February 17, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Oregon, Idaho governors view snow damage in Treasure Valley
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
PAYETTE, Idaho — Idaho
Gov. Butch Otter and Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown flew in a
Black Hawk helicopter togeth-
er Feb. 10 to get a close-up
view of the damage caused by
this winter’s heavy snowfall.
The governors earlier at-
tended town hall meetings in
their respective states where
they heard from people af-
fected by this winter’s heavy
snowfall, which has resulted
in the collapse of at least 50
onion storage buildings and
packing sheds, in addition to
several hundred other struc-
tures in the region.
The
governors
were
shocked by the extent of the
damage, which is estimated
Capital Press/Sean Ellis
From left, Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown exit an Ida-
ho National Guard Black Hawk helicopter Feb. 10 following a tour of the damage in both states caused
by an unusually large amount of snowfall this winter.
at about $100 million to the
region’s onion industry alone.
“We saw a lot of devasta-
tion and we heard about a lot
of devastation (today),” Otter
said during a joint press con-
ference. “We’re going to work
to recover just as fast as we
can.”
Brown, who earlier in the
day was provided a vehicle
tour of some of the dozens of
collapsed onion buildings, was
stunned by what she saw.
“It looks like a tornado di-
saster. It’s just awful,” she said
during a town hall meeting in
Ontario. “Thank you for shar-
ing your stories. I think it will
help us craft a solution for the
community and region.”
Brown pledged to do “ev-
erything I can to help you all
get through this and move into
recovery mode.”
Both governors said agen-
cies from the two states would
work together to try to expe-
dite recovery as quickly as
possible and find assistance for
those affected by the damage.
They brought with them
cabinet members as well as
the directors of their respective
state agriculture departments,
emergency management offi-
cials and National Guard lead-
ers.
During the Ontario town
hall event, farmers and other
local business owners stressed
how important it was to help
the local agricultural economy
recover.
“Without the farmers,
ranchers and processors, this
community goes fallow,” said
John Kerby, who owns a retail
business in Ontario. “To say
we are in crisis, in peril, is un-
derstating what is happening
here.”
The immediacy of the
need for assistance was also
stressed.
“We have unfolding a di-
saster of epic proportions and
we need to have a response
that matches the challenges we
face,” said Oregon Sen. Ted
Ferrioli, R-John Day.
The governors said both
states are actively working to
obtain federal assistance for
the area.
Otter, a Republican, and
Brown, a Democrat, both
promised that help is on the
way.
Oregon, Idaho looking for ways to dispose of 200 million pounds of onions
The onions were
ruined when
dozens of storage
sheds collapsed
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
PAYETTE, Idaho — The
Idaho-Oregon onion industry,
which was hit hard by the col-
lapse of dozens of storage and
packing buildings in the Trea-
sure Valley area this winter,
faces another large challenge.
Upward of 200 million
pounds of onions that were
ruined when the buildings col-
lapsed under the weight of snow
and ice have to be disposed of
in the next two months.
But both states have special
requirements for the disposal of
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
An excavator removes hundreds of thousands of pounds of onions
that were ruined when a storage facility in Nyssa, Ore., collapsed
under the weight of snow and ice. About 200 million pounds of
damaged onions in Idaho and Oregon have to be properly dis-
posed of by April 15.
cull onions to prevent an out-
break of onion maggot, which
can devastate onion and other
vegetable crops.
Because of the level of dev-
astation caused by the build-
ing collapses, both states have
moved the deadline for disposal
of cull onions from March 15 to
April 15.
But getting rid of that many
onions will be no easy task,
said Jack Yarbrough of Idaho
Waste Systems, which operates
a landfill in Mountain Home,
Idaho.
“This is a major problem
and people need to get mov-
ing on it,” he said. “Something
needs to be done and it needs to
be done quickly.”
As much as 200 million
pounds of onions may have
been destroyed in southwest-
ern Idaho and Malheur County,
Ore.
Because of the environmen-
tal requirements involved in
the burial of cull onions, many
landfills in the region aren’t set
up to handle onion disposal,
Yarbrough said.
IWS is accepting onions but
that landfill is 80 miles from
Malheur County and can’t han-
dle all of the onions.
The landfill near Payette is
also accepting onions but they
have to be separated from de-
bris and that landfill is small,
Yarbrough said.
The Lytle Boulevard landfill
in Malheur County is expected
to receive a special permit to
dig a trench where onions can
be buried, Gov. Kate Brown
said Feb. 10 during a press con-
ference in Payette.
But that pit will handle only
about 30 million pounds, or an
estimated one-third of the ru-
ined onions on the Oregon side,
she added.
“We’re going back to the
drawing board to figure out
how we can get the people
power and the resources to
expand that pit so that we can
bury everything that we need
to in a really rapid manner,”
Brown said.
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said
state officials are addressing
the problem but also want to
make sure to avoid an outbreak
of onion maggot, which result-
ed in an epidemic in the 1960s
that devastated onion and other
vegetable crops.
He said the state needs to
“make sure that our disposal
is that kind of disposal that can
protect our industry but we also
know that we’re going to have
to be just a little bit flexible with
some of the things we do.”
Idaho State Department of
Agriculture Communications
Director Chanel Tewalt said the
department, health districts,
environmental
regulators,
county commissioners and
emergency management of-
ficials have been meeting to
address the issue.
“There’s been a pretty big
group effort to look at what
the options are,” she said.
14 th Annual
Orchard, Nuts & Vines
Special Section
Capital Press Agriculture Weekly will publish a
Special Section featuring orchard, nut and vine
articles and advertising on
April 14, 2017
By advertising in this Special Section, you’ll be reaching over 89,000 print
and online readers in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington who
make the buying decisions for your product or service!
6-2/#4x
ROP-40-42-4/#17
Space deadline is March 17 th .
ROP-7-4-2/#13
Saturday
Feb. 25th • 9-4
Sunday
Feb. 26th • 10-4
y
l
i
F
m
u
a
n
F
Adults: $5 CASH
ONLY
Under 18: FREE
FREE PARKING
Polk County Fairgrounds
and Event Center
520 S. Pacific Hwy West
Rickreall, OR 97371
Proceeds to Benefit Local
4H & FFA
• Farmer’s Bounty Market • Local Ag Seminars • Artisan Vendors
• 4-H Petting Zoo • Ag Tech • Free Face Painting
Mid-Valley Winter Ag Fest & Farmer’s Bounty Market
See seminars at mvwagfest.com.
7-1/#T1D