OREGON: WINE INDUSTRY PACKS A SURPRISING ECONOMIC PUNCH Page 11 Capital Press The West s Weekly FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015 Attorney: DOL complicates minimum wage compliance VOLUME 88, NUMBER 5 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 AGRICULTURE’S BILLION-DOLLAR CHALLENGE Recent court actions by environmental groups By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press A sampling of recent court fi lings show environmen- tal groups’ wide range of interests. • The Center for Biological Diversity on Jan. 20 sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Colorado over listing the Gunnison sage grouse as “threatened” rather than “endangered.” USFWS ex- plained that states, tribes, local communities and landowners are taking measures to save the grouse. The CBD accused the federal agency of bowing to “intense pressure from industry groups and states.” Environmental groups oppose many aspects of farming, ranching, timber By DON JENKINS Capital Press T he 10 largest environmental organizations operating in the West collectively raise al- most $1 billion each year to fund their ac- tivities, including fi ling lawsuits targeting farmers, ranchers, timber companies and the federal govern- ment. The lawsuits often attack farming and ranching activities, but most focus on how the government enforces the federal Endangered Species Act, a law Congress passed in 1973 to protect some plants and animals. They include salmon, sage grouse, wolves and hundreds of other species either listed or under consideration for protection. Turn to DOL, Page 12 Environmental groups have pushed government managers — often through lawsuits — to protect the populations. In California alone, 321 species are protected under the ESA, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In Oregon, the number is 62, in Washington it’s 57, and in Idaho 22 spe- cies are listed. Those listings are accompanied by reams of regulations to protect the species and their habitats. Though government agencies and agricultural groups attempt to negotiate with the environmental- ists, doing that is often diffi cult, industry representa- tives say. Turn to NO, Page 12 Illustration by Alan Kenaga/Capital Press • The CBD and Earthjustice sued a day after the USFWS announced on Jan. 15 a plan to manage Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. The agency antici- pates a fourfold increase in the wolves’ range, with a pop- ulation of 300 to 325 wolves. Environmental groups say the plan is too restrictive. • Earthjustice on Jan. 14 notifi ed USFWS it will sue to stop the “incidental take” of 15 grizzly bears around Yellow- stone National Park. • CBD sued USFWS on Dec. 30 for not putting two wildfl ow- ers in Utah and Colorado on the endangered species list. The group alleges voluntary conservation measures should be replaced with mandatory Endangered Species Act protections. • CBD petitioned the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Con- servation on Dec. 18 to put the Texas horned lizard on the state’s protected species list. The center said a 15-year-old boy contacted the center for help after learning a shopping center would be built in a fi eld where he likes to catch lizards. • CBD petitioned USFWS on Dec. 18 to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness in Idaho and Mon- tana. The group said putting grizzlies there would be a key part of establishing them over 110,000 square miles in seven states. • CBD notifi ed USFWS on Dec. 11 it will sue to protect the Tini- an monarch, a small bird found only on the 39-square-mile Tinian Island in the Northern Marianas. Missions to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were launched from there. CBD alleges U.S. military training on the island threatens Tinian monarchs. “It’s really hard to hold hands and sing ‘Kumbaya’ and roast marshmallows over the fi re when you’re in the middle of depositions.” Dairy farmer Jay Gordon director of governmental affairs for the Washington State Dairy Federation Bird fl u found in commercial fl ock Area in detail 28 Moses Wash. Lake 90 Potholes Res. 26 Othello 26 24 lu Co 260 b m By DON JENKINS 395 ve Capital Press Richland e R i r Quarantine zone Quarantine lifted in Benton, Franklin counties in Wash. k Sn a Pasco 124 Kennewick 12 N 221 82 h. Was e. Or Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Highly pathogenic bird fl u has struck a commercial turkey fl ock in California’s Central Valley, escalating the virus’ threat to the U.S. poultry industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture posted a notice Jan. 24 reporting that H5N8 bird fl u had been confi rmed in Stanislaus County. Foster Farms, which has several poul- try farms in the county, said it detected the virus during routine testing and alert- ed the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The virus was confi rmed in one turkey house with 9,000 birds and is related to avian infl uenza strains previously found in migrating ducks in Washington, Ore- gon, Idaho, California and Utah, accord- ing to a report by the World Organization for Animal Health. Although tests were negative for avian fl u in other turkey houses on the farm, the other birds will be euthanized, according to the USDA. The USDA and California Depart- ment of Food and Agriculture have quar- antined the farm. Bird fl u spread to 11 British Colum- bia, Canada, commercial poultry farms in the fi rst half of December, but until this Turn to FLU, Page 12 5-5/#5 The U.S. Department of Labor is changing its enforce- ment of minimum wage laws for farmworkers, potentially creating a new headache for growers, an agricultural attor- ney says. The shift will pertain to workers who are paid on a “piece rate” based on the amount of crops they harvest, said Tim Bernasek, an attor- ney with Dunn Carney, at the law fi rm’s recent annual Ag Summit in Wilsonville, Ore. Until now, farmers just had to ensure that employees were paid enough at the end of the day to satisfy the min- imum wage requirement, he said. For example, a worker who harvests enough berries in eight hours to earn $100 for the day is paid more than the $74 necessary to meet Oregon’s minimum wage re- quirement of $9.25 per hour, regardless of how much time he actually spent picking fruit. Under DOL’s new ap- proach, however, farmers will need to account separately for time that employees spend on the job but do not per- form piece rate duties, such as when they’re waiting for weather to clear or tools to arrive, Bernasek said. So, if a worker must wait an hour for adequate weath- er before picking berries for seven hours, he would have to be paid $9.25 for that fi rst hour in addition to the piece rate for the crops he harvested — even if the total piece rate amount exceeded the mini- mum wage requirement for the day. Apart from potentially in- creasing labor costs, the new enforcement strategy could complicate recordkeeping re- quirements for farmers. Growers will be expected to pay the minimum wage for tasks that are hard to moni- tor, such as the time individ- uals spend waiting in line to register for work, Bernasek said.