July 15, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
Dispute brewing over Oregon canal property
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A dispute is brewing be-
tween an Oregon farmer and
an irrigation district over the
ownership of land underlying
a canal.
Farmer Jim Gordon and his
company, Kodiak Ventures,
claimed ownership of the land
beneath the canal through the
“quiet title” process, under
which property ownership un-
certainties are resolved.
The previous owners of the
property deeded all the land to
Gordon, but mistakenly ex-
cluded the land beneath the
irrigation canal and laterals,
said Paul Sumner, his attor-
ney.
After Gordon issued a
public notice of the legal ac-
tion, the North Unit Irrigation
District — which operates the
canal — filed a motion to in-
tervene in the case.
The irrigation district
claims to actually own the
land beneath the canal, which
it has operated since 1948, and
has requested a state judge to
reject Gordon’s claim.
Capital Press was unable
to reach the NUID’s manager,
Mike Britton, or its attorney,
Alan Stewart, for comment as
of press time.
Sumner said the implica-
tions of the NUID’s claim are
“very troubling” because it
would effectively mean that
irrigation districts own the
land beneath canals.
“If this argument is cor-
rect, it would be correct for
every canal,” he said.
Sumner said the irrigation
district simply has the right to
operate the canal, but Gordon
should have the right to own
the underlying property.
Otherwise, he and other
farmers could face land use
restrictions based on par-
cel size or be denied access
across property owned by
irrigation districts, Sumner
said.
It’s likely that NUID
wants ownership of the prop-
erty underlying the canal to
build hydroelectric facilities
without having to buy the
land, he said.
Washington voters likely
to decide minimum wage
Farm Bureau joins
I-1433 opposition
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Advocates
submitted signatures July 6
to put on the November bal-
lot an initiative to raise the
minimum wage to $13.50
and require employers to
provide paid sick leave, pol-
icies that business and farm
groups warn will have unin-
tended and adverse conse-
quences for workers.
Raise Up Washington,
the group behind I-1433,
said it collected 360,000
signatures. At least 246,372
must be from registered vot-
ers. The Secretary of State’s
Office recommends initia-
tive sponsors collect at least
325,000 to provide a cush-
ion for duplicate or invalid
signatures.
The Washington Farm
Bureau joined other busi-
ness organizations in a
statement criticizing I-1433,
warning the measure will
reduce the number of jobs,
particularly for entry-level
workers in rural areas.
Raising the pay floor will
compress wage scales and
discourage farmers from
hiring inexperienced work-
ers, Farm Bureau CEO John
Stuhlmiller said.
“A law to increase the
minimum wage without pro-
viding support for starting
jobs, or those that get young
adults their first work expe-
rience will hit farming oper-
ations, particularly smaller
ones, and their employees
hard,” he said.
I-1433 would raise Wash-
ington’s minimum wage to
$11 in 2017, $11.50 in 2018,
$12 in 2019 and $13.50 in
2020. The wage would then
be adjusted annually by the
rate of inflation, as is the
case now. Washington’s
minimum wage is currently
$9.47 an hour.
I-1433 also would man-
Courtesy of Washington Office of the Secretary of State
Initiative 1433 sponsor Ariana Davis speaks July 6 outside the Washington Office of the Secretary
of State surrounded by supporters of raising the minimum wage and mandating paid sick leave. The
I-1433 campaign turned in signatures to qualify to be on the November ballot.
date one hour of paid sick
leave for every 40 hours
worked. For seasonal work-
ers, earned sick leave would
carry over to the next year.
Workers could also use
paid leave to care for a sick
family member or address
legal issues stemming from
domestic violence involv-
ing the worker or a family
member.
Presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee Hil-
lary Clinton tweeted her
support for I-1433.
“We have to do more to
raise wages & support paid
leave for hardworking fam-
ilies. I stand with @Raise_
UP_WA in their work to do
just that,” she tweeted.
In a tweet, Bernie Sand-
ers congratulated Raising
Up Washington “ for tak-
ing the first step to a $15/hr
min. wage and paid leave.”
Raise Up Washington has
reported raising $1.6 mil-
lion and spending almost
$960,000 so far to support
I-1433. Some $500,000 has
been contributed by Nick
Hanauer, co-founder of the
Seattle venture capital firm
Second Avenue Partners.
The United Food & Com-
mercial Workers has con-
tributed about $105,000,
according to the Public Dis-
closure Commission.
Stuhlmiller said he ex-
pects the Farm Bureau to
contribute to a campaign
to oppose I-1433. Business
groups will be hard-pressed,
however, to match Raise
Up Washington’s campaign
fund, he said. “Our advan-
tage is we have good grass-
roots associations,” he
said.
Stuhlmiller also said op-
ponents of I-1433 will be
challenged to distill their
message without appearing
uncaring about workers.
The Farm Bureau main-
Almond growers urged to
reduce dust during harvest
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
ARBUCKLE, Calif. —
Slowing harvesters down,
keeping foliage on trees and
maintaining a smooth orchard
floor are a few ways nut grow-
ers can reduce dust during har-
vest, a university expert advis-
es.
“Dust is a byproduct of what
we do,” University of Califor-
nia Cooperative Extension
adviser Franz Niederholzer
told about two dozen growers
during a July 8 workshop. “No-
body likes dust. Everybody just
tolerates it.
“There’s nothing good
about dust,” he said, noting its
impact on the cost of filters,
fuel and equipment mainte-
nance. “So anything that reduc-
es dust is good for your farming
operation as well as the envi-
ronment.”
Niederholzer, a Yuba City,
Calif.-based fruit and nut re-
searcher, noted that trees filter
dust, so growers should avoid
shaking trees so vigorously that
leaves fall along with the nuts.
A smooth orchard floor en-
ables the sweepers and collec-
tors to work less and kick up
less dust, and slowing ground
speed — at least in sensitive
areas near roads, schools or
neighboring houses — creates
less dust, he said.
“Let your employees know
how important dust manage-
ment is,” Niederholzer said.
Agricultural industries have
placed a greater emphasis on
dust management as the fail-
ure of much of California to
meet federal ambient air qual-
ity standards has prompted in-
creased scrutiny from regional
air boards. The San Joaquin
Valley has been federally classi-
fied as being in “serious non-at-
tainment” for particulate matter
and farm activities have been
blamed for causing more than
half of the emissions, according
to a UC fact sheet on air quality
and agriculture.
This year, the USDA’s Natu-
ral Resources Conservation Ser-
vice is offering a new incentive
option for almond and walnut
farmers to use cleaner harvest-
ing technology. Farmers can get
up to $10.32 an acre for three
years to use harvesters certi-
fied as lowering particulate
matter by at least 30 percent.
tains that any state pay
floor that exceeds the fed-
eral minimum wage of
$7.25 puts Washington
farmers at a competitive
disadvantage.
To head off I-1433, oth-
er business groups publicly
endorsed a more-modest
increase in the minimum
wage during this year’s leg-
islative session.
Stuhlmiller said com-
promise proposals never
advanced far enough to
present them to the Farm
Bureau’s board.
Scott Dilley, a lobbyist
on labor issues for the Wash-
ington State Dairy Feder-
ation, said that if passed,
I-1433 would immediately
boost wage scales and pinch
farmers.
“It makes profit margins
that are already tight, with
commodity prices the way
they are, even tighter,” he
said.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
A What’s Upstream billboard in Olympia, Wash., shows cows
in a stream. The billboard since has come down, but a website
remains. The Environmental Protection Agency funded the cam-
paign over several years, but some officials in the agency worried
that it would disrupt other efforts to clean up waterways, according
to documents.
EPA ‘appreciated’ What’s
Upstream, but some in
agency weren’t so sure
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency “appreciated”
a Washington tribe’s plan to
employ a Seattle lobbying firm
to advocate stricter regulations
on agriculture, though some
within the federal agency
questioned as early as 2011 the
tribe’s goals and approach, ac-
cording to newly released EPA
records.
The records confirm that
the EPA offered guidance as
the Swinomish Indian tribe
used an EPA grant to contract
with Strategies 360 to survey
voter attitudes and “create
media pieces” for the What’s
Upstream advocacy campaign.
“We appreciate the (tribe’s)
leadership in using the po-
tentially powerful tool of out-
reach and education to advance
Puget Sound protection and
restoration in the Skagit wa-
tershed,” stated a 2013 EPA re-
view of the tribe and lobbying
firm’s plan.
The records were obtained
by the Capital Press through
a Freedom of Information Act
request and represent a portion
of the documents the EPA is
expected to eventually release
about its role in What’s Up-
stream.
The tribe and several en-
vironmental groups used the
EPA-funded campaign as a
vehicle to rally grass-roots sup-
port for mandatory 100-foot
buffers between farm fields and
waterways in Washington.
Some federal lawmakers
have asserted the campaign
violated laws against using fed-
eral funds to lobby. The EPA’s
Office of Inspector General
is auditing how the tribe and
Northwest Indian Fisheries
Commission handled the grant.
The EPA had funded the
campaign since 2011, but dis-
tanced itself from What’s Up-
stream when the agency’s role
was publicized last spring,
provoking criticism from farm
groups and some federal law-
makers for portraying produc-
ers as unregulated polluters.
EPA Administrator Gina
McCarthy told a Senate com-
mittee in April that her agency
was “distressed” by the cam-
paign’s tone and shifted respon-
sibility to the tribe and fisheries
commission.
The newly disclosed EPA
records show the agency’s
Northwest regional office was
generally supportive of the
tribe’s activities, but also had
some concerns, though the re-
cords do not show that the EPA
insisted its advice be followed.
The EPA declined to com-
ment for this story.
While concluding the cam-
paign would not violate lobby-
ing laws, the EPA cautioned the
tribe about public perception.
The EPA urged the tribe
to align its campaign with the
goals of federal, state and local
plans to protect Puget Sound.
Otherwise, the EPA warned,
the tribe’s efforts could be seen
as a tribe-initiated “grass-roots
lobbying effort.”
Despite the warning, the
What’s Upstream website in-
cluded a link allowing people to
send a form letter to their state
legislators urging mandatory
buffers.
The tribe outlined for the
EPA in 2011 plans to spend
$665,755 over six years to
raise “public awareness of
regulatory and enforcement
deficiencies.”
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Farmer, irrigation
district both claim
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