10 CapitalPress.com
April 29, 2016
Potato truck may roll indefinitely Unprotected junior
Idaho well users
face curtailment
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
EAGLE, Idaho — Basket-
ball star Kobe Bryant had the
Great Big Idaho Potato Truck
on his mind during one of the
final games of his storied ca-
reer, a sign to the Idaho Potato
Commission that their travel-
ing promotion hasn’t lost its
effectiveness after four years.
The Los Angeles Lakers
guard, who recently retired,
also referenced the running
storyline of IPC commercials
— featuring “actual” Idaho
potato grower Mark Coombs’
search for the “missing” potato
truck.
“How long have you been
working with Idaho potatoes?”
Bryant asked ESPN sideline
reporter Heather Cox, an IPC
partner nicknamed “Spud”
by professional athletes, prior
to an interview. “Have they
found that truck yet?”
Alabama coach Nick Saban
asked Cox about the where-
abouts of the 6-ton replica
Russet Burbank on a flat-bed
prior to the 2016 college foot-
ball championship game, jok-
ingly adding, “Is it real?”
With the truck recently
departing for its fifth national
tour to raise awareness about
Idaho’s most famous vegeta-
ble, IPC President and CEO
Frank Muir believes the celeb-
rity comments, which Cox re-
layed to him April 19, demon-
strate why it must continue to
roll indefinitely. Though IPC
had mulled retiring the truck
after its current trek, Muir said
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Children play a bean toss game to win Spuddy Buddy toys by the Great Big Idaho Potato Truck at
the McDonald’s restaurant in Chubbuck, Idaho, in this file photo from Oct. 3, 2015. The truck recently
departed on its fifth national tour, and IPC has no immediate plans to retire it.
the organization is now lean-
ing toward keeping it on the
road for as long as the public
remains eager to see it.
“The feedback we’re get-
ting from growers is, ‘Why
would you take it off the
road?’” Muir said. “We con-
tinue to have more requests for
(truck appearances) than we
can fulfill. They’re begging to
see it. How many people beg
to see commercials?”
Idaho Falls grower and IPC
Commissioner James Hoff
agrees the truck remains an
effective tool for the state’s
potato growers and takes the
continued requests for truck
appearances as a sign that it
hasn’t overstayed its welcome.
“I haven’t heard any nay-
sayers about the truck out
there,” Hoff said.
IPC has budgeted $700,000
for the current tour, scheduled
to cover about 25,000 miles.
The organization has already
filmed a new commercial up-
dating the search for the truck.
It is scheduled to debut during
the national broadcast of Boise
State University’s first home
game against Washington
State University. Muir said the
commercial ends with a “cliff
hanger,” leaving the door open
for the truck to remain at large.
During the last tour, Muir
said the truck made eight ap-
pearances before crowds of
more than 350,000, and one
Florida family reported travel-
ing five hours to see it.
“This is like seeing an
eclipse. It only comes around
once in a while, and people are
excited to say they’ve seen it,”
Muir said.
Some highlights of the cur-
rent tour will include stops at
the Kentucky Derby, a Kansas
City rock festival, a New En-
gland chili cook-off, the pre-
mier of Idaho the Musical in
Las Vegas, SeaFair in Seattle
and a photo opportunity in
which the truck will float on
a barge through New York
Harbor.
Energy bill amendment to enable Klamath Basin water, power plans
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.
— Proponents of certain wa-
ter solutions in the Klam-
ath Basin say an energy bill
amendment that passed the
U.S. Senate provides key sup-
port for improving facilities
and other initiatives.
The amendment by Ore-
gon Sens. Jeff Merkley and
Ron Wyden, both Democrats,
authorizes measures first
proposed as part of the 2010
Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement, although it doesn’t
address the controversial re-
moval of four dams on the
Klamath River.
The provision allows the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to
help farmers in the basin deal
with reduced water supplies as
a result of future water-shar-
ing agreements and to provide
reduced-cost power for irri-
gation, the senators said in a
news release.
The provision, which also
enables the bureau to do cer-
tain upgrades of irrigation fa-
cilities, was part of an energy
bill that passed the Senate, 85-
12, on April 20 and now heads
to a Senate-House conference
committee.
“It’s really good news,”
said Beatty, Ore., cattle ranch-
er Becky Hyde, who rep-
resents the Upper Klamath
Water
Users
and is a long-
time proponent
of the KBRA.
“The nice thing
is, we’re slow-
ly … starting to
Becky
put regulatory
Hyde
assurances for
species back into place for
agriculture. This facilities bill
resurrects some of the power
stuff (in the KBRA).
“We still have a long way to
go on water balance, but we’ve
got some good things happen-
ing,” she said.
As is often the case in the
Klamath Basin, the measure is
not without controversy. Law-
rence Kogan, an attorney for
the Klamath Irrigation District,
and representatives of U.S.
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.,
were meeting with Reclama-
tion officials on April 21 to
discuss the objections of basin
irrigators to some of the plans.
Kogan said the bureau is
using coercive tactics to pres-
sure the KID to accept terms of
a government loan to replace a
nearly 100-year-old flume on
one of its main canals by link-
ing future water deliveries to
the district’s acceptance of the
contract.
“It’s a poison-pill bill that
will kill the basin because
Congress doesn’t even know
what it’s put in the bill,” Ko-
gan said. He accuses propo-
nents of “deception,” arguing
their true aim is to turn much
of the basin into non-produc-
tive wildlands.
But the senators insist that
their amendment, along with
other parts of the newly res-
urrected Klamath Basin plan,
will benefit agriculture as well
as fish and wildlife. The aim is
to bring down power costs for
basin irrigators, whose elec-
tricity costs are higher than
those in similar Reclamation
projects, officials say.
The plan will “help ensure
that Klamath agriculture is a
sustainable foundation of the
local economy,” Merkley said
in a press release.
It’s been a decade since
the expiration of a 50-year
contract between the U.S. De-
partment of the Interior and
PacifiCorp caused power rates
in the region to skyrocket from
a half-cent per kilowatt-hour
to as much as 10 cents, Hyde
said. The lower rates were
a trade-off for the ability to
pump water through the proj-
ect for its Klamath River hy-
droelectric facilities.
While the bill doesn’t
identify a funding amount,
it enables the bureau to find
lower-cost power for irrigators
with projects that promote en-
ergy efficiency and renewable
energy, the senators said. One
solution could be putting in
micro hydro facilities along
irrigation canals or the river,
Hyde said.
“Micro hydro is a really
interesting concept,” she said.
“One of the things (the bill)
asks for is to study in a real-
ly expedited way what’s the
best return for dollars invest-
ed in energy infrastructure
upgrades, so that means solar
could play a role or micro hy-
dro could play a role.”
The bill’s passage in the
Senate comes two weeks after
top state and federal officials
gathered in Klamath, Calif., on
April 6 to sign the final version
of a dam-removal plan they
announced in February. The
plan calls for a nonprofit orga-
nization to take control of the
four dams from owner Pacifi-
Corp and seek a go-ahead for
their removal from the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commis-
sion.
In addition, the parties
signaled a plan to revive the
KBRA, a companion to the
original Klamath Hydroelec-
tric Settlement Agreement,
with federal legislation that
would provide money to oper-
ate two diversion dams within
the basin that PacifiCorp would
turn over to Reclamation so ir-
rigators wouldn’t have to pick
up the cost, Craig Tucker of
the Karuk Tribe has said.
18-2/#4N
BOISE — During a de-
cent water year, several
Idaho irrigation wells will
nonetheless likely be cur-
tailed this summer, accord-
ing to officials with the
Idaho Department of Water
Resources.
At risk are Eastern
Snake Plain irrigators with
junior groundwater rights
dating to 1989 who haven’t
signed on to a mitigation
plan for safe harbor from
the Surface Water Coali-
tion’s delivery call, ex-
plained IDWR Deputy Di-
rector Mat Weaver.
In the past, Idaho
Ground Water Appropri-
ators, Inc., has provided
mitigation for all junior
groundwater users affected
by the call. Going forward,
IGWA will mitigate only
for participants in a settle-
ment it reached with the co-
alition last summer, leaving
certain cities and well users
who aren’t affiliated with a
groundwater district unpro-
tected.
IGWA attorney T.J.
Budge said unprotected ir-
rigators may still join with
their nearest groundwater
district and enjoy IGWA’s
safe harbor, provided that
they participate in the set-
tlement. Budge said there
will be no “free rides” for
irrigators who aren’t affect-
ed this summer but wait to
join IGWA until a future
year when their priority
dates would be curtailed.
“We’ve been getting
(new members) and we will
be getting more, I’m sure,”
Budge said. “There are still
several out there.”
A&B Irrigation Dis-
trict and the Southwest and
Goose Creek irrigation dis-
tricts have gotten their own
mitigation plans approved
and several Idaho cities have
a mitigation plan pending
covering municipal use.
The coalition filed its
call more than a decade ago,
arguing well irrigation has
contributed to declines in
springs that supplement sur-
face flows in Snake River
reaches between Blackfoot
and Milner Dam.
Though mountain snow-
pack is about average and
reservoirs are relatively full
in most of the state, IDWR
has calculated that ground-
water users still owe the co-
alition 44,200 acre-feet this
season, accounting for the
cumulative impacts of de-
cades of well use on spring
flows.
Budge explained the de-
partment began considering
aquifer discharges in its in-
jury formula last year, which
increased IGWA’s burden
and was a chief motivator
behind the settlement.
Weaver said IDWR is
evaluating which users ar-
en’t covered by the three
mitigation plans and be-
lieves more than 100 rights
could be subject to curtail-
ment. Those users have un-
til May 3 to submit reasons
to the department why their
wells should remain active,
though Weaver suspects
it would take a few more
weeks beyond the deadline
to complete the analysis to
move forward with curtail-
ment. He said precedent for
curtailment was set in 2009
when a few wells were shut
down as a result of a trout
farm’s call.
Under the settlement,
IGWA must give the coa-
lition a flat 50,000 acre-
feet of water per year, plus
members must reduce an-
nual groundwater consump-
tion by 240,000 combined
acre-feet, or roughly 12
percent per user. IGWA had
applied to use its settlement
as its new mitigation plan,
but the cities of Idaho Falls
and Pocatello filed objec-
tions, concerned they could
be accountable for aquifer
recovery milestones in the
agreement.
Budge said the cities and
IGWA resolved their dif-
ferences during an April 18
meeting.
An amended version of
the 2010 methodology order
governing the call was rein-
stated on April 19 to cover
the interim, and will remain
in place for unaffiliated
groundwater users. Budge
said IGWA will abide by
the agreement, even though
it exceeds the current-year
mitigation requirement.
Blueberry farmer
warns some surfactants
may sunburn plants in
unseasonably hot weather
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Veteran blueberry grow-
er Bob Mattila, who farms
between Camas and Battle-
ground, Wash., said a sur-
factant used with pesticides
may cause sunburn when
used in unseasonably hot
weather.
Mattila said he lost 5 to
10 percent of his crop and
wants to warn other farm-
ers.
However, a berry crops
extension agent at Oregon
State University’s North
Willamette Research and
Extension Center said it’s
too early to know if the
damage will affect polli-
nation. Associate Profes-
sor Wei Qian Yang said the
damage was largely to flow-
er petals. In some cases,
only one-third to one-half
of the petals were damaged,
and flowers might be OK.
Wei said it would be wise
to avoid spraying when un-
usually warm weather is
anticipated. He suggested
farmers read the surfactant
label and look for high tem-
perature warnings. He had
not seen the product label in
this case and did not know
what it says.
Mattila said there is no
temperature warning on the
surfactant label. A surfac-
tant, mixed with pesticide,
helps the pesticide spread
and stick to the plant, so it
won’t be washed off in rain.
While some flowers had
patches of damage, others
were “completely wiped
out,” he said.
Mattila said he sprayed
pesticides April 1 and 2,
and the temperature reached
88 degrees on April 7. The
National Weather Service in
Portland said it was the hot-
test April 7 on record, with
a high of 85 degrees at the
Portland International Air-
port.
Alarmed by burned
plants he saw afterward,
Mattila said he sought ad-
vice from Wei at OSU’s
North Willamette station.
He said Wei immediately
suspected an oil-based sur-
factant might be responsible
because another grower had
the same problem. Wei con-
firmed that account.
Mattila said he also
questioned the product dis-
tributor and was told the
surfactant he used is poly-
mer-based, not oil-based. A
company representative was
not immediately available
to comment.
At any rate, Mattila said
he’s trying to figure it out
but wants to warn other
farmers. He said he’s used
the surfactant for years and
never had trouble before,
but noted that he hasn’t seen
88 degrees in early April be-
fore, either.
“I wanted to put the in-
formation out there so farm-
ers are aware of this,” he
said.