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May 15, 2015 CapitalPress.com 7 9th Circuit upholds California pesticide rules Federal regulators lawfully approved state plans, appeals court finds By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Wash. apple growers on fire blight watch By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — Fire blight probably won’t be a big problem in Washington apple and pear trees this sea- son but it could be an issue in New York, a tree fruit special- ist says. Apple trees in New York are blooming now and “they’ve had some very se- rious fire blight infectious weather,” said Tim Smith, Washington State University Extension tree fruit specialist emeritus. “They are very cognirant of it and are working to pre- vent it,” he said. The bacteria kills apple and pear trees. It overwinters in trees and reactivates in oor- ing cankers around blossom time. It attracts flies and other insects that spread it to blos- soms. Within a week or two, withering is apparent. It was once only a concern in pears but has damaged ap- ple trees in Washington since 1993, with 1997 and 2012 being the worst years, Smith wrote in a 2012 paper. Thou- sands of acres of older Gala and Fuji apples were blighted in 2012 when rain followed a late April warming, he wrote. Blight is exacerbated by extreme heat followed by rain or heavy dew. That’s happening now in New York and happened last year in Pennsylvania, he said. Washington isn’t totally out of the woods with suscep- tibility in secondary bloom in the next two weeks but the larger worry of primary bloom is past, he said. “There is a lot of second- ary bloom in pears and not as much in apples this year,” he said. Secondary bloom is a fresh blooming that occurs up to four weeks after the first bloom. Secondary can be more vulnerable because there’s more warm weather, he said. It damages trees in lower levels and propagates the disease for the following year. A bad hit on primary bloom is more serious be- cause there’s a lot more blos- soms in primary bloom, Smith said. “We had some periods that neared danger in some areas. It’s temperatures in the 80s and higher and we’ve skirted that,” he said. Central Washington is having a relatively dry spring of gradual warming, which helps, he said. In recent years, a week of 90-degree weather in early May has been common and “gets spooky,” Smith said. Fire blight was worse in areas around the Tri-Cities in 2012 and in the Okanogan in 2013, Smith said. Antibiotics, copper fungicides, minerals and biological controls are used to combat it. Infected portions of trees should be cut out when spotted instead of waiting until winter, he said. Smith is testing fermented products of other bacteria as an alternative to antibiotics. Environmental groups sue regulators over aquifers State Oil and Gas Supervisor Steven Bohlen declined to com- ment on the litigation. Bohlen did say that the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen- cy “are moving aggressively and quickly to test all wells that risk harming sources of water for drinking and agriculture.” Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of Western States Pe- troleum Association, said Cali- fornia and the EPA have collab- orated on a comprehensive work plan for underground injection and that the lawsuit “is an at- tempt to thwart the regulatory process.” “The experts at those agen- cies, with the cooperation of oil producers, have made a careful evaluation of the situation and developed the action plan to ad- dress it,” she said. 20-2/#4 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California environmental groups filed a lawsuit May 7 against state oil and gas regulators seek- ing to halt oil-industry dumping into drinking-water aquifers. The lawsuit was filed in a Northern California court by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club. California’s oil and gas reg- ulators have acknowledged they mistakenly gave oil companies thousands of permits to dump fluid into federally protected un- derground water supplies. The two environmental groups say the state’s plan for stopping the contamination is moving too slowly. They sued to order immediate state action stopping the discharges into aquifers. A federal appeals court has rejected claims that California pesticide restrictions were un- lawfully approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit filed by environmen- tal and community groups that accused EPA of arbitrari- ly and capriciously accepting that state pesticide emission Valley by 20 percent but then only implemented a 12 per- cent reduction. While acknowledging there is “ambiguity” in Cal- ifornia’s regulatory docu- ments, the 9th Circuit agreed with EPA that the 20 percent reduction was an “aspiration- al goal” while the 12 percent cut was actually necessary to comply with air quality stan- dards. The three-judge appellate panel also rejected the plain- tiffs’ arguments that caps on fumigant use will not achieve the necessary emission reduc- tions and that the state plan is unenforceable. The EPA previously agreed to settle a complaint filed by the plaintiffs that claimed California’s fumigant rules violated the civil rights of Latinos, who were allegedly disproportionately affected by emissions. The plaintiffs argued that EPA’s more recent approval of California fumigant rules breached that settlement be- cause the agency did not conduct a pesticide exposure study. The 9th Circuit, however, agreed with EPA that there’s no evidence of disparate im- pact on Latinos from the new- er rules. In dismissing the case, the appellate judges also stated they “hope our actions will bring to an end litigation and administrative proceedings” over the California regula- tions, which have been ongo- ing since 1994. Food safety top apple industry concern, leader says By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — Labor shortages, immigration reform, GMO apples, crop sire and water all concern the Washington apple industry but food safety is the top is- sue, the president of the U.S. Apple Association says. Jim Bair, who became president of the association early in 2014, made his third trip to Washington state, the nation’s No. 1 apple-produc- ing state, May 4 through 8. He met with company own- ers and industry officials. Food safety has been emerging as their top prior- ity since last winter’s listeria incident, Bair said. Three deaths and 34 hospitalirations across the country were traced to car- amel apples sold by three companies that originated as fresh apples from a Bid- ert Brothers packing plant in Bakersfield, Calif. Illness onsets were between Oct. 17 and Jan. 6. The Centers for Disease Control said the out- break appeared to be over on Feb. 12. It was the first time U.S. apples caused deaths. Washington industry of- ficials credited U.S. Apple Association, Vienna, Va., for getting the facts out do- mestically, but export sales suffered, particularly in Southeast Asia, where im- porters and consumers were alarmed. “It was a wake-up call,” Bair said. “Everyone is working hard and fast to take a fresh look at operations and do better where we can. “It’s a real war effort at the moment as people real- ire this is a serious thing and we will never be able to say we won’t have another one but we can work hard to de- Dan Wheat/Capital Press Jim Bair, president of U.S. Apple Association, says food safety is the top issue for the industry. A listeria outbreak last winter in caramel apples from California has raised concerns for some overseas customers, he said. crease the probability of an- other one.” A U.S. Food and Drug Administration report on the case is due out soon. Bair said the industry is anxious to see what can be learned from that. “Listeria is ubiquitous to the environment. It can be found everywhere. The question is: Can it be found at levels that are human health concerns?” he said. Companies have different approaches but all are united in saying that even one ill- ness is too many, he said. Immigration reform con- tinues to be a big issue for the industry. Bair praised Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., for spearheading a letter to House leadership, signed by 61 members, saying guest- worker reform has to accom- pany enforcement measures in immigration reform. “We understand the strength of the letter sur- prised people in leadership. We think Newhouse distin- guished himself early on by taking this step for agricul- ture,” Bair said. Immigration reform is getting more attention and more Republicans are realir- ing the need for guestworker reform, he said. Republicans control the House and Sen- ate. U.S. Apple represents 7,500 growers, more than 400 companies and 40 state and regional apple associ- ations in Washington, D.C. It has taken leadership in passing fast-track trade au- thority for the president and supporting the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, Bair said. The association has been effective, he said, in coun- tering negative publicity about apples heading an environmental dirty doren list for pesticide residue by pointing out those residue levels fall well within Envi- ronmental Protection Agen- cy standards. The association also did very well, he said, in getting Dr. Or — whose full name is Mehmet Cengir Or — to say that no U.S. apples are genetically modified when “The Dr. Or Show” did an article on USDA approval of Canadian GMO apples. BUYING 6” and UP Alder, Maple, Cottonwood Saw Logs, Standing Timber www.cascadehardwood.com ROP-18-5-1/#24 Dan Wheat/Capital Press Esteban Gutierrez, a Washington State University scientific assis- tant, applies a fermented bacteria to Red Delicious apple blossoms at the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee on April 9. The material is being tested as a fire blight control. rules comply with the federal Clean Air Act. The plaintiffs — El Com- ite Para El Bienstar De Ear- limart, Association of Irritated Residents, Wishtoyo Foun- dation and Ventura Coast- keeper — had argued that EPA should have required California to enact strict- er cuts in emissions from fumigants. Under the Clean Air Act, states must develop plans to comply with federal emis- sions standards for pollutants, such as orone. Because some fumigants are precursors to orone, California imposed re- strictions on these pesticides in several areas. The plaintiffs claimed that California committed to cut emissions in the San Joaquin 20-2/#4N