'Mega' dairy projects in North Dakota will pollute Red River, environmental activists say

CBC

a day ago

A group of environmentalists from Manitoba and the United States say two "mega" dairy farms slated for North Dakota will hurt the health of the Red River, with nutrients from animal waste potentially draining downstream to Lake Winnipeg.
"Water and pollution do not respect political lines," Madeline Luke, a volunteer with the U.S. environment non-profit North Dakota Resource Council. "Our potential problems are yours as well, and Lake Winnipeg is running out of time."
Luke and other environmentalists spoke at a news conference on Wednesday at The Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet in Winnipeg, pushing for the halt of two major dairy operations in North Dakota.
Riverview LLP, a Minnesota-based agriculture business, is planning to build two dairy facilities with around 37,500 head of cattle.
Animal waste from these facilities could end up in the Red River, spreading diseases and excessive nutrients from manure downstream into Lake Winnipeg, Luke said.
"Having this many animals, and that smaller space, generating that much waste untreated makes it difficult to find a place to put [it] safely," she said.
"From a biological, animal health and water quality point of view, it's probably not a good idea."
The largest of the two dairies will house 25,000 cows in Herberg, N.D., a township nearly 300 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
Part of the facility, including a section of the waste lagoons where manure will be treated, is in a floodplain — heightening the risk that spring melts or heavy rains will spread pollutants into waterways, including the Red River, which is just over two kilometres away from the facility, Lukes said.
The other farm will sit in an aquifer and between the Wild Rice and Red rivers in Abercrombie, N.D., about 400 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
Lukes said around 12,500 cows are expected to produce 405 million litres of waste every year, and that could contaminate nearby streams and service drains.
Permits to operate the Abercrombie facility were issued by the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality earlier this year, and they are currently in the bidding process for building the facility, said James Beddome, the executive director of the Manitoba Eco-Network.
"There's a need to get action quickly. Maybe there's a hope of them reconsidering their development plans immediately," he said.
The Department of Environmental Quality is still reviewing the permit application for the facility in Herberg, after public consultations wrapped up last week, a spokesperson for the department told CBC.
"I'm hoping that we're going to see Manitobans speak up and have their voices heard," Beddome said. "Lake Winnipeg has been dubbed the most threatened lake in the world. It can't handle more stressors."
A spokesperson for Riverview LLP told CBC News the concerns raised about the proposed farms are not accurate.
In a statement, the company said the farms will be designed, built and operated to "protect surface waters and prevent water pollution."
Manure will be collected and stored in a synthetic covered lagoon, before it is tilled into the soil on surrounding farmland as an organic fertilizer.
Both farms are subject to a "robust environmental permitting process," which does not allow for discharge of waste to surface waters, the spokesperson said.
'We don't have time'
But Vicki Burns with the Save Lake Winnipeg Project is concerned waste from the dairies could spike the levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in the Red River.
Both nutrients are present in manure, but sewage and treatment plants reduce their concentration before waste is released back into waterways, Burns said. However, the manure at the dairy facilities is expected to be used as fertilizer, so the levels of phosphorus and nitrogen won't be reduced, Burns said.
Crops can absorb the nutrients, "but they don't necessarily take up all [of it]," she said, and when that doesn't happen, they become available to run off.
"That's what we're afraid is going to happen with these mega dairy projects," Burns said.
Phosphorus, in particular, can foster the growth of blue-green algae in Lake Winnipeg, Burns said, releasing toxins that are dangerous to humans and animals.
When blue-green algae propagates in the water, fish are displaced to other sections of the lake, said Fred Veldink, who is with the Coalition to Save Lake Winnipeg.
"We have already seen a discolouring in the lake that usually indicates an upcoming blue-green algae bloom," he said. "Fishermen are usually the first ones to suffer."
Runoff from the large dairies would work against the province's goal of reducing phosphorus concentrations in the lake by 50 per cent, to pre-1990 levels.
"If these mega dairy projects go ahead, that is an impossible goal to reach," Burns said.
"We're definitely not at a point of no return, but we don't have time to waste."
Manitoba Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes told CBC News his office is aware of the projects, and concerns they could increase nutrient levels in the province.
His office has asked the International Joint Commission's International Red River Watershed Board to engage with North Dakota on efforts to mitigate the impact of the projects.