.
The comments drew sympathetic remarks from Vito Chiesa, who chairs the district’s governing board while serving as a Stanislaus County Supervisor and walnut grower. He described the CARB discussion as unfair and worried about a top-down mandate to replace tractors.
“You're always going to get further in life not by mandating but by helping people get there through technology, with funds,” said Chiesa. “We're going to have to fight our way through it. We're going to do our job better, and everyone else is going to have to try and help us.”
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