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CapitalPress.com
December 16, 2016
WSDA moves to shut down slaughterhouse, again
Business owner
pushes back
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A Western Washington
slaughterhouse that has been
processing meat for two years
without a license was ordered
by a judge Wednesday to shut
down or be fi ned, according to
the state Department of Agri-
culture.
Rickson Vilog, owner of
Rickson Livestock in Auburn,
has until Dec. 22 to remove all
animals from his butchering
facility, King County Superior
Court Judge Brian Gain ruled.
Courtesy of WSDA
Livestock are penned at Rickson Livestock in Auburn, Wash., in
this photo taken in November by the Washington State Department
of Agriculture. A judge Dec. 7 ordered the owner, Rickson Vilog, to
remove the animals by Dec. 22 or face fi nes. Vilog has been butch-
ering animals for two years without a license, according to WSDA.
After that, Vilog faces fi nes of
$100 per day for each animal.
The order was the latest
action in a dispute that goes
back to 2011 when Vilog
was fi rst cited for food-safe-
ty violations. The violations
included unclean equipment
and the lack of an approved
waste disposal system. The
business has failed every in-
spection since then, according
to WSDA.
WSDA revoked Vilog’s
custom-slaughter license in
2014 and fi ned him $6,000.
He paid $281 toward the fi ne,
according to WSDA.
The department estimat-
ed Vilog has slaughtered and
processed at least 500 animals
since last summer.
WSDA spokesman Hector
Castor said the department
has tried to help bring the
business into compliance with
health rules.
“We’ve bent over back-
wards trying to assist him,”
Castro said. “He’s just fl outed
the law and continued to op-
erate.”
Vilog said in an interview
Friday that he has about 125
cattle and a total of about 75
sheep, goats and swine on his
property.
“I have to do something
for a living,” he said. “So
we’re going to be going to
court again.”
He disputed WSDA’s
contention that his slaughter-
house is unsanitary. He said
he caters to ethnic groups who
want fresh meat.
“If I don’t do it, they’ll do
it in their backyards,” he said.
Vilog’s attorney, Raphael
Igwens Nwokike, said he will
fi le a motion to modify the or-
der. He said he will propose
that Vilog move the smaller
animals off the property, but
be allowed to keep the cattle.
Vilog would move the
cattle away from the slaugh-
terhouse and not process any
meat until he’s able to satisfy
WSDA’s licensing require-
ments, Nwokike said.
“I hope I can help this cli-
ent get back into business,” he
said.
Vilog said he’s trying to
resolve septic tank issues that
he blamed for being unable to
regain his license to butcher
animals.
Environmental suit seeks ‘best-management practices’ for Washington farms
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A federal lawsuit against
the Environmental Protection
Agency calls for Washing-
ton state to adopt agricultural
“best-management practices.”
Northwest Environmental
Advocates alleges the EPA
has violated the Clean Water
Act by failing to make the
state implement so-called
BMPs to protect Puget Sound
and coastal watersheds.
Until those practices are
in place, the federal govern-
ment should cut by at least
one-third the $5 million the
state receives annually for
two water-quality programs,
according to the group, which
fi led the lawsuit Dec. 7 in
U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The lawsuit also names the
National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration.
Northwest Environmental
Advocates Executive Direc-
tor Nina Bell said her group
wasn’t looking to dictate
farming practices, but col-
lectively BMPs, even if vol-
untary, must improve water
quality, she said.
“All we’re saying is, the
state needs to fi gure it out,”
she said. “And if the state
doesn’t fi gure it out, the fed-
eral government needs to step
in and crack the whip.”
The EPA declined to com-
ment. Efforts to obtain com-
ment from Ecology were un-
successful.
Ecology updated in 2015
its overarching plan to keep
sediment, chemicals and an-
imal waste from running into
waterways. The plan applies
to sources that aren’t required
to have a permit, such as res-
idential areas, logging sites
and farms.
The EPA approved the
plan, but also asked Ecology
to press ahead with devel-
oping BMPs for farms and
ranches.
Ecology is expected to an-
nounce this month the process
it will use next year to devel-
op those practices. Ecology
says the practices will be vol-
untary and won’t amount to
new regulations.
Washington Farm Bureau
First Vice President Aaron
Golladay credited Ecology’s
current administration with
good intentions.
“My fear is it’s going to
be hijacked by environmental
groups, ‘This is what you have
to do, period,’ ” said Golladay,
co-chairman of Ecology’s Ag-
riculture and Water Quality
Advisory Committee.
USDA urges against Simplot accuses partner of mismanagement
Supreme Court review Lawsuit fi led
against farmer
of wetland lawsuit
Frank Tiegs and
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
H ANNU
T
8
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A
4
The USDA is urging the
U.S. Supreme Court not to
review a lawsuit in which
a farm family challenges a
wetland determination on its
property.
South Dakota farmer Ar-
len Foster and his family have
asked the nation’s highest
court to reconsider an appeals
court ruling that let USDA’s
wetland determination stand.
Because roughly an acre of
their land was determined to
be a wetland, they can’t farm
it without disqualifying the
operation from federal crop
insurance and other USDA
programs.
The case has implica-
tions for farmers nationwide
because it relates to federal
agencies interpreting and ap-
plying regulations without in-
put from the public, according
to the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
“As they tend to their land,
and try to stay in compliance
with the laws that are on the
books, farmers should not also
have to worry about new laws
being cooked up by agencies
behind closed doors,” AFBF
said in a legal brief. “Reason-
able people should not be ex-
pected to order their farms or
affairs around legal interpre-
tations they do not even have
constructive notice of.”
The USDA counters that
the lawsuit doesn’t merit Su-
preme Court review because
the agency used a reasonable
interpretation of its own reg-
ulations in declaring a portion
of the Fosters’ property a wet-
land.
Under federal law, proper-
ty is considered a wetland if
it has the soil, hydrology and
plants consistent with wet-
lands.
The USDA’s Natural Re-
sources Conservation Service
determined that the Fosters’
parcel had wetland soils and
hydrology.
Since the property had
been altered from its natural
state, the agency compared it
to a similar site 33 miles away
to determine it contained wet-
land plants.
The Fosters argue that
USDA relied on a “remote
comparison site, preselected
10 years prior and without
notice to the Fosters or an op-
portunity to be heard,” which
violates their right to due pro-
cess.
A federal judge in South
Dakota and the 8th U.S. Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals sided
with USDA in the case, ruling
to defer to the agency’s exper-
tise.
The Fosters and AFBF ar-
gue that the Supreme Court
should overturn these deci-
sions because such a great
level of deference effective-
ly allows federal agencies to
make new laws in secret and
then foist them on farms and
other regulated entities.
affi liates
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The J.R. Simplot Co., a
major agribusiness fi rm, is
accusing its business partner,
Washington farmer Frank
Tiegs, of grossly mismanag-
ing two joint venture food
processing companies.
A complaint fi led by Sim-
plot in federal court claims
that Tiegs is on the verge of
driving the two companies,
Pasco Processing and Gem
State Processing, out of busi-
ness.
“Simplot seeks the im-
mediate appointment of a
third-party receiver to oper-
ate the Pasco Group and Gem
State,” the complaint said.
“Otherwise, it is highly like-
ly that the Pasco Group and
Gem State will soon fail.”
A spokesman for Tiegs
said he has no comment on
the lawsuit.
According to the com-
plaint, Tiegs has forced
Pasco Processing of Pasco,
Wash., to buy unnecessarily
large amounts of crops from
his farm affi liates, saddling
the company with $36 mil-
lion in excess inventory.
Similarly, the complaint
alleges that Tiegs coerced
Gem State Processing of
Heyburn, Idaho, to buy in-
ferior quality crops from his
affi liates, including rotten
potatoes, often at above-mar-
ket prices.
Ownership of both op-
erations is evenly split be-
tween Tiegs and Simplot,
but they’re operated by sub-
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
The National Frozen Foods Co. facility in Albany, Ore., is part of a joint venture between the J.R.
Simplot Co. and farmer Frank Tiegs, which is now the subject of a lawsuit.
sidiaries owned by Tiegs —
Washington Potato Co. and
Oregon Potato Co., according
to Simplot.
The complaint claims that
Tiegs’ poor management has
caused Gem State to suffer
$5 million in losses during
its 2016 fi scal year while
Pasco Processing is expected
to have a cash defi cit of $14
million by the end of the year.
The National Frozen Food
Co., a subsidiary of Pasco
Processing based in Seattle,
Wash., recently overdrew its
checking account by more
than $3 million, threatening
the possibility of not meeting
payroll and having checks to
farmers “returned for insuffi -
cient funds,” Simplot said.
“A company that cannot
meet the fundamental func-
tions of paying employees
and purchasing raw materials
is unsustainable and cannot
survive without interven-
tion,” the complaint said.
Contrary to contracts with
Simplot, Tiegs’ subsidary
companies have refused to
communicate or turn over
fi nancial records related to
their management of Pasco
Processing and Gem State
Processing, the complaint
claims.
The complaint also al-
leges Tiegs has tried to con-
ceal signifi cant worker safety
problems cited by state and
federal regulators.
Tiegs and his subsidiaries
have also encountered serious
food safety problems, such as
foreign materials ending up
in processed food products,
the complaint alleges.
The complaint alleges
that Tiegs violated operating
agreements with Simplot and
unjustly enriched himself,
among other charges.
ROP-40-42-4/#17
American Farm
Bureau Federation
claims regulators
make law behind
closed doors
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