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Workers, Sierra Club Concerned about Ammonia at Threemile Canyon CAFO

Case Updates:

August 2, 2005

Braving scorching summer temperatures, over 70 people gathered at a rally in mid-August to call for workers rights and clean air at Threemile Canyon. The industrial mega dairy, which has over 55,000 animals and spews millions of pounds of hazardous ammonia into the air yearly, is the focus of a major grassroots organizing campaign led by local workers and environmentalists who are worried that the toxic emissions put workers' health in jeopardy. The groups and local activists have asked the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to hold the factory farm accountable for its toxic ammonia emissions.

June 16, 2005

In the latest part of a huge, multi-state campaign, Sierra Club has joined local workers at Threemile Canyon Farms in Oregon to investigate toxic air emissions at this 55,000 animal dairy operation in eastern Oregon. The Sierra Club and the United Farm Workers of America teamed up to ask the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to perform tests at the operation to find out if worker health is being jeopardized. The groups are particularly concerned about the toxic and potentially deadly releases of ammonia, which can cause long-term respiratory problems for people forced to breathe the air. The effort at Threemile Canyon Farms is part of a broader, nationwide campaign to have factory farms take responsibility for reporting and cleaning up their toxic ammonia emissions. Similar efforts with Tyson Foods and Seaboard Corporation have led to improved reporting standards throughout the nation.

Details and Documents:

Women farmerworkers sue Boardman dairy, alleging discrimination
November 10, 2005, William McCall for Associated Press in Oregon Live

Kettle Foods asks workers to negotiate
November 10, 2005, by Michael Rose and Don Currie, Statesman Journal

Environmental groups' petition to EPA
November 1, 2005

Petition: Close farms' loophole on pollution
November 2, 2005, by Michael Millstein, The Oregonian

Dairy under scrutiny
September 21, 2005, by Jeff Zent, In-Forum Farm

Trouble down on the "farm"
September 2005, by Shirley Wentworth, Portland Alliance

Two sources eyed in gorge pollution
August 1, 2005, by the Associated Press, Register Guard

Tracking acid in gorge
July 29, 2005, by Michael Millstein, The Oregonian

Workers request probe into conditions at farm
June 17, 2005, by Andrew Sirocchi, Tri-City Herald

Complaint seeks investigation of farm’s ammonia emissions
June 17, 2005, by Hal McCune, East Oregonian