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CapitalPress.com
October 30, 2015
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O ur V iew
Another example of a federal agency operating by fiat
W
e’ve grown used
to regulators in the
Obama administration
taking arbitrary, heavy-handed
action, so we weren’t surprised
to hear another agency has come
under scrutiny.
But we were a bit surprised to
hear the charges are being leveled
at Miles McEvoy, the head of the
National Organic Program, by the
same organizations that sang his
praises when he was appointed to
run the program in 2009.
McEvoy has a long resume
in the organics industry. He was
Washington state’s first organic
inspector. He was running that
state’s organics program when
he was tapped by Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack to lead the
national program.
Advocacy groups were
thrilled. They believed they had
a true believer at the helm who
would uphold the integrity of the
program and keep it ideologically
pure.
Six years later, some of those
same organizations are facing off
against McEvoy in federal court
over his administration of the
program.
Among the 14 plaintiffs were
the Cornucopia Institute, the
Organic Consumers Association
and the environmental groups
Center for Food Safety, Beyond
Pesticides and Food & Water
Watch.
At issue is McEvoy’s decision
to change the decision-making
process for which synthetic
substances are allowed to
remain in organic production.
The lawsuit claims the USDA
violated administrative law
by implementing the new rule
without public comment.
Separate from the lawsuit,
critics say McEvoy is keeping
secret the names of experts
the program uses to formulate
policy, has failed to vigorously
enforce regulations and punish
violators, and — the greatest of
all sins — is acting at the behest
of large corporations that want
to capitalize on the growing
popularity of organics.
Critics say McEvoy’s policies
seem aimed at removing obstacles
to the way he wants to run the
National Organic Program, such
as when he disbanded a key
policy-setting committee, stripped
the National Organic Standards
Board of the ability to set its own
agenda and otherwise undermined
the board’s authority.
“We have a government
agency operating by fiat,” Jay
Feldman, executive director
of Beyond Pesticides, told the
Capital Press.
Not just one.
That fairly describes much
of the Obama administration
of the last seven years,
particularly those agencies
known and feared by
farmers and ranchers. The
Environmental Protection
Agency’s water regulations and
the Labor Department’s “hot
goods” thuggery come to mind.
Those agencies — and many
others, no doubt — are filled with
true believers who aren’t going
to let rules, regulations or even
the Constitution get in the way of
doing what they see as the Lord’s
work.
Government agencies are
bound by the law, and are not
a law onto themselves. That’s
true whether they work for a
Republican or a Democrat in the
White House.
While we don’t agree when
it comes to large-scale organic
farming operations, we agree with
the plaintiffs as they press the
government to follow procedures
and maintain transparency.
O ur V iew
BLM poser should be
fired for online comments
T
Rik Dalvit/For the Capital Press
O ur V iew
Full disclosure best policy
W
hen it comes to purchasing
real estate, caveat emptor
— the Latin phrase for “let
the buyer beware” — isn’t enough.
The more information a buyer gets, the
better.
That includes informing buyers of
what it’s like to live in the country.
The worst-case scenario is for
a new home buyer to wake up one
morning and, courtesy of a shift in
the wind, be treated to the odor of a
nearby feedlot, onion processor, dairy
lagoon, hog farm or any number of
other common rural fragrances.
That’s when the problems start.
When a new rural resident complains
about them, it does little good to say,
“It’s the smell of money.” To many
newcomers to rural living, it’s just the
smell of you-know-what.
What anyone buying property in
rural areas — or anywhere else, for
that matter — needs is a heads-up on
what to expect. Life in farm country
is different from life on the cul-de-sac
or in the city. Besides the transitory
smells, growers sometimes work long
days running combines or tractors
and spraying pesticides, grain dryers
operate 24 hours a day at harvest time
and some vineyards and berry growers
even use compressed-air cannons or
screeching raptor calls to scare away
birds that would destroy their crops.
To find out about these and other
unique qualities of country living after
the sale closes does no one any good.
It can open the door to disagreements,
unpleasantness and even litigation.
Most states have strong right to
farm laws spelling out that standard
farm practices cannot be targeted for
nuisance lawsuits or complaints from
neighbors. This is good, but getting
that message across to a starry-eyed
home buyer who has his, or her, heart
set on owning a slice of heaven in the
country is often difficult. That is, until
the reality of a farmer spraying manure
on the adjacent field sets in.
To avoid misunderstandings and
disappointments, some counties have
adopted right-to-farm disclosure forms
that property buyers must sign.
In Skagit County, Wash., the
Right-to-Manage Natural Resource
Lands Disclosure tells buyers near
natural resource operations they
“should be prepared to accept such
incompatibilities, inconveniences or
discomfort from normal, necessary
natural resource land operations when
performed in compliance with best
management practices and local, state
and federal law.”
In Idaho, where the idea is in
nascent form, industry and legislative
leaders are considering a similar
disclosure. If they haven’t already,
other states and counties would do
well to consider following suit.
There are many great reasons to
live in the country. That is a statement
of the obvious. But there can also
be downsides. A disclosure of those
downsides will allow buyers to make
an informed decision about living in
the country.
Full disclosure is the only way to
avoid misunderstandings, or worse.
he Bureau of Land
Management
has identified an
employee who used a
government computer
to impersonate a former
coworker and post
comments on an article on
capitalpress.com about the
arson convictions of two
Oregon ranchers.
It’s not saying who did
it, or what disciplinary
action is being taken. While
that’s understandable as
a personnel issue, what
isn’t understandable is the
BLM’s seeming lack of
regret and indignation.
Greg Allum, an Eastern
Oregon resident once
employed by BLM,
recently informed Capital
Press that his name was
used to post comments on
an article about Dwight
and Steven Hammond, a
father and son who were
recently sentenced to five
years in prison for setting
fires on BLM property
near Diamond, Ore.
The comments referred
to the Hammonds as
“clowns” and defended
the actions of BLM in
pursuing criminal charges
against them.
Allum told us that
although he didn’t support
the Hammonds’ actions,
he thought the five-year
sentences were excessive
and the government’s
prosecution over zealous.
The comments didn’t
reflect his attitudes,
which he said were
well-known among his
colleagues at BLM.
After checking
the Internet Protocol
address used to make the
comments, Capital Press
found the comments were
posted from a computer
that belongs to the BLM.
Michael Campbell,
a public information
officer for BLM, said
the employee’s actions
violated the BLM’s “robust
social media policy,” under
which only authorized
officials can represent the
agency on social media
sites.
Not quite. The
employee didn’t represent
himself (or herself) as
the BLM on our site.
The employee instead
assumed Allum’s identity
and surreptitiously vented
against the Hammonds
and readers who made
comments supporting
them. All on government
time, using government
equipment.
It would seem the
purpose of the posts was as
much to embarrass Allum
as vilify supporters.
Whether BLM
appreciates it or not, the
employee diminished
the agency in the eyes
local farmers and
ranchers and bolstered a
popular perception that
government workers have
too much time on their
hands.
Allum deserves
an apology, and the
responsible employee needs
to be shown the door.
Readers’ views
Treaties threaten
well-being of U.S.
Please help me understand
why people don’t learn from
history, or the writing on the
wall.
The promotion of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership and
Transatlantic Trade and In-
vestment Partnership treaties
appears to be courting favor.
Wasn’t the North American
Free Trade Agreement given
a similar pitch? But what we
reaped was a trade deficit,
loss of jobs and a poor econ-
omy.
“This will not happen
with the Central America
Free Trade Agreement” was
the rhetoric. The result was
more job losses, a huge in-
crease in the trade deficit,
imported foods with prices
our farmers couldn’t com-
pete with, farms lost, pov-
erty and a decreasing econ-
omy.
Now we have the same
rhetoric for these two trea-
ties, but there are dangerous
consequences we are not
aware of. Most members of
Congress cannot read the full
contents, yet our president is
pushing for passage of these
treaties.
The treaties were revealed
by some sources to be an
avenue to merge us with the
European Union under Unit-
ed Nations control. It calls
for relinquishing our guns,
farmers would work under
foreign regulations and more
jobs would be lost to nations
with lower-paid workers.
An article in a United Na-
tions publication refers to the
avenue for us — one avenue
being Agenda 21. It reads,
“Agenda 21 proposes any
array of actions which are
intended to be implemented
by every person on earth. It
calls for specific changes of
action for all peoples. Effec-
tive execution of Agenda 21
will require a profound reori-
entation of all humans unlike
anything the world has ever
experienced.”
Yes, by treaties and agen-
das they are incrementally
gaining ground to enslave us
because by trusting our gov-
ernment and legislators we
do nothing, and lose our na-
tion and freedom.
We see no movement
from Congress, which has
the power to stop this. Why
aren’t we complaining by
having marches like Martin
Luther King to stop this as-
sault on our sovereignty and
freedoms?
We need to hold the pres-
ident and Congress account-
able. United we stand, divid-
ed we fall.
Mary Ann Novak
Yamhill, Ore.
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Left-wing judges
need to be
impeached
The two legal cases in
your newspaper (about the
sentencing of ranchers Ste-
ven and Dwight Hammond
for arson and the Washing-
ton Supreme Court allowing
closed advisory board meet-
ings) show to what extent
of ignorance lawyer federal
judges and lawyer state judg-
es have sunk.
Lawyer federal judges are
all appointed political hacks
from whichever party is in
office. They do, and want, to
run the country. They make
law as left-wing Democrats.
The Hammond case is
a good example of judges
costing American citizens
millions of dollars for crimes
that hurt no one. What fools.
Take that money out of their
million-dollar pensions and
that would be the end of it.
Left-wing judges wor-
ship trees, fish, bugs, riv-
ers, insects, dirt, etc. They
assign more value to them
than humans. As soon as the
American citizens get their
“guts” back, we will impeach
any judge who takes over
schools, governments, snail
darter fish, etc. To jail they
will go.
Most people don’t know
that judges can retire as
multi-millionaires at age 52.
They are major hogs at the
public trough.
Jurors should keep in
mind the penalties involved.
The Supreme Court should
have been impeached.
Like I said, no guts, not
glory.
William J. Purcell
Lebanon, Ore.