May 8, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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Idaho lawmakers target ‘Waters of U.S.’ rule
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
— The U.S. House of Repre-
sentatives passed an appropri-
ations bill May 1 containing
Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson’s
language blocking implemen-
tation of a proposed rule he
fears would expand the feder-
al government’s Clean Water
Act authority.
The rule would change
the law’s jurisdiction from
“navigable waters” to “waters
of the United States.” Simp-
son’s spokeswoman, Nikki
Wallace, explained states
currently have authority over
waters that aren’t navigable,
and many in agriculture fear
the change could subject ca-
nals, seasonal ponds and even
groundwater to greater federal
scrutiny.
According to the Environ-
mental Protection Agency,
the rule is needed to clarify
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Water fills the Aberdeen-Springfield Canal in southeast Idaho at the
beginning of the 2015 irrigation season. Members of Idaho’s con-
gressional delegation and some Idaho farm organization leaders
believe a proposed rule change to the Clean Water Act could result
in more federal control over canals and other farm waters.
the law in the wake of U.S.
Supreme Court rulings and
doesn’t seek to expand the
influence of EPA or the Army
Corps of Engineers. EPA in-
sists the language retains, and
even expands, specific ex-
emptions for agriculture from
regulation.
Opponents note that the
rule seems to broaden regu-
lations to seasonal streams,
and exemptions provide inad-
equate certainty.
“We’re not buying that,”
said Lindsay Nothern, a
spokesman for Sen. Mike
Crapo, R-Idaho, who worries
the change could potential-
ly block irrigators from even
altering back country canals.
“It’s still up to a bureaucrat to
determine, ‘We’ll grant you
an exemption, or maybe we
won’t.’”
Simpson chairs the House
Energy and Water Appro-
priations Subcommittee and
added the language to block
funding for implementing the
proposed rule when he drafted
the energy and water appro-
priations bill.
When the House debated
the appropriations bill, mem-
bers defeated an amendment
offered by Rep. Don Beyer,
D-Va., to strip out Simpson’s
Clean Water Act language.
Beyer’s spokesman said the
rule provides needed clarity
regarding EPA’s jurisdiction
and the amendment’s defeat is
a blow to clean water.
Simpson said on the House
floor, “Clarity does not trump
the need to stay within the
limits of the law. The pro-
posed rule would expand fed-
eral jurisdiction far beyond
what was ever intended by the
Clean Water Act.”
Crapo has co-sponsored
a standalone bill to block the
proposed rule, S 1140. No-
thern said the bill has strong
bipartisan support, potentially
enough to override a presi-
dential veto.
“This legislation pro-
tects property owners and
puts the government back
in its place when it comes to
water law,” Crapo said in a
press release.
In the House, Rep. Paul
Gosar, R-Ariz., has intro-
duced HR 594 as a standalone
bill, requiring the federal
agencies to withdraw the in-
terpretive rule and work with
state and local officials on a
new proposal.
Idaho Dairymen’s Asso-
ciation Executive Director
Bob Naerebout believes both
the Senate bill and Simpson’s
appropriations bill language
have a good chance of suc-
cess. His organization has
submitted public comments
against the proposed rule and
assigned its lobbyist to focus
on the topic in Washington,
D.C.
“This is a far overreach
by EPA that has huge po-
tential impacts on agricul-
ture, businesses and rural
communities,”
Naerebout
said.
National Potato Coun-
cil Executive Vice President
and CEO John Keeling also
fears the proposed rule would
“expand EPA jurisdiction to
include the farming and con-
servation practices utilized by
farmers.”
School kids say ‘yes’ to Greek yogurt
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Regional 4-H leaders and Northwest Farm Credit Services employees listen during a financial edu-
cation seminar designed to train them to share the impact of financial decisions with youth April 29 in
downtown Spokane.
UI Extension, ag lender
train financial teachers
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — University
of Idaho Extension educators
Luke Erickson and Lyle Hansen
are training agricultural advisers
how to teach financial responsi-
bility to youth.
4-H leaders and Northwest
Farm Credit Services employees
from Idaho, Oregon, Washing-
ton, Alaska and Montana attend-
ed a financial education seminar
in Spokane to learn how to pass
on information about budgeting,
credit cards and student loans to
youth.
The meeting was the latest
step for efforts by Northwest
Farm Credit Services and UI to
expand Erickson and Hansen’s
programs to teach financial liter-
acy to students, first announced
in early 2014.
Hansen wants to provide
an “Aha” moment to students
about the magnitude of financial
decisions. It’s based on his own
experience with a credit card at
an early age, he said.
“Youth are our potential
future producers and future
entrepreneurs,” Hansen said.
“They’re going to have credit
cards.”
Jennifer Rohrer, public rela-
tions and communications co-
ordinator for the credit service,
said the level of excitement
from educators proves the need
for the program.
“There are not a lot of op-
tions when it comes to financial
education,” she said.
Some people come to North-
west Farm Credit Services when
they’re starting or expanding
a business, but are learning as
they go, Rohrer said.
“If we teach them as very
young children, bring it up
through elementary school,
middle school, high school and
into college, by the time they
come to us and want to start a
farm, they understand every-
thing,” she said.
Barbara Brody, Oregon State
University Extension 4-H and
family community health rep-
resentative in Malheur County,
foresees training teenagers to
teach lessons to younger stu-
dents as mentors.
“When do we learn more?
When we’re teaching,” she said.
“Then it’s really cemented.”
Katelyn Andersen, 4-H and
family consumer science ex-
tension agent for Montana State
University in Ravalli County,
expects to share the program
with school counselors and
staff. The fact that it comes out
of UI Extension means it will
be a quality, unbiased tool, she
said.
USDA is expanding a
12-state Greek yogurt pilot
program into a permanent
fixture in school lunch rooms
nationwide.
Based on feedback from
the pilot states and the ex-
pression of interest from other
states, USDA’s Food and Nu-
trition Service is adding the
high-protein yogurt to its food
catalog for the coming school
year, an FNS spokesman told
Capital Press.
Greek yogurt on the school
menu began as a pilot pro-
gram in four states — Idaho,
New York, Arizona and Ten-
nessee — in the 2013-2014
school year. USDA expanded
the program in the 2014-2015
school year to include eight
more states.
New York-based Chobani,
with the largest yogurt plant
in the world in Twin Falls,
Idaho, won the bid in the ini-
tial pilot program and was
the sole supplier of 200,000
pounds of Greek yogurt or-
dered by schools for the fall
of 2013.
Chobani also won the con-
tract to supply seven of the 12
states in the expanded pilot pro-
gram in the 2014-2015 school
year.
The 12 states participating
in the pilot program this school
year ordered a total of more
than 700,000 pounds, said the
FNS spokesman.
“With high-protein yogurt
going from a pilot program lim-
ited to 12 states to a regular cat-
alog item for schools in all 50
states, we expect orders for the
product to increase, but at this
time have no way to estimate
the quantities that will be or-
dered,” said Isabel Benemelis,
public affairs deputy chief at
USDA Farm Service Agency.
In addition to Chobani,
Commonwealth Dairy and Up-
state Niagara Cooperative also
supplied schools with Greek
yogurt, she said.
“It is now obvious the proof
was in the yogurt,” said Sen.
Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who with
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,
championed the recognition of
Greek yogurt in USDA nutri-
tion guidelines and its inclusion
in school programs.
Proponents and critics objected
to aspects of 2008 proposal
GMO from Page 1
The nonprofit welcomes the
possibility of new rules but it’s
troubled by the prospect of fur-
ther delays now that the 2008
proposal has been scrapped, he
said.
The Biotechnology Indus-
try Organization, which rep-
resents seed companies and
other firms, doesn’t believe it’s
surprising the older propos-
al was withdrawn given how
much time had elapsed.
Under administrative law,
it’s preferable to discard a con-
cept when new information is
available or the substance of
the rule needs to change, said
Adrianne Massey, BIO’s man-
aging director for science and
regulatory affairs.
Proponents and critics of
biotechnology objected to as-
pects of the 2008 proposal.
For example, the biotech
industry opposed provisions
allowing the agency to revoke
the deregulated status of a ge-
netically modified crop.
Critics, on the other hand,
argued the proposed rule
would loosen the standards
that determine which biotech
crops are subject to regulation.
It’s unclear why APHIS felt
the need to restart the entire
process instead of continuing
to work on the earlier proposal,
said Kimbrell.
While the federal govern-
ment spends years deciding
what to do, any impact of ge-
netically modified crops re-
mains unaddressed at the fed-
eral level, he said.
Even so, the Center for
Food Safety plans to partici-
pate in the online meetings to
bolster its view that biotech
crops must be evaluated as
potential noxious weeds pri-
or to deregulation, Kimbrell
said.
The group also believes
that such crops must under-
go the review process based
on the fact they were ge-
netically engineered, rath-
er than solely on the traits
they possess, he said.
Currently, the USDA only
regulates crops that are made
with plant pathogens, which
allows some crops that have
been altered with other meth-
ods to avoid regulatory over-
sight, he said. “These crops
are entirely circumventing the
USDA’s authority.”
Massey of BIO said the
level of scrutiny should de-
pend on the actual risks posed
by a crop, rather than merely
the fact it’s transgenic.
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