October 2, 2015
CapitalPress.com
3
Offi cial explains defense of Clean Water Act rules
Opponents fear the new regulations will expand federal authority
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — The State of
Oregon is defending the fed-
eral government’s new Clean
Water Act regulations in court
because they’re expected to
simplify the statute’s admin-
istration, according to a top
state offi cial.
It’s possible that the U.S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency’s new rules will allow
state offi cials to issue Clean
Water Act permits, which are
currently dispensed by the
EPA and U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, said Richard Whit-
man, natural resources policy
adviser for Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown.
The regulations have met
with controversy because
opponents fear the new defi -
nition of “waters of the Unit-
ed States” will signifi cantly
increase the federal govern-
ment’s jurisdiction over wa-
terways on private property.
Multiple states have fi led
lawsuits challenging the rules,
while Oregon and several oth-
er states have intervened as
defendants in support of the
regulatory change.
“This is an issue that has
frankly been politicized na-
tionally,” Whitman said be-
fore the House Committee
on Rural Communities, Land
Use and Water.
Oregon offi cials believe
the amount of water under the
federal government’s purview
will only increase by 3 to 5
percent under the new regula-
tions, he said.
“As a technical and policy
matter, we do not believe the
rule is a major expansion of
federal jurisdiction,” Whit-
man said.
Congress decreed that
“waters of the U.S.” fall under
Clean Water Act jurisdiction
but did not defi ne the term,
leaving that problem to agen-
cies and courts, he said.
The matter was the subject
of three U.S. Supreme Court
rulings, the most recent in
2006.
Because the justices dis-
agreed on how to determine
whether a water body is reg-
ulated, the case established
three confl icting standards,
Whitman said.
“You have complete con-
fusion in the lower courts
about which of these three
tests is the right one,” he said.
The EPA’s new rules are
meant to clear up some of
that confusion by reducing
the number of waterways
that must be examined on a
case-by-case basis, Whitman
said.
Most agricultural activities
continue to be exempt from
Clean Water Act regulations,
he said.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association, which is in-
volved in litigation against the
rules, is disappointed that the
State of Oregon intervened as
a defendant without consult-
ing with agricultural groups,
said Jerome Rosa, the organi-
zation’s executive director.
Rosa said he disagrees
with Whitman’s characteriza-
tion of the regulations, which
OCA thinks will be extremely
detrimental to ranchers.
“We don’t see it that way,”
he said.
Western Washington
wolf killed by vehicle
had also been shot
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Puget
North
Bend
Sound
169
Tacoma
167
512
Lone wolf struck
and killed by
traffic April 27
N
7
161
10 miles
WASH.
Area in
detail
MT. RAINIER
NATIONAL
PARK
Mt. Rainier
Capital Press graphic
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Harold Beckstead, left, and Blake Marsden, a junior at Shelley High School in Eastern Idaho, sort potatoes being loaded into storage at
grower Merrill Hanny’s farm. Hanny says students, who get a two-week harvest break from school, are essential for his operation.
Harvest break aids Idaho spud farmers
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Blake Marsden, a junior at Shelley High School in Eastern Idaho,
works potato harvest for grower Merrill Hanny. Hanny says the
students, who get a two-week harvest break from school, are
essential for his operation.
derives a feeling of accom-
plishment from the hard work.
“It’s given me a really
great appreciation for farmers
and what they do and what
they go through,” she said.
Duggan Grimes, a West
Jefferson High School fresh-
man also on a two-week har-
vest break, is earning money
toward a car and dirt bike
by working for a grower in
Terreton, where he’s moved
irrigation pipes and cleaned
equipment.
Grimes said the job should
help him get in better shape
for football, but admits after a
12-hour shift “it feels good to
get home.”
LEGAL
ers willing to endure 12-hour
shifts has become increasing-
ly diffi cult, for the local grow-
ers.
“People just don’t want to
do any kind of manual labor,”
Hanny said. “We’ve moved to
a technology-based society. A
lot of people want a job, but
they don’t want to work, at
least physically.”
But Hanny does count a
few adults among his seasonal
staff — mostly people seeking
to “reconnect with their roots”
and “be close to the soil.”
Harold Beckstead, an op-
erator specialist with Thresh-
er Wheat in Idaho Falls, uses
vacation time to help Hanny
at harvest. The extra income
is nice, but he insists he does
it because he enjoys the expe-
rience.
“I just enjoy working with
the guys and working with po-
tatoes,” Beckstead said.
Shelley High junior Blake
Marsden has been working
harvest since eighth grade,
saving for college and a mis-
sion with the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He said spud trucks get
steamy and it’s “pretty much
the hardest job I’ve done.”
“It defi nitely teaches
younger kids how to work re-
ally hard,” Marsden said.
Kayla DePriest, of Merid-
ian, is staying with grandpar-
ents while working for Han-
ny. DePriest takes online high
school classes through the
Idaho Virtual Academy and
will tend to classwork during
early mornings and weekends
throughout harvest. DePriest
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 98
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder,
on 10/12/2015. The sale will be
held at 10:00am by
RANDY’S TOWING
925 WILCO RD, STAYTON, OR
2007 SUZUKI S 50 MC
VIN = JS1VS52A772101239
Amount due on lien $3,844.00
Reputed owner(s)
CLAYTON K. BAUMAN
HSBC RETAIL CREDIT USA, INC.
SECRETARY OF STATE
NOTICE OF PROPOSED
RULEMAKING
Oregon Department of
Agriculture,
Natural Resource Program,
Administrative Rules
Chapter #603,
Sue Gooch, Rules
Coordinator, (503) 986-4583.
Adopt: OAR 603-059-0060;
Amend: OAR 603-059-0020,
603-059-0030, 603-059-0050,
603-059-0055, 603-059-0070,
603-059-0080.
RULE SUMMARY: The rules
implement Enrolled HB 2443
that increase fertilizer, soil
amendment, lime and compost
product registration fees,
implements an inspection fee
on lime, increases the product
evaluation fee and updates the
Rule to conform with the
American Association of Plant
Food
Control
Officials
Publication #68. Hearing date:
October 16, 2015 at 2:00 p.m.
Location: Oregon Department
of Agriculture, Basement con-
ference room D, 635 Capitol St
NE, Salem, OR. Last day for
public comment is October 23,
2015.
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ROP-32-52-2/#17
SHELLEY, Idaho — Local
grower Merrill Hanny isn’t
sure how he’d harvest his
500-acre potato crop without
a labor pool made possible by
Shelley High School’s two-
week fall harvest break.
For decades, Hanny has re-
lied on high school students to
provide seasonal help at har-
vest — driving spud trucks,
sorting out defective tubers
and ridding conveyors of dirt
clods and vines.
He’s among the many
Eastern Idaho growers who
believe the long-standing tra-
dition of harvest breaks by
some Eastern Idaho rural dis-
tricts provides a vital commu-
nity service.
“We have to have these
kids to survive on our opera-
tion,” Hanny said.
Hanny explained harvest
breaks started back when
workers dug spuds and fi lled
sacks by hand. Larger school
districts and many of the big-
gest farms — which are heav-
ily mechanized and require
less labor — have moved
away from the tradition.
But there are also growers,
such as Steve Christensen, of
Shelley, who employ a har-
vest-time labor force entirely
comprising high school stu-
dents.
“I don’t have any other
help,” said Christensen, who
shares resources, including
a labor force of a dozen high
school students, with another
grower at harvest. “We appre-
ciate (harvest break) and try to
make our gratitude known.”
Christensen acknowledges
he worries every year that the
harvest break may disappear.
Finding seasonal work-
39-2/#4
Friedman said killing
wolves will slow recovery
and delay removing them
from the state’s protected spe-
cies list.
“I wish people would stop
shooting wolves. It doesn’t do
anybody any good,” he said.
“It doesn’t surprise me peo-
ple are shooting at wolves.
There’s plenty of that on the
Internet. That attitude —
shoot, shovel and shut up —
is openly expressed, so it’s
not surprising, but it is disap-
pointing.”
Washington Cattlemen’s
Association Executive Vice
President Jack Field said the
wolf’s death won’t slow the
spread of wolves, which is
increasing the need to foster
social acceptance. Tolerance
can be increased with policies
that assure ranchers and hunt-
ers that wolf populations will
be controlled, he said.
“It’s going to be an issue
we have to deal with as we
work toward recovery,” Field
said. “All stakeholders have to
believe the plan will work.”
The Teanaway pack has
killed two cows this summer,
according to wildlife offi -
cials, but neither USFWS nor
WDFW has the authority to le-
thally remove wolves in Cen-
tral or Western Washington. In
the eastern one-third of Wash-
ington, where wolves have
been taken off the federal en-
dangered species list, WDFW
can authorize shooting wolves
to stop livestock depredations.
Wildlife offi cials immedi-
ately believed the animal hit
on I-90 was a western gray
wolf, but held off positively
identifying the species pend-
ing a forensic investigation by
the USFWS laboratory in Ash-
land, Ore. The agency says it
completed the genetic analysis
in September.
A motorist reported seeing
the wolf in the highway medi-
an. By the time state wildlife
offi cials arrived, the animal
had been hit.
40-2/#4
The fi rst gray wolf known
to venture west of the Wash-
ington Cascades in decades
was shot in the right rear leg
several weeks before it was
struck by a vehicle last spring
on Interstate 90, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service said
Sept. 25.
An examination of the car-
cass found that the gunshot
wound was healing when the
adult female was killed April
27 west of Snoqualmie Pass
near North Bend, USFWS
spokeswoman Ann Frosh-
chauer said.
Details about the severity
of the wound were unavail-
able. The wolf was apparently
hit by a large vehicle, and the
carcass was badly damaged,
Froshchauer said.
Wolves are federally pro-
tected in the western two-
thirds of Washington. Harm-
ing a federally endangered
species can be punished
by up to a year in jail and a
$100,000 fi ne. Froshchauer
said the agency is closing its
investigation.
The wolf was killed about
30 miles east of Seattle and 50
miles west of the state’s west-
ern-most pack, the Teanaway
pack, which roams east of
Snolqualmie Pass.
Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife offi cials
said the wolf’s black coat in-
dicated it came from a differ-
ent pack and could have come
from northeast Washington or
even the Rockies.
State offi cials said the wolf
appeared to be about 2 years
old, the prime age for wolves
to disperse. USFWS did not
provide an estimate of the
wolf’s age.
Although the wolf’s jour-
ney ended in tragedy, con-
servation groups hailed it as
a landmark, saying it showed
that wolves will spread across
Washington, a key goal of the
state’s recovery plan. Pred-
ator-control programs drove
wolves from the West by the
1930s. Wolves were reintro-
duced beginning in 1995 in
Wyoming and Idaho and have
dispersed west.
Conservation Northwest
Executive Director Mitch
Friedman said he was dis-
appointed the wolf had been
shot. Environmental groups,
including
Conservation
Northwest, are offering a
$20,000 reward for informa-
tion leading to a conviction
in the fatal shooting of a Te-
anaway pack female in Octo-
ber 2014.
Sammamish
Seattle
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