larger view larger view

Are Cows Number One?

The Californian is questioning Thompson's billboard which implies cows are a major source of our air pollution. 

Campaign ad watch: Clearing the air on dairy pollution

Sure, we have lots of trucks and cars on our roads spewing tons of NOX into our air.  Diesel trucks also put out plenty of diesel soot to add to our particulate problem.

But, two ingredients are needed to form smog, VOC's and NOX.  One without the other is relatively harmless.  Cows are the number one producer of VOC's.  My car puts out less than 10 lbs of VOC's in a year.  A single cow is responsible for 20 lbs.

Although diesel soot, fireplace smoke, and dust help to make our particulate problem one of the worst in the nation, the major part of our particulate pollution is the ammonium nitrate that forms during the cool months of the year.  This is created by the mixing of NOX and ammonia.  Again, one without the other is benign.  Cows are by far our biggest source of ammonia pollution.

The paper cannot so easily state that Thompson is wrong when he puts up a billboard saying cows are the number one polluter.  Assumptions are everything with such statements.

Also, Watson not only scoffed and criticized Wasco citizens's attempt to vote for a buffer zone against dairies, he also fought against a 3 mile dairy buffer zone for all Kern County cities and schools.