Senate hearing on SB 747 splits farmers and public-health advocates over fertilizer reporting for large irrigated farms

The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire held a public hearing Feb. 4 on Senate Bill 747, which would require the Oregon Department of Agriculture to establish a reporting system for fertilizer applied to irrigated agricultural land and require owners of at least 200 irrigated acres to submit annual reports. Senator Khan Pham, chief sponsor of the bill, said the measure is intended to collect data needed to address nitrate contamination that has affected well water in parts of the state; the committee took no vote during the hearing.

Senator Khan Pham (chief sponsor) told the committee the bill is a public-health measure aimed at protecting drinking water for children and other vulnerable residents. "Every Oregonian deserves the right to drink clean drinking water," Pham said, and described communities in the Lower Umatilla Basin that have used bottled water for decades because of nitrate contamination. Pham and other supporters emphasized the bill would collect data rather than impose new fertilizer limits: "This bill does not impose restrictions. It simply collects data so agencies can provide better technical…