10 CapitalPress.com
May 1, 2015
Washington
Inslee pitches climate change legislation
GOP lawmakers: Low-carbon fuel plan on empty
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay In-
slee on Wednesday renewed
his call for climate change
legislation, though Republi-
can lawmakers continue to
reject proposals to tax car-
bon and mandate biofuels as
too costly for manufacturers
and motorists, and potential-
ly fatal to a transportation
plan that depends on a gas
tax increase.
Speaking on Earth Day, In-
slee said lawmakers have done
“zero” for the environment this
year. “An absolute goose egg,”
he said.
The regular session ended
Sunday, but the governor and
many lawmakers assumed the
Legislature wouldn’t produce
a 2015-17 budget by then.
Inslee said legislators can
redeem themselves by taking
advantage of a special session
to pass a carbon-reduction bill.
“We have to act to restrain
this existential threat to the
state of Washington,” he said.
Neither the Democrat-
ic-controlled House nor the
GOP-ruled Senate has ap-
proved Inslee’s proposal to
cap greenhouse gases from
some 130 businesses, includ-
ing one fertilizer plant and
eight food processors. The
businesses, which emit at
least 25,000 metric tons of
carbon a year, would have to
bid for a limited number of
carbon credits to continue op-
erating. The number of credits
available would gradually be
cut in half by 2050.
The Office of Financial
Management estimates the
auctions would cost business-
es $1.2 billion in the first two
years, though the agency notes
that nobody knows exactly
what credits will cost once
the bidding starts. “If the auc-
tions generate higher prices
than those assumed here, the
expenditure impact of the bill
could increase substantially,”
according to a OFM report.
Lawmakers also haven’t
embraced Inslee’s proposal to
lower the “carbon intensity” of
gasoline and diesel. Supporters
and critics of the policy dis-
agree whether promoting eth-
anol and other biofuels would
add a dime or a dollar to a gal-
lon of fuel.
Republican lawmakers say
they and their constituents
can’t live with the uncertainty,
especially when the Senate’s
$15 billion transportation pro-
posal depends on raising the
state’s gas tax by 11.7 cents.
“That is the one issue that
could kill the whole (trans-
portation) package because
the costs are so hard to deter-
mine,” said Rep. J.T. Wilcox,
R-Yelm.
Sen. John Braun, R-Cen-
tralia, said a gas tax increase
could be challenged in a ref-
erendum. Voters would be in-
fluenced by the thought they
also will have to pay for more
costly biofuels, he said.
“If the low-carbon fuel
standard is still in play, that’s
going to decisively affect that
vote,” he said.
The state gas tax is cur-
rently 37.5 cents a gallon.
The federal gas tax adds 18.4
cents. Inslee has made climate
change his signature issue.
He’s instructed the Washing-
ton Department of Ecology to
write a low-carbon fuel policy
that he could enforce by ex-
ecutive order. To discourage
Dept. of Ag collects waste pesticide
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE, Wash. — A
line of trucks gathers outside
a building on the Washington
State Department of Trans-
portation’s Geiger Mainte-
nance Facility. Barrels and
tanks holding chemicals
farmers don’t or can’t use any
more sit in the truck beds.
Inside, workers put tape
around the legs of their haz-
ardous material suits, making
sure to keep the cuffs outside
their boots, so any chemicals
don’t accidentally run down
their legs into their footwear.
A tarp lies on the ground.
Anyone on the tarp needs to
wear a suit as he checks the
chemicals being turned in to
be destroyed.
The disposal program is
designed for land-banned
pesticides prohibited from
use, said Joe Hoffman,
waste pesticide program
coordinator for the Wash-
ington State Department of
Agriculture.
“There was nowhere you
could take them,” he said.
“They can’t go to a landfill
and some of them can’t even
go to hazardous waste land-
fills.”
Other materials aren’t
used any more as cropping
patterns change, and have
been aging in barns, or farm-
ers have switched to organic
and have no need for chemi-
cals, Hoffman said.
A contractor disposes of
the pesticides through ther-
mal destruction, incinerat-
ing them at 2,200 degrees
Fahrenheit in a rotary kiln.
The materials are essential-
ly broken down into their
basic element forms, with
leftover ash that meets stan-
dards going to a hazardous
waste landfill or running
through the kiln again until
it does.
“Something like DDT,
that in the environment is
extremely persistent (and)
doesn’t break down for years,
its residence time in that rota-
ry kiln is less than a second,”
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee speaks on Earth Day, April 22, on
the Capitol Campus in Oympia. Inslee says legislators have failed
to act to curb carbon emissions, but have a chance to redeem
themsleves during an upcoming special session.
Inslee from acting alone, the
Senate transportation plan in-
cludes a provision that would
Rail lines that cater to
ag escape oil train tax
Legislation
delivered to
governor as regular
session ends
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Washington State Department of Agriculture fertilizer compliance manager Brent Perry and a worker
check a chemical turned in during the department’s waste pesticide collection event April 22 in Spokane.
Online
www.agr.wa.gov/
wastepesticide
Hoffman said.
Customers sign a release
that makes the department
the owner of the material,
releasing farmers from long-
term liability with hazardous
waste, Hoffman said.
“It’s a real asset for the
public, not just the farmer,”
said Fred Wilcox, who’s
been farming since 1947
and now helps his son in
the Cheney and Medical
Lake, Wash., area. “Most
farmers are real environ-
mentally-conscious
and
they don’t want to be tied
up in something that’s go-
ing to go on to the next
generation,” he said, noting
that stockpiling chemicals
on the farm becomes a lia-
bility for heirs.
Brandon Wagner, a ware-
houseman for Co-Ag, turned
in old product that’s been
sitting for several years, left
over after the company pur-
chased several sites.
“It would have cost us a lot
of money to do this all by our-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Cheney, Wash., area farmer Fred Wilcox greets Washington State
Department of Agriculture pesticide registration services program
manager Robin Schoen-Nessa during a waste pesticide collection
April 22 in Spokane.
selves,” Wagner said. “Being
able to dispose of it for free
gets it out of our warehouses.
It’s nice to have something
like this.”
Sander Carren, produc-
tion supervisor and safety
manager with Wilbur-Ellis in
Tekoa, Wash., delivered the
program’s 3 millionth pound
during the Spokane collection
event.
“It’s nothing hazardous,
but it needs to be disposed of
properly,” Carren said. “This
is a good opportunity to do
that. We don’t want this kind
of stuff building up at the
plant.”
The Spokane event col-
lected 24,984 pounds from
32 customers, Hoffman said.
Eight percent of the weight is
drum containers, he said.
Hoffman advises farmers
to contact the department if
they have materials to re-
move. The department will
either put together a col-
lection event in the area or
do direct pick-ups in rural
areas.
divert transit funds to road
projects if he issues an exec-
utive order.
OLYMPIA — In the nick
of time, regional railroads,
many of which primarily haul
agricultural products, escaped
a tax increase.
Shortly before adjourning
Friday, the Washington House
and Senate agreed on a bill to
address an influx of rail cars
hauling potentially explosive
crude oil from Bakken fields to
West Coast refineries.
BNSF Railway and Union
Pacific Railroad will pay high-
er taxes to beef up rail inspec-
tions, but short-line railroads
that don’t carry crude will be
exempted.
“It was a really significant
victory for short-line rail-
roads,” said lobbyist Patrick
Boss, who represented a coa-
lition of regional rail compa-
nies. “That bill was about oil
trains. I think the Legislature
did the right thing.”
Short-line railroads were
included in House Bill 1449
until it was amended just
before the Senate approved
it 46-0. The House agreed
with that and other changes
and passed the measure 95-1
a short time later. The bill is
ready to be signed by Gov.
Jay Inslee, who praised it in a
press release.
Passing the bill was the
Legislature’s last major action
before ending the 2015 regu-
lar session. Lawmakers will
convene in a special session
Wednesday to negotiate 2015-
17 operating, capital and trans-
portation budgets.
Agricultural interests got
caught up in negotiations as
lawmakers worked on a bill to
ramp up rail inspections and
emergency planning.
“It came down to us com-
municating to the Legislature,
‘We’re not hauling crude oil.
Please amend the bill and take
us out of it,’” Boss said.
Farm lobbyists were also
concerned about a proposal to
require trains carrying hazard-
ous materials, including fertil-
izer, to increase crew sizes.
Lobbyists said stopping
trains at the state line to add
crew members would raise
transportation costs and cause
logistical problems.
The bill that finally passed
the Legislature does not re-
quire more crews members
than mandated by federal law
and union contracts.
Some lawmakers said they
will reopen the issue next year.
“We are concerned we’re
not having that extra set of
eyes and extra set of hands
in the event we need to do
an emergency decoupling of
the trains,” said Sen. Chris-
tine Rolfes, a Kitsap County
Democrat, in a floor speech.
“That’s something we hope to
come back next session and
debate.”
There are 24 rail lines in
Washington in addition to
BNSF and UP, according to
the Washington Department
of Transportation.
Oil-hauling railroads will
see their taxes increase on in-
trastate revenues from 1.5 per-
cent to 2.5 percent.
Exempting other rail carri-
ers from the tax increase will
not change the Washington
Utilities and Transportation
Commission’s plan to hire
eight more rail inspectors, an
agency spokeswoman said.
Ramping up WUTC’s safe-
ty inspection program will cost
more than $2.8 million over
the first two years, according
to a report by the Office of Fi-
nancial Management.
The WUTC has said BNSF
and UP pay 90 percent of the
intrastate revenue tax. The
agency argued that all rail lines
will benefit by having more
state inspectors.
Farmworker training bill signed
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
18-7/#7
OLYMPIA — Legislation
to foster a skilled agricultural
workforce was signed Thursday
by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
House Bill 1127 authorizes
the Washington State Depart-
ment of Commerce to select one
organization to receive $1 mil-
lion over two years to provide
farmworkers with technical and
safety training.
The measure doesn’t spec-
ify the curriculum or the grant
recipient. The bill’s prime spon-
sor, Yakima County Rep. Bruce
Chandler, said he expects sever-
al groups to compete for funding
and that in the long run growers
will pay for the program.
“My vision is that farm work
will evolve from being just a job
to being a career,” said Chan-
dler, a Republican.
“I believe that in the next
generation, agriculture is going
to have fewer employees, but
they’re actually going to pro-
duce more food,” he said. “They
are going to have to have broad-
er and deeper skills.”
Washington
Growers
League Executive Director
Mike Gempler, who attended
the bill signing, said his organi-
zation hopes to land the contract.
The league would collaborate
with the Northwest Communi-
cations Education Center, which
operates a Spanish-language
public radio station in Yakima
County.
The two groups estimate that
over two years they could put
about 1,200 workers through
short courses on topics such as
operating farm machinery, han-
dling pesticides and supervising
the workplace.
Gempler said he believes de-
mand for the courses would be
high and that agriculture needs
a more formal way to develop a
well-trained workforce.
“It’s hard for an individual
employee to do it on his own,”
he said. “We’re very excited that
we’re going to have something
that can be a focal point for
training.”
Gempler said highly skilled
workers should command high-
er wages. “If you have people
who can do more, and do it on
their own, they’re worth more,”
he said.
The education center’s direc-
tor of special projects, Gilberto
Alaniz, said better training will
make safer workplaces. “We
need to make sure farmworkers
have the skills to save lives and
prevent injuries,” he said.
The House budget proposal
includes funds for the program,
while the Senate spending pro-
posal does not. Chandler said
he expects the money will be in
the final budget worked out be-
tween the chambers.
The bill enjoyed support
from the United Farm Workers
and Columbia Legal Services,
which has represented farm-
workers in court.
The bill prohibits employers
from making the training man-
datory. Also, Washington work-
ers must be given priority when
an organization enrolls people in
courses.