CALIFORNIA: RAIN SETS STRAWBERRIES BEHIND 2013 PACE Page 7
Capital
Press
The West s
Weekly
FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015
VOLUME 88, NUMBER 1
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
OLYMPIA 2015
WOLVES, WATER AND
TAXES TOP AG AGENDA
$2.00
USDA
clears
GMO
tall
fescue
Lack of plant pest
genes lets agency
skip enviro analysis
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington lawmakers will convene Jan. 12 in the Legislative Building in Olympia for a 105-day session. Wolves,
water and taxes will be among the agriculture-related issues.
Legislators convene Jan. 12
for budget-writing session
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Sen. Jim
Honeyford, R-15
Rep. Judy
Warnick, R-13
Rep. Joel Kretz,
R-7
Rep. Brian Blake,
D-19
O
Washington Gov.
Jay Inslee
LYMPIA, Wash. — Wolves, water and taxes are the headline ag-
ricultural issues as legislators prepare to convene for their 2015
session in the Washington State Capitol.
Wolves haven’t crossed the “Cascade Curtain” that divides
Washington state, but anger at livestock predation has. Rep. Joel
Kretz, an Okanogan County Republican, says he hopes legislators will ad-
dress the management of the apex predators and their impact on livestock
producers in Eastern Washington. “I think it’s in play this year,” he said.
Water always occupies the attention of eastside lawmakers from agricul-
ture-rich districts, though to many westside legislators the issue seems dry.
This year, however, eastside and westside lawmakers may form an alliance to
promote a statewide multi-billion-dollar water bond.
Turn to SESSION, Page 10
The USDA has cleared
the way for cultivation of ge-
netically modifi ed tall fescue
without conducting an envi-
ronmental review of the new
crop.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro
company developed the gly-
phosate-resistant
turfgrass
variety with genes from oth-
er plants through a process
known as “biolistics,” in
which a “gene gun” essential-
ly shoots DNA-coated metal
particles into the plant cell.
Because the method does
not involve the use of a plant
pest for gene transfer, the
USDA has no authority to
regulate the tall fescue, ac-
cording to a document recent-
ly released by the agency.
Controversial
biotech
crops that are also resistant to
glyphosate herbicides — such
as “Roundup Ready” alfalfa and
sugar beets — were made using
a soil pathogen, which required
USDA to study the plants be-
fore deregulating them.
Scotts began to re-orient
its biotechnology program af-
ter a regulated variety of ge-
netically engineered creeping
bentgrass escaped a fi eld trial
in Central Oregon in 2003,
which eventually resulted in
a $500,000 civil penalty from
USDA.
Since then, the bentgrass
cultivar has been stuck in reg-
ulatory limbo as the USDA
has not approved it to be
grown commercially without
restrictions.
However, over the past
four years the company has
persuaded the USDA’s An-
imal and Plant Health In-
spection Service that several
biotech varieties of Kentucky
bluegrass and St. Augustine-
grass did not come under its
regulatory jurisdiction.
Turn to GMO, Page 10
Port slowdowns among factors hurting hay exports
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
ELLENSBURG, Wash. —
West Coast hay exporters have
lost up to 50 percent of their
business since early November
because of the longshoremen
work slowdown and say their
industry can’t absorb millions
of dollars in losses indefi nitely.
On top of the slowdown, a
35 percent devaluation of the
Japanese yen and tighter re-
strictions on residue of genet-
ically modifi ed hay in China
have dampened those coun-
tries’ appetite for U.S. hay.
“We have quite a few head-
winds right now and they are
affecting us short- and long-
term in market psychology. We
can’t survive like this forever,”
said Mark T. Anderson, presi-
dent and CEO of Anderson Hay
& Grain Co. in Ellensburg.
Developing markets such
as China and Saudi Arabia will
begin viewing the U.S. as un-
reliable and look elsewhere for
hay, Anderson said.
Turn to PORT, Page 10
THIS WEEK IN THE CAPITAL PRESS
Washington steps up testing
for bird fl u in the wild
Offi cials are asking the public to help
fi nd wild birds infected with a lethal
strain of avian infl uenza.
Page 3
1-5/#5
Beekeeper buzzing
about neonic ban
Washington county bars family of
pesticides from land it manages.
Page 4
Balers and har-
rowbeds harvest
fi rst-cutting Timothy
hay for export in an
Anderson Hay &
Grain Co. operation
south of Ephrata,
Wash., in June.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press