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June 30, 2017 CapitalPress.com 5 California to require Roundup labeled a carcinogen Ingredient in popular weed killer going on list as cancerous By SCOTT SMITH Associated Press FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Regulators in California took a pivotal step on Mon- day toward becoming the first state to require the popular weed killer Roundup to come with a label warning that it’s known to cause cancer. Officials announced that starting July 7 the weed kill- er’s main ingredient, glypho- sate, will appear on a list Cal- ifornia keeps of potentially cancerous chemicals. A year later, the listing could come with warning labels on the product, officials said. However, it’s not certain whether Roundup will ulti- Rural Oregon landowners accuse marijuana-growing neighbors of racketeering By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press A couple of rural Oregon landowners are accusing their neighbors of operating mari- juana-growing operations in violation of federal anti-racke- teering laws. The lawsuit filed by Rachel and Erin McCart of Beaver- creek, Ore., accuses 43 defen- dants — including neighbor- ing property owners as well as affiliated marijuana growers and retailers — of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Because it remains illegal under federal law, Oregon’s “regulatory scheme” for mari- juana does not protect the de- fendants from RICO charges for conspiring to grow, process and sell the controlled sub- stance, according to the plain- tiffs. “Given the strict federal prohibitions against each of those purposes, defendants knew these purposes could only be accomplished via a pattern of racketeering,” the complaint said. “In furtherance of that goal, defendants pooled their resources and achieved enterprise efficiency that no one defendant could have achieved individually.” Beginning in late 2014, the defendants began installing equipment to produce mari- juana on two properties neigh- boring the McCarts, who own nearly 11 acres of fenced pas- tures and forestland, the com- plaint said. While the neighborhood was once quite and safe, the marijuana operations have drawn unwanted visitors who litter nearby properties, play loud music, ride loud all-ter- rain vehicles and harass land- owners, the plaintiffs claim. The McCarts allege that a narrow, one-lane easement running across their proper- ty is now a busy commercial roadway traveled “seven days a week, at all hours of the day and night” by the marijuana By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Washington Depart- ment of Ecology will appoint an advisory group to evaluate ways farmers and ranchers can prevent water pollution, an exercise viewed warily by the state Farm Bureau. Ecology is seeking experts for the group, which is expect- ed over the next year to help the department develop a set of best management practic- es. Ecology says the measures will be voluntary and won’t become new regulations. “I think it will be useful guidance for people,” said Ben Rau, Ecology’s manager of the effort. The initiative stems from criticism the Environmental Protection Agency made in 2015 about Ecology’s plan to control pollution from urban and rural runoff. The EPA said Ecology’s plan to prevent pol- lution from agricultural lands needed “greater specificity.” Ecology has approached the subject carefully. It plans to put together an advisory group of 10 to 14 members drawn from farm groups, tribes, environmental organi- 1,300 public comments. “We can’t say for sure,” said Sam Delson, a spokes- man for California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. “We’re reviewing those comments.” Glyphosate has no color or smell. Monsanto introduced it in 1974 as an effective way of killing weeds while leav- ing crops and plants intact. It’s sold in more than 160 countries, and farmers use it on 250 types of crops in Cal- ifornia, the nation’s leading farming state. Attorney Michael Baum, who represents more than 300 people who claim a loved one became sick or died from ex- posure to Roundup, says the fight to protect Californians is not over. He said that the state’s failure to set the proper risk level would undermine protections California put in place by listing harmful chemicals. Scott Partridge, Monsan- to’s vice president of global strategy, said in a statement that glyphosate does not cause cancer and there’s no need to list it as harmful in California. “This is not the final step in the process,” Partridge said. “We will continue to aggressively challenge this improper decision.” Tobacco virus found in Washington wine grapes By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Pamplin Media Group File A Beavercreek, Ore., couple has filed suit against their neighbors and dozens of other related peo- ple and businesses alleging they broke federal racketeering laws by operating a marijuana farm. The plant is legal under state law but illegal under federal law. growers as well as their cus- tomers, employees and build- ing contractors. “While passing plaintiffs’ property, these easement users stared menacingly at plaintiffs, directed obscene gestures at them, peered into plaintiffs’ kitchen window (which looks out onto the easement), open- ly used marijuana, rolled their windows down and blasted loud music and dramatical- ly accelerated or decelerated when they observed plaintiffs outdoors on their property,” the complaint said. These problems, as well as the “unmistakable, skunk- like stench of marijuana” and the incessant barking of guard dogs, have reduced the McCa- rts’ property value and would make it tough to sell at any price, the lawsuit alleges. “No one’s idea of a dream home includes noxious odors, invasive and persistent racket, heavy commercial traffic, a lo- cation next door to two illegal drug manufacturing sites, or aggressively obnoxious neigh- bors,” according to the plain- tiffs. The McCarts seek com- pensation for three times the amount of damages caused to their property in an amount that’s not specified in the law- suit, which has been assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge John Acosta in Portland. Washington Ecology seeks advisers on farm practices Letters of interest are due on July 18 mately get a warning label. Monsanto, the chemical’s maker, has filed an appeal af- ter losing in court to block the labeling, arguing that Round- up doesn’t cause cancer and that the labels will harm the company’s business. State health regulators must also decide if there’s a high enough amount of the chemical in Roundup to pose a risk to human health. State officials received more than zations, academia, conserva- tion districts, and government agencies. Ecology has hired a consultant, Ross Strategic, to guide the meetings. “We want- ed to have a third-party seen as a neutral actor in the process,” Rau said. While the guidance won’t be mandatory, it will help Ecology identify how to best spend federal money the state receives for water-protection projects, he said. The Washington Farm Bu- reau is concerned the guidance will favor projects that call for large buffers between fields and waterways. “It takes way too much land out of produc- tion,” said Evan Sheffels, the organization’s associate direc- tor of government relations. Despite Ecology’s assur- ances that the guidance will be voluntary, the Farm Bureau is skeptical of the undertaking, Sheffels said. “We’d rather not go there, but Ecology has decided they’re going to do it, whether we want them to or not.” Ecology says it wants peo- ple with on-the-ground expe- rience and with scientific and technical expertise. Candidates should submit letters of interest by July 18 to Rau at ben.rau@ecy.wa.gov. Ecology says it plans to pick the panel by early August. WAPATO, Wash. — A vi- rus discovered in Virginia to- bacco 90 years ago has been found in Washington, in a vineyard near Wapato. When Andrew Schultz be- came general manager of the vineyard five years ago, the owner asked him to figure out what was wrong with his Gre- nache wine grape vines. Shoots were short and stumped. Some collapsed. Others grew poor fruit that dropped. Some vines had great canopies and no grapes. Others had small grapes and little canopy. The xylem, tis- sue in stems conveying water and nutrients, was discolored. Schultz had never seen anything like it, began map- ping problem areas within the 3-acre block and called in his former professor, Naidu Ray- apati, Washington State Uni- versity virologist and grape- vine disease expert. “It was quite surprising to realize that we had this vi- rus here in Washington state in wine grapes,” Rayapati said. “It took us three to four months to figure it out, using a variety of diagnostic tech- niques.” He used three different methods to verify and is “100 percent sure” it is Tobacco Ringspot Virus (TRSV), first identified in Virginia tobacco fields in 1927. TRSV is trans- mitted by nematodes, varroa mites and honeybees and also can be by sap inoculation and seeds. It has a wide host range of crops, ornamentals and weeds. It’s most common symptom is chlorotic ring- spots on leaves. TRSV has been reported in Florida, Mississippi, Ala- bama, Oklahoma and Mich- igan but never in the Pacific Northwest, Rayapati said. “There is a knowledge gap in the distribution of this virus and its economic impact on different crops,” he said. “No one is doing active research.” At the request of the own- er, Rayapati and Schultz are not revealing the identity of the vineyard. But Schultz said it had been a pear orchard Courtesy of WSU Grapes from healthy Granache vines dwarf grapes from vines damaged by Tobacco Ringspot Virus. Courtesy of WSU Vineyard Manager Andrew Schultz and WSU virologist Naidu Rayapati in May 2016. with no fallow time between tree removal and vine plant- ing in 2006. The virus is in nematodes and they think it likely was present in the pear orchard and may be undetect- ed in other places in the lower Yakima Valley. TRSV is spotty, not per- vasive, in the 3-acre block but has spread some into two adjoining 3-acre blocks over 12 years, Schultz said. Oth- er things, like leafroll virus, spread a lot faster, he said. TRSV can cause plants to become totally unproductive and can render ground useless for growing, Rayapati said. But he believes the vineyard can be salvaged. Chemicals kill nematodes but not completely. They bounce back. Rayapati and Schultz are working on other means to combat and contain it, in- cluding testing different root- stocks and grafts and predato- ry nematodes to eat the ones spreading the virus. Schultz said Syrah and other varieties may be less susceptible than Grenache. However even with the infestation, the block has pro- duced some great wine, he said. The discovery is a remind- er to the industry to be vigi- lant to test soil when switch- ing crops and to use certified virus-free plants, Rayapati said. WSU’s Irrigated Agricul- ture Research and Extension Center, near Prosser, is home to the Clean Plant Center Northwest which helps grow- ers plant virus-free trees and grape and hop vines. Wine is a $4.8 billion in- dustry in Washington with 60,000 acres of wine grapes and more planted each year. “It’s important to nip this problem in the bud,” Rayapati said. “Tobacco Ringspot isn’t something that will wipe out the industry, but we need to make sure growers plant vi- rus-free materials and there are no risks in the soil itself.” 26-2/#7
