Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2016)
4 CapitalPress.com October 21, 2016 What’s Upstream has until Dec. 1 to answer new allegation Oregon Save Family Farms organization expands its complaint By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Washington Pub- lic Disclosure Commission has extended until Dec. 1 the deadline for What’s Up- stream to answer allegations by a farm group that it broke the law by failing to report its federally funded political ac- tivities. The PDC previously had expected a response by Oct. 17, but pushed back the dead- line after Save Family Farm- ing leveled more allegations, an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday. The farm group complained in September that What’s Up- stream failed to register as a grass-roots lobbying organiza- tion trying to inluence legisla- tion by appealing to the public. Save Family Farming amended the complaint Oct. Courtesy of Save Family Farming An advertising sign on a Whatcom County, Wash., transit bus promotes an Environmental Protection Agency-funded campaign to get the state Legislature to mandate 100-foot buffers between all farm ields and waterways. A group of farmers has complained to the state that the campaign constituted lobbying and political activities. 14, claiming that What’s Up- stream also should have regis- tered as a political committee planning a ballot initiative. The farm group, in a let- ter to the PDC, cited newly released Environmental Pro- tection Agency records as the basis for the new complaint. The complaints stem from the use of federal money by the Swinomish Indian tribe, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and several envi- ronmental groups to lobby for stricter regulations on farming in Washington. The EPA funded the media campaign between 2011 and 2016 through a grant to the isheries commission. The EPA withdrew its sup- port last spring after coming under ire from some federal lawmakers. The EPA’s inspector gener- al is auditing how the isheries commission and the tribe spent the funds, which potentially totaled about $655,000, ac- cording to EPA records. The tribe contracted with Seattle lobbying irm Strat- egies 360 to poll voters and craft a media campaign. The What’s Upstream website was revised shortly before the 2016 Legislature to urge the public to write lawmakers in support of mandatory 100-foot buffers between farm ields and water- ways. EPA records show that the tribe’s environmental policy director, Larry Wasserman, proposed using EPA funds in 2013 to run a ballot initiative and that federal money already had been spent testing messag- es to sway voters. EPA oficials had concerns about the proposal, and Was- serman dropped the idea, ac- cording to EPA records. Save Family Farming al- leges that What’s Upstream should have disclosed its po- litical activities to the state no later than 2013. The farm group’s complaint also named Strategies 360 and EPA Northwest Administrator Dennis McLerran, though the PDC has named Wasserman as the only respondent. Agency too slow on H-2A applications, farm labor director says By DAN WHEAT Capital Press OLYMPIA — A federal agency involved in processing H-2A visas for foreign farm- workers to harvest U.S. crops remains uncooperative in making that process work, the director of a farm labor organi- zation says. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (US- CIS) “was unable to substan- tively answer questions” and only provided a generic de- partment email address at an Oct. 12 conference in Dallas, Texas, said Dan Fazio, director and CEO of WAFLA, former- ly the Washington Farm Labor Association. The conference was offered by the departments of State, Labor and Homeland Security, all involved in approving and issuing H-2A visas. USCIS is part of Homeland Security. Capital Press did not get a reply from USCIS when asked for a comment. A State Department oficial pledged to make H-2A work smoothly. Labor and Customs and Border Protection ex- plained what they do and pro- vided contact information, but three USCIS oficials refused to provide any contact infor- mation other than the generic email address, Fazio said. He said he presented a letter outlining the agency’s inability to process H-2A applications and asked for the name of someone with whom to follow up. He was given no name. In his Oct. 3 letter to USCIS oficials Donald Neufeld and Maria Odom, Fazio requests a Dec. 5 or 6 meeting with them and said in past years the agen- cy was able to process H-2A applications on time and with few errors. That changed this year with Dan Wheat/Capital Press FIle Francisco Trinidad, an H-2A-visa foreign guest worker, thins Gala apples at Zirkle Fruit Co.’s CRO Orchard south of Rock Island, Wash., last summer. WAFLA, an organization that helps growers apply for foreign H-2A workers, says one federal agency delays applications. delays of more than six weeks, Requests for Evidence (RFE) issued in error and no response to inquiries from applicants or members of Congress, Fazio said. The most serious problem, he wrote, is the agency won’t communicate by email or tele- phone, only by regular mail. H-2A workers were de- layed for a blueberry grower by an RFE questioning wheth- er blueberry harvest is seasonal work, Fazio said. The grower, “one of the largest blueberry producers in the world,” was LEGAL CHERRY AVENUE STORAGE 2680 Cherry Ave. NE Salem, OR 97301 (503) 399-7454 Sat., Nov. 5th • 10 A.M. • Unit 4 Jeremy VanDyke Cherry Avenue Storage reserves the right to refuse any and all bids legal-43-2-1/#4 43-2/#7 aided by his access to a “pow- erful” lobbyist but average employers lack that access, he said. The “saddest” case was an Oregon grower who lost mil- lions of dollars in high-value fruit because USCIS would not approve the transfer of H-2A workers from Washing- ton in a timely manner, Fazio said. He did not identify either grower. WAFLA helped approx- imately 200 employers hire 9,000 H-2A workers this year. They were mostly in Wash- ington but also in Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada and Michigan. OREGON CAPITAL INSIDER Get the inside scoop on state government and politics! We’re investing in Salem coverage when other news organizations are cutting back. OregonCapitalInsider.com Obtaining the visas re- quires working with four fed- eral agencies and, in Washing- ton, two state agencies. Delays also occurred in 2015, when the State Depart- ment said it had computer problems printing visas. The Department of Labor is required by regulation to de- cide H-2A applications at least 30 days before the applicant’s date of need but there is no similar requirement for US- CIS, Fazio said. USCIS has a two-week goal but in many cases with WAFLA it took four weeks or more, guaranteeing workers would be late, he said. The government should want to make H-2A work as an alternative and deterrent to illegal immigration, Fazio said. Employers and workers have to make decisions counting on certainty of work dates, he said. “It is cruel to routinely cause a very poor farmworker to wait, without a job, when he or she could be earning sub- stantial sums of money to sup- port their family,” Fazio wrote in the letter. irrigation district urges dismissal of water lawsuit By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press The Westland Irrigation District in Northeast Oregon has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of cheating smaller growers out of water. In June, seven farms rang- ing from about 60 acres to 800 acres iled a complaint alleging the district stole their water to beneit three operations with more than 5,000 acres. During oral arguments on Oct. 18, attorneys for the dis- trict told U.S. District Judge Michael Simon in Portland, Ore., that the lawsuit belongs in state court, not federal court. “They’ve failed to exhaust the underlying state remedies that would make their claim ripe in federal court,” said Nicole Hancock, attorney for Westland. The hearing focused on ju- risdictional issues rather than the merits of the complaint, which claims the district used fraudulent accounting to make water available to the larger operations at the expense of the smaller growers, who have senior water rights. The lawsuit belongs in state court because it deals with in- terpretations of Oregon con- tract law and water law, said Hancock. “It’s going to be a combination of those.” Julie Weis, attorney for the plaintiffs, said it would be more eficient to resolve the case in federal court, partic- ularly since iling a new law- suit in state court may drag the dispute into the 2017 irrigation season. The lawsuit belongs in fed- eral court because it will likely entail water contracts with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the impact of the Endan- gered Species Act on water al- location, said Michael Haglund, attorney for the plaintiffs. “There may well be inter- sections with federal law in this case,” Haglund said. The judge signaled that he’s inclined to rule the lawsuit be- longs in state court, since the case doesn’t neatly meet the legal standards for trying it in federal court. Though he does have the authority to make an exception, there would need to be a valid reason — other than his per- sonal preference, said Simon. “That’s no way to run a legal system.” It also wouldn’t make sense to try the case in federal court only to later refer a question of law to the Oregon Supreme Court, he said. Simon said he expects to rule on the jurisdiction issue by mid-November or early De- cember. If the plaintiffs are worried about delay, they can in the meantime ile a state lawsuit against the district, Simon said. If he decides the case belongs in federal court, the state law- suit can then be dismissed. “That will have absolutely no bearing on what I do here,” he said. W E S P ECI ALI ZE I N BU L K BAG S! HAY PRESS SUPPORT: • Hay Sleeves • Strap • Totes • Printed or Plain • Stretch Film (ALL GAUGES) WAREHOUSE PACKAGING: • Stretch Film • Pallet Sheets • Pallet Covers LOCATIONS: Albany, Oregon (MAIN OFFICE) Ellensburg, Washington CONTACT INFORMATION: Phone: 855-928-3856 Fax: 541-497-6262 info@westernpackaging.com ....................................................... CUSTOMER SERVICE IS OUR TOP PRIORITY! w w w. w e s t e r n p a c k a g i n g. c o m 43-4//#5 43-7/#5 BAGS: • Seed Bags • Fertilizer Bags • Feed Bags • Potato Bags • Printed Bags • Plain Bags • Bulk Bags • Totes • Woven Polypropylene • Bopp • Polyethylene • Pocket Bags • Roll Stock & More!