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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2017)
6 CapitalPress.com January 27, 2017 Editorials are written by or approved by members of the Capital Press Editorial Board. All other commentary pieces are the opinions of the authors but not necessarily this newspaper. Opinion Editorial Board Publisher Editor Managing Editor John Perry Joe Beach Carl Sampson opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion Trump administration poised to make Western ag great again O UR V IEW By DAN KEPPEN For the Capital Press n the world of Western water, a massive fl ood or dev- astating drought is sure to get policy-makers focused on the need to update and create more effective water management policy. The recent drought has ramped up much-needed con- gressional interest to enact legislation that will allow Guest Western water providers comment to better manage and pre- pare for future dry times. Dan Keppen Now, the heaviest rain in a decade has over- whelmed parts of the West Coast, underscoring the critical importance of having modernized infrastructure in place to optimize water resources management. I Water a priority Andrew Harnik/Associated Press Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States Jan. 20, as Melania Trump looks on at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. A strong, steady hand is what U.S. needs W especially the agricultural economy. The hen Donald Trump took the Last Friday, President Trump wheat farmers of Eastern Washington oath of offi ce about a week promised to give voice to the little guy. know that. So do the almond growers of Included are the farmers and ranchers ago, he reminded us of two California, blueberry growers of Oregon whose voices have been drowned out things — we are all Americans under and the dairy farmers of Idaho. during the past eight years. God, and we must push back the tide of Trump has already exited the As we watch the new administration government that has inundated our lives. take shape, we need to remind ourselves Trans-Pacifi c Partnership, a 12-nation Farmers and ranchers have seen trade agreement that included several that the changes President Trump has the tide of regulation rise during the of the biggest U.S. customers — and promised will, and should, take time. past eight years. Overwrought and competitors. We urge him to act quickly Just as they didn’t happen overnight, underthought policies ranging from to put in place a trade agreement that they will not all be resolved overnight. the Waters of the U.S. to the Food maintains access to foreign Safety Modernization Act have markets for U.S. farmers threatened to drown farmers in We need to remind ourselves that the and ranchers. Without regulation. The fi rst would put the changes President Trump has promised prompt follow-up, they could lose some of their biggest federal government in charge of will, and should, take time. customers. nearly every drop of water in the So, too, must immigration U.S., and the second threatened The federal government, with its 2.79 be reformed, and building a wall is to invent and prevent food safety not the top priority. In agriculture, million employees, is not a speed boat problems that never before existed. That’s not all. During the past eight that can make sharp turns; it is an aircraft immigrant laborers pick the apples years ranchers have seen the wellbeing carrier that needs time and space to turn. in Washington, harvest the lettuce in California and milk the cows in Idaho. Especially time. of the greater sage grouse put before As an industry, agriculture cannot do We expect that the members of the their wellbeing. Even when they have without those farmworkers, the vast Trump administration will understand agreed to help protect the bird, they majority of whom are hard-working that going in. We hope the president were threatened with more regulation. and good-hearted. They are part of the No farmer, no rancher would sacrifi ce understands that as well. He has already American dream that President Trump issued a fl urry of directives that are the environment on which they depend talks about. unsettling to a nation just getting used for their livelihood, yet time and again An improved H-2A foreign worker to a new leader. We suggest he steady they are portrayed as the villain in the visa is needed, as is a fair system that the ship before he tries to turn it. rhetoric of environmentalists and a President Trump needs to understand allows undocumented foreigners already federal government that helps to fund in the U.S. to pay a fi ne, learn English that steering a ship as massive as the their legal attacks on agriculture. and seek legal residence, as long as they United States of America is different President Trump has promised to have violated no other laws. from standing on the shore and change that. He’s promised to set aside We appreciate the goals President dogmatic environmental anti-agriculture shouting criticism, and the realities of a massively complex nation and economy Trump has set for himself. Four years is attacks, such as the Environmental may force him to diverge from some of plenty of time to accomplish them. Protection Agency-funded What’s But President Trump needs to know his campaign rhetoric. Upstream smear campaign. In its what every good ship’s captain knows. For example, fair trade and a place he has promised a regulatory A strong, steady hand on the throttle, workable immigration policy are atmosphere that solves problems but coupled with a skilled hand on the needed now more than ever. A robust does not impose an environmentalist- rudder, will get our nation where we and open trade system is in many ways authored attack on agriculture or other need to go. the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, industries. A plan to avoid breaching dams I feel we should take water out of the stream coming into the rivers above the dams (on the Columbia and Snake riv- ers) and divert it into a ditch that would then dump into the backwaters of the reservoir. This would help the dead wa- ter situation and provide cool- er water for the salmon and steelhead to follow. This is a better plan than breaching the dams and losing a source of electricity as well as barge traffi c. The breach- ing would dump enormous amounts of silt into the river, destroying many kinds of fi sh. Homer R. Nesbitt Emmett, Idaho Readers’ views The prior process was BLM’s planning known as the Three C’s of co- operation, coordination and rules run amok conciliation. Cooperation is I’m disappointed that only six Western counties and a soil conservation district filed a lawsuit over the Bu- reau of Land Management’s new decision-making pro- cess. Western-wide support is needed to drain the swamp that has engulfed public land management. Last summer Interior Sec- retary Sally Jewell toured the Soda Burn area of Malheur County, Ore., and Owyhee County, Idaho. She announced BLM was initiating a collaboration pro- cess. Before going further, referring to Webster’s dictio- nary sets the scene. defined as the “act of working together to one end, joint op- eration, concurrent effort of labor.” Local entities, represent- ed by county commissioners, found the road rocky but did contribute to the process. Political correctness has taught that words matter. Collaboration is defined as the “act of performing work of labor together; especially literary work or scientific re- search.” The problem is that BLM’s authorized officers will determine what is sci- entific instead of decisions based on cooperation. The Trump administration will need to address how Western water resources development is hamstrung by the implementation of federal environmental laws and regulations. Unfortunately, it’s hard to shine the light on these issues when energy issues, repealing and/or replacing Obamacare and tax reform are all center stage in Washing- ton. It’s time to make Western irrigated agriculture one of the priorities for the incoming Trump administration. Americans are spending, on average, less than 8 per- cent of their disposable income on food. To put this into perspective, just 70 years ago, that fi gure was more than 25 percent. While more, better and safer food is being pro- duced by our American farmers, these same farmers are under attack — and it won’t be long before this translates back to the supermarket. For farmers to survive, and for food to continue to be produced here in America, a stable water supply is a must. In many areas of the West, water resources are available and projects are waiting to be developed. However, the policies of the federal government make development of these stabilizing water supplies nearly im- possible. Activists’ attacks Over the past decade, we have witnessed escalated en- gagement by certain activist groups, at times supported by our own federal government, who cynically use fi sh and wildlife management to attempt to eliminate sectors of pro- duction agriculture. It has happened in places like the Klamath Basin and California’s Central Valley, where water originally devel- oped for farms and ranches is being redirected to meet the “perceived” (i.e. unsubstantiated) needs of several species of fi sh protected under the Endangered Species Act. It is happening now in the Deschutes Basin, where en- vironmental litigants are incrementally taking water away from farmers and dedicating it to the unsubstantiated needs of the ESA-protected Oregon Spotted Frog. President-elect Trump has vowed to honor “the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt … one of our great environmental- ists.” The Family Farm Alliance and the producers and con- servationists we work with are dedicated to the pragmatic implementation of actions that seek to fi nd a sustainable balance of environmental protection and economic pros- perity. A role and a duty There are ways that the federal government can help support Western irrigated agriculture. The federal gov- ernment really has a role and a duty to reach out to these producers on critical federal water policies and work in partnership with them using available funding and federal cost-share opportunities to support their efforts to secure a stable water supply for their operations. Irrigated agriculture not only provides a $172 billion annual boost to our economy, it also provides important habitat for Western waterfowl and other wildlife, and its open spaces are treasured by citizens throughout the West and the nation. Family farmers and ranchers are willing to partner with constructive conservation groups and federal agencies, especially if there are opportunities to both help strengthen their productivity and improve the environment. Still, many Western producers face signifi cant regulato- ry and policy related challenges, brought on — in part — by federal agency implementation of environmental laws; destructive tactics employed by litigious, anti-farming activists; and a myriad of new rules and policies skewed toward environmental protection. On the ground, water infrastructure that was built early in the last century is aging, and once-reliable federal grants and loan programs are a thing of the past. Meanwhile, lit- tle progress has been made towards developing new and improved water infrastructure to keep up with the growing water demands of expanding cities, energy production and environmental needs. Daunting challenges The second half of the collaboration definition gets closer to the BLM rule-mak- ing process as seen through Western eyes. It would be difficult to find a public land permittee or county official who didn’t believe BLM’s perceived bias is nothing but “cooper- ation with the enemy.” At this writing, citizens of Malheur County and South- ern Oregon await word that monuments proposed for us will clear president Obama’s desk with or without a signa- ture. Whether designated or not, it is a classic example of collaboration and a rule-mak- ing process run amok. Michael F. Hanley IV Jordan Valley, Ore. These challenges are daunting, and they will require innovative solutions. We must fi nd ways to recover wa- ter supply certainty by modernizing and expanding West- ern water infrastructure, curbing environmental litigation against federal agencies and the rural communities they serve, and modernizing and streamlining antiquated fed- eral environmental laws so they work to enhance the Na- tion’s food production, ecosystems and rural communities together. We must start trimming chapters, rather than adding new ones to a regulatory playbook that is much too volu- minous, top-down and daunting. The Family Farm Alliance has developed specifi c rec- ommendations for the incoming Trump administration that can help provide solutions to meet these needs. It is our hope that the incoming administration will embrace our core philosophy: the best solutions are driven locally by real people with a grasp of “on-the-ground” reality and who are heavily invested in the success of such solutions. Dan Keppen is executive director of the Family Farm Alliance, an advocate for family farmers, ranchers, irrigation districts and allied industries in 17 Western states. The Alliance is focused on one mission — to ensure the availability of reliable, affordable irrigation water supplies to Western farmers and ranchers.