10 CapitalPress.com
February 6, 2015
Washington
Committee mulls lifting Washington’s pesticide tax
Distributors say fee
discourages keeping
chemicals handy for
Washington growers
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Farm
chemical distributors are seeking to
remove a tax on pesticides stored
in Washington but eventually ap-
plied in another state. Erasing the
fee would save some 500 businesses
roughly $300,000, according to the
state Department of Revenue.
The money currently goes into
accounts that the state and local gov-
ernments tap to prevent and respond
to chemical spills.
Pesticide distributors say they ac-
tually shoulder the burden for avert-
ing and cleaning up spills. Mean-
while, the fee discourages companies
from storing pesticides in Washing-
ton, according to distributors.
The lack of in-state inventory
leads to fewer warehouse jobs and
delays in filling orders by Washing-
ton farmers, distributors say.
In some cases, the delays mean
growers have to apply more pesti-
cides. To avoid delays, farmers stock
up on chemicals and store them in
less-secure containers, according to
distributors.
“The inventory tax chases in-
ventory out of the state,” said Matt
Ewers, vice president of business
development for IEDS Logistics,
which has warehouses in Pasco and
Spokane.
The House Finance Committee
on Friday held a hearing on House
Bill 1220, the legislation that would
remove the fee on pesticides kept in
Washington warehouses while wait-
ing to be delivered to another state.
The tax, which amounts to 0.7
percent of the wholesale price,
would still be collected on pesticides
that were eventually applied on
Washington farmland.
The bill didn’t encounter any op-
position at Friday’s hearing, though
some lawmakers asked whether it
was fair to exempt from the fee any
hazardous substances that come into
the state. Voters approved the haz-
ardous substance tax in an initiative.
The tax — applied on a range of
chemicals — generates up to $140
million a year for spill prevention
and clean up.
Lawmakers trying to balance the
state’s budget may find losing the
$300,000 more palatable since the
money does not go into the general
fund.
The Department of Revenue did
not attempt to estimate whether the
state would gain revenue if more
pesticides were stored in state.
Ewers said his company would
add employees if the tax was lifted.
He did not provide an estimate of
how many jobs would be added.
An identical piece of legislation,
Senate Bill 5209, was scheduled
for a hearing Feb. 5 in front of the
Senate Agriculture, Water and Rural
Economic Development Committee.
Moses Lake Republican Judy War-
nick sponsored the Senate bill.
Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen,
is the primary sponsor of the House
bill.
Washington parks commission sets fees to use trails
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
TUMWATER, Wash. —
Farmers and ranchers will
pay up to $1,000 per mile to
use long-distance trails that
cross their property under a
policy passed Thursday by
Washington Parks and Rec-
reation Commission.
The policy recognizes and
regulates unofficial trail use
as producers move livestock,
mend fences, check irrigation
pumps and do other work.
Officially, state law
prohibits motorized vehi-
cle travel on 455 miles of
long-distance trails in five
former railroad corridors.
In many places, the old rail
lines bisect farms and ranch-
es. The new policy will al-
low producers to apply for a
permit to use the trails when
they have no other way to
reach a piece of land.
“We won’t have a black
cloud over us,” said Adams
County rancher Branden
Spencer, who has a 6-mile
stretch of public trail cutting
across his land. “When you
have 6 miles splitting your
land in half, moving things
around that, economically, is
almost impossible.”
Clarifying that producers
can use the trails will have a
price.
Applying for a five-year
permit to move heavy farm
equipment will cost $250.
An annual fee to reimburse
the state for monitoring how
a producer uses the trail
will cost $200. Potentially,
the biggest expense will be
an annual fee based on the
length of trail a producer
will use. The “use fee” will
range from $500 to $1,000
a mile, depending on the
weight of the vehicle.
Parks
Commissioner
Mark Brown proposed elim-
inating the user fee, while
keeping the application and
monitoring fees. He said it
didn’t seem right to make
farmers and ranchers pay to
use a public right of way on
their own land.
“I want us to be a good
neighbor,” he said. “I’m un-
comfortable charging them a
use fee.”
Adams
County
rancher
Branden
Spencer ges-
tures while
speaking
Jan. 29 in
Tumwater,
Wash., to the
Washington
Parks and
Recreation
Commission.
The commis-
sion adopted
a policy
to charge
farmers and
ranchers
to use the
state’s
long-distance
trails.
Don Jenkins/
Capital Press
Commissioners
voted
down the proposal, 5-2. A
majority said the policy al-
lows parks officials to cut
the user fee for ranchers and
farmers who help maintain
trails.
Whitman County ranch-
er Jay Allert, president of
Aslin-Finch Company, said
ceiving much criticism, the
agency scaled back the fees.
State Parks trails coordi-
nator Nikki Fields said the
agency was trying to ac-
commodate agricultural pro-
ducers, while protecting the
safety and enjoyment of hik-
ers, cyclists and equestrians.
Allert and Spencer spoke
Sliced
pears hit
markets
WIC win based on nutrition,
potato council CEO says
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
Domestic consumption of pears
is increasing and The Pear Bu-
reau Northwest is interested in
a new phenomenon — sales
of snack packs of fresh sliced
pears.
7-Eleven stores began sell-
ing four-ounce cups of fresh
sliced pears with grapes in Sep-
tember, Kevin Moffitt, presi-
dent of The Pear Bureau North-
west in Portland, said.
“It’s very positive. We’re
watching it closely,” Moffitt
told growers at the North Cen-
tral Washington Pear Day at the
Wenatchee Convention Center,
Jan. 21.
Snack packs of fresh-sliced
apples have been growing for
years and are led by Crunch
Pak of Cashmere, Wash.
Crunch Pak has considered
slicing pears and continues to,
Moffitt said.
A Del Monte plant in Tex-
as is slicing Northwest pears to
7-Eleven specifications, he said.
6-7/#6
to the commission before the
vote. Ranchers and farm-
ers provide weed control
and other trail maintenance.
Meanwhile, producers have
to put up with trespass-
ing, vandalism and garbage
dumping, they said.
“There should be no cost
to adjacent landowners” to
use the trails, Allert said.
After the vote, Spen-
cer said he too wished the
commissioners had dropped
the fees, rather than making
assurances state parks will
treat landowners fairly.
“There are still things left
in the gray,” he said.
The policy will apply to
the Iron Horse State Park
Trail, Willapa Hills State
Park Trail, Klickitat State
Park Trail, Columbia Plateau
State Park Trail and Spokane
River Centennial State Park
Trail.
Washington Farm Bureau
assistant director of govern-
mental relations Scott Dilley
said the final policy is better
than the October proposal,
but still needs work, espe-
cially in establishing a way
for a producer to appeal
when the agency denies a
permit.
leaving the user fee up to
state officials made him “un-
easy.”
“It’s not in writing,” said
Allert, who has 2 miles of
trail cutting through his land.
Park officials proposed
in October higher fees,
charging producers as much
as $3,000 per mile. After re-
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
KENNEWICK, Wash. — If
critics now want to drop white
potatoes from the USDA’s Wom-
en, Infants and Children pro-
gram, they’ll have to consider
the nutritional value of all other
vegetables, too, the director of
the National Potato Council says.
Potatoes had been excluded
from the WIC program for eight
years, but last year Congress in-
cluded a provision that allowed
voucher recipients to buy them.
Congress also called for a study
of all fruits and vegetables in the
program, with inclusion in WIC
based on nutrition, council CEO
John Keeling said during the
Washington-Oregon Potato Con-
ference in Kennewick, Wash.
“It’s not that we couldn’t
ever get tossed out of the WIC
program again, but if they do it,
it will have to be based on some
clear understanding of why from
a nutritional point of view (pota-
toes) are not adequate,” Keeling
said. “If they do, it will be pretty
clear to me that we won’t be the
only product.”
Critics argued that people
eat too many potatoes already,
despite potatoes having the nu-
6-5/#4
Ranchers uncertain
how new policy
will work, or cost
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
National Potato Council CEO
John Keeling outlines issues
facing the potato industry in
2015. He spoke Jan. 28 at the
Washington-Oregon Potato Con-
ference in Kennewick, Wash.
trition that program participants
need, Keeling said. The coun-
cil’s research with the Alliance
for Potato Research and Educa-
tion indicates that WIC mothers
consume fewer fresh potatoes
than their non-WIC counter-
parts.
There was strong opposition
from the White House to includ-
ing potatoes in the program,
Keeling said.
”It’s striking to me that in
the world we live in, the White
House would have the time to
weigh in on an issue like this,
but they certainly did,” he said.
Keeling also spoke about
other issues the potato industry
faces in 2015:
• Republican control of both
the U.S. Senate and House puts
funding for potato breeding re-
search at risk, since legislators
could view it as an earmark,
Keeling said. For more than 20
years, the industry has received
$1.1 million to $1.8 million
annually from the National In-
stitute of Food and Agriculture,
divided by state breeding pro-
grams. The council will work
with states to maintain the fund-
ing, and even increase it to $2
million, Keeling said.
• The White House is likely
to take a direct action on polli-
nator health and neonicotinoids,
a class of insecticides used on
crops and landscape ornamen-
tals, he said.