California Air Resources Board

As a concerned Californian, I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on the Dairy Sector Workshop held on August 22nd. Dairy operations are a major part of our state’s economy, but they also have substantial impact on our environment and health due to the high levels of methane they produce. Methane emissions from dairy livestock have severe consequences, and many Californians living near these operations share deep concerns about the lack of comprehensive regulation in this sector.

Much of California’s dairy industry is concentrated in regions that are already struggling with poor air quality and water contamination. Methane management is critical for reducing the impacts of climate change, but it’s also essential for protecting the health of communities like mine, which suffer disproportionately from pollution from industrial-scale dairy farms.

This is not just about methane. Large-scale dairy operations also contribute to other forms of pollution that affect our air and water, harming regions throughout California. Regulating methane emissions from dairies would not only help reduce the climate impacts but also provide an opportunity for air and water agencies at the local level to address these linked concerns.

CARB plays a role to treat the dairy sector with the same standard as it does for the oil and gas and landfill industries when it comes to methane emissions. Our communities should not be left behind as the state strives to meet its climate goals. We need a stronger commitment to long-term solutions that protect both the environment and our health.

Most importantly, California's dairy industry is contributing to a terrible amount of animal cruelty and suffering. Large-scale factory farming does not provide these beautiful animals with a healthy, happy life. It results in unimaginable suffering and treats them as non-feeling things to exploit rather than living beings. Factor farms jam cows into small, unsanitary, and unsafe living quarters. As domesticated animals and as an important food source, cows should be treated as treasured beings instead of commodities to be grown, hurt, and killed indiscriminately. In contrast, small-scale, family-owned farms produce high-quality meat without compromising the health of the animals, and thereby provides an alternative to factory farming that also mitigates the unhealthy concentration of methane that factory farms generate.

Thank you for your work in caring for our community and for human and non-human living beings. Thank you for considering my comments.