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Bill would require state game farms to get CAFO or individual discharge permits after Centralia nitrate findings
Summary
Supporters told a House committee that nitrates found in Centralia‑area wells are linked to large game farms and urged HB 23‑43 to require Department of Fish and Wildlife facilities to have CAFO or individual water‑discharge permits; WDFW says it has voluntarily secured the permit.
Jacob Wilson, staff to the House Environment & Energy Committee, told lawmakers HB 23‑43 would require the Department of Fish and Wildlife to obtain either CAFO general‑permit coverage or an individual facility discharge permit for any state‑operated facility raising numbers of animals comparable to a private CAFO. He said permits include manure pollution‑prevention plans, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements enforced by the Department of Ecology.
Representative Peter Barno, the bill’s prime sponsor, opened public testimony by saying residents of Centralia and surrounding areas have experienced rising nitrate levels and health problems they believe are linked to a state‑operated game farm. “If you discovered that a state agency, WDFW, was operating a pheasant farm with 20 to 40,000 pheasants, and not complying with waste discharge regulations…what would you do?” he asked the committee.
Local officials and health staff described investigation findings and community impacts. Norm Javan, mayor of Centralia, and Andy Oian, Centralia’s public works director, urged the committee to hold public facilities to the same standards as private operators. Oian cited a March 2025 nitrate investigation and said manure generated by pheasant operations at Bob O'Kane Farm was identified as a “direct and primary source” of nitrate loading into groundwater. Jeff Landrum, an environmental health specialist for Lewis County Public Health, testified that some wells exceeded the federal drinking‑water standard of 10 milligrams per liter and that follow‑up testing found the highest concentrations “over 30 milligrams per liter” in groundwater on and adjacent to the GameBird Farm.
Residents described personal impacts. Amy White, who lives near the farm, said she learned the farm had to destroy its entire breeding flock due to disease and that carcasses were buried on the property above the aquifer. She said neighbors are worried about long‑term health effects and property values.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was represented by Cynthia Wilkerson, deputy director of the wildlife program, who told the committee that WDFW had “voluntarily secured the permit that this bill would require” and is working with the Department of Ecology, the city, the county and the conservation district to meet requirements.
The hearing record includes multiple public‑health and county witnesses urging statutory parity between public and private operators to ensure preventable groundwater contamination is monitored and addressed. The committee closed the hearing on HB 23‑43 without a committee vote and moved on to other bills.
Next steps: The committee closed public testimony on HB 23‑43 and did not report the bill during this meeting; future action was not specified on the record.
