Impact on Air Quality and Climate Change – Where the dairy Industry Stands

Frank Mitloehner, PhDAssociate Professor & CE SpecialistDept Animal ScienceUniversity of California, Davis

DAIReXNET, April 4, 2011

Pollution LifecyclePollution Lifecycle

4) Mitigation 4) Mitigation and Regulationand Regulation

2) Transport and 2) Transport and TransformationTransformation

3) Deposition3) Deposition•SurfaceSurface•AirwaysAirways

1) Emissions1) Emissions

8

CAA Legislative History

• 1963 – Congress enacts the CAA • 1965 – Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control

Act• 1967 – CAA Amendments• 1970 – CAA Amendments established:

– The Environmental Protection Agency – National Ambient Air Quality Standards

(NAAQS)– New Source Performance Standards (NSPS)– National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air

Pollutants (NESHAP)– State Implementation Plans (SIP)– Federal Enforcement

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1990 CAA Amendments

• Title I – Air Pollution Prevention and Control

– Nonattainment designations and SIP• Title II – Emissions Standards for Moving

Sources – Mobile sources

• Title III – Air Toxics• Title IV – Acid Deposition and Control

– Acid rain• Title V – Permits• Title VI – Stratospheric Ozone Protection

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CAA and Agriculture

• Mostly focused on traditional sources of air pollution (cars and factories)

• Agricultural sources may not have been fully considered during development and amendment of the CAA

Ozone Nonattainment Areas for 1-Hour Standard

NJ

Classified Ozone Nonattainment Areas

E xtr eme & Severe

Serious

M oderate

Marginal

Classifications

Sect ion 185A & I ncom ple teDat a Ar eas Not Incl uded

NEW YORK

CHICAGO

LOS ANGEL ES

PHIL ADELPHIA

HOUSTON

DALL AS

SAN DIEGO

BALT IMORE

WASHINGTON

MILW AUKEE

ST LOUIS

EL PASO

BIRMINGHAM

SACRAMENTO METRO

BAT ON ROUGE

SAN JOAQUIN VALL EY

BEAUMONT

SANT A BARBARA

SPRINGF IELD

LANCAST ER

GREAT ER CONNECTICUT

Ex tre me

MANITOW OC CO

PHOENIX

SE DESERT MODIF IED AQM A

VENT URA

ATLANT A

KENT & QUEEN ANNE'S COS., MD

SUNLAND PARK (MAR)

SAN F RANCISCOOther

SUSSEX CO, DE

RENO

KNOX & LINCOLN COS

SMYT H CO Mtn . (Mar)

JEFF ERSON CO

BUF FALO

ESSEX CO Mtn (Mar)

MANCHEST ER

ERIE

YOUNGSTOW N-SHARON

ALT OONAJOHNST OWN

HARRISBURG

YORKALL ENT OWN

SCRANTON

AL BANY POUGHKEEPSIE

DOOR CO

AT LANT IC CITY (M od)

L EW IST ON-AUBURN

PORTL ANDPORTSMOUTH

PROVIDENCE

BOST ON-WORCEST ER

1-hour Ozone StandardMay 6, 2002

greenbook_map

CINCINNATI

EAST KERN CO

Counties Designated Nonattainment for PM10

Contigusa.shpSeriousModerate

States.shp

01/2002

Classif ication

For convenience the entire county is shown as nonattainment; however, only a portion of many counties are designated nonattainment.

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Counties with Violating Monitors for

8-Hour Ozone and PM2.5 Standards (based on 1999-2001 data)

PM2.5

Only

16,413,096

(60 counties)

Ozone Only

62,123,154

(222 counties)

Both

48,772,716

(69 counties)

Totals

127,308,966

(351 counties)

Population

CA RegulationCA Regulation• Until 2003, California Agriculture was

excluded from CAA regulation (permitting)• Sen Florez; SB 700• Emission inventory for many Ag industries

is insufficient • Agencies have limited experience with

Agriculture• Many agricultural operations have to

apply for air permits and implement Conservation Management Plans

• Mitigation has to be implemented to reduce air emissions

• AB32 – Greenhouse gas

Environmental quality issues?

• National ambient air quality standards (PM, ozone)

• Hazardous air pollutants (e.g., methyl bromide)

• Visibility (regional haze)• Air deposition (acid rain, nitrification)• Global climate change (greenhouse gases)• Odors (nuisance complaints)• Water quality (nitrate, salts, phosphorus)

What are the pollutants of concern?

• PM10 (directly formed particles)• PM2.5 (secondarily formed particles)• Ammonia (potential PM precursor)• Volatile organic compounds (ozone

precursor)

• Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)

• Methane (“greenhouse” gas)• Nitrogen Oxides (NOx, an ozone precursor)• Nitrate, phosphorus, salts (ground water)

Setting Priorities

• For emission important on a national, regional, or global scale, focus control of emissions per unit of food production (considering the entire animal production system).

• For emissions important on a local scale, focus control at the farm boundary.

Global, National, and

Emissions Regional Local Primary Effects of Concern

NH3 Major Minor Atmospheric deposition, haze

N2O Significant Insignificant Global climate change

NOX Significant Minor Haze, atmospheric deposition, smog

CH4 Significant Insignificant Global climate change

VOCs Insignificant Minor Quality of human life

H2S Insignificant Significant Quality of human life

PM10 Insignificant Significant Haze

PM2.5 Insignificant Significant Health, haze

Odor Insignificant Major Quality of human life

“The approach to measurement, analysis, and control must match the scale of the problem”

Gaseous Emissions

Microbial

Processes

of Feed &

Manure

• Ammonia• Hydrogen sulfide• Methane• Volatile organic

compounds

Anaerobic conditions

• Ammonia• Nitrous oxide• Nitric oxide• Volatile organic

compounds

Aerobic conditions

Influenced by

Particulate Matter Emissions (PM, PM10, PM2,5)

Soil

Dander

Feathers

Manure

Feedstuffs

• Moisture

• Air movement

• Animal activity

• Animal type

Emission Control

Control strategies should:• Be Site-specific• Avoid transfer of emissions to other locations• Avoid adverse cross media impacts (e.g., water quality)

Confinement

Facilities

“…technically and economically feasible management practices designed to decrease emissions should not be delayed.”

Inhibition

Suppression

Emission Control

Storage andStabilization Facilities

Inhibition

Suppression

Emission Control

LandApplicationRapid Incorporation Into the Soil

Low-Emitting Application Methods

Man

ure

Man

ure

NAEMS National Air Emission Monitoring Study

Process based models

Pollutants, Exposure & Health - Cal DEHRICalifornia Dairy Environmental Health Research Initiative

Clearing the Air: Livestock’s Contributions to

Climate Change

Maurice Pitesky, Kim Stackhouse, and Frank Mitloehner

Advances in Agronomy, Vol 103

“Livestock’s Long Shadow” (FAO, 2006)

• “The Livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18% of GHG emissions measured in CO2e. This is a higher share than transport”

U.S. – the big GHG picture

Source: EPA (2009)

Mt

CO

2-eq

Time (years)

Global vs US Livestock GHG

Global Livestock, 18% of GHG (FAO) US Livestock, 3.4% of US GHG (EPA)

Production Efficiency

Dairy CH4 emission factor (kg/head/yr)

Milk production

(kg/head/yr)

Non-dairy emission factor (kg/head/yr)

North America 118 6,700 47

EU 100 4,200 48

Latin America 57 800 49

Africa 36 475 32

(IPCC, 1996)

FAO (2010)

Dairy trends

• Today, there are 9 million dairy cows in the US, 16 million fewer than existed during World War II.

• Even though cow number have decreased dramatically, milk production nationally has increased 60 percent.

• The carbon footprint of a glass of milk is 2/3 smaller today than it was 70 years ago.

Dairy trends

• Over the last 10 yrs, total lactation of a cow’s life has decreased from 31 to 25 months (largely because of reduced reproductive performance - fails to get pregnant)

• Therefore, the time that a cow is not milking during her approximate 54 month lifetime is about 29 months (time during growth, prior to her first lactation, and time between lactations)

• This reduced reproductive performance increases culling and therefore replacement herd animals

Research Needs Are Significant

• Health and environmental impacts...to understand which emissions are most harmful

• Standard measurement protocols...so that research results can be directly compared

• Process‑based emission simulation models...to replace emission factors

• Transport and fate of emissions...to better understand significance on local, regional,

and national scales

• Best management practices to reduce emissions...to understand the applicability, cost, and performance

of emission control practices

Crop Residue

Animal Manure

Food Processing By-Product

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Sustainability means…

…more from less, not just less!

Frank Mitloehner, PhDAir Quality CE SpecialistAnimal Science Department University of California, Davis(530) 752-3936fmmitloehner@ucdavis.edu