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July 6, 2018 CapitalPress.com 5 Solar rules raise potential for controversy By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Community To Community Farmworkers who walked out and were then fired from Sar- banand blueberry farm in Whatcon county, Wash., march in protest last summer. A judge has reduced by half the state fine levied against the farm for missed meals and breaks. Record state farm fine slashed in half by judge L&I disappointed with reduction in Sarbanand penalty By DON JENKINS Capital Press A record fine levied against a northwest Wash- ington blueberry farm for missed rest breaks and late meals has been cut in half by a judge. Whatcom County Dis- trict Judge Pro Tem David Cottingham last week re- duced the amount Sarba- nand Farms will pay in state and county fines to $74,825. The state Department of La- bor and Industries originally imposed a penalty that to- taled $149,650. “We’re disappointed in the court’s decision,” L&I spokesman Tim Church said. “Late meals and missed breaks are serious violations that affected hun- dreds of workers over sever- al days.” The fine stemmed from investigations L&I began in August 2017 after a sick farmworker, Honesto Silva Ibarra, was taken by ambu- lance for medical treatment and died four days later at a Seattle hospital of what officials said were natural causes. Activists accused the farm, owned by California brothers Kewel and Bal- dez Munger, of mistreating Ibarra, 28, of Mexico and callously firing about 70 farmworkers who staged a one-day protest. L&I concluded Ibarra’s death was not work-related and that the farm was not at fault. The department also found no evidence to support claims that workers were exposed to pesticides. L&I did find, based on company records, that work- ers either missed breaks or received meals late 13 times during a two-week period in July. Sarbanand did not con- test the violations, but did challenge the severity of the penalty, according to court records. The late meals took place on days that workers were on the job for at least 11 1/2 hours, according to L&I re- cords. Workers must be giv- en a 30-minute meal period every five hours. The missed breaks occurred on 12- to 13-hour workdays. The law requires 10-minute breaks every four hours. Sarbanand said in a writ- ten statement Wednesday that workers received two rest breaks, but should have received a third. “The people at Sarba- nand Farms take seriously their responsibilities with respect to worker safety and well-being, so in coop- eration with L&I, we have updated our meal and rest break policies to ensure con- tinued compliance with all applicable laws and regula- tions,” a Sarbanand spokes- man said. The Lynden Tribune re- ported that Cottingham in court cited the farm’s re- cord-keeping in reducing the fine, noting that the re- cords allowed L&I to docu- ment the violations. L&I’s options for pe- nalizing Sarbanand ranged from $513 to $2.95 million, depending on how the fine was calculated, accord- ing to department records. L&I settled on a fine that a spokesman said was a middle course and that de- partment records said was influenced by publicity over Ibarra’s death and the strike. L&I announced that the fine was the largest ever imposed by the department for employment standard violations. It was unclear Wednesday whether the re- duced fine is still a record. Sarbanand cooperated with L&I investigators and immediately took steps to prevent future violations, according to L&I records. The fired workers were Mexican nationals issued H-2A visas to work for Sar- banand. A class-action law- suit pending in U.S. District Court for Western Washing- ton alleges the workers were wrongfully dismissed, as well as underfed and over- worked. Sarbanand says the allegations are unfounded. The lawsuit was filed by Co- lumbia Legal Services and a Seattle law firm. SALEM — Oregon energy regulators recently got a pre- view of some controversies likely to arise over regulating multiple solar arrays as one large facility. The potential regulations will be debated by a “rulemak- ing advisory committee,” or RAC, that was approved by Or- egon’s Energy Facility Siting Council at its June 29 meeting in Salem, Ore. When solar projects take up more than 100 acres of farm- land or 320 acres of other land, they come under the EFSC’s jurisdiction and are analyzed for noise and environmental impacts, among other factors. Solar energy on farmland has increasingly become con- troversial in Oregon as farm and conservation advocates oppose projects they argue will disrupt agricultural productiv- ity. The RAC will consider whether several solar projects “functionally aggregate” to have the same impact as a larg- er facility — for example, sev- eral arrays in close proximity that are each smaller than 100 acres but together surpass that threshold. Capital Press File An Oregon advisory committee will consider new rules for solar installations. The committee will also de- cide whether the possibility of such “aggregate” solar facilities would justify new regulations to avoid projects from being broken up into smaller compo- nents to avoid EFSC’s current jurisdiction. One potentially thorny con- sequence of new rules would be EFSC taking control of projects that would otherwise fall under local government authority. Counties are more famil- iar with the local landscape than EFSC officials in Salem and can make decisions more efficiently than that regula- tory body, said Don Russell, chairman of Morrow County’s board of commissioners. “We would be an advocate for having as much of this done at the local level as pos- sible,” he said. In Central Oregon, there’s a perception that solar projects will get done faster and in a “business-friendly” manner if they don’t fall under EFSC’s jurisdiction, said Betty Roppe, a council member and mayor of Prineville, Ore. “We want those things to proceed because we desperate- ly need the electricity,” Roppe said. Another problem raised at the meeting was unfairness to landowners when one solar fa- cility is developed after anoth- er — the first project may not come under EFSC’s purview, but the second one on a neigh- boring property might. The council was also urged not to discourage the “co-location” of solar proj- ects that can rely on existing transmission facilities, thus preventing the fragmentation of wildlife habitat. The scope of the RAC’s mission should be narrow and well-defined, said Rikki Seguin, policy director for Renewable Northwest, a non- profit that supports renewable energy. Demand for solar energy is increasing but the potential for new regulation can cre- ate uncertainty in the market, Seguin said. “The industry doesn’t have time for another rulemaking that takes years.” Due to the controversial nature of the rulemaking, the RAC was proposed to have about 25 members represent- ing a variety of interests. While some councilors and attendees called for additional representatives to be added, the large number of members raised concerns about the com- mittee becoming unmanage- able. “I can’t imagine getting any- thing scheduled with this many people,” said Marcy Grail, a council member and employee of the International Brother- hood of Electrical Workers. Firefighters battle central Washington sagebrush fires By DAN WHEAT Capital Press GEORGE, Wash. — Wildfire burned about 3,800 acres of sagebrush and grass between George and Quin- cy, Wash., on Sunday night, about 24 hours after another fire burned 100 acres some 20 miles to the south along Frenchman Hills. Neither fire damaged struc- tures or crops or resulted in injuries, said Anthony Leibelt, deputy chief of Grant County Fire District 3 in Quincy. The causes of both fires are under investigation, Leibelt said, while declining to say ei- ther was suspicious. The Sunday fire started about 5 p.m. in a recreation area on the west side of Quincy Lake, he said. A vehicle was seen leaving the vicinity but it is not known if it had anything to do with the fire, he said. Strong wind fanned it quickly southeast along the northern side of Burke Lake. No roads led close enough for firefighters to initially reach the fire and they hoped Burke Lake would stop it. But the fire jumped the lake and burned south to Evergreen Lake. The fire jumped that lake also. It was finally contained at Road 2 Northwest and an ir- rigation canal about 2 miles northwest of George, he said. Residents of about 10 homes were temporarily put on evacuation standby, but they did not have to move, he said. A third fire in the same vi- cinity about three weeks earlier Dan Wheat/Capital Press Firefighters watch a wildfire at the east end of Burke Lake between George and Quincy, Wash., at 5:46 p.m. July 1. They lacked roads to reach the fire until it jumped the lake and spread farther south. burned 75 acres and was not of suspicious origin, Leibelt said. A firefighter lost a finger in that fire, he said. “Firefighter safety is a big concern in these rocky areas,” he said. “Conditions are hot and dry, and with winds off they (fires) go.” WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS! BAGS: • Seed Bags • Fertilizer Bags • Feed Bags • Potato Bags • Printed Bags • Plain Bags • Bulk Bags • Totes • Woven Polypropylene • Bopp • Polyethylene • Pocket Bags • Roll Stock & More! HAY PRESS SUPPORT: • Hay Sleeves • Strap • Totes • Printed or Plain • Stretch Film (ALL GAUGES) WAREHOUSE PACKAGING: • Stretch Film • Pallet Sheets • Pallet Covers LOCATIONS: Albany, Oregon (MAIN OFFICE) Ellensburg, Washington CONTACT INFORMATION: Phone: 855-928-3856 Fax: 541-497-6262 info@westernpackaging.com ....................................................... 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