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4 CapitalPress.com July 28, 2017 Lawmakers exit Olympia with U.S. House looks at neither Hirst fix nor capital budget ESA, wolf measures By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Washington Farm Bureau a fan of playing hardball By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — The Legis- lature adjourned indefinitely July 20 without a capital bud- get or a bill to reopen rural Washington to well drilling. Senate Republicans made passing a $4 billion capital budget contingent on coun- teracting the state Supreme Court’s Hirst ruling, which will force landowners to prove their new household wells won’t diminish stream flows. Gov. Jay Inslee said late in the day that Republicans were being unreasonable, but GOP leaders said playing hardball was the only way to get Dem- ocrats to take the issue seri- ously. The Washington Farm Bu- reau stood by the Republican stance, even though the cap- ital budget includes funding for agriculture-related proj- ects. “We support their position 100 percent. This is import- Courtesy TVW Washington Gov. Jay Inslee speaks at a press conference July 21 in Olympia after the Legislature adjourned without passing a capital budget or a bill to reopen the drilling of household wells in rural areas. Inslee blamed the impasse on Republican hardball tactics. ant,” Farm Bureau associate director for government rela- tions Evan Sheffels said. “A lot of folks miss the scope and significance of the issue.” The court’s 6-3 Hirst rul- ing in October threatens to shut down rural homebuild- ing, reshaping not only wa- ter law but also rural econo- mies, tax bases and who gets to control land. For months, Senate lead- LEGAL Applications sought for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) Board of Directors. Pursuant to OAR 629-065-0400, the purpose of this notice is to solicit applications for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) Board of Directors. Applicants meeting all the qualifications will be maintained on a list to be used by the State Forester for filling existing vacancies and to fill vacancies caused by expiration of an existing member’s term. Each applicant must certify in the application that he/she meets the qualifications for the position. Each “producer” applicant for the board of directors shall have the following qualifications: 1) be a citizen of the United States; 2) be a bona fide resident of this state; 3) be a “producer” in this state, an employee of such a producer or own between 100 and 2,000 acres of forestland in this state on which harvest taxes are paid, but have no direct financial interest in any forest products processing activity; 4) have been actively engaged in producing forest products for a period of at least five years; 5) derive a substantial portion of income from the production of forest products (“substantial portion of income” means that 50 percent or more of the gross income of a member of the board of directors is derived from timber or timber products ownership or affiliation); 6) have demonstrated, through membership in producers’ organizations or organizations representing landowners who meet the requirements of ORS 526.610(4), a profound interest in the development of Oregon’s forest products industry; 7) is available to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of the OFRI Board of Directors; and 8) meets the producer class eligibility requirements for the position to which nominated. Each “employee” applicant shall be: 1) a citizen of the United States; 2) a bona fide resident of this state; and 3) an hourly wage employee of a producer or a person who represents such employees. ers have said lawmakers must “fix Hirst” this session. Meanwhile, Inslee, a Democrat, said the issue shouldn’t distract lawmakers from passing spending plans for the 2017-19 biennium. In the end, House Dem- ocrats offered landown- ers a 24-month window to drill wells while lawmakers worked on a permanent pol- icy. Senate Republicans said rural families and communi- ties need more than a two- year reprieve and questioned whether a short-term fix was workable for property own- ers, counties and lenders. Senate Agriculture Com- mittee Chairwoman Judy Warnick said July 21 that Republicans had met the pre- vious day and had no regrets about drawing a line. “We all decided what we did was the right thing,” she said. A Hirst bill acceptable to the House and Senate appeared to be within reach several weeks ago. Reps. David Taylor, R-Moxee, and Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, proposed allowing wells, but while charging new drill- ing fees to raise money for stream-enhancement proj- ects. Warnick said the propos- al was acceptable to her, but said House Democrats wanted to give tribes too much control over nixing mitigation projects, possibly The “producer” class eligibility requirements are: Class 2 Producers having paid forest products harvest tax on more than 20 million board feet but less than 100 million board feet per year in the most recent year preceding the appointment. Class 3 Producers having paid forest products harvest tax on 100 million board feet or more per year in the most recent year preceding the appointment. Small Woodland Owner An owner of between 100 and 2,000 acres of forestland in this state on which harvest taxes were paid in at least one of the five years preceding the appointment, and who has no direct financial interest in any forest products processing activity. Persons wanting to apply for the OFRI Board of Directors must request application materials from Kathy Storm at OFRI, storm@ofri.org or 971-673-2953. Send completed application packets to the State Forester: Attention Stacy Miller, 2600 State Street, Bldg. B, Salem, Oregon 97310, or via email at stacy.miller@oregon.gov. Applications must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on August 31, 2017. 30-3/#4 Courtesy Office of Rep. Newhouse U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., testifies on his Endangered Species Act reform bill before the House Natural Resources Com- mittee in Washington, D.C., on July 19. LEGAL The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces a meeting for the Washington State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and Washington Tribal Advisory Council (WATCAC) on Thursday, August 24, 2017. This meeting is from 9:30am - 3:30pm at 316 W. Boone Ave., Suite 450, Spokane NRCS Conference Room. Remote access is also available. For future reference, the schedule has changed from six webinars a year, to two webinars and two face-to-face meetings a year. The next face-to-face is scheduled November 7, 2017, in the Spokane NRCS State Office. For more information, contact Bonda Habets, (509) 323-2961. 30-3/#4 Class 1 Producers having paid forest products harvest tax on 20 million board feet or less per year in the most recent year preceding the appointment. cornering the Department of Ecology into closing some watersheds to development. “To give tribes veto pow- er over our water resources was just not acceptable,” Warnick said. As originally proposed, the Taylor-Blake amendment called for Ecology to “con- sult” with tribes. “That became the thing that blew it up in the House Democratic caucus — con- sult vs. consent,” said Blake, chairman of the House Ag- riculture Committee. “That blew it up, and we didn’t have majority support in the House Democratic caucus.” One of the House’s lead- ers on the issue, Rep. Der- ek Stanford, D-Bothell, said Democrats want peo- ple to be able to drill wells, but Ecology must be made accountable for prevent- ing in advance new wells from harming senior water rights. “Obviously, having the tribes do that wasn’t accept- able to the other side,” he said. “We’re open to ideas. If you don’t want the tribes, fine. ... We’re all ears.” While talks continue, Re- publicans should have accept- ed the 24-month delay to help landowners poised to build, Stanford said. “I think we have made it clear we’re not going to be bullied by holding the capital budget hostage,” he said. Endangered Species Act re- form, removing the gray wolf from the list of protected spe- cies and several other issues championed by U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse have received re- cent congressional attention. The Washington Repub- lican testified July 19 before the House Natural Resourc- es Committee on his bill, HR 1274, which would amend the ESA to require federal agen- cies to use the best available scientific and commercial data; include information from af- fected states, tribes and local governments; and disclose all data before any species is listed as threatened or endangered. An earlier version of the bill passed the House in the last Congress. Federal agencies are not now required to share data and too often overlook local conservation plans, Newhouse testified. The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice released a draft plan earlier this year to re-introduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades, claiming the bears will join an existing population even though the last confirmed sight- ing of a grizzly in the region was in 1996, Newhouse said. People deserve to know what data the agencies are us- ing, he said. USFWS proposed remov- ing the gray wolf from the list of protected species more than four years ago and the best scientific information supports that, yet the wolf remains list- ed, he said. The House Appropriations Committee on July 18 ap- proved an Interior Department appropriations bill including Newhouse measures: • Encouraging USFWS to delist the gray wolf and prohib- iting the agency from using any funds to continuing treating the wolf as endangered. • Continuing funding for the Wolf-Livestock Loss Demon- stration Program to assist pro- ducers using non-lethal means to reduce wolf predation. • Reiterating prohibition of the Environmental Protection Agency funding for anti-ag- riculture “What’s Upstream” lobbying. • Requesting the U.S. Forest Service to increase transpar- ency on how grazing is moni- tored. • Directing the USFS to re- port on the needs of the North Cascades Smokejumper Base at Winthrop and other smoke- jumper bases and describe their economic and disaster preparedness effectiveness. USFS is considering closing the North Cascades base. Also July 18, the House Appropriations Committee ap- proved a Homeland Security appropriations bill including a Newhouse measure directing the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency to address an imbalance in public assistance to rural communities of states with large metropolitan areas. The House unanimously ap- proved HR 2828, a Newhouse bill extending a deadline for the start of construction of the En- loe Dam Hydroelectric Project by the Okanogan County Pub- lic Utility District. The dam, near the Canadian border and 3.5 miles northwest of Oro- ville, was constructed by Eu- gene Enloe in 1920 to generate electricity. It was decommissioned in 1958 when a Bonneville Pow- er Administration high-voltage transmission line provided less expensive electricity into the Okanogan Valley. DOL inspects Okanogan growers By DAN WHEAT Capital Press OKANOGAN, Wash. — The U.S. Department of Labor conducted surprise in- spections of at least four tree fruit growers in Okanogan County the week of July 9. “It’s a repeat of what oc- curred three to four years ago when DOL was inspecting farms and farm labor camps and wrote quite a few frivo- 30-1/#7 lous citations and hefty fines,” said Dan McCarthy, secretary of the Okanogan Horticultural Association and a Tonasket grower. It’s typical for DOL Wage and Hour Division compre- hensive investigations to take up to two months and usually cover compliance with laws and regulations concerning wages and hours, housing, transportation, sanitation and worker rights, said Dan Fazio, director of WAFLA farm la- bor association in Olympia. “If we know of four of them, there probably are eight,” he said. Wage and Hour investiga- tors choose a different area of the state to inspect each year, he said. Last year it was Ya- kima and previously it’s been the Columbia Basin, south- west Washington and Okano- gan, he said. All four growers being in- vestigated are WAFLA mem- bers and are being advised by WAFLA, he said. The growers are in Okan- ogan, Omak and Pateros, Mc- Carthy said. “In the last go-around, they would inspect and then all but threaten you to sign a state- ment saying you were in vio- lation of some area but would not tell you what. Then later they would send you a notice of what you were in violation of and a fine. So there was no due process,” McCarthy said. “These tactics are not pop- ular with growers,” he said. McCarthy said he has contacted U.S. Rep. Dan Ne- whouse, R-Wash., who rep- resents the Okanogan, and hopes the new Trump admin- istration changes things. It’s too soon to know if that will happen because the new administration doesn’t have its policy people in DOL yet except at the very top, Fazio said. Fazio and McCarthy scheduled a meeting for growers in Okanogan to ad- vise them on what to do and not do if contacted by DOL. They invited DOL to the meeting. Meanwhile, Ernie del Rosario, an Ellisforde grow- er, said DOL issued find- ings against him a couple of months ago from a 2013 audit and want him to pay $186,000 in back wages he says he doesn’t owe. DOL will not give his attorney the rationale for the findings, he said. He said growers are an- gered by the new DOL inves- tigations. Leo Kay, DOL spokesman in San Francisco, would not say how many DOL inspec- tions or investigations are oc- curring in Okanogan County. He said DOL does not discuss current investigations. “Investigators strive to treat employers and workers alike with respect and fairness when looking into potential wage violations,” he said. In May 2016, DOL sought to distribute $385,318 to more than 1,000 workers that it re- ceived in a court judgment against Blue Mountain Farms near Walla Walla for alleged violation of minimum wage and overtime laws in 2013. In August 2015, a Mesa, Wash., grower said he felt manipulated and unfairly fined $16,000 to lift a DOL seizure of his apples on alle- gations of children working in his orchard. The grower said he never tried to employ chil- dren but that sometime pick- ers can’t find day care.
