August 26, 2016
CapitalPress.com
7
China may exempt some U.S.
farm exports from Zika rules
Capital Press ile photo
Recently released records show the Environmental Protection
Agency’s regional director was involved in meetings about the
What’s Upstream advocacy campaign at least nine months
before EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy denounced the cam-
paign in front of the Senate environment committee.
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
When in trouble,
What’s Upstream went
to EPA regional head
Agency support
continued after
meeting
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The lead organizer of
What’s Upstream turned to
the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency’s top Northwest
oficial last summer after
lower-level staff challenged
the legality of the EPA-fund-
ed campaign, according to
newly released EPA emails.
What’s Upstream was
an advocacy campaign to
convince Washingtonians
to press for increased regu-
lation of farming to protect
their water.
Records show Region 10
Administrator Dennis Mc-
Lerran met July 16, 2015,
with Swinomish Indian tribe
environmental policy direc-
tor Larry Wasserman and
tribe attorney Nate Cushman.
After the meeting, EPA
staff members proposed that
What’s Upstream soften its
attacks on farmers, but did
not again question the cam-
paign’s lobbying for new
state laws regulating farm-
ers, according to records the
EPA has released so far in
response to Freedom of In-
formation Act requests.
The EPA declined to com-
ment for this story. Efforts to
reach Wasserman were un-
successful.
The EPA Ofice of the
Inspector General is looking
into whether some $655,000
spent on What’s Upstream
was a misuse of federal
funds. Federal laws prohibits
lobbying with EPA grants.
The newly available re-
cords along with those pre-
viously released conirm the
tribe’s contention that EPA
not only funded but was
deeply involved in reviewing
What’s Upstream.
Records show McLerran
was involved at least nine
months before EPA Admin-
istrator Gina McCarthy de-
nounced the campaign in
front of the Senate environ-
ment committee.
McCarthy said the cam-
Regulations
threaten to impede
$20 billion in farm
shipments
paign was the result of a
“subcontract” and that the
EPA was distressed about the
use of its money and tone of
the campaign and had cut off
funding.
Almost a year earlier,
EPA staff members were try-
ing to steer Wasserman from
using the EPA grant for a
campaign focused solely on
agriculture’s contribution to
Puget Sound pollution.
In a May 19, 2015, email
to the Northwest Indian Fish-
eries Commission, EPA’s
Puget Sound intergovern-
mental coordinator Lisa
Chang bold-faced and un-
derlined her concerns about
Wasserman’s plans for a
media campaign directed
against farmers.
On June 4, Chang sent an-
other email about an upcom-
ing meeting with EPA staff,
Wasserman and the isheries
commission, which distribut-
ed EPA funds to the tribe.
“Larry will want to know
the legal and contractual
grounds for why he can’t do
this. Also, Larry will want
speciics about what activ-
ities in the proposed work
plan is of concern to EPA,”
Chang wrote.
McLerran’s public cal-
endar shows he talked with
Wasserman and tribe attor-
ney Nate Cushman on July
16, 2015.
Chang referred to the
meeting in a July 27 email
to the isheries commission
and said follow-up meetings
were planned with EPA staff,
Wasserman and Strategies
360, a Seattle lobbying irm
hired by the tribe.
“I think (I) mentioned last
week that Larry and a Swin-
omish attorney had asked to
meet with Dennis regarding
the public education and
outreach project and a con-
versation took place,” Chang
stated.
“As a follow-up, they
agreed to meet this week —
Larry and several of the Strat-
egies 360 staff will meet with
(EPA staff members) Dan
(Opalski) and Angela (Boni-
faci) as well as the managers
of our communications team
here to discuss the project on
Wednesday afternoon.”
U.S. farm exports from re-
gions unaffected by the Zika
virus may eventually be ex-
cluded from China’s new rules
requiring mosquito treatments
for incoming goods.
For now, however, agricul-
tural exporters have to treat
outgoing shipping containers
with pesticides to kill mosqui-
toes, which spread the birth
defect-causing virus.
Within the U.S., local trans-
mission of Zika through mos-
quitoes has only occurred in
Florida, but China has imposed
its shipping regulations on all
U.S. shipments, creating the
potential for trade disruption.
China’s Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspec-
tion and Quarantine, or AQ-
SIQ, will conduct a risk assess-
Don Jenkins/Capital Press File
Containers are stacked Jan. 28 at the Port of Tacoma. China is
requiring most containers of agricultural goods to be treated to
prevent the Zika virus from entering the Asian nation.
ment “to determine whether to
apply a regional approach in
its Zika response,” according
to USDA’s Foreign Agricultur-
al Service.
There’s no timeline for
when Chinese trade oficials
will decide, the agency said.
“We’re hoping that could
be a potential work-around,”
said Abigail Struxness, pro-
gram manager for the Agricul-
ture Transportation Coalition.
“We’re very encouraged Chi-
nese customs (oficials) are
looking at a regionalization
approach.”
It’s heartening that refriger-
ated containers kept below 59
degrees Fahrenheit are exempt
from the regulations, unless
they’re found to have mosqui-
toes or larvae, she said.
Containers and vessels that
were ocean-bound before Aug.
5 also aren’t subject to the
rules.
Exporters have several op-
tions for treating containers.
Aside from fumigation, they
will be allowed to perform
less-expensive fogging treat-
ments or other operations to
kill mosquitoes.
While it’s unlikely adult
mosquitoes could survive the
ocean crossing from the U.S.
to China, their larvae could
withstand such a journey,
Struxness said.
Chinese authorities have
offered to arrange treatments
for incoming shipments at a
cost of roughly $30-60 per
container, depending on its
size.
Though treatments within
the U.S. will probably be more
expensive, most exporters will
likely choose to treat contain-
ers before they leave for Chi-
na, Struxness said.
That way, they’ll have
more control over timing and
the chemicals used, she said.
China will require that con-
tainers treated in the U.S. be
certiied as mosquito-free, but
this can be veriied by a third
party — such as a pest control
company — rather than the
U.S. government.
Rancher billboards promote grazing, logging on public lands
Stevens County
Cattlemen work
to engage public
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Stevens County ranchers are
using billboards to raise aware-
ness about public lands issues.
The Stevens County Cattle-
men are advertising with a bill-
board on Highway 395 south of
Colville, Wash. The billboard
depicts the message “Public
Lands: Log it, graze it or watch
it burn.” A billboard featuring
the message “Wilderness: pub-
lic land of no use — no logging,
chainsaws, grazing, mining,
bikes, wheelchairs and ATVs,”
was located along the highway
in Arden earlier this year.
The group irst used the bill-
boards in 2015.
“Much of the policy being
set for public lands emphasizes
conservation and recreation, but
shuns good management like
grazing and logging,” said Ja-
mie Henneman, spokeswoman
for the group. “The best man-
agement uses holistic tools like
grazing and timber harvest to
keep wildire fuel loads down in
the forests.”
The county wants to see
public lands be sustainable and
healthy for the beneit of all,
Henneman said.
“Some of the best recreation-
al beneits — clear trails, healthy
stands of trees, reduced brush and
vegetation — are because of cows
and loggers,” she said. “It may not
be politically correct to say right
now, but these methods work.”
The organization is also
working with public land man-
agement agencies, such as the
Colville National Forest, to pro-
mote a balanced approach.
Henneman said the group
is concerned that the proposed
management plan for the forest
does not promote healthy man-
agement, and will harm local
communities by shutting down
grazing and logging.
Courtesy Stevens County Cattlemen
A billboard sponsored by the Stevens County Cattlemen promotes
logging and grazing on public lands.
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