For this first legislative session, the WREN focus has been on a few select bills supporting local government control, but when the so-called “cow farts” bill came up it was too tempting to pass on the opportunity to submit written testimony. Here’s the response from Sue Lani Madsen to the legislature’s attempt to manage methane emissions from privately owned dairy herds and feed lots.

From HB 1630, NEW SECTION. Sec 2. lines 5 and 6: “each owner or operator of a dairy farm or feed lot in the state must submit an annual report to the department.”

From RCW 70A.45.020(2): “By December 31st of each even-numbered year beginning in 2010, the department and the department of commerce shall report to the governor and the appropriate committees of the senate and house of representatives the total emissions of greenhouse gases for the preceding two years.”

Let’s tie these two documents together and add the following to HB 1630:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Each owner or operator of a dairy farm or feed lot in the state shall not be required to submit reports described in Section 2 until the following actions are certified as completed by the appropriate committees of the senate and the house of representatives:

1. The department is in full compliance with the reporting requirements of RCW 70A.45.020 and has maintained compliance for two full years.

2. The appropriate committees of the senate and the house of representatives have reviewed the department’s completed reports and find the information to be meaningfully useful to the legislature in establishing state policies.

3. A fiscal note on the impact of such requirement on producers for the cost of hiring personnel to undertake this monitoring and reporting, and in addition the fiscal impact on consumers seeking to purchase from local food producers and processors be prepared and published for public comment, because will there definitely be comments. Lots of them.

4. A study is completed by the American Farmland Trust on the projected impact of this requirement on the rate of loss of Washington farms and ranches. A projected increase in the rate of farmland and open space loss shall cause this reporting requirement to be null and void as a useless waste of everyone’s time, given the negative tradeoffs.

The rest of the story: As of February 18, 2024 it doesn’t look like measuring cow farts is going to make it out of committee in this legislation session. We’ll see if it comes back to life in 2026.

RESOURCE LINKS:

Cow Dairies Map: https://nras.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/sidebar/index.html?appid=38c6f8aa8d1f44d7994bdb0dd084752e

Cow Dairies List 2022:

https://geo.wa.gov/datasets/26add7da921d4aa68ccb50ce191c6182_0/about

https://geo.wa.gov/datasets/26add7da921d4aa68ccb50ce191c6182_0/explore?showTable=true

DOE Non-Compliance: https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/press-release-washington-policy-center-announces-lawsuit-holding-department-of-ecology-accountable-for-violation-of-climate-law

2014 stats: https://www.staufferdairy.com/washington-state-dairy-farm-statistics/

2022 stats: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Washington/cp99053.pdf

More stats: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=WASHINGTON

HB 1630 text: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1630.pdf?q=20250201130015