Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2015)
January 2, 2015 CapitalPress.com 3 Terminal operators blamed for port congestion Union undecided on federal mediation By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Courtesy of Kevin Lewis Twin Lakes Canal Co. is awaiting approval of a permit by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a dam on the Oneida Narrows stretch of the Bear River within Franklin County, Idaho. Supporters of Oneida Narrows dam await ruling By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press PRESTON, Idaho — Franklin County farmers view a dam they’ve proposed on the Bear River as a solution to persistent water shortages that often force them to leave acres fallow and cut off irriga- tion prematurely. A public comment period on Twin Lakes Canal Co.’s planned project on the river’s Oneida Narrows reach ended Dec. 16, after the Federal En- ergy Regulatory Commission launched an environmental review of the final license ap- plication. The 230 Twin Lakes shareholders, representing 16,000 irrigated acres, hope FERC will grant the project a long-awaited draft envi- ronmental impact statement by a June 15 deadline. The canal company has worked for about a decade seeking to advance its proposed 109-foot dam, which would create a 4.5-mile reservoir impound- ing water upstream to the base of the existing Oneida Dam. Power generated from the new dam would raise revenue to repay construction costs and to replace the company’s open-ditch canal system with pipe, thereby saving addition- al water lost to seepage. But the project has faced strong opposition from envi- ronmental groups, sportsmen and the federal Bureau of Land Management, Pacifi- Corp and the Shoshone-Ban- nock Tribes. Some opponents, includ- ing PacifiCorp, have filed mo- tions asking FERC to dismiss the application. PacifiCorp argued in its public comments the dam would create “irrec- oncilable conflicts” with its existing Bear River hydro- power projects. PacifiCorp contends the dam would “de- stroy or alter” measures it’s undertaken to mitigate for impacts on native Bonneville cutthroat trout. BLM officials insist they lack authority to approve rights of way to allow the project to disrupt a BLM-ad- ministered research natural area. The Tribes seek to inter- vene based on “adverse im- pacts to cultural resources, fish and wildlife resources and off-reservation treaty rights.” “There are a number of ab- solute roadblocks to building this dam,” said Kevin Lewis, conservation director with Idaho Rivers United, which also filed a motion to dismiss the application. “Instead of them realizing that, they keep forging forward and spending more money.” The Idaho Department of Water Resources has already denied water rights for the project based on public con- cerns, though Twin Lakes Ca- nal Co. President Clair Bosen believes the agency would place considerable weight on the approval of a FERC per- mit. Bosen said his company has also invested millions in a suite of studies to address public concerns — and gone back and updated its applica- tion to address a host of addi- tional FERC questions. The canal company cur- rently operates Twin Lakes, Conde and Winder reservoirs. “Six out of 10 years, we’re way short of water,” Bosen said. “A lot of times, we don’t even plant crops.” Wes Beutler, who farms in Dayton, Clifton and Weston, left 265 acres fallow during the 2013 season due to a tight water supply. Because he’s contractually obligated to supply seed potatoes and dry bean seed, he elected to stop irrigating alfalfa after his first cutting. “That (dam) is the only way we can come up with to solve our problem,” Beutler said. “There’s a moratori- um on drilling any irrigation wells in the Bear River drain- age now.” Beutler said many farm- ers in his area have already left the business due to water challenges. The longshoremen’s union claims that container terminal operators have purposely con- tributed to port congestion to blame shipping disruptions on worker slowdowns. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union also re- mains undecided whether to let federal mediators participate in the labor contract negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Asso- ciation, which represents West Coast terminal operators. The PMA requested that federal mediators assist with the talks, citing a lack of progress, but the ILWU must agree to their participation. Jennifer Sargent, a spokes- person for the union, said ILWU is still deciding whether such mediation would be useful but in the meantime wants PMA’s board of directors to become directly involved in the negoti- ations. The PMA says its leaders are paying close attention to the talks already and reiterated accusations that longshoremen are staging work slowdowns along the West Coast to the detriment of exporters and im- porters. Agricultural exporters have urged the parties to reach an agreement because port disruptions are costing them millions of dollars and perma- nently damaging relationships with overseas customers. The ILWU claims that congestion is caused by mis- management by the terminals and that operators in Seattle and Tacoma have canceled night shifts to exacerbate the problem, hoping to blame it on longshoremen. Both the union and termi- nal operators seem content to trade barbs without actually escalating the situation, said Jim Tessier, a labor consultant and former PMA employee who is critical of both parties. For example, the PMA could lock out the longshore- men from its facilities or im- plement a final contract offer, which could cause longshore- men to strike, he said. As for ILWU’s demand that PMA’s board of directors directly participate in negoti- ations, it would be naive and ineffective for the terminal operators to accept that condi- tion, Tessier said. The board is already in- structing its negotiators, so such a change would not ac- tually make any difference, he said. “They’re all going to say the same thing, no matter who is saying it.” Washington steps up testing for bird flu Residents asked to report sick and dead birds By DON JENKINS Capital Press Washington wildlife of- ficials are asking the public to help them find wild birds in- fected with a lethal and conta- gious strain of avian influenza that has struck British Colum- bia poultry, surfaced in a back- yard flock in Southern Oregon and caused concern in Asia and Europe. The virus, deadly to do- mestic poultry but rarely fatal in migratory waterfowl, may endanger hawks, falcons and eagles, state Fish and Wildlife veterinarian Kristen Mansfield said. Mansfield said she’s sur- prised there have been no re- ports of dies-offs among native wild birds, but there is a risk. “We really want to enhance our surveillance,” she said. The department encourages people to report dead or sick wild birds by calling 1-800- 606-8768. State and federal game managers also plan to approach hunters and ask to take samples from harvested birds. Game managers will fo- cus their efforts in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties in northwest Washington, and in Thurston and Clark counties in southwest Washington. “It’s kind of the next step down the flyway,” WDFW waterfowl section manager Don Kraege said. “The sampling procedure takes less than a minute per bird and will help us determine the prevalence of the disease in wild birds,” he said. The highly pathogenic H5N2 bird flu was found this month in a dead northern pintail duck at Wiser Lake in What- com County. A captive gyrfal- Don Jenkins/Capital Press Wild birds mix Dec. 24 in the Coweeman River in southwest Washington. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to step up testing of wild birds for avian influenza. con that ate a wild duck shot at the same lake died from highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu, a closely related virus. Kraege said the falcon’s death showed the potential for the virus to kill raptors. The ducks breed in Alaska and northeast Asia and migrate south through Canada and to- ward Europe. The discovery in Washing- ton of a duck with highly patho- genic bird flu was the byprod- uct of an ongoing investigation into a die-off at Wiser Lake. Mansfield said the depart- ment has submitted about 20 duck carcasses collected from the lake this month for testing in Madison, Wis. Every duck, including the one with bird flu, died of aspergillosis, a fungal disease that has killed ducks at the lake before. Game managers believe the ducks are feeding on moldy grain somewhere in the area, but haven’t found the source. So far, only the one duck was found to have highly patho- genic bird flu. “Just because of the other event, we found it,” Kraege said. “It’s kind of a nee- dle in the haystack finding.” Washington State Depart- ment of Agriculture spokesman Hector Castro said the depart- ment is monitoring flocks in Whatcom County but has not seen any cases of bird flu in poultry. WSDA is advising backyard flock owners to keep their birds away from wild birds. The bird flu that infected a backyard flock of guinea fowl, chickens and turkeys in Win- ston, Ore., in Douglas County is the first case of highly patho- genic H5N8 virus in poultry in North America, according to the World Organization for An- imal Health. The virus has not been re- ported in commercial flocks, but South Korea, which has battled the same strain all year, has temporarily banned the im- port of U.S. poultry. Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety on Monday banned poultry from Douglas County. Douglas County chicken producer and processor Kerry Olson said he raises chickens for local consumption. Many rural residents raise chickens and sell the eggs, he said. “Almost anybody out in the country has a small flock,” he said. Olson said he raises chick- ens in the summer only and in cages to protect them from predators. He has no chickens on the farm now. “If this hap- pened in the middle of June, I would have a concern,” he said. Low pathogenic avian in- fluenza is common in wild birds. WDFW tested more than 10,000 wild birds between 2005 and 2011 and 10 percent had the virus. No sicknesses or deaths were linked to the virus, according to WDFW. Highly pathogenic H5N8 appeared for the first time in European poultry in November. This month, more H5N8 cases have been reported in Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Vietnam and Japan. Although the virus in British Columbia has been identified as highly pathogenic H5N2, it shares many of the gene seg- ments of H5N8, according to the World Organization for An- imal Heath. The bird flu has struck 11 B.C. farms and claimed 245,600 birds, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Several countries, in- cluding the United States, have banned B.C. poultry and poul- try products. Farm groups hope for clearer food safety regulations By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press On-farm hazelnut and hop dryers will likely escape federal regulations for food processing facilities but the fate of mint stills remains unknown, experts say. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is leaning to- ward excluding on-farm dry- ing facilities from its proposed rules for processors under the Food Safety Modernization Act. Under the latest proposed revision to the food manufac- turer regulations, the FDA con- siders drying to be part of the harvesting process, said Steph- anie Page, food safety and ani- mal health director at the Ore- gon Department of Agriculture. That point is significant be- cause the FDA requires manu- facturers to develop preventive control plans to mitigate risks and increase their analysis of hazards, which would be bur- densome for farmers. The original rules for man- ufacturers didn’t specifically exempt drying facilities, which worried the hazelnut industry, said Mike Klein, executive di- rector of the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board. Increased plantings of ha- zelnuts in recent years will spur demand for new on-farm drying facilities, but greater government scrutiny might dis- suade growers from building them, he said. “We don’t want anything to happen to discourage that, be- cause it’s a crucial step in the harvest process,” Klein said. Hop drying and baling would also be excluded from food manufacturer regula- tions, but the industry is still concerned that the crop hasn’t been specifically exempt from FDA’s proposed produce safety rules. Those rules require irriga- tion water testing and other practices that don’t make sense for a beer-making input, said Ann George, administrator of the Hop Growers of America trade group. “Nobody is going to take hops and chomp down on them for snack food,” she said. “There is no necessity for the added layer of regulation on hops.” It’s also unclear whether on- farm distilling of mint oil will be covered by the food manu- facturing rules. Mint oil is a food ingredient and undergoes further process- ing before it’s consumed, so distilling should be considered a part of harvesting, said Bryan Ostlund, administrator of the Oregon Mint Commission. The oil is naturally anti-mi- crobial and high-pressure steam distilling kills pathogens, he said. “I don’t think anything can survive that process.” Growers want mint stills excluded from the processing rules to avoid unnecessary au- dits and recordkeeping require- ments, Ostlund said. “The label of being food processing takes you into a whole new world of regulation and headaches,” he said. The FDA’s manufacturer regulations have convinced I.P. Callison & Sons, a mint oil supplier in Lacey, Wash., to hire additional staff for internal audits and recordkeeping, said Les Toews, the company’s vice president of purchasing. “It’s terribly expensive,” he said. “For us, it seems sort of silly.” If the FDA does extend pro- cessing regulations to on-farm mint stills, growers who al- ready have implemented “good agricultural practices” on their farms will adjust to the rules more easily, Toews said. I.P. Callison & Sons can provide farmers with check box forms to ensure they’re complying with the rules, he said. “If it becomes mandatory, we’re in good shape to get that program in place.” January 10 th , 2015 South Puget Sound Community College Olympia, WA Register Today www.CascadiaGrains.com Pre-Registration $95 Day of $115 Presented by Washington State University in partnership with Oregon State University 1-5/#24 1-5/#5