Friends of Toppenish Creek

Board of Directors

Executive Director

 

FOTC Articles of Incorporation

FOTC By Laws

 

 

Friends of Toppenish Creek Needs your help! Please consider joining us.

Groundwater levels are dropping. Will there be adequate water for your children and grandchildren to use in their daily lives?

Is the Lower Yakima Valley water quality hazardous to your and your children’s health now and in the future?

What can we do to limit the mega dairies from polluting the air and the water supplies?

Is there a way to stop the over application of dairy manure to our lower valley lands?

Why should a 75 year old WA state law which says livestock has unlimited water not be challenged in these modern times of population and agrarian growth?

Please contact us through www.friendsoftoppenishcreek.org or by phone at 509-874-2798

What membership means

 

Goals and Objectives

The Friends of Toppenish Creek is a non-profit corporation, created in 2009, for the following charitable, scientific and educational purposes:

  1. To take and inspire action to restore, enhance, preserve and protect the Toppenish Creek, Yakima and Columbia River watersheds as a natural resource and a community resource, and to restore, enhance, preserve, and protect open space and natural areas within the watersheds; 
  2. To promote awareness, community support and appreciation of the Toppenish Creek, Yakima and Columbia River watersheds;
  3. To promote for the benefit of the general public the preservation, protection and balanced use of the natural resources in, but not limited to, the Toppenish Creek, Yakima and Columbia River watersheds;
  4. To increase awareness and be a catalyst for change affecting the quality of water, fish in the streams and rivers, drinking water and air;
  5. To increase community eco-friendly use, appreciation and understanding of the natural environment through protection and preservation of the Toppenish Creek watershed ecosystem, for the enjoyment, education, and benefit of present and future generations;
  6. To randomly test water quality through the measurement of phosphates and/or nitrates in drinking water;
  7. To use all properties held or controlled by the corporation and the net earnings thereof for the benefit of the general public and for charitable, educational, recreational, conservation, scientific, and historic purposes;
  8. To cooperate with other nonprofit organizations in the preservation, monitoring, and conservation of the Toppenish Creek, Yakima and Columbia River watersheds;
  9. To cooperate with other nonprofit organizations in the preservation, monitoring, and conservation of other watersheds and ecosystems throughout the Country;
  10. To aid, support, and assist by gifts, contributions or otherwise, other corporations, community chests, funds and foundations organized and operated exclusively for charitable, scientific, or educational purposes, including one or more of the purposes listed above.
  11. To do any and all lawful activities which may be necessary, useful or desirable for the furtherance, accomplishment, fostering or attainment of the above purposes, either directly or indirectly and either alone or in conjunction or cooperation with others.

Accomplishments

     FOTC formed in 2008 when a large, concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) dairy sought permission to relocate next to a wildlife refuge near Toppenish Creek on the Yakama Reservation. Neighbors knew that our quality of life would be destroyed, and the refuge would suffer serious pollution if the dairy set up operations in this area. Friends of Toppenish Creek took shape. We kept the dairy out and went on to become a leader in the fight for clean water and clean air in Yakima County.  

 

Helped secure a consent decree with Snipes Mountain Dairy that required lining of manure lagoons and agronomic application of manure to cropland

 

Helped secure a consent decree with John Bosma Dairy that required lining of manure lagoons and agronomic application of manure to cropland

 

Helped secure a consent decree with Sunnyside Dairy that required lining of manure lagoons and agronomic application of manure to cropland

 

Helped secure a consent decree with Viewpoint Dairy that required lining of manure lagoons and agronomic application of manure to cropland

 

Brought the EPA Office of Civil Rights to Yakima and secured an agreement to engage the public in both English and Spanish

 

Joined other environmental groups in litigation before the WA State Court of Appeals that resulted in ruling that requires the WA State Dept. of Ecology to re-write and improve National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES General Permits for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)

 

Conducted air monitoring in the Lower Yakima Valley that found ammonia levels 63 times higher than levels in the Upper Yakima Valley

 

Conducted water testing in the Yakima River Basin from Cle Elum to Prosser that found dioxins and furans in well water

 

Presented a bi-lingual public forum on drinking water for the people of the Lower Yakima Valley

 

Joined national environmental groups in petitioning the EPA to protect the environment in Yakima County

 

FOTC Letters & Statements

October 1, 2022 Comments on Overburdened Communities and the Climate Commitment Act

Dear WA Ecology,

Please consider public health expenditures when you map overburdened communities for Environmental Justice and Climate Commitment Act implementation. The tables below show wide ranges of expenditures and services for the various public health jurisdictions in Washington State. Health districts with limited resources are barely able to meet minimum legal requirements, while the better funded districts can gather data and prepare grant requests. Without adequate data it is hard to determine the impact of pollution on public health and hard to justify grant requests.

Sincerely,
Friends of Toppenish Creek

To read more click HERE

 

Sept 30, 2022 Comments on Overburdened Communities and the Climate Commitment Act

Dear WA State Dept. of Ecology,

Thank you for including proximity to agriculture as a risk factor for health impacts on overburdened communities. Remember that there is a wide range of impacts from different types of agriculture. It would be a mistake to paint all forms of agriculture with the same brush.

Within Yakima County, according to research conducted by the Friends of Toppenish Creek, air ammonia levels were 63 times higher at a Lower Yakima Valley (LYV) site near concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) compared to an Upper Yakima Valley (UYV) site about sixty miles distant from CAFOs.

Remember that emissions from some aspects of CAFO operations are more serious than others, as we will describe in future comments. Below is a 2015 listing of research that documents the adverse health impacts from CAFOs.

Sincerely,

Friends of Toppenish Creek

To read more click HERE

 

Fact Sheet: CAFO Regulations

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) raise large numbers of animals in confined spaces, mechanically bringing feed to the animals and removing waste. CAFOs are legally defined in the Clean Water Act (CWA). Here is a description of major federal laws regarding CAFOs with descriptions of loopholes that allow CAFOs to pollute and escape regulation.

 

Fact Sheet: Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)

A TMDL is the calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to enter a waterbody so that the waterbody will meet and continue to meet water quality standards for that particular pollutant. A TMDL determines a pollutant reduction target and allocates load reductions necessary to the source(s) of the pollutant. Here is an overview of TMDLs and CAFOs in Washington State.

 

Fact Sheet: Renewable Natural Gas from Manure

Natural gas from animal manure is a greenhouse gas that would not have been produced in the first place with better manure management. Promoting RNG from animal manure encourages facilities to add more animals and this brings major negative side effects such as air pollution with other gasses, water pollution, and serious risks to public health. Given the large number of negative impacts that result from manure digestion, biogas from manure should not be considered either renewable or sustainable and should not be subsidized by taxpayer money. Read more Here.

 

June 7, 2021 Letter to WA Ecology re the Columbia River Basin Long-Term Water Supply and Demand Forecast

Our comments concern the disproportionate impact that concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) dairies have on LYV groundwater. This relationship should be described in detail in the Long-Term Water Supply and Demand Forecast.

The Draft tells us that the Grand Ronde aquifer in the LYV is declining at a rate of 3 to 9 feet per year. The Wanapum aquifer in the LYV is declining at a rate of 2 to 5 feet per year. (Pages 53, 224 & 227)

According to the Draft the time frame for 25% drawdown in saturated thickness of the LYV aquifer is from 26 to 50 years. The time frame for 25% drawdown in saturated thickness in the Eastern Benton area that includes the Moxee area is 11 to 25 years. (Pages 55 & 229) This is a crisis.

To read more click here

 

Non-profit website made with Invisible Ink