Hello John,

Our fight to keep the Factory Farm Moratorium Bill (SB 85-1) strong continues. On Monday at 8am, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources has a vote scheduled on this bill and its proposed amendments. We need to take action now to keep the bill strong. We cannot have any new or expanded factory farms until we have a plan to meaningfully protect our air, water, wildlife, climate, family farmers, and communities. 

Since our last email about the Factory Farm Moratorium Bill, we learned that there is no -2 amendment. Instead, there is an awful -3 amendment that has everything we mentioned: limiting the bill to only apply to poultry factory farms and reducing the moratorium to just two years. This last-minute amendment was drafted due to Big Ag industry pressure, behind closed doors, and without much input from advocates and the communities most impacted by this bill.

If the new -3 amendment moves forward, megadairies would be allowed to continue their harmful practices, contaminating our air and water systems and affecting the health of our communities. Last year, Morrow County became the first Oregonian county to declare a state of emergency because of water quality issues. We should not have let this happen, and this bill can help prevent similar disasters from occurring to other communities where megadairies are nearby.

Only one version of this bill can pass out of the state senate committee, and we need to make sure it is the originally proposed, strong -1 amendment. It’s clear there is widespread public support for SB 85-1 – over 60 people signed up to testify and over 600 people submitted testimonies in support of the full Factory Farm Moratorium. We need to tell our lawmakers that they need to support SB 85-1 because we want a full Factory Farm Moratorium. Please write to your state senator today urging them to support the -1 amendment.

Sincerely,
Julia DeGraw

Coalition Director, OLCV

Dear John,

One of our major priorities for the 2023 legislative session, the Factory Farm Moratorium bill (SB 85-1), is at risk of being severely weakened. We support the current bill because it hits the pause button on expanding or adding any new mega dairies and other huge factory farm operations in the state until we can adequately address the water, air, climate, animal welfare, and worker issues that plague the largest of the large factory farm operations. 

We need you to take action today to make sure the bill stays strong!

This Wednesday at 8:00 AM the Senate Committee on Natural Resources is considering an industry-backed amendment that would cut major protections from the bill. This amendment would limit the bill to just chicken factory farms, excluding any other factory farm operations like mega dairies, and it would reduce the time of the moratorium to just two years. We all know that a two year moratorium doesn’t give the state nearly enough time to adequately regulate the factory farm industry.

We can’t let Oregon’s lawmakers cave to the pressure from industry by severely weakening this bill. Will you ask your state senator to stand strong and support the original bill, SB 85 (with -1 amendment), and reject the industry-proposed -2 amendment that removes mega dairies from the bill?

One of the largest dairies in the country is located in Eastern Oregon near the Columbia River in Morrow County. Some 70,000 head of dairy cattle are all housed in a small amount of land generating massive manure lagoons, sucking as much water out of the ground as a small Oregon city, and creating unhealthy air pollution that also contributes to climate change. Morrow County is struggling with low groundwater levels, and with dangerous levels of nitrates in the groundwater that people rely on for their drinking water. 

Not only have the mega-dairies in our state wreaked havoc on communities’ water quality and quantity, and air quality, they have also put dozens of family and midsized farmers out of business. We cannot allow lawmakers to remove mega-dairies from this crucial piece of legislation. 

There is currently a vacant site ripe for a mega-dairy in the region where existing mega-dairies already operate and this bill is crucial to ensuring that site isn’t developed into an inadequately regulated factory farm––another key reason to not exclude mega dairies from this bill.

We also know that Oregon’s communities are at risk of Foster Farms' intention to expand in a big way into Oregon’s Willamette Valley––making it crucial that we hit the pause button on ALL factory farms in the state of Oregon. So please join us in urging your senator to keep the Factory Farm Bill strong by rejecting the industry-backed -2 amendments.

Thank you for all that you do!

Julia DeGraw

Coalition Director, OLCV