Yakima Clean Air Agency official’s ties to dairy industry draw scrutiny

One of the more controversial tasks facing local air quality authorities is how to regulate dairy farms.

Questions like when does the smell of manure move from unpleasant odor to pollution and what should farmers be expected to do to protect air quality don’t have easy answers.

But as the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency has sought to address the issue with new policies in recent years, one of its five board members has worked for the dairy industry as a nutritionist, which strikes some as a clear conflict of interest.

“If his business is working with the dairies, how does that make him impartial?” asked Sandy Braden, a retired teacher in Yakima. “It seems like the fox guarding the hen house to me.”

She filed a complaint to the board, asking them to look into whether Dr. Steven Jones’ position on the board and votes regarding dairy policies constitute a conflict of interest in violation of state administrative code.

Another environmental group is calling for him to be removed as well.

Jones, who owns Northwest Research and Nutrition LLC and joined the board in 2014, did not respond to requests for comment.

But his fellow board members say that they see nothing improper about his position and added that his expertise with the industry has helped the agency as it developed regulations based on best management practices to control pollution.

“I do not see a conflict of interest or violation of the (state rules),” said county Commissioner Rand Elliott, who also serves on the board.

Braden points to a state statute that says a majority of board members on an air pollution control board must represent the public and not derive a significant portion of their income from those they are regulating and that each board member shall disclose any potential conflict of interest prior to action and remove themselves for voting on such issues.

In Braden’s interpretation, Jones should have recused himself from several votes on the agency’s dairy policies because regulations that favor the industry favor his own business success.

But Elliott and Board Chairman Jon DeVaney say that’s too broad of a reading of the statute.

“I didn’t read it the same way,” DeVaney said. “We didn’t see any direct conflict or violation of the rules – and the recommendation from our attorney upholds that.”

By direct conflict, DeVaney said he thinks the statute is referring to a direct link, such as an enforcement action against a company Jones worked for, not an indirect link such as regulations for the dairy industry as a whole.

Such direct permit actions for specific farms, people or businesses are handled by agency staff, not the board, he added, so such a conflict would be unlikely.

DeVaney went on to say that Jones’ understanding of what cattle are fed affects the pollution risks from their waste has helped the agency develop good management policies.

“It’s always a problem; do you have people with no background and therefore, no preconceived opinions, or do you have someone with expertise that comes with a point of view?” DeVaney said. “There are going to be different opinions, but a conflict of philosophy is not necessarily a conflict of interest under state statutes.”

Because of the differing interpretations of the state statute, DeVaney said the board passed Braden’s complaint along to the state attorney general’s office.

Braden said she made her complaint in May and got concerned last month that there was still no response, so she called the AG’s office herself.

Staff there told her no such complaint had been filed and she became concerned that the agency was dodging or delaying the issue.

But records provided by the Clean Air Agency show that agency staff did request the AG’s opinion on the issue, not via a complaint, but through a request made by Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Yakima.

DeVaney said they passed the concern on via Johnson because local governments don’t have direct access to the AG’s office.

“Then when she called, it wasn’t in the public complaint database, it was in the request from Legislature file,” DeVaney said. “We are a low priority, they have told us they are working on it, but it’s going to take a while.”

That’s not good enough for Braden and the environmental advocacy group Friends of Toppenish Creek, who want to see Jones removed from his position on the committee tasked with hiring a new executive director for the agency because they are concerned that his industry ties will lead him to support a candidate with similar views.

And Jones’ position is not the only point of frustration for those citizens who say the agency’s policies don’t do enough to protect Lower Valley residents from pollution caused by the area’s 59 dairy farms. Earlier this year, Jean Mendoza, director of Friends of Toppenish Creek, submitted complaints about the Clean Air Agency to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Ecology.

Last month, Ecology officials declined to investigate YRCAA, saying in a letter to Mendoza that it wanted to give the agency more time to refine its dairy policies and see the results of several ongoing air-pollution studies so the issues are better understood.

“We respect the Clean Air Agency’s role and we want to support them,” said Sage Park, director of Ecology’s regional office in Yakima. “Ecology and its partners welcome a dialogue about air quality in the Yakima Valley; as more information comes in, we want to continue that conversation.”

The attorney general’s opinion on conflict of interest may also change the conversation, but Braden and the board are both waiting on that.