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CapitalPress.com
January 27, 2017
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Trump administration
poised to make
Western ag great again
O UR V IEW
By DAN KEPPEN
For the Capital Press
n the world of Western water, a massive fl ood or dev-
astating drought is sure to get policy-makers focused
on the need to update and create more effective water
management policy.
The recent drought has ramped up much-needed con-
gressional interest to enact
legislation that will allow
Guest
Western water providers
comment
to better manage and pre-
pare for future dry times. Dan Keppen
Now, the heaviest
rain in a decade has over-
whelmed parts of the West Coast, underscoring the critical
importance of having modernized infrastructure in place to
optimize water resources management.
I
Water a priority
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
Donald Trump is sworn in as the
45th president of the United States
Jan. 20, as Melania Trump looks on
at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
A strong, steady hand
is what U.S. needs
W
especially the agricultural economy. The
hen Donald Trump took the
Last Friday, President Trump
wheat farmers of Eastern Washington
oath of offi ce about a week
promised to give voice to the little guy.
know that. So do the almond growers of
Included are the farmers and ranchers
ago, he reminded us of two
California, blueberry growers of Oregon
whose voices have been drowned out
things — we are all Americans under
and the dairy farmers of Idaho.
during the past eight years.
God, and we must push back the tide of
Trump has already exited the
As we watch the new administration
government that has inundated our lives.
take shape, we need to remind ourselves Trans-Pacifi c Partnership, a 12-nation
Farmers and ranchers have seen
trade agreement that included several
that the changes President Trump has
the tide of regulation rise during the
of the biggest U.S. customers — and
promised will, and should, take time.
past eight years. Overwrought and
competitors. We urge him to act quickly
Just as they didn’t happen overnight,
underthought policies ranging from
to put in place a trade agreement that
they will not all be resolved overnight.
the Waters of the U.S. to the Food
maintains access to foreign
Safety Modernization Act have
markets for U.S. farmers
threatened to drown farmers in
We need to remind ourselves that the and ranchers. Without
regulation.
The fi rst would put the
changes President Trump has promised prompt follow-up, they could
lose some of their biggest
federal government in charge of
will, and should, take time.
customers.
nearly every drop of water in the
So, too, must immigration
U.S., and the second threatened
The federal government, with its 2.79 be reformed, and building a wall is
to invent and prevent food safety
not the top priority. In agriculture,
million employees, is not a speed boat
problems that never before existed.
That’s not all. During the past eight that can make sharp turns; it is an aircraft immigrant laborers pick the apples
years ranchers have seen the wellbeing carrier that needs time and space to turn. in Washington, harvest the lettuce in
California and milk the cows in Idaho.
Especially time.
of the greater sage grouse put before
As an industry, agriculture cannot do
We expect that the members of the
their wellbeing. Even when they have
without those farmworkers, the vast
Trump administration will understand
agreed to help protect the bird, they
majority of whom are hard-working
that going in. We hope the president
were threatened with more regulation.
and good-hearted. They are part of the
No farmer, no rancher would sacrifi ce understands that as well. He has already
American dream that President Trump
issued a fl urry of directives that are
the environment on which they depend
talks about.
unsettling to a nation just getting used
for their livelihood, yet time and again
An improved H-2A foreign worker
to a new leader. We suggest he steady
they are portrayed as the villain in the
visa is needed, as is a fair system that
the ship before he tries to turn it.
rhetoric of environmentalists and a
President Trump needs to understand allows undocumented foreigners already
federal government that helps to fund
in the U.S. to pay a fi ne, learn English
that steering a ship as massive as the
their legal attacks on agriculture.
and seek legal residence, as long as they
United States of America is different
President Trump has promised to
have violated no other laws.
from standing on the shore and
change that. He’s promised to set aside
We appreciate the goals President
dogmatic environmental anti-agriculture shouting criticism, and the realities of a
massively complex nation and economy Trump has set for himself. Four years is
attacks, such as the Environmental
may force him to diverge from some of plenty of time to accomplish them.
Protection Agency-funded What’s
But President Trump needs to know
his campaign rhetoric.
Upstream smear campaign. In its
what every good ship’s captain knows.
For example, fair trade and a
place he has promised a regulatory
A strong, steady hand on the throttle,
workable immigration policy are
atmosphere that solves problems but
coupled with a skilled hand on the
needed now more than ever. A robust
does not impose an environmentalist-
rudder, will get our nation where we
and open trade system is in many ways
authored attack on agriculture or other
need to go.
the lifeblood of the U.S. economy,
industries.
A plan to avoid
breaching dams
I feel we should take water
out of the stream coming into
the rivers above the dams (on
the Columbia and Snake riv-
ers) and divert it into a ditch
that would then dump into the
backwaters of the reservoir.
This would help the dead wa-
ter situation and provide cool-
er water for the salmon and
steelhead to follow.
This is a better plan than
breaching the dams and losing
a source of electricity as well
as barge traffi c. The breach-
ing would dump enormous
amounts of silt into the river,
destroying many kinds of fi sh.
Homer R. Nesbitt
Emmett, Idaho
Readers’ views
The prior process was
BLM’s planning
known as the Three C’s of co-
operation, coordination and
rules run amok
conciliation. Cooperation is
I’m disappointed that only
six Western counties and
a soil conservation district
filed a lawsuit over the Bu-
reau of Land Management’s
new decision-making pro-
cess. Western-wide support
is needed to drain the swamp
that has engulfed public land
management.
Last summer Interior Sec-
retary Sally Jewell toured the
Soda Burn area of Malheur
County, Ore., and Owyhee
County, Idaho.
She announced BLM was
initiating a collaboration pro-
cess. Before going further,
referring to Webster’s dictio-
nary sets the scene.
defined as the “act of working
together to one end, joint op-
eration, concurrent effort of
labor.”
Local entities, represent-
ed by county commissioners,
found the road rocky but did
contribute to the process.
Political correctness has
taught that words matter.
Collaboration is defined as
the “act of performing work
of labor together; especially
literary work or scientific re-
search.”
The problem is that
BLM’s authorized officers
will determine what is sci-
entific instead of decisions
based on cooperation.
The Trump administration will need to address how
Western water resources development is hamstrung by
the implementation of federal environmental laws and
regulations. Unfortunately, it’s hard to shine the light on
these issues when energy issues, repealing and/or replacing
Obamacare and tax reform are all center stage in Washing-
ton.
It’s time to make Western irrigated agriculture one of the
priorities for the incoming Trump administration.
Americans are spending, on average, less than 8 per-
cent of their disposable income on food. To put this into
perspective, just 70 years ago, that fi gure was more than
25 percent. While more, better and safer food is being pro-
duced by our American farmers, these same farmers are
under attack — and it won’t be long before this translates
back to the supermarket.
For farmers to survive, and for food to continue to be
produced here in America, a stable water supply is a must.
In many areas of the West, water resources are available
and projects are waiting to be developed.
However, the policies of the federal government make
development of these stabilizing water supplies nearly im-
possible.
Activists’ attacks
Over the past decade, we have witnessed escalated en-
gagement by certain activist groups, at times supported by
our own federal government, who cynically use fi sh and
wildlife management to attempt to eliminate sectors of pro-
duction agriculture.
It has happened in places like the Klamath Basin and
California’s Central Valley, where water originally devel-
oped for farms and ranches is being redirected to meet the
“perceived” (i.e. unsubstantiated) needs of several species
of fi sh protected under the Endangered Species Act.
It is happening now in the Deschutes Basin, where en-
vironmental litigants are incrementally taking water away
from farmers and dedicating it to the unsubstantiated needs
of the ESA-protected Oregon Spotted Frog.
President-elect Trump has vowed to honor “the legacy
of Theodore Roosevelt … one of our great environmental-
ists.” The Family Farm Alliance and the producers and con-
servationists we work with are dedicated to the pragmatic
implementation of actions that seek to fi nd a sustainable
balance of environmental protection and economic pros-
perity.
A role and a duty
There are ways that the federal government can help
support Western irrigated agriculture. The federal gov-
ernment really has a role and a duty to reach out to these
producers on critical federal water policies and work in
partnership with them using available funding and federal
cost-share opportunities to support their efforts to secure a
stable water supply for their operations.
Irrigated agriculture not only provides a $172 billion
annual boost to our economy, it also provides important
habitat for Western waterfowl and other wildlife, and its
open spaces are treasured by citizens throughout the West
and the nation. Family farmers and ranchers are willing to
partner with constructive conservation groups and federal
agencies, especially if there are opportunities to both help
strengthen their productivity and improve the environment.
Still, many Western producers face signifi cant regulato-
ry and policy related challenges, brought on — in part —
by federal agency implementation of environmental laws;
destructive tactics employed by litigious, anti-farming
activists; and a myriad of new rules and policies skewed
toward environmental protection.
On the ground, water infrastructure that was built early
in the last century is aging, and once-reliable federal grants
and loan programs are a thing of the past. Meanwhile, lit-
tle progress has been made towards developing new and
improved water infrastructure to keep up with the growing
water demands of expanding cities, energy production and
environmental needs.
Daunting challenges
The second half of the
collaboration definition gets
closer to the BLM rule-mak-
ing process as seen through
Western eyes.
It would be difficult to
find a public land permittee
or county official who didn’t
believe BLM’s perceived
bias is nothing but “cooper-
ation with the enemy.”
At this writing, citizens of
Malheur County and South-
ern Oregon await word that
monuments proposed for us
will clear president Obama’s
desk with or without a signa-
ture.
Whether designated or
not, it is a classic example of
collaboration and a rule-mak-
ing process run amok.
Michael F. Hanley IV
Jordan Valley, Ore.
These challenges are daunting, and they will require
innovative solutions. We must fi nd ways to recover wa-
ter supply certainty by modernizing and expanding West-
ern water infrastructure, curbing environmental litigation
against federal agencies and the rural communities they
serve, and modernizing and streamlining antiquated fed-
eral environmental laws so they work to enhance the Na-
tion’s food production, ecosystems and rural communities
together.
We must start trimming chapters, rather than adding
new ones to a regulatory playbook that is much too volu-
minous, top-down and daunting.
The Family Farm Alliance has developed specifi c rec-
ommendations for the incoming Trump administration
that can help provide solutions to meet these needs. It is
our hope that the incoming administration will embrace
our core philosophy: the best solutions are driven locally
by real people with a grasp of “on-the-ground” reality and
who are heavily invested in the success of such solutions.
Dan Keppen is executive director of the Family Farm
Alliance, an advocate for family farmers, ranchers,
irrigation districts and allied industries in 17 Western
states. The Alliance is focused on one mission — to ensure
the availability of reliable, affordable irrigation water
supplies to Western farmers and ranchers.