Livestock and Air Quality Update An Air Quality Perspective From The State’s Perspective Presented by Phyllis Woodford, Program Manager Environmental Agriculture Program Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Overview  Who I am  Understanding the Issue  Current Air Quality Issues  Future Air Quality Issues  Moving Forward

Environmental Ag Program  Single point of contact on agricultural issues  Develop greater expertise  Think about air, water and waste issues together  Vision To find more efficient and effective ways to meet regulatory requirements and to achieve greater environmental results by strengthening and building partnerships with commodity organizations, producers, the rural community and other interested stakeholders.

What’s the Beef?  Larger Livestock Operations  Increased Concentration Within Geographic Areas  Sprawling Suburbanization  Greater Awareness Of Environmental Issues  Growing Public Health Concerns  Pressure for Sufficient Air Quality Research

Chemistry For Dummies  Nutrients move across boundary of livestock production facilities via managed and unmanaged processes  Nutrients from livestock production systems can have a negative impact on neighboring ecosystems

Current Air Quality Issues  Odor – Senate Bill 114  Nitrogen Deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park Air Quality Control Commission Subcommittee

Colorado 2002 Ammonia Inventory

2002 Front Range Ammonia Inventory

Future Air Quality Issues?  EPA Particulate Matter, Ammonia, Hydrogen Sulfide  NGOs Greenhouse gases Nitrogen Visibility  Citizens Dust Odor

What is the State Doing Today to Address Air Quality Issues 1.Education 2.Dialogue 3.Partnering

Education  Need to understand flow of nutrients through livestock production system  Need to apply principle of mass balance, i.e. they may change chemical form, but end up somewhere  Need good science to track nutrients through production system  Need to understand the tradeoffs and/or impacts of alternative production systems  Need to quantify benefits of BMPs

Dialogue  Internal Ag Team  Other State Agencies Dept. of Ag, NRCS, Extension  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  Other States  Producers  Stakeholders

Partnering  Projects  Collaboration  Listening  Learning  Innovation

Summarizing the State’s Perspective  Air quality regulations are coming  We all need to educate ourselves  Proactive strategies will help  Learn from the past  Communicate  Innovate

Environmental Ag Program Contact Information  Phyllis Woodford ,  Ron Jepson 303, ,  Erin Pease ,  Nick Melliadis ,