Ritchey Dairy, EPA still negotiating

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Dec. 9, 2004 - Recently, the Braum's Oklahoma dairy has found itself in the environmental hot seat. Similarly, in recent years, the Alan Ritchey dairy, outside of Yuba, also faced numerous pollutant discharge violations, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

As noted in previous Country World stories, Alan Ritchey, of the Texas-based Alan Ritchey, Inc., was notified by the EPA's office in Dallas that the dairy was in violation of the of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations and the federal agency was filing an administrative order asking for compliance of the Clean Water Act. Ritchey was ordered to "immediately take all necessary measures to prevent any discharge of pollutants to waters of the U.S. from any part of the facility," as well as initiate a weekly visual inspection program and submit specific information concerning discharges within the last five years.

Inspections found violations of the agreed-upon measures to bring the dairy in compliance.

Earlier this year, in an agreement approved by the Oklahoma Board of Agriculture, Ritchey paid a $100,000 administrative penalty, the second largest fine ever levied by the board, and donated $45,000 towards an environmental classroom in Achille, Okla.

The agreement required site clean up and granted investigators access to the site to monitor remediation efforts.

The required clean up has been done, according to Assistant Attorney General Susan Krug, but "there are still issues" involving groundwater.

In a Nov. 24 phone interview, D.J. Parrish, director of the Agricultural Environmental Management Service, stated the dairy was required to supply a number of soil and water samples and "the investigations are ongoing."

Parrish added the dairy had met the agreed-upon deadlines, so far, but there are still some upcoming deadlines.

Meanwhile, on the federal level, EPA spokesman Dave Bary said on Nov. 24, "We are still in negotiations (with the Alan Ritchey dairy) and trying to resolve the complaint. We don't have an agreement."

The dairy, located 30 miles north of Bonham, has since closed its milking parlors and is for sale.