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CapitalPress.com
June 29, 2018
Contempt sought for
Lamb Weston seeks to renew its
water-reuse permit at American Falls ex-employee in trade
secrets dispute
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Potato processor Lamb
Weston Inc. seeks to renew
its Idaho Department of En-
vironmental Quality permit
that allows it to reuse treat-
ed water from its American
Falls plant for irrigating ad-
jacent crops.
The new permit would
make additional acreage
available for irrigation. DEQ
is accepting comment on
the draft water-reuse permit
through July 20.
Many potato processors
in eastern Idaho treat wa-
ter from production opera-
tions and re-use it to irrigate
crops, said Scott MacDon-
ald, staff engineer at DEQ’s
Pocatello regional office. A
substantial amount of water
comes out of potato process-
ing, and this “beneficial re-
use” helps keep this water
from entering the aquifer, he
said. Lamb and many other
processors grow a mixture
of alfalfa and grass that is
efficient at taking up water
and fairly straightforward to
grow.
The draft permit autho-
rizes Eagle, Idaho-based
Lamb to continue operating
a wastewater treatment facil-
ity and reuse system for an-
other seven years, DEQ said
in a release. As part of the
permitting process, the com-
pany must show how it will
address public health and
environmental concerns, in-
cluding methods of prevent-
ing contamination of surface
and groundwater.
Lamb has not exceeded
load limits or committed
any violations of the current
permit, issued in June 2011
and modified five years lat-
er to allow recycled water
application in an addition-
al area, the analysis said.
The irrigation method has
changed from hand lines to
pivots in two areas.
A staff analysis of the
draft permit renewal said the
industrial potato-processing
facility uses 296 irrigated
acres, and the new permit
seeks to make 670 addition-
al acres available. Also to
be added: a 70-acre, non-ir-
rigated waste solids man-
agement unit and a 5.5-acre
management unit primarily
for applying treated waste-
water on municipal land.
The draft permit recognizes
a 6-acre emergency site to
be used in the event of ditch
overflow.
DEQ said the draft per-
mit specifies buffer zones
around the irrigation site,
hydraulic and nutrient load-
ing rates, operating practices,
and monitoring requirements
the department established to
protect public health and the
environment. The new per-
mit addresses dry monitoring
wells and high constituent
levels, the staff analysis said.
Lamb generates produc-
tion wastewater from wash-
ing and moving potatoes,
processing them and cleaning
equipment. Sanitary waste
water is not interconnect-
ed with process water flow.
Process water is collected
in a sump and pumped to a
separate building for primary
treatment. Water is screened
to remove large solids, put
through a clarifier to settle
remaining fine solids, which
then are filtered. Overflow
from the clarifier travels by
concrete ditch and culvert to
a pond.
Comments should be di-
rected to MacDonald by mail
at the DEQ Pocatello Re-
gional Office, 444 Hospital
Way No. 300, Pocatello, Ida-
ho, 83201; by email at scott.
macdonald@deq.idaho.gov;
or via the agency’s online
public comment form.
Tariff uncertainty puts some Chinese hay orders on hold
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Some
Chinese hay customers have put orders
for Washington hay on hold while they
wait to see if higher Chinese tariffs on
U.S. hay stick, says Mark Anderson,
president and CEO of Anderson Hay &
Grain Co., a large West Coast hay ex-
porter in Ellensburg.
“Things are up in the air for a cou-
ple of weeks. It’s too early to know
how many will be affected,” said An-
derson, calling it premature to say or-
ders have actually been canceled.
Orders are transitioning from old
to new crop hay so a 25 percent tariff,
in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Chi-
nese steel and aluminum, is not that
big a deal right now, he said. Howev-
er, if the tariffs hold they could have
“a big impact” on new crop alfalfa,
he said.
China imports about 1 million tons
of U.S. alfalfa annually, he said.
Japan, South Korea and other
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
Chinese customers have put some orders for Washington hay on hold while they deter-
mine if announced tariff increases go into effect.
countries buy Washington Timothy
hay, which China doesn’t take, he said.
There was some rain damage to
first-cutting Columbia Basin alfalfa,
leaving less premium hay than exporters
would like, he said. Second-cutting is
just getting ready to start, he said.
First-cutting Timothy is two-thirds to
three-fourths done in the basin and Kit-
titas Valley, he said.
Company claims
terms of injunction
have been violated
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An Oregon livestock nutri-
tion company wants a former
employee cited for contempt
for violating an injunction in a
lawsuit over the alleged theft
of trade secrets.
Omnigen Research, which
manufactures a treatment for
hemorrhagic bowel syndrome
in cattle, has already won a
lawsuit against the ex-em-
ployee, Wongqiang Wang,
and been awarded $3.85 mil-
lion in damages.
However, the company is
asking a federal judge to sanc-
tion Wang for allegedly con-
tinuing his involvement with
a Chinese company that’s re-
produced Omnigen’s product
in that country.
Wang is also accused of
failing to turn over all his
computers and other electron-
ic media for Omnigen to re-
view for confidential informa-
tion and disregarding an order
to re-assign a Chinese patent
to his former employer.
“They’ve lied so many
times they just can’t keep
their story straight,” said Scott
Davis, an attorney for Omni-
gen, during a June 19 hearing
on the matter in Portland.
Omnigen was originally
founded in Corvallis, Ore., by
an Oregon State University
professor, but was later sold
to the Phibro animal health
company.
In its motion for a finding
of contempt, Omnigen asked
U.S. District Judge Michael
McShane to order the defen-
dant incarcerated for civil
contempt if he doesn’t comply
with the earlier injunction and
fines don’t work.
However, Wang did not
appear at the June 19 hearing
and his attorney, Roger Hen-
nagin, said his client’s Chi-
nese passport is revoked and
he cannot leave that country.
Hennagin also asked to
withdraw as Wang’s attor-
ney, saying he hasn’t seen his
client face-to-face since last
year and is having trouble
communicating about the case
through email.
Davis, Omnigen’s attor-
ney, said he was under the
impression Wang was a legal
permanent resident and could
return to the U.S., so the situ-
ation is “all news to us and a
surprise.”
Despite the injunction,
Wang is deeply involved with
Mirigen, a Chinese company
that cloned Omnigen’s secret
formula, he said. It’s implau-
sible that he’s turned over all
his electronic devices, as is
evidenced by email commu-
nications.
Hennigan countered that
Wang is using a computer at
a university library in China.
“Much of their position is
based on supposition, hypoth-
esis and inferences,” he said.
Omnigen also asked for
sanctions against Wang and
his attorney for violating a
protective order by viewing
“attorneys eyes only” docu-
ments during the litigation,
which began in 2016.
Hennagin acknowledged
providing his client with ac-
cess to these protected docu-
ments, citing his lack of tech-
nological expertise and his
desire to save money for his
client by not spending time
separating them from other
documents.
“It was not a bad faith mis-
take,” he said, noting that he
instructed Wang not to look at
the protected files.
McShane took Omnigen’s
requests under advisement
but warned the company that
potential relief was limited
under the circumstances.
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