May 6, 2016
CapitalPress.com
13
Commodity groups seek FOIA exemption for checkoff boards
Critics say it’s
contrary to the
reason checkoffs
were set up
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Several agricultural organi-
zations have gotten language
included in the pending fiscal
year 2017 House Agricultur-
al Appropriations Bill asking
USDA to exempt research
and promotion boards funded
by grower checkoff fees from
federal public records law.
USDA currently fills re-
cords requests, subject to cer-
tain exemptions, on behalf of
the boards under the federal
Freedom of Information Act.
USDA bills the boards to cov-
er its oversight, including time
spent on records requests.
In an April 11 letter to the
leadership of the House Sub-
committee on Agriculture,
Rural Development Food and
Engineering
firm starts
designing
fix for ailing
Malheur
Siphon
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — Part of
the 80-year-old Malheur Si-
phon, which carries irrigation
water to thousands of acres in
Malheur County, is starting to
fail.
As a result, the Owyhee Ir-
rigation District has hired an
engineering firm to assess the
integrity of the pipe and design
a fix.
The siphon, a 4.3-mile-long
steel pipe that is a landmark in
the valley, delivers up to 325 cu-
bic feet per second of irrigation
water from the Malheur Reser-
voir to farmers on the northern
part of the OID system.
“If that siphon went down,
the whole north end wouldn’t
have any water. It’s very im-
portant to this area,” said Paul
Skeen, president of the Mal-
heur County Onion Growers
Association.
About a third of the OID
system is dependent on the
pipe and ensuring its survival
is a priority, said Bruce Corn, a
farmer and member of the OID
board of directors.
“It’s absolutely critical,” he
said. “If it failed, it would total-
ly dry up that area.”
The major area of concern
is east of the Malheur Butte,
where the 80-inch pipe is sup-
ported by large steel legs, said
OID Manager Jay Chamberlin.
“The pipe is starting to fail ...
and we need to go in and really
figure out what’s going on,” he
said. “It’s the heartbeat of this
valley. It’s a critical piece of our
infrastructure.”
The soil in that area expands
and contracts wildly depending
on the temperature, and the legs
and pipe can move as much as
6 inches a day, he said. “It’s like
it’s doing this dance and it’s not
all staying together.”
MWH Americas, a Boise
engineering firm, is being paid
$45,000 to assess the problem
and design a fix. Chamberlin
met with MWH officials May
2 and received some good
news.
“The pipe itself is worth
saving. The integrity of the
steel is great,” he said. “Now
we just have to invest in some
good legs to support that pipe
for many more years to come.”
The new legs will be de-
signed to allow movement from
side to side as well as vertically.
Chamberlin said the goal is
to design the fix in a way that
OID employees can do most of
the work themselves, reducing
the cost.
A design fix should be ready
by the end of summer and work
could begin this fall.
Chamberlin said there are
other issues with the siphon
that need to be addressed and
fixing all of them will take sev-
eral years.
Courtesy Architect of the Capitol
Language included in the pending fiscal year 2017 House Agricul-
tural Appropriations Bill exempts research and promotion boards
funded by grower checkoff fees from the federal public records law.
Drug Administration and Re-
lated Agencies, 14 commodi-
ty organizations requested the
change in FOIA policy on be-
half of their related checkoff
fee-funded boards, which are
prohibited from lobbying.
Their language was includ-
ed in the appropriations bill
that passed the subcommittee,
followed by the full House
Appropriations Committee on
April 19, and awaits action by
the full House.
It reads: “The funding
used to operate and carry out
the activities of the various
research and promotion pro-
grams is provided by produc-
ers and industry stakeholders,
and employees on the boards
are not federal employees.
Therefore, the committee urg-
es USDA to recognize that
such boards are not subject
to the provisions of 5 U.S.C.
Section 552 (the Freedom of
Information Act).”
Organizations that signed
the letter included: Nation-
al Potato Council, National
Milk Producers Federation,
National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association, National Christ-
mas Tree Association, Amer-
ican Beekeeping Federation,
AmericanHort,
American
Mushroom Institute, Amer-
ican Soybean Association,
Michigan Christmas Tree
Association, National Cotton
Council, National Pork Pro-
ducers Council, National Wa-
termelon Association, United
Dairymen of Arizona and
United Egg Producers.
Their letter argues the
change is needed to focus pro-
ducers’ resources on research
and promotion, rather than re-
cord searches.
“I think the idea is we don’t
want to see these producer
dollars wasted by pulling pa-
perwork,” said NPC President
and CEO John Keeling, who
hopes the language is retained
to help Potatoes USA.
Keeling believes the grow-
ers who provide the funding
would still have access to
any necessary information
through their colleagues who
hold board positions. Further-
more, he believes USDA’s
oversight prevents wasteful
spending.
NCBA spokesman Chase
Adams believes the language
is a “common-sense” issue
that clarifies the true intent of
public records law.
“These are producer dol-
lars that are used. These are
not tax dollars,” Adams said.
Staff with the subcommit-
tee’s leadership emphasized
the appropriations bill would
remain law for just a single
year before being replaced by
a new bill.
Fran Boyd, a Washington
representative for the Amer-
ican Beekeeping Federation,
noted the letter specified in-
formation for which USDA
provides oversight would
continue to be subject to
FOIA.
He said the organizations
wanted the change to cover
limited operations that don’t
involve USDA oversight,
such as whether to release
details of board-funded re-
search.
A critic of the move called
it “underhanded.”
“I guess they want it both
ways. They defend the pro-
grams on the basis that it is
government speech overseen
by the secretary of agricul-
ture, but now are claiming it is
private and these are producer
dollars, and the government
isn’t overseeing or managing
the program,” said Bill Bull-
ard, CEO of R-CALF USA, a
cattlemen’s organization.
Bullard said everything
the groups do involves
USDA oversight and con-
siders the assurance in the
letter to be a “smokescreen.”
His group has tangled
with NCBA over several is-
sues.
“We believe those com-
modity boards should wel-
come transparency, and the
only way they can be subject
to accountability is if pro-
ducers who are required to
pay these mandatory fees can
ensure those fees are spent
properly,” Bullard said.“We
think this is an underhanded
attempt to hide the activities
of these boards and remove
them from public scrutiny.”
Nevada BLM boss urges roundup of 4,000 mustangs
By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Bu-
reau of Land Management’s Nevada
director wants to free up more fed-
eral rangeland for livestock grazing
this summer by rounding up 4,000
wild horses in Elko County — more
than were gathered across 10 Western
states combined last year.
BLM Nevada Director John Ruhs,
Gov. Brian Sandoval and state wildlife
officials say removing the mustangs
from four herd-management areas in
Elko County near the Utah line would
also benefit the greater sage grouse.
“Current horse populations hinder
the multiple uses of public lands,” Ne-
vada Agriculture Director Jim Barbee
said. He anticipates that without the
roundups, anywhere from a 25 percent
to a total reduction in grazing will be
necessary in some areas, resulting in
as much as $1.8 million in damages to
Elko County’s economy.
Conservationists say the call for
more roundups is a misguided attempt
to placate ranchers at the expense
of horses and grouse. Cattle do far
more damage than mustangs to the
drought-stricken range and the imper-
iled bird, they say.
Nevada is home to nearly 28,000
wild horses — more than half of the
47,000 estimated in 10 Western states,
including Arizona, California, Colo-
rado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico,
Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
The Bureau of Land Management
argues the range can sustain less than
half that many — about 12,000 in Ne-
vada and 26,000 nationally.
Ruhs estimated in an April 13 let-
ter to the agency’s headquarters that it
would cost about $4 million to remove
about 4,000 animals in southeast Elko
County stretching to near the Utah
line. “Some of the allotments/pastures
within the impacted area will need to
be closed to livestock grazing in 2016
and into the future to limit further
damage to these ecosystems or until
appropriate management of the wild
horses has taken place,”’ Ruhs wrote.
Sandoval warned last week that if
the Interior Department refuses to ad-
equately fund the program, “the state
will pursue all legal options to protect
our local producers and communities.”
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, said
in a letter to Secretary Sally Jewell
on Friday that he’s disappointed the
Bureau of Land Management has not
responded to a request he and others
made in November for an update on
herds across the West.
“Over the past few years, many
ranchers have already taken reduc-
tions in their grazing allotments, yet
horse populations have only increased,
not decreased, over that time,” Heller
wrote. “It is unfair for local ranchers
to be penalized for BLM’s inaction.”
The Bureau of Land Management
gathered 7,242 horses nationally in
2012; 4,064 in 2013; 1,689 in 2014;
and 3,093 last fiscal year. It removed
about 1,000 in Oregon in November,
about 125 in southern Nevada in Feb-
ruary, 54 in Utah in March, and this
summer plans to remove about 535 in
Wyoming and 300 in Utah.
But the agency currently plans no
large-scale roundups in Nevada — or
anywhere else — through the end of
September because of budget short-
falls driven largely by the cost of hous-
ing more than 45,000 mustangs now in
government corrals and pastures at a
lifetime cost of $48,000 per animal.
The Nevada Association of Coun-
ties, Nevada Farm Bureau and others
filed a lawsuit last year to force the
government to step up roundups, but a
U.S. judge in Reno dismissed the case.
“Unfortunately, the removal of cat-
tle from areas where horse populations
are significantly over (appropriate
management levels) does not alleviate
the impacts to native species, includ-
ing sage grouse,” Nevada Cattlemen’s
Association President David Stix Jr.
said last week.
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