YAKIMA, WA — Conservation groups and farmers are opposing a June 11 decision by the Washington Department of Ecology to approve a water rights transfer for a proposed large feedlot on dry land near the small town of Eltopia, about 75 miles east of Yakima, according to a June 12 Associated Press (AP) report.

Easterday Ranches Inc., one of the largest feedlot operators in the Northwest, has said the proposed feedlot, which it hopes to begin building later this summer, could accommodate as many as 30,000 cattle at peak operation. The feedlot still requires a state air quality permit.

The Department of Ecology approved the water rights transfer for the project from a neighboring farm that used 316 acre-feet of water annually to irrigate potatoes, blue grass and winter wheat. The department estimated that a feedlot of 30,000 cattle would consume more than 500,000 gallons of water daily.

Farmers and conservation groups are concerned that the proposed feedlot will dry up their water wells, used both for drinking and irrigation. Randy Jones of the group Five Corners Family Farmers is reported to have said in a statement, “Our domestic wells and our families depend on groundwater. The state is risking our lives in its rush to continue mining aquifers to benefit corporate interests.”

Another concern is how the state’s decision may have failed to address a pre-existing issue of whether large feedlots may continue to draw drinking water from wells that are exempt from a state permit under laws dating back 60 years, the AP reported.

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