February 3, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Idaho
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Field burning bill heads to Senate floor Water conference
set for Feb. 16
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A bill that would
prevent a major reduction in
the number of allowable field
burning days for Idaho farm-
ers has been sent to the Senate
floor with a “do-pass” recom-
mendation.
Members of the Senate
Health and Welfare Commit-
tee voted 6-1 in favor of the
bill Jan. 25 following exten-
sive public testimony.
Committee members asked
a few dozen questions about
the Idaho Department of En-
vironmental Quality proposal,
which is opposed by sever-
al environmental and public
health groups, which claim it
would endanger public health.
The bill would amend Ida-
ho’s crop residue burning pro-
gram.
Tiffany Floyd, who man-
ages DEQ’s air quality divi-
sion, said the main goals of
the program are to protect
public health while allowing
farmers to continue to use the
tool. Field burning rids farm-
land of pests and weeds with-
out the use of chemicals.
“If we thought (this) was
jeopardizing public health in
any way, we would not be pre-
senting this proposal to you,”
she told committee members.
DEQ can approve a burn
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Idaho farmers and ag industry leaders discuss a bill that would amend
Idaho’s field burning program on Jan. 25 at the Idaho Statehouse. A
Senate committee approved the bill, which is designed to prevent a
major reduction in the number of allowable field burning days.
request only if ozone and
small particulate matter (PM
2.5) levels aren’t expected to
exceed 75 percent of the na-
tional standard for those air
pollutants.
But the federal standard for
ozone was tightened in Octo-
ber 2015 and that will result
in the number of allowable
burn days in Idaho declining
by half to a third, Floyd said.
To avoid that, DEQ is
proposing to loosen Idaho’s
ozone standard to 90 percent
of the federal standard.
Some
environmental
groups and public health ad-
vocates wanted DEQ to tight-
en the state’s PM 2.5 level
to offset the loosening of the
ozone standard.
“The science just isn’t
there to support that position,”
Floyd said.
Austin Hopkins, a con-
servation assistant with the
Idaho Conservation League,
submitted written comments
to the committee on behalf
of several groups that oppose
DEQ’s proposal, which still
must pass the full Senate and
House.
In those comments, the
groups accuse DEQ of siding
with the agricultural industry
at the expense of protecting
public health.
Their letter states that the
proposal “represents a deplor-
able breach of the agreement
reached by all parties in good
faith on a resolution of the
field burning issue in 2008.”
“Our major concern is that
(it) would weaken protections
for public health in Idaho,”
Hopkins said.
Several farmers who use
field burning as a tool testified
in support of DEQ’s proposal.
Farmers who burn their
fields following harvest
would be greatly impacted
by the federal ozone stan-
dard change in the absence
of DEQ’s proposal, said Jus-
tin McCleod, president of the
Nezperce Prairie Grass Grow-
ers Association.
In response to a question
from a committee member,
McCleod and other farmers
said it would not be econom-
ically feasible to grow Ken-
tucky bluegrass without field
burning.
Without field burning, “the
Kentucky bluegrass industry
would not survive in Idaho,”
said Nezperce farmer Greg
Branson.
Sen.
Dan
Foreman,
R-Moscow, said DEQ’s pro-
posal was a good, safe solu-
tion to the tightening of the
federal ozone standard.
If the farmers who burn
their fields lost that ability,
Idaho would be “looking at
the demise of a very important
industry,” he said.
Farmworker goes from illegal immigrant to legal dairy foreman
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
HOMEDALE, Idaho —
Immigration reform is ex-
pected by many to be a major
issue during the term of Presi-
dent Donald Trump.
Whether that translates
into some type of amnesty
or path to residency for the
millions of people estimated
to be in this country illegally
remains to be seen.
But at least one immigrant
who came here illegally in
the 1980s and benefited from
the amnesty signed into law
by President Ronald Reagan
isn’t hopeful that today’s ille-
gal immigrants will enjoy that
same opportunity.
Rutilio Bautista was pleas-
antly stunned when Reagan in
1986 signed the Immigration
Reform and Control Act that
offered amnesty to farmwork-
ers here illegally.
Bautista had crossed the
U.S. border illegally four
years earlier and was working
at a greenhouse in Idaho.
Because he had been
working in agriculture, the
law allowed him to obtain a
green card and remain legally.
“I couldn’t believe it,”
Bautista said when he heard
what Reagan had done.
Bautista said he’s not
hopeful such an opportunity
will arise again any time soon.
He said politicians have
used the promise of immigra-
tion reform “as a card in their
pockets” for years to gain
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
From left, Jenny, Luz, Norma and Rutilio are pictured at the Bau-
tista home near Homedale, Idaho, on Dec. 30. Rutilio came to the
U.S. illegally in 1982 but gained legal residency following the 1986
Immigration Reform and Control Act and is now foreman of a dairy.
votes but have no intention of
actually pushing for it.
Bautista said he realizes
Reagan signed the law to help
farmers but it did more than
that. It offered a way for him
and a lot of other people here
illegally to forge a new life.
“The reason Reagan did it
was for the farmers,” he said.
“But President Reagan helped
not only the farmers but a lot
of illegal immigrants as well.”
Bautista first entered the
U.S. in 1982, when he was 17,
walking for two straight days.
After working in a series of
farm-related jobs, including in
a greenhouse, cleaning beans,
processing hops and detas-
seling corn, he went to work
at a dairy outside Homedale
owned by Bob Sonke.
He has remained there and
is now the dairy’s foreman.
“You can’t beat him; he’s
good people,” Sonke said.
“He’ll do anything for any-
one.”
Bautista and his wife, Luz,
5-7/#4x
who, like her husband, was
raised on a farm in Mexico,
have raised two daughters,
Jenny and Norma.
Jenny is majoring in food
science at the University of
Idaho and is the state secre-
tary for Idaho FFA.
She hopes to remain an
advocate for agriculture and
would like to help lead efforts
to convince youngsters who
were raised on farms to re-
main in agriculture.
Norma graduated from
Boise State University and al-
though her career plans don’t
involve agriculture, she spent
a summer detasseling corn so
she could gain an apprecia-
tion for what her parents did
to give her an education.
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
A conference examining
water issues in Idaho and
across the West is planned
for the Superior Conference
Center in Burley, from 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 16.
The conference is spon-
sored in part by the Ida-
ho Humanities Council in
conjunction with the visit-
ing Smithsonian Institution
exhibit Water/Ways, which
will be on display at the Bur-
ley Public Library through
March 12.
Speakers will present a
variety of perspectives on
the story of irrigation, the
future of hydropower, recre-
ation, aquaculture and other
topics.
Conference
organizer
Russell Tremayne, human-
ities council board member
and a College of Southern
Idaho history professor,
said he’s had a water con-
ference in mind for a couple
of years.
There have been big wa-
ter issues in Idaho for a long
time, including the recent
landmark agreement be-
tween surface and ground
water users.
A lot of legal discussion
has surrounded Idaho’s var-
ious water challenges, and
the idea is to bring water
experts to the table to ex-
plain to average citizens
what has taken place, he
said.
“We’re all water users.
… Ultimately, we’re always
going to be in a pickle with
scarcity,” he said.
Conference speakers and
their topics will include:
• Jim Jones, former chief
justice of the Idaho Su-
preme Court: “A Little Dam
Problem.”
• Barbara Cosens, Uni-
versity of Idaho College of
Law professor: “Adapting
Water Law to a Changing
Climate: Through the Win-
dow of Drought.”
• Kevin Marsh, Idaho
State University environ-
mental historian: “Slip-
ping Through the Cracks:
The Snake River, Its Aqui-
fer and Idaho’s Water
Conflicts.”
In addition, Tremayne
will moderate a discussion
with local water users about
today’s water issues and
their concerns.
That panel will include
Randy Bingham, former
manager of the Burley Ir-
rigation District; Randy
Brown, manager of the
Southwest Irrigation Dis-
trict; Brian Olmstead, man-
ager of the Twin Falls Canal
Co.; Mark Davidson, direc-
tor of conservation initia-
tives for the Idaho Nature
Conservancy; Barry Pater,
chairman of the College
of Southern Idaho Aqua-
culture Department; and
a representative of Idaho
Power.
The conference will also
feature luncheon keynote
speaker Cort Conley, an Ida-
ho river guide, historian and
writer, and his presentation,
“Songs of the Winds: 1,200
Miles Down the Snake Riv-
er.”
The Smithsonian Water/
Ways exhibition examines
the environmental, cultur-
al and historic significance
of water, including how the
availability of water affect-
ed settlement and migration
patterns across the Western
U.S.
It also looks at how
human creativity and re-
sourcefulness are provid-
ing new ways of protecting
water resources and renew-
ing respect for the natural
environment.
The conference and
lunch are free, but registra-
tion is required. For more
information about the con-
ference and exhibit and to
register, visit: bplibrary.
org.
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