Oregon dairy settles wastewater lawsuit

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has settled its lawsuit against a controversial new dairy as long as the facility complies with wastewater management conditions. Lost Valley Farm, a dairy near Boardman with the capacity to milk 30,000 cows, has agreed to limit wastewater production to 65,000 gallons a day and ensure its manure lagoons have enough capacity to handle water from storms.The dairy will be inspected weekly by ODA, which can ask the judge to hold the facility in contempt of court for breaching the stipulated judgment or reporting any permit violations, said Wym Matthews, manager of the agency’s CAFO program.