blue baby syndrome: A citizen activist forces New Mexico's dairies to clean up their act — High Country News

[Guest guest]

Excerpt:

" The pollutant most regulators focus on is nitrate. At high levels in

drinking water, nitrate can cause methemoglobinemia, or blue baby

syndrome, where nitrogen compounds interfere with the blood's ability to

carry oxygen. Formula-fed infants are particularly susceptible. Possible

effects of chronic high nitrate exposure on adults include cancer,

reproductive problems and diabetes, although researchers say more study

is needed.

" Nitrate is not necessarily the most dangerous substance given off by

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. But it is one of the

few manure pollutants the government has the authority to regulate. The

federal Safe Drinking Water Act limits nitrate concentration to 10 parts

per million. That law, which applies to all drinking water systems

serving more than 25 people, and the Clean Water Act, which regulates

water quality for pollutants like phosphorous, nitrates and E. coli in

surface water, are the main tools regulators can use to curb pollution

from factory farms; the majority of air and water contaminants produced

by CAFOs are not federally limited. "

[Excellent overview]

A citizen activist forces New Mexico's dairies to clean up their act

by Paige Ogburn

http://www.hcn.org/issues/43.20/a-citizen-activist-forces-new-mexicos-dairies-to\

-clean-up-their-act

Jerry Nivens lives in a trailer in Caballo, N.M., 165 miles south of

Albuquerque. A bulky Texas transplant who chain-smokes American Spirits,

Nivens cares as deeply for his mesquite-speckled patch of ground as any

rural New Mexican. He enjoys driving into the mountains, where he used

to while away afternoons panning for gold. He goes fishing Lone

Star-style -- in reservoirs, not rivers.

On the sunny May day I met him, he spilled out of his GMC Jimmy sporting

a National Rifle Association ballcap and Magnum P.I.-style sunglasses.

He wore brown corduroy pants hung from suspenders with a matching jacket

over a plaid shirt. A giant Marlboro belt buckle completed the ensemble.

As we drove around, Nivens marveled at artesian pools supporting desert

wildlife, exclaimed as a squadron of baby quail crossed our path, and

wondered over underground rivers that run to the nearby Rio Grande.

Retired from the refrigeration business, he earns money from an

invention of his used for water purification. He spends much of his time

alone. " I'm kind of an old hermit, " he says.

Which, in a way, was why I had come -- to learn how and why this loner

became the driving force behind a movement that brought the state's

mega-dairies to heel. The dairy industry is New Mexico's largest

agricultural sector and an influential lobbying force. Although the

state Environment Department has long worked with dairies to reduce

pollution, change has been slow: Almost 60 percent of the state's

dairies have polluted groundwater with manure runoff, yet not one has

begun the required cleanup.

Now, thanks largely to the pressure brought to bear by Nivens, his

allies, and an Environment Department employee named Bill Olson, New

Mexico has passed some of the most progressive dairy-related water

regulations in the West.

Citizens have campaigned against dairy pollution in Idaho, Washington

and California....

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

..