Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2017)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2017 VOLUME 90, NUMBER 3 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 TRUMP THE B UMP Environmental organizations cash in on uncertainty caused by new administration By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press T he money began rolling in to the environmental groups immediately after Donald Trump won the presi- dential election last November. Though they wouldn’t divulge specifi c amounts, environmental ac- tivists say building their war chests has never been so easy, as a growing support base looks to them to take on Trump and his Cabinet picks they say are linked to “ex- tractive” industries. Pictures of oil pipelines and indus- trial smokestacks spewing dark clouds social accompany media warnings al- “The fear is you leging that the new would have an Republican president GOP-controlled unfounded lawsuit and Congress will run fi led, and then roughshod over the envi- the (agricultural) ronment. time to turn shock business is still and “It’s outrage into action,” responsible for the Natural Resources funding a defense Defense Council encourag- es would-be donors in a so- of themselves ...” cial media campaign. “NRDC Rick Naerebout, director is gearing up to fi ght the Trump of operations at the Idaho administration’s disastrous anti-environmental agen- Dairymen’s Association da at every turn — in the courtroom, in Washington and on the global stage.” Experts who track nonprofi t organizations expect environmental activists to use their donation windfall — they call it the Trump Bump — to step up litigation. They also predict environmentalists, who may fi nd themselves stonewalled at the federal level, will shift their focus to Turn to BUMP, Page 12 By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press The precipitous drop in farm machinery sales seen in recent years will likely begin leveling off in 2017 but the President can scale back monument designations, public land experts say Sales of combines, large tractors drop by more than half since 2013 By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI industry’s outlook remains glum, experts say. “I see nothing in 2017 that would lead me to be- lieve there would be an up- tick in machinery sales,” said Michael Langemeier, an agricultural economist at Purdue University who has studied the industry. About 70 percent of the farmers surveyed for Purdue University’s “Ag Economy Barometer” believe it’s not a good time to invest in farm machinery, he said. Manufacturers aren’t ex- pected to see sales rebound until 2018 or 2019, when crop prices are projected to strengthen, Langemeier said. “Eventually, people will The Trump administration could sharply revise contro- versial national monument designations made by its pre- decessor, though it’s unclear such changes would be a high priority, experts say. Pro-monument environ- mental groups would also likely seek to counteract such moves, testing largely un- charted legal waters. While the Trump admin- istration could not entirely revoke earlier national mon- ument designations, their size and land use restrictions with- in their boundaries could be modifi ed, said Karen Budd- Falen, an attorney who rep- resents ranchers in public land disputes. have to buy machinery, but 2017 isn’t the year they will do that,” he said. Unit sales of large trac- tors and combines have de- creased by more half since 2013, the most recent peak, according to the Association of Equipment Manufactur- ers. In 2016, farmers bought 26 percent fewer combines, 26 percent fewer four-wheel- drive tractors and 22 percent fewer two-wheel-drive trac- tors over 100 horsepower compared to the previous year, according to AEM. The steep decline in com- modity crop prices has stabi- lized, so the deterioration of demand for farm machinery probably won’t be as brutal in 2017, said Eli Lustgar- ten, an industry analyst with Longbow Securities. Even so, sales of large equipment will likely fall another 5-10 percent, he said. “It’s a weak market.” The Association of Equipment Manufacturers doesn’t expect positive sales news in the coming year, but the group hopes that 2017 will at least mark an end to double-digit declines, said Charlie O’Brien, the orga- nization’s senior vice presi- dent. Even when sales do start rising again, manufacturers Turn to SALES, Page 12 Capital Press “All that stuff is fair game for the Trump administration,” she said. “It’s pretty clear they have maneuvering room.” Theoretically, Trump could go beyond recent designations — such as the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon — and amend monuments created by presidents before Obama, Budd-Falen said. “There’s not a statute of limitations or a time frame on these things,” she said. Ranchers fear that grazing will be increasingly restricted within the 49,000 acres recent- ly added to the Cascade-Siski- you National Monument. Under an opinion issued in 1938, the U.S. Attorney Gen- eral said Congress delegated Turn to LAND, Page 12 3-7/#13 Farm machinery sales expected to level off after 4-year drop