January 1, 2016
CapitalPress.com
15
Fire safety rule citations lag during California drought
By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO (AP) —
Amid the most destructive
wildfire season in more than
a decade, California’s fire-
fighting agency amped up
its warnings to thousands of
property owners who weren’t
doing enough to protect their
homes by clearing brush and
other flammable materials.
But it rarely put any mus-
cle behind the threats: Viola-
tors were fined just 4 percent
of the time, down from 10
percent when the drought
was declared four years ago,
according to California De-
partment of Forestry and Fire
Protection statistics requested
by The Associated Press.
State law requires property
owners in wildfire-prone areas
to clear combustible materi-
als near buildings and allows
citations starting at $100 for
those who fail to do so. A third
offense brings a misdemeanor
charge and a $500 fine.
The latest statistics show
the number and rate of cita-
tions issued in the year end-
ing June 30 were lower than
when California’s drought
began. The rate of homeown-
ers disobeying the law also
increased during that period.
“There are people out there
that won’t do it unless they are
forced to,” said Mike Warren.
A firefighter for 40 years,
including seven in California
as Sequoia National Park’s
fire management officer, War-
ren wants more aggressive en-
forcement to protect firefight-
ers. “Not getting the clearance
done puts firefighters at risk.”
CalFire recorded about
29,000 violations last year,
but imposed just 1,136 fines.
Four years ago, there were
12,000 violations and just un-
der 1,200 fines.
CalFire spokeswoman Jan-
et Upton said inadequate pro-
tection was a significant factor
in the loss of homes this fall in
a wildfire that burned through
in Amador and Calaveras
counties in the Sierra Nevada
foothills.
More violations were
found there than in any other
CalFire unit last year. While
more than a third of inspec-
tions found poorly protected
properties, CalFire issued ci-
tations there at less than half
the statewide rate.
“The worst penalization
of a homeowner who chooses
not to comply is if their house
burns down,” Upton said. “If
you have been living in these
areas and don’t think it can
happen, you haven’t been
paying attention.”
CalFire Director Ken Pim-
lott said the general approach
is to educate homeowners
rather than issue citations.
“We need that tool, be-
cause there are just those in-
dividuals, for whatever rea-
son, (who) aren’t interested in
complying,” he said. “I would
rather have those individuals
understand what we’re doing
and now become the messen-
ger for their community.”
He also defended policies
that mean enforcement varies
dramatically from county to
county.
For instance, the Kern
County Fire Department
writes a citation for every vio-
lation it finds, by far the most
of any county. By contrast,
Los Angeles County writes no
citations for property owners
who fail to clear brush. After
months of repeated warnings
and inspections, Los Angeles
County may eventually clear
the brush and bill the property
owner.
With the tougher punish-
ment, homeowners in Kern
County were 10 times more
likely to comply with the rules
than in Los Angeles County,
statistics show.
Promoting compliance is
“absolutely a priority,” Pim-
lott said. But, he said, resourc-
es and conditions vary widely
across the state, and methods
of enforcement should as
well.
In a bid to increase enforce-
ment, CalFire hired more than
50 inspectors last year to aid
firefighters. Both spend part
of their time doing the repeat-
ed property checks that are
required before homeowners
can be cited for ignoring mul-
tiple warnings, but the actual
citations must be written by
arson investigators because
they have law enforcement
powers.
Inspections increased last
year, but not as much as was
anticipated, Upton said. She
said the program “didn’t pan
out as well as expected” be-
cause firefighters were busy
fighting drought-driven wild-
fires, arson investigators were
seeking the causes, and in-
spectors were often helping
homeowners with drought-re-
lated tree deaths and tree-kill-
ing bark beetles.
The department is consid-
ering adjustments to get better
results, Pimlott said.
The inspectors were hired
using $900,000 from a fee
imposed on rural properties to
help offset firefighting costs,
drawing criticism from sev-
eral state lawmakers who op-
pose what they call an illegal
tax.
“It just angers me to see
that money is being spent in
an inefficient way,” said state
Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado
Hills, who represents a large
swath of rural California.
He said money spent on
additional inspectors should
instead go to programs help-
ing homeowners comply with
the law.
Assemblyman Frank Bi-
gelow, R-O’Neals, who rep-
resents the area burned in the
Sierra foothills fire, said the
money should go to thinning
forests and removing brush
that contributes to the spread
of wildfires.
Gaines, Bigelow and As-
semblyman Don Wagner,
R-Irvine, said CalFire should
set the same standards for is-
suing citations statewide. If
not, lawmakers should con-
sider requiring equal enforce-
ment, Gaines said.
“It’s one state with one
challenge of wildfire state-
wide,” Gaines said. “Every-
body ought to be treated in the
same fashion.”
New Mexico farm couple
resume life after mine spill
By NOEL LYN SMITH
The Daily Times
Courtesy of ODFW
SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP)
— Rows of dried corn stalks
stand in front of Earl and
Cheryle Yazzie’s home. On
a portion of land where mel-
ons grew, a pair of puppies
sniffed, then nudged ruined
fruit.
Months after the Gold
King Mine waste spill, the
couple, like many farmers in
San Juan County, continues
to worry about the future of
their farm.
On Aug. 5, the spill re-
leased millions of gallons of
toxic wastewater into a tribu-
tary of the Animas River.
The mustard yellow
plume flowed through the
Animas into the San Juan
River, which flows through
the northern region of the Na-
vajo Nation. The Yazzie resi-
dence is about a mile north of
the river that they have used
to irrigate their crops.
“This was an eye opener
for everybody,” Earl Yazzie
said about the spill and sub-
sequent actions by govern-
ment officials and residents
in response to the spill.
On a recent Wednesday,
Yazzie said he wants to see
testing results from federal
and tribal entities before he
decides to again irrigate his
farm with San Juan River
water.
Since the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency
has accepted responsibili-
ty for the spill, he said, the
agency should be supplying
a clean water source and start
testing the soil on farms.
The toxic spill received
nationwide attention and, as
The Daily Times reported on
Sept. 9, environmental activ-
ist and consumer advocate
Erin Brockovich visited the
farm while touring the Nava-
jo Nation.
During the visit, Brockov-
ich listened to the Yazzies as
they talked about efforts to
save their crops and why they
opposed resuming irrigation
with the suspect river water.
Cheryle Yazzie said she
remains angry and disap-
pointed by the response of
government officials, espe-
cially since it seems no one
“can do anything.”
“A lot of people, I think,
OR-3, a three-year-old male wolf from the Imnaha pack, is shown
in this image captured from video taken by an ODFW employee on
May 10, 2011, in Wallowa County, Ore.
Groups seek review of
Oregon wolf decision
State appeals court
petitioned to review
records leading to
commission decision
By CARL SAMPSON
Brennan Linsley/Associated Press
In this Aug. 12 file photo, water flows through a series of retention ponds built to contain and filter out
heavy metals and chemicals from the Gold King mine chemical accident, in the spillway about 1/4 mile
downstream from the mine, outside Silverton, Colo. Months after the spill, many farmers downstream
in San Juan County, N.M., continue to worry about the future of their farms.
don’t understand the real
causalities, the effects of this.
Sure, it’s not going to happen
this instant, but we’ll see it in
a few years,” she said.
At the time of Brockov-
ich’s visit, officials had set
up a water tank to irrigate a
section of the Yazzie farm.
When asked if that effort
helped the crops, Earl Yazzie
said it helped, but the crops
did not mature.
“The whole field was lost.
Our crops were a loss. It real-
ly affected me,” he said.
Cheryle Yazzie recalled
previous seasons when peo-
ple would visit the farm to
buy produce. The couple
estimates they suffered a fi-
nancial loss of more than
$10,000.
Earl Yazzie is a lifelong
resident of this town and
grew up on a farm, learning
how to work the ground from
his parents and grandparents.
“To see this actually hap-
pening, it made me think
about things. I thought, ‘This
is going to destroy our farm
life,’” he said.
When asked if they will
be planting crops during the
upcoming season, Cheryle
Yazzie said she is opposed
to that if the river water is
going to be the source of ir-
rigation for the crops.
“We don’t want that wa-
ter on our land,” she said,
adding she remains proud
of the Shiprock residents
who opposed reopening the
irrigation canal that delivers
river water to the farms.
The answer is not as easy
for Earl Yazzie, who said he
would have to evaluate the
situation in the spring. He
reiterated the need for test-
ing.
An effort by federal law-
makers to address the spill
came on Dec. 18 when New
Mexico’s Democratic U.S.
senators, Tom Udall and
Martin Heinrich, along with
U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján,
D-Santa Fe, included a pro-
vision to support monitoring
efforts in the end-of-year ap-
propriations bill before Con-
gress. That provision directs
the EPA to coordinate with
states and tribes impacted
by the spill to develop a plan
for independent monitoring,
according to a joint press re-
lease from the lawmakers.
It also directs the EPA to
provide support for the mon-
itoring efforts of states and
tribes.
Udall said in a press re-
lease that the provision will
help hold the EPA account-
able and ensure it keeps its
commitment to prioritizing
transparency in water quality
monitoring.
“If a situation like a flash
flood or thunderstorm were
to cause contamination in the
water once again, we need the
EPA making determinations
and giving prompt warnings
to impacted communities
based on the best scientific
advice,” Udall said.
Luján was pleased that the
provision was included.
“There are serious con-
cerns about the effects that
this spill will have on our
communities in the months
and years to come, and it
is critical that there is a co-
ordinated effort to conduct
long-term monitoring of the
Animas River,” Luján said in
the release.
Heinrich acknowledged
that families deserve to be
compensated for damages
incurred because of the spill,
and he said he will contin-
ue to work on overhauling
federal hard rock mining
and abandoned mine poli-
cies. Mining interests have
successfully blocked efforts
to update the Mining Act of
1872, which allows mining
companies to obtain claims
for a small investment and
does not require companies
to clean up inactive or aban-
doned mines.
EPA officials and an
agency contractor, using tax-
payer dollars, were working
to clean up the Gold King
Mine when they caused the
spill.
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Saying the
state acted prematurely, three
environmental groups on Dec.
30 challenged the removal of
Oregon Endangered Species Act
protection for gray wolves.
The Center for Biological
Diversity, Oregon Wild and
Cascadia Wildlands have peti-
tioned the Oregon Court of Ap-
peals to review the November
decision by the state Fish and
Wildlife Commission to remove
gray wolves from the state’s en-
dangered species list.
The groups are not seeking
a stay or injunctive relief, only
to have an impartial review of
the decision, said Nick Cady of
Cascadia Wildlands.
“What we’re challenging is
that rule wasn’t based on sci-
ence,” he said.
The state Department of Fish
and Wildlife will have to pro-
vide all records leading up to the
decision, Cady said. He could
not estimate how long it would
be before the review takes place.
“ODFW is confident the de-
partment followed statutory and
legal requirements in its process
and that the commission acted
legally when it delisted wolves
from the state ESA,” said Mi-
chelle Dennehy, wildlife com-
munications coordinator for the
department, in an email.
Oregon currently has about
82 wolves, most of them in the
northeastern corner of the state.
Ranchers there have faced live-
stock losses because of wolves
attacking cattle, sheep and guard
dogs.
“We always knew any deci-
sion would be appealable,” said
rancher Todd Nash, chairman of
the Oregon Cattlemen’s Associ-
ation Wolf Committee. “Our re-
sponse will be to seek legislation
to back up what the commission
voted on and put it in law.”
He said the state wolf man-
agement plan already dictates
how wolves are managed.
“If (the review) doesn’t
change what the wolf manage-
ment plan is, what will it do?”
he asked.
In the eastern one-third of
the state, wolves are not protect-
ed under either state or federal
endangered species laws but are
managed under the state’s wolf
management plan.
In the western two-thirds of
Oregon, wolves are protected
under the federal Endangered
Species Act and the state’s wolf
management plan.
The environmental groups
allege state wildlife managers
violated Oregon’s Endangered
Species Act and ignored the best
scientific evidence available and
the overwhelming number of
people who commented against
the delisting proposal, said Rob
Klavins, northeast Oregon field
coordinator for Oregon Wild.
“By their own analysis,
wolves are extinct in 90 per-
cent of their range in Oregon,”
Klavins said.
“Our scientific analysis was
based on documented and ver-
ifiable information and used a
peer-reviewed population via-
bility model,” Dennehy said.
She said the commission’s
decision to delist Oregon’s
wolves was based on the five
factors under the ESA:
• The wolves’ rapidly ex-
panding range in Oregon.
• The species’ growing pop-
ulation.
• The stability of the habitat.
• That over-use of wolves is
not likely to occur.
• The protections in the wolf
management plan remain in
place regardless of any ESA
listing.
Judge questions Wyoming ban on open lands data collection
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)
— A federal judge has refused
to dismiss a lawsuit contest-
ing two new Wyoming laws
barring people from gathering
information about agriculture
and other industries on private
and public lands.
U.S. District Judge Scott
Skavdahl in Casper made the
ruling Monday after question-
ing the constitutionality of the
laws.
The Wyoming Legislature
passed the two similar laws
earlier this year. The measures
specifically prohibit the tak-
ing of photos or gathering of
other data while trespassing
on open land.
A coalition of environmen-
tal, animal rights and other
groups filed the suit, saying
the laws try to prohibit gather-
ing information used to chal-
lenge resource management
decisions and expose animal
cruelty.
Wyoming officials sought
dismissal, arguing the groups
lacked standing to challenge
the laws. Nobody has been
prosecuted under the laws yet.
Skavdahl allowed the case
to go ahead, citing the U.S.
Constitution’s guarantees of
free speech and equal protec-
tion under the law. He wrote
that he has “serious concerns”
about the constitutionality of
the statutes.
Michael Wall, an attor-
ney for the Natural Resourc-
es Defense Council, said in
a release, “A law that makes
sharing photos of Devils
Tower or Yellowstone a
punishable offense just isn’t
consistent with Americans’
right to free speech.”
Wyoming Attorney Gen-
eral Peter Michael declined
to comment.
The Legislature passed
the laws after a group of
Wyoming ranchers and
landowners sued a conser-
vation group they said tres-
passed on private land to
collect water-quality sam-
ples.
The groups suing — the
NRDC, People for the Eth-
ical Treatment of Animals,
Center for Food Safety, Na-
tional Press Photographers
Association, and Western
Watersheds Project — said
rather than prohibiting data
collection, Wyoming could
simply increase the penal-
ties for traditional trespass-
ing.
The state can’t consti-
tutionally prohibit people
from gathering information
and conveying it to govern-
ment agencies, they argue.