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8 CapitalPress.com October 16, 2015 Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Idaho USPB promotion aims to restore Japanese fry demand By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press The U.S. Potato Board is implementing a plan to re- store Japanese demand for U.S. french fries, following the first drop in frozen potato exports to the country in 40 years. The board’s strategy in- cludes a social media cam- paign, promotion of an origi- nal song about U.S. fries and video advertising in Japanese subway stations. During the marketing year ending in June 2014, Japan accounted for 29 percent of all U.S. frozen fry exports, purchasing $336 million in product. During the following mar- keting year, however, the val- Courtesy of ILoVU website The Japanese pop band ILoVU is seen in this photo. The band has recorded a song that promotes U.S. french fries. ue of frozen U.S. fry exports to Japan dropped 23 percent to $259 million. By volume, frozen exports dropped by 68,470 metric tons of finished product, according to USPB. USPB attributes much of the decline to a labor slow- down at West Coast ports from October 2014 through February 2015. However, USPB officials note the vol- ume of frozen exports from other countries was also down, indicating much of the decline was due to “continu- ing economic doldrums in the country” and “societally driven shifts away from west- ern-style quick-service restau- rant fare in the country.” “We’re not only trying to regain our overall market share. We’re also trying to rekindle consumer demand to eat and purchase fries,” said USPB Chief Marketing Offi- cer John Toaspern. Toaspern said USPB during its March meeting allocated $300,000 from its reserves toward regaining market share in a few key countries. About a third of that extra funding will go to Japan, he said. He said the supplemen- tal programming in Japan started in August and should be completed within six months. In the subway and train station in Tokyo, USPB has funded 30-second advertise- ments, played on a video loop emphasizing U.S. fries are fun and tasty. The board has created a new consumer website on U.S. fries called Discovery Zone, featuring games, videos and contests with prizes for those who submit videos of themselves eating U.S. fries. USPB’s Japanese rep- resentative also developed Companies to partner on handling mine waste By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press John O’Connell/Capital Press Phosphate ore is processed at Agrium’s Conda Phosphate Operations facility in Soda Springs in this file photo from April of 2013. Public comment is now being taken on a draft environmental impact statement regarding Agrium’s application for a new mine. ing minimizing impacts and coming back with alterna- tives that really did address the issues,” said Bill Volk, the BLMs planning and environ- mental coordinator. Volk said five above- ground overburden piles in- cluded in the original plan raised concerns about the po- tential for selenium to leach into nearby Angus Creek. Under the improved plan, the overburden will be used to fill in an open pit within Monstanto’s nearby South Rasmussen Ridge Mine. Agri- um also intends to share part of Monsanto’s existing haul road, which will make for a longer and steeper haul but will reduce wetland impacts from more than 20 acres un- der the original plan to about a quarter of an acre. “Certainly, it is a unique situation we’ve entered into with Monsanto,” said Jon Goode, Agrium’s manager of phosphate special projects, adding the close proximity of Monsanto’s mine present- ed the opportunity. “Both sides are comfortable there shouldn’t be any liability is- sues. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.” Volk believes the plan could lead to future partner- Council will weigh compensation for mining damage By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press SODA SPRINGS, Idaho — A council comprising state and federal agencies and the Sho- shone-Bannock Tribes has an- nounced plans to commence an assessment of potential damage created by the release of mining contaminants in the Caribou County phosphate patch. The Southeast Idaho Phos- phate Mine Site Natural Re- source Damage Assessment and Restoration Trustee Coun- cil is led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and also in- cludes the Tribes, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Bu- reau of Indian Affairs. The process will be similar to a court case, with a judge presiding, and could take sever- al years to complete. The coun- cil has determined it’s possible that environmental damage has occurred from mining. If the assessment determines dam- age did result from mining, the council will assign a value to present for the judge’s con- sideration. The judge may then approve a settlement awarding funding to the agencies to use in addressing the damage. Satterlee takes helm of Idaho Grain Producers Association By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Stacey Katsean- es Satterlee, a southeast Idaho native, has taken over as the new executive director of Idaho Grain Producers Association. According to an IGPA news release, Satterlee, who grew up working on her fami- ly’s farm, Triple K Farms Inc., spent 10 years in Washington, D.C., working for numerous agricultural associations, in- cluding the National Coun- cil of Farmer Cooperatives, Western Growers Association and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “I’m very excited and humbled by this opportunity to get back to my agricultural roots,” Satterlee stated in the news release. She takes over as head of IGPA from Travis Jones, who took a position with the office of Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Ida- ho, earlier this summer. rop-41-2-7/#4 SODA SPRINGS, Idaho — The Canada-based fertil- izer company Agrium plans to collaborate with a com- petitor, Monsanto, on waste disposal to address potential water-quality impacts of its proposed Caribou County phosphate mine. The Bureau of Land Man- agement and U.S. Forest Ser- vice issued a draft environ- mental impact statement on Agrium’s planned Rasmussen Valley Mine in late September and will accept public com- ments on the unique mining proposal through Nov. 2. The fertilizer mine would have a 4.8-year lifespan and would replace Agrium’s Ras- mussen Ridge Mine, located on the same ridge as its pro- posed mine. The company hopes to have the new mine open before Rasmussen Ridge runs out of ore at the end of 2017. Agrium first submitted a plan for the proposed mine in January of 2011. That March, concerns about the plan’s pre- ferred alternative were vetted during a public scoping peri- od. Based on the comments, Agrium included a new plan designed to reduce environ- mental impacts, called the Rasmussen Collaborative Al- ternative, which is now the agencies’ preferred option. “When they came back with the RCA, we think they really hit a home run regard- ships between mining com- panies to improve their oper- ations. “It is the first time two mining companies here have gotten together to coordinate relative to waste disposal,” Volk said. “This kind of coop- eration is going to really bene- fit the kinds of environmental issues we have to deal with here.” The RCA also limits dig- ging below the water table in the mine’s southern portion and seeks to expand the lease by a couple of thousand feet to the south to capture addi- tional ore. Furthermore, the agencies requested that Agri- um extend its mine footprint a bit further to the north to maximize mineral recovery, Volk said. For Agrium’s proposal, the agencies also introduced a new analysis called a hab- itat equivalency assessment, which measures the lost hab- itat value of a mining area, even after the land is re- claimed. To make up the difference, Agrium’s contractor will im- plement an equivalent amount of habitat improvements at another location in the gener- al area. Monsanto is awaiting the release of a groundwater model this December to guide development of its own plans for the future Caldwell Can- yon Mine, which would pro- vide the company a 35-year supply of ore, said spokesman Trent Clark. a song about U.S. fries and how much fun they are to eat. USPB hired dancers and pro- duced a video. The Japanese teen pop group ILoVU liked the tune and started perform- ing its own adaptation. “We put it on the Internet, and somehow this pop group found out about it and decided they wanted to do it, and they asked if they could use it,” Toaspern said. “We got this much broader and more ex- cellent exposure beyond our video.” Though Toaspern said it’s too early to measure the ef- fectiveness of the program, he’s pleased by the ongoing trend of Japanese restaurant chains switching back to U.S. fries from other sources found during the labor slowdown. 42-1/#4X
