Dust Bowl Days - lessons from the 1930s and America’s Dust Bowl.  Everything was covered with dust no matter how tightly Oklahomans sealed their homes.   Seventy years later, Washington State’s haste to support industrial feedlots on the dry Columbia Plateau - the disruption of fragile soils and failure to honor the state’s own permits - risks farmland and a way of life for farming families.  The state’s record raises troubling questions about environmental lawlessness in eastern Washington and the social, economic, and environmental consequences.

Observations from the Family Farmers:


-  There is absolutely no evidence of any straw being transported to or spread at the construction site, from either aerial or ground observation. We have driven by and/or flown over  the construction site on an almost daily basis since construction began, and have seen no evidence of straw, straw residue, or straw mulch anywhere near the construction site or its access roads. If present, such evidence, including windblown straw, would be impossible to miss.


-  The only significant large scale dust control appears to have been done by sprinkling water through hand irrigation lines. A water sprinkling truck (not a tanker) is present at the site, but hasn't been seen sprinkling large construction areas. None of us has ever seen a water transport tanker at the site or on the surrounding roads, which we drive on a daily basis.


-  The nearest SCBID canal access is at Eltopia, about 7.75 miles SW of the site, as specified in the construction AQ permit. This canal is easily seen from the Blanton Road-US 395 intersection, Eltopia West Road, and from 395 itself. Despite traveling these roads daily, none of us has seen any evidence of water being hauled from here, or any other spot along this canal, which is the only SCBID canal within the specified range from the feedlot site.


-  Lacking definitive measurement, it appears to both ground and aerial observation that many more than 14 acres of land are being excavated at one time, and that the only significant dust control measures being used is irrigation by hand lines.

Legal Documents:



- Karen Lindholdt, Five Corners Family Farmers’ Reply to Respondents’ Opposition to Motion for Stay.  Pollution Control Hearings Board.  January 4, 2010


- Fugitive Dust Control Plan for Construction of the Facility


  1. -Declaration of Randy Jones, January 4, 2010


  1. -Declaration of Scott Collin, January 4, 2010


  1. -Declaration of Blaine Dougherty, January 4, 2010


  1. -Declaration of Randy Thompson, January 4, 2010


  1. -Karen Lindholdt, Five Corners Family Farmers’ Motion for Stay.  Pollution Control Hearings Board.  December 7, 2009

More than 14 acres of land are being excavated at one time - in violation of the state’s permit.

More than 14 acres of land are being excavated at one time - in violation of the permit.

The only significant dust control measures being used is irrigation by hand lines - pumping ancient groundwater in violation of the state’s permit.

Dust Bowl days in eastern Washington

[Scott Collin photos]


  1. -dust filling roadways

  2. -dust permeating your home

  3. -fragile soils:  dust in the wind