TAOS, N.M. -- In Western states, neighbors of large dairies are turning to the Clean Air Act to clean up air pollution emitted from cows housed in these industrial dairies.

With letters threatening litigation against dairies in Nevada and Washington - which follow similar actions in California and Idaho - neighbors are asserting that the dairies are not using the "maximum achievable control technology" to control air pollution.

Huge factory-scale dairies can emit over 10 tons per year of methanol, as well as numerous other toxic fumes.

"The stench of these big dairies is horrific and, it turns out, from illegal emissions," said Bill Barrackman, a pistachio farmer who heads Amargosa Citizens for the Environment. "We've got to find a way to defend our homes and farms."

His group has charged the Ponderosa Dairy with violating the Clean Air Act in Nevada.

In Outlook, Wash., neighbors issued similar allegations, as well as failure to report releases of toxic chemicals ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, to the DeRuyter Brothers Dairy.

"We are literally sick and tired of the noxious fumes coming from industrial dairies like DeRuyter Brothers. People like Gene Martin, who live right next to this 8,000-head industrial dairy, are suffering every day," said Helen Reddout, president of the Community Association for Restoration of the Environment, herself a long-time farmer in Yakima.

Neighbors like Barrackman, Reddout and Martin are focused on the cows' methanol emissions - a compound deemed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be a "hazardous air pollutant."

Hazardous air pollutants are supposed to be tightly regulated by the EPA. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide pollution are also at issue.

Exposure to methanol is particularly problematic for pregnant women and young children, as it can result in premature birth, increased number of caesarian births, and other developmental problems. Methanol also causes ozone pollution, which is known to cause respiratory tract damage. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide further compound respiratory health effects.