Monday, March 31, 2008

Remediation Plan Needed for Dairies near Mexican Border

By Kent Paterson

Situated in a fast-growing population corridor of the New Mexico borderlands, large commercial dairies have been a sore point of contention in recent years. In the Mesquite-Anthony area of Dona Ana County just north of the Mexican border, residents complain of foul odors and large manure piles from dairies that count thousands of milk cows. Additionally, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) has traced groundwater pollution to local dairy operations. According to the NMED, past discharges of wastewater from dairies have resulted in the excessive presence of nitrate, chloride and dissolved solids in groundwater.

Now, the NMED is requiring 12 dairies to come up with a groundwater pollution remediation plan. In a recent press statement, the environmental regulatory agency said the dairies, working as a consortium, submitted the first phase of an abatement plan to the State of New Mexico. The submission marks the first stage of a remediation program, since the dairies will be required next to come up with a concrete cleanup plan. The NMED did not give a specific timeline for the cleanup, but the agency stated that the public will have 90 days to comment and request a hearing once the cleanup plan is received in Santa Fe.

A study by the College of Agriculture and Home Economics at New Mexico State University reported that 53,000 milk cows were counted in Dona Ana County in 2006. Employment in the Dona Ana County dairy business reached 453 workers in the same year, according to the study. Although New Mexico perhaps is better known for its legendary green chili, the dairy industry was the most valuable segment of the state agricultural sector by 2006, a year when dairy products brought in cash receipts which almost reached one billion dollars. Nationwide, New Mexico ranked seventh in milk production. In the five-year period from 2001 to 2006, New Mexico's milk production soared by 33 percent. In 2006 The Land of Enchantment produced 177 billion gallons of milk – about four percent of the US total.

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January 21, 2008, Frontera NorteSur (FNS)

Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

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(Kent Paterson is the editor of Frontera NorteSur.  Reprinted with authorization from Frontera NorteSur, a free, on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news source.)