April 24, 2015
CapitalPress.com
11
Washington
DOE rewriting rules for feedlot permits
Agency taking
comments, but has
no proposal
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Washington Depart-
ment of Ecology this year will
rewrite the rules for managing
manure from feedlots, a move
that could increase the number
of livestock producers required
to obtain a state permit to con-
fine their animals.
Only 10 facilities statewide
currently have Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operation
permits, which lay out steps
they take to stop manure from
running into surface water. In
return, permit holders receive
some protection from sanc-
tions if a heavy storm over-
whelms preventive measures.
DOE says it needs to up-
date the regulations, which
technically expired in 2011, to
cover new or more operations.
The agency has been meet-
ing with producers and envi-
ronmentalists and will host
two public “listening sessions”
in Zillah and Bellingham next
week.
DOE hopes to have a pro-
posal out by the summer and
finalize the rules by the end of
the year. The outcome could
dramatically increase the num-
ber of producers required to ob-
tain a permit, Washington Cat-
tlemen’s Association Executive
Vice President Jack Field said.
“I hope not, but it’s a dis-
tinct possibility,” he said. “I
know there’s going to be sig-
nificant push back from the
livestock industry on that.”
Generally, operations that
confine animals for at least 45
days in any 12-month period
and have discharged manure
into a waterway need a CAFO
permit.
DOE will discuss wheth-
er to extend the prohibition
against discharge to ground-
water and whether to require
producers without a history
of manure runoff to obtain a
permit, said DOE official Jon
Jennings, a permit writer and
administrator in the water qual-
ity program.
“We haven’t made any de-
cisions, so I can’t say any di-
rection we’re going,” Jennings
said. “Right now, we’re just
listening to folks — what their
issues and concerns are.”
Dairies are regulated by a
manure-management program
overseen by the Washington
State Department of Agricul-
ture. DOE has the authority to
regulate other livestock owners
on a case-by-case basis.
“Our feeling is we need
more structure, more account-
ability for producers. We do
think the permits provide that,”
said environmental lobbyist
Bruce Wishart, who serves on
a committee that advises DOE
on farm-related water-quality
issues.
The listening sessions will
be 6 p.m. April 21 at the Zillah
Civic Center and 6 p.m. April
23 at the Syre Student Center
Building Auditorium at What-
com Community College in
Bellingham.
Fertilizer dropped from
oil train safety proposal
Short-line railroads
still may see their
tax bills increase
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
West Mathison, left, listens as his father, Kyle, center, makes a point to Norm Gutzwiler, right, about
proposed expansion of high elevation cherry orchard in Stemilt Basin south of Wenatchee, Wash.,
April 16. Elk and deer migration is an issue.
Orchard’s potential
growth irks hunters
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
Agricultural versus wildlife use
of public land in the Stemilt
Basin south of Wenatchee con-
tinues to be discussed at one of
the highest-elevation cherry or-
chards in the state.
Members of the Wenatchee
Sportsmen’s Association, the
Mathison family, state De-
partment of Natural Resourc-
es officials and a state Fish
and Wildlife commissioner
met on site at Kyle Mathison’s
Amigos Orchard at 3,500 feet
elevation, April 16.
At issue is whether Kyle
Mathison Orchards violat-
ed its lease agreement with
DNR by developing draws
and canyons into cherry or-
chard on Section 10 and put-
ting up fencing that hampers
elk and deer passage. Also at
issue is whether the Mathisons,
owners of Stemilt Growers Inc.,
Wenatchee, one of the largest
tree fruit producers in the state,
should be allowed to lease or
trade for more DNR land to ex-
pand the orchard.
High elevation land pro-
duces the latest sweet cherries
for the fresh market in August
and sometimes September.
They usually bring top dollar.
The lease also generates jobs,
taxes and revenue to the DNR
for public schools, said West
Mathison, president of Stemilt
Growers.
His father, Kyle Mathison,
vice president of Stemilt Grow-
ers, apologized to sportsmen
and neighbors for erecting a
six-mile fence without deter-
mining if an environmental
impact statement was needed.
The Mathisons said there are
wildlife corridors and that they
want to be good stewards of the
land and wildlife.
“The orchard is encroaching
too far into wildlife habitat and
that’s the concern all across the
West,” said Herb Troxel, mem-
ber of the sportsmen’s associ-
ation. “We keep pushing into
game country and we’re losing
it,” he said.
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you
two understand?” Bill Stege-
man, another sportsmen’s as-
sociation member, asked of the
Mathisons.
Other sportsmen quizzed
two DNR officials on why con-
ditions of the Section 10 lease
haven’t been enforced.
“I can’t speak to what hap-
pened in the past. The lease
language wasn’t written very
well,” Todd Welker, a regional
DNR manager, responded.
“It says draws and canyons
shall be left undisturbed to al-
low for wildlife passage. That’s
pretty plain to me,” said Gordon
Goodwin, sportsmen’s member.
The association has been
pursuing the DNR for three
years but getting little response,
he said. “Is what’s happening
here in compliance with the
agreement with you. That’s a
question,” said David Graybill,
a Fish and Wildlife commis-
sioner.
The Mathisons own about
1,000 acres of orchard on
Stemilt Hill and in the basin.
Much of it is lower in elevation.
They plan to expand the high
orchard from Section 10 into
in parts of Section 9 and 17 that
they’ve bought.
They want to trade 218
acres of elk habitat on Sec-
tion 21 for 218 acres of flatter
terrain on the DNR’s Section
16 to develop 134.5 acres of
orchard.
Haystack arson investigated
Agencies urge
farmers to be
vigilant
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The Grant County Sheriff’s
Office and Grant County fire
marshal are asking farmers to
report suspicious activity to
stop a string of intentionally
set haystack fires near Quincy,
Wash.
There have been five hay-
stack fires caused by incendi-
ary devices over the last month,
the sheriff’s office stated in a
press release. The fires caused
several hundred thousand dol-
lars in losses. The total has yet
to be tallied, according to the
sheriff’s office.
The actual type of device
being used is unknown, said
Kyle Foreman, public infor-
mation officer for the sheriff’s
office. The cause of the fires has
been ruled as incendiary based
on evidence and the absence of
other possible causes.
“Haystack vandalism is,
unfortunately, not unusual and
hay stack arson fires are not un-
usual, especially in a large rural
area dependent on agribusiness,
such as Grant County,” Fore-
man said. “The motives for
starting fires vary, and it is too
early to know what the motive
in these cases may be.”
There can be a risk of fire
extending to other haystacks,
structures, vehicles, farmland
or wildland, especially as out-
side temperatures increase and
grasses and brush become drier,
Foreman said.
The investigation is active
and underway, Foreman said.
The sheriff’s office’s major
crimes unit and fire marshal’s
investigators are partnering.
All fires were within Fire
District 3 jurisdiction in the
Quincy/Winchester area. All
happened between 11 p.m. and
4 a.m. The fires happened on
Martin Road Northwest, Road
6-Northwest, Road 11-North-
west and Road H.7-Northwest.
OLYMPIA — The Sen-
ate and House have agreed
that trains hauling nitrogen
fertilizer won’t have to add
crew members, a proposal
that farm lobbyists warned
would have raised freight
costs for growers.
“The Legislature took to
heart our main concern and
addressed it in a way that
makes us happy,” Washing-
ton Farm Bureau associate
director of governmental
relations Scott Dilley said.
Lawmakers continue to
work on legislation mo-
tivated by the dramatic
growth of Bakken crude oil
traveling through the state
by rail, vessel and pipeline.
As the wide-ranging bill
has evolved, rail-dependent
agricultural has been drawn
into the debate over how
to prevent and respond to
train disasters.
The chambers still differ
on whether short-line rail-
roads, many of which haul
primarily agricultural prod-
ucts, should pay higher tax-
es so that the Washington
Utilities and Transportation
Commission can hire more
inspectors.
The Senate on Wednes-
day shielded short-line rail
companies from a tax in-
crease, which would still
apply to Burlington North-
ern Santa Fe and Union
Pacific. Meanwhile, the
House on Tuesday elected
to apply the tax hike to all
railroads.
The tax on gross intra-
state revenues would rise
from 1.5 percent to 2.5 per-
cent.
The Senate’s move was
encouraging, said Patrick
Boss, a lobbyist for a coa-
lition of short-distance rail-
roads. “Hopefully, it will
get people to refocus on
what the bill is all about,”
he said.
The short-line railroads
argue that they don’t haul
oil cross-country and that
their taxes shouldn’t go
up because of the Bakken
boom.
“We’re glad to see leg-
islators waking up and see
there’s something wrong
with that,” Boss said. “The
bill, for the most part, is
about oil trains, and for the
Washington Utilities and
Transportation
Commis-
sion to say it’s about all
kinds of rail-safety issues
is discombobulating.”
The WUTC says its rail
inspectors are stretched too
thin and that short-line rail-
roads would benefit if there
were more inspections, es-
pecially for crossings.
“While there’s a lot of
attention on the long-dis-
tance hauling of petro-
leum products, there are
still safety needs both on
long-distance and short-dis-
tance railroads,” said Rep.
Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Seattle.
“Those
(short-distance)
railroads are benefiting
from the work being done
to improve the crossings.
I believe it’s appropriate
they bear some portion of
the cost.”
Rep.
Joe
Schmick,
R-Colfax, said farmers ul-
timately would bear the
expense if freight rates rise
in response to the tax in-
crease.
“Any costs that are in-
creased cannot be passed
on. The grower pays them,”
he said.
Senate Republicans beat
back a move by Sen. Steve
Conway, D-South Tacoma,
to renew his proposal to
add at least one crew mem-
ber to trains carrying “haz-
ardous materials.”
The extra crew member
would be positioned to de-
couple rail cars in the case
of an emergency, Conway
said. Firefighters aren’t
qualified to do it, he said.
“It’s important to have
the right personnel on the
trains themselves,” Con-
way said.
Senate Majority Leader
Mark Schoesler, R-Ritz-
ville, said the requirement
would apply to trains haul-
ing anhydrous ammonia,
which he said has been
transported without inci-
dent in Washington since
1952 and should not get en-
tangled in an oil safety bill.
He called anhydrous
ammonia “the fundamen-
tal building block of ag-
riculture” and Conway’s
amendment “an assault on
agriculture.”
“Every form of agricul-
ture relies on nitrogen fer-
tilizer — every crop,” he
said. “If you want to have
(larger) crew sizes, take
your collective bargaining
and bargain for it with the
carrier, but leave agricul-
ture out of it.”
Conway’s amendment
failed on a 26-21 vote.
Lawmakers from both
parties say they want to
pass an oil safety bill this
year, but the Senate and
House remain apart on
many details. The regular
session ends April 26.
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