16 CapitalPress.com
July 1, 2016
Seed company reaches settlement with Justice Department
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
CALDWELL,
Idaho
—
Crookham Co., an Idaho-based
seed company, reached a settlement
agreement with the U.S. Justice
Department June 27 that resolves
allegations the company discrim-
inated against non-U.S. citizens
who were authorized to work in this
country.
According to the six-page agree-
ment, Crookham agreed to pay a
$200,000 civil penalty to resolve
accusations by the department that
the company’s employment eligibil-
ity veriication practices violated the
anti-discrimination provision of the
Idaho revises
proposed
changes to
ield burning
program
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho envi-
ronmental groups and public
health advocates have balked
at a revised proposal that
would amend the state’s crop
residue burning program.
Department of Environ-
mental Quality oficials say
the program changes are
needed to avoid a large re-
duction in the number of al-
lowable ield burning days in
Idaho.
To achieve that goal, DEQ
initially proposed loosening
the state’s ozone standard
while tightening the standard
for small particulate matter,
known as PM 2.5.
The changes are necessary
because the federal ozone
standard was tightened in Oc-
tober, which will result in a
large reduction in allowable
burn days in Idaho unless the
state’s program is changed,
DEQ oficials said.
DEQ can only approve
ield burning requests if ozone
and PM 2.5 levels are not ex-
pected to exceed federal stan-
dards in the area.
After hearing from farm
group representatives whose
members are concerned about
tightening the PM 2.5 stan-
dard, DEQ released a revised
proposal that leaves the PM
2.5 standard unchanged.
Mary Anderson, who
manages DEQ’s crop residue
burning program, said the de-
partment could not provide
scientiic justiication that
shows tightening the PM 2.5
standard would make it less
likely that ield burning in
Idaho would impact public
health.
Leaders of three of the
state’s main environmental
and public health advocacy
groups said it’s not equitable
to loosen the ozone standard
but not tighten the PM 2.5
standard.
“We’re being asked to
lower the ozone standard in
exchange for no public health
protection,” said Courtney
Washburn, executive director
of Conservation Voters for
Idaho. “I’m really frustrat-
ed that we might lose all the
work and effort everyone has
put into maintaining this bal-
ance (between ield burning
and protecting public health)
over a few burn days.”
The stakeholders have
met twice during negotiated
rule-making meetings hosted
by DEQ.
Before the third and inal
meeting July 20, DEQ will
release a third draft proposal.
After that meeting, the depart-
ment will release a inal pro-
posal.
Tiffany Floyd, who man-
ages DEQ’s air quality divi-
sion, said the second meeting
June 23 revealed a lot about
where the parties stand on the
issue and she believes a pro-
posal acceptable to everyone
can be reached.
“I deinitely think we can
reach a compromise,” she
said.
Patti Gora-McRavin, who
represents safe air advocates,
said she’s hopeful the two
sides want to and can reach an
agreement.
However, she said DEQ is
going to have to tighten the
PM 2.5 standard for a consen-
sus to be achieved.
Immigration and Nationality Act.
Crookham denied engaging in
unfair hiring practices and also did
not admit to violating the act or any
other law or regulation.
Crookham
CEO
George
Crookham told Capital Press the
company immediately took action
and worked with the Justice Depart-
ment to correct problems the de-
partment had with its employment
documents.
“We were making some mistakes
that we didn’t realize were improp-
er. We didn’t want to discriminate
against anybody,” he said. “We had
an issue with our documents (and)
we did everything we could to ix
(the problem).”
Vanity Gupta, head of the Justice
Department’s Civil Rights Division,
said in a news release that the settle-
ment and the company’s approach
to the matter “serve as a model for
partnership between the Justice De-
partment and employers who want
to do the right thing.”
“We commend Crookham Co.
for its cooperation throughout the
investigation and for its quick ac-
tion to remove any unnecessary and
unlawful barriers to employment
for work-authorized non-citizens,”
Gupta said.
Based in Caldwell in southwest-
ern Idaho, Crookham produces seed
for hybrid sweet corn, onions and
popcorn.
According to the agreement, the
department concluded there was
“reasonable cause to believe (the
company) engaged in a pattern or
practice of unfair documentary
practices....”
Investigators found that the com-
pany required non-U.S. citizens to
present speciic or unnecessary doc-
uments to verify their employment
eligibility that it did not require
U.S. citizens to provide.
According to the Justice Depart-
ment news release, these non-cit-
izens were required to produce a
permanent resident card or employ-
ment authorization card, but U.S.
citizens were permitted to choose
whichever valid documentation
they wanted to present to prove
their authorization to work.
The INA allows all workers, in-
cluding non-U.S. citizens, to choose
whichever valid documentation
they want to present from a list of
acceptable documents. According
to the news release, “it is unlawful
for an employer to limit employees’
choice of documentation because
of their citizenship or immigration
status.”
Crookham voluntarily imple-
mented measures to ensure future
compliance and proactively under-
went department-provided training
on the INA’s anti-discrimination
provision, according to the Justice
Department.
Dificult year for Washington apple exports
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE,
Wash.
— It’s been a tough year for
Washington state apple exports,
with some large markets losing
signiicant volume and some
small markets disappearing al-
together.
A strong dollar devaluing
the buying power of foreign
currencies and a relatively
small 2015 crop keeping pric-
es strong have combined to
reduce exports by 32 percent
compared with the record large
apple crop of 2014.
But there are bright spots
and the picture isn’t all that bad
given the aforementioned fac-
tors, said Todd Fryhover, pres-
ident of the Washington Apple
Commission, the industry’s ex-
port promotional organization.
“I want numbers to be up
but when you look at a (small)
115 million-box crop, we’re
pretty happy,” Fryhover said.
When prices are high and
volume is low there’s more in-
centive to sell fruit domestical-
ly instead of assuming the risk
and costs of shipping overseas
and facing competition from
other apple exporters, he said.
Fryhover expects exports
from the 2015 crop to inish
the year at 28 percent, or 32.2
million boxes, down from 35
percent and 48.7 million boxes
from 2014. He has encouraged
exporters to make greater use
of the generic Washington ap-
ple logo to build identity with
consumers.
Brazil, Venezuela, most of
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
A worker packs apples at a Washington state facility.
Africa, Bangladesh, Maldives
and Morocco all disappeared
as export markets for the
2015 crop after buying small
amounts in 2014.
A lot of that, Fryhover said,
has to do with 2014 being such
a huge crop that prices fell to
levels those countries could af-
ford to buy.
Brazil bought 13,589 box-
es in 2014 but has never been
a big market because it grows
apples and its economy is
weak, he said.
Outside any trade agree-
ment, dealing with food short-
ages and being a dictatorship
not friendly to the U.S., Ven-
ezuela has luctuated between
being open and closed to U.S.
apples. It bought 5,476 boxes
in 2014.
Bangladesh bought 36,424
boxes.
“It’s cheap, cheap, cheap,”
Fryhover said of Bangladesh.
“At $10 a box you can sell
there. Anything above and
you’re out, so if you see the
numbers go up in Bangladesh,
we’re in trouble (in pricing),”
he said.
Russia has been the loss of
a 500,000-box market since
banning Western produce on
Aug. 7, 2014, in retaliation for
Western sanctions for Russian
aggression in Ukraine.
The greatest volume de-
clines have been in Washing-
ton’s two largest export mar-
kets, Mexico and Canada.
Mexico recently ended an-
ti-dumping tariffs, which helps
stabilize that market, but the
value of the peso has shrunk 20
percent against the dollar in the
past year, Fryhover said.
Mexico is down 37 percent
at 7.1 million boxes compared
with 11.4 million a year go. It
inished the large 2014 crop
year at a record 16 million box-
es, and Fryhover thinks it will
inish this season at 9 million to
10 million boxes.
That’s not bad, he said, on a
115 million-box crop.
Canada’s currency is deval-
ued and its economy has been
hit by the shrinkage of its oil
industry, he said. Canada is
down 17.7 percent at 4.7 mil-
lion boxes versus 5.8 million a
year ago. It inished 2014 at 7.1
million boxes.
India, United Arab Emir-
ates, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam
also had large volume drops.
India’s ports were closed to
U.S. apples for awhile, but the
strong dollar is the main rea-
son apple imports have fallen
58 percent to 2.2 million boxes
from 5.4 million a year ago.
Vietnam has dropped to
925,867 boxes from 1.57 mil-
lion. But that’s because it’s
dried up as a “gray market”
channel into China after China
opened its borders to all U.S.
apples in the spring of 2015,
Fryhover said.
“Our rep there feels it’s re-
ally 10 to 15 percent growth in
our apples consumed in Viet-
nam,” he said. “They like our
varieties, our food safety con-
science and pay good money
for good fruit. It’s really a shin-
ing star in Southeast Asia.”
China is a bright spot,
growing to 1.1 million boxes,
up from 1 million a year ago.
The industry has high hopes
for it to grow into a much larg-
er market. But right now it’s a
little clouded by a shrinking
economy, Fryhover said, not-
ing it’s the No. 1 apple export
market for Chile and New
Zealand.
The Dominican Republic
and Colombia also look good
for the future in the 500,000-
box range, despite declining
this year, because they are
willing to pay for high quali-
ty, he said.
After spraying, Washington, Oregon search for gypsy moths
States put out
thousands more traps
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington and Oregon
are intensifying their annu-
al summer hunts for gypsy
moths, checking whether ae-
rial spraying eradicated the
leaf-eating pest.
The Washington State De-
partment of Agriculture last
month began nailing to trees
34,000
pheromone-baited
traps, including 2,500 in East-
ern Washington.
WSDA last year set out
19,000 traps, all in Western
Washington.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture in May began
to put up 17,000 traps, an in-
crease over the 15,000 used
last year.
Both states plan to have all
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington State Department of Agriculture gypsy moth trapper
Jennifer Berg nails a trap to a tree June 20 at a park along the Co-
lumbia River in Vancouver. WSDA is intensifying the annual hunt
for European and Asian gypsy moths this summer to see whether
spraying was effective.
traps up by mid-July and will
check them into the fall.
The stepped-up trapping is
a response to last summer’s
catch.
WSDA trapped 42 moths,
the most since 2006. More
worrisome, the department
caught 10 Asian gypsy moths,
the irst detected in Washing-
ton since 1999.
In Oregon, 14 gypsy moths
were trapped, including two
Asian gypsy moths in Port-
land.
Asian gypsy moths are
seen as bigger threats than
the more-common European
gypsy moths.
As caterpillars, Asian gyp-
sy moths eat a wider variety
of plants and trees, including
conifers.
Asian gypsy moths can
spread more rapidly over large
areas because the females and
males both ly. Female Euro-
pean gypsy moths are light-
less.
WSDA also detected a
growing European gypsy moth
population in Seattle’s densely
populated Capitol Hill neigh-
borhood.
WSDA responded by
spraying the pesticide Bacil-
lus thuringiensis var. kursta-
ki, commonly known as Btk,
over seven sites totaling 10,457
acres.
ODA sprayed Btk over
8,800 acres in Portland.
To follow up, both states
will trap most extensively in
areas where Btk was applied.
Workers will put out up to 36
traps per square mile in some
places.
ODA also will place a high
number of traps along the Co-
lumbia River between Portland
and Astoria.
Asian gypsy moth egg
masses are most likely to enter
the U.S. attached to ocean-go-
ing vessels.
In Eastern Washington,
WSDA will trap most heavily
in cities, parks, campgrounds
and along the Columbia and
Snake rivers, a spokesman
said.
European gypsy moths are
well established in the Eastern
U.S. Egg masses come West at-
tached to personal belongings.
For three decades, the two
states have been successful in
suppressing gypsy moths. The
Northwest’s gypsy moth pop-
ulation threatened to take off
in the mid-1980s. At the peak,
WSDA trapped 1,315 gypsy
moths in 1983.
EPA says it will take months to hand over What’s Upstream iles
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A Washington farm group
won’t have to pay $2,000,
but may have to wait until
mid-December for the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency
to fully release its “volumi-
nous” records related to the
What’s Upstream advocacy
campaign.
Reversing an earlier deci-
sion, the EPA says it would
be in the public interest to
waive the fee for Save Family
Farming, a group formed in
March to respond to What’s
Upstream.
The group has pledged to
widely distribute the informa-
tion it receives, but has also
hinted at legal action. The
group maintains What’s Up-
stream has harmed farmers by
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
A billboard in Olympia adver-
tises a website that advocates
stricter regulations on farmers.
claiming they are unregulated
polluters of water.
Save Family Farming
director Gerald Baron said
Monday he was surprised
by EPA’s reversal, but disap-
pointed by the agency’s time
line for turning over the re-
cords.
The EPA has told the group
in a letter that it may release
some records by July 29, but
providing everything Save
Family Farming asked for
could take until Dec. 15.
The agency stated it will
work diligently and provide
information on a “rolling ba-
sis,” but that it will need time
to compile the “voluminous
amount of records.”
Baron said the EPA has
simultaneously downplayed
its role in What’s Upstream
while maintaining it will have
to collect records from several
agency ofices.
“How can there be volu-
minous records if EPA’s in-
volvement was minimal?” he
asked.
An EPA oficial stated
the information request was
broad enough to make the
agency uncertain how many
documents are involved.
Save Family Farming
asked for records regarding
communications between the
EPA, the Northwest Indian
Fisheries Commission, the
Swinomish Indian tribe, sev-
eral environmental groups
and Seattle lobbying irm
Strategies 360.
The isheries commission
sub-awarded an EPA grant
for Puget Sound restoration
to the tribe. The tribe appar-
ently spent much of an esti-
mated $570,000 to hire Strat-
egies 360 to develop a media
campaign, according to EPA
records that were previously
made available.
The campaign’s goals in-
cluded building grass-roots
support for mandatory 100-
foot buffers between farm
ields and waterways.
Some federal lawmakers
have accused EPA of blatantly
breaking the law by funding a
lobbying campaign with tax-
payer dollars.
An audit by the EPA’s of-
ice of the inspector general
into whether federal funds
were misspent is in its early
stages, an EPA oficial said
Monday.
House Agriculture Com-
mittee
Chairman
Mike
Conaway, R-Texas, has asked
for the agency’s records on
What’s Upstream.
“EPA has been in touch
with the committee, and it’s
our understanding that doc-
ument collection is nearing
completion,” a committee
spokeswoman said in an
email Tuesday.
EPA’s Northwest adminis-
trator, Dennis McLerran, has
stated the agency offered only
“technical input.”