August 3, 2018
CapitalPress.com
3
W. Oregon, Lost Valley dairy owner defends against contempt charge
to alleviate the storage prob- violations have continued, the
SW. Wash.
lems, but it didn’t first notify agency said.
ODA to ensure the construc-
“We’ve done everything
blanketed
tion complied with waste man- a regulatory agency can do,”
PORTLAND — The own-
agement plans, as required, he said Nicole DeFever, attorney
a controversial Oregon
by ‘severe er dairy of claims
said.
for the state government.
the state govern-
ment wants to shut down the
Skye, the judge, said she
“That is a general theme —
facility just as it’s about to
showing up to find things we will deliberate on the meaning
drought’
comply with wastewater reg-
should have known about,” of “willful” in this context.
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Western Oregon and
southwest Washington have
deteriorated from moderate
to “severe drought” in the
past week, the U.S. Drought
Monitor reported Thursday.
A severe drought that
already had covered much
of Eastern Oregon crossed
over the Cascades into the
Willamette Valley and as far
south as Douglas County.
The percentage of the state
in severe drought more than
doubled to 55 percent from
25 percent. The southwest
corner of Washington, mak-
ing up 6 percent of the state,
moved from moderate to
severe drought. It’s the first
time any part of Washington
has been in a severe drought
since late 2015.
“What we really need is
to see some recovery in soil
moisture and streams flows,
and the long-term forecast
is hot and dry,” said Kathie
Dello, associate director of
the Oregon Climate Change
Research Institute.
The weekly drought
report, a snapshot of cur-
rent conditions, continues a
summer-long trend toward
drought developing in the
Northwest. The USDA re-
ported this week that while
some crops were thriving in
the heat, others were show-
ing signs of stress.
The USDA, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and the Uni-
versity of Nebraska collabo-
rate on the Drought Monitor.
The four stages of drought
range from moderate to ex-
ceptional.
Some 83 percent of Ore-
gon and 29 percent of Wash-
ington are at least in moder-
ate drought. Most areas not
in drought are “abnormally
dry,” according to the mon-
itor.
Two months ago, Wash-
ington was on the wet side,
as was Western Oregon.
The National Weather Ser-
vice’s Climate Prediction
Center says the odds favor
above-average temperatures
and below-normal precipita-
tion to continue for the rest of
the summer.
Washington State As-
sistant Climatologist Karin
Bumbaco said periodic sum-
mer rains have been absent,
while temperatures have
been high.
“It’s looking like it’ll get
worse before it gets better,”
she said.
In Idaho and California,
conditions have been steady.
Some 6 percent of Idaho is
in a moderate drought, while
drought conditions range
from moderate to extreme
over 44 percent of Califor-
nia.
Washington State Clima-
tologist Nick Bond said he
expects August to be warmer
than average, but for tem-
peratures to be more moder-
ate than in July.
“I don’t think there will
be the sustained heat as it has
been in July,” he said.
Sea-surface
tempera-
tures along the equator in
the Pacific Ocean have been
warming up. There is a 70
percent an El Nino will form
next winter, according to the
Climate Prediction Center.
Northwest winters are gener-
ally warm during an El Nino.
ulations.
Oregon farm regulators are
seeking a court order to stop
Lost Valley Farm of Board-
man from producing wastewa-
ter — which would effectively
halt operations — because it’s
disregarding a previous legal
settlement.
Greg te Velde, the owner,
said there have been “some
spills and splashes” at the fa-
cility but maintains they’ve
been “nothing catastrophic.”
Though he acknowledged
defaulting on the legal agree-
ment, te Velde said he’d always
intended to honor the deal de-
spite facing “a steep learning
curve.”
Upgrades to the dairy will
soon mitigate wastewater
problems, te Velde said during
a July 27 court hearing in Port-
land.
“I think we’re on the cusp
of having it all done,” he said.
In March, Lost Valley Farm
of Boardman, Ore., settled a
lawsuit with the Oregon De-
partment of Agriculture by
agreeing to limit its wastewa-
ter output to 65,000 gallons a
day.
Since then, however, the
dairy has violated the deal
by exceeding that threshold
almost daily and failing to
maintain adequate capacity in
manure lagoons, for which te
Velde should be held in con-
tempt of court, according to
ODA.
“On most of these days, it’s
a pretty significant excess use,”
testified Wym Matthews, man-
ager of ODA’s confined animal
feeding operation program.
According to ODA’s esti-
mates, the excess ranged from
19,000 to 375,000 gallons per
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Greg te Velde, owner of Lost Valley Farm near Boardman, Ore.,
testifies July 27 during a hearing on a contempt motion brought by
the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The department says the
dairy isn’t living up to the terms of a settlement it reached with te
Velde on handling wastewater. Multnomah County Circuit Judge
Kelly Skye, left, did not immediately rule on the motion.
day, he said.
The agency also estimates
the amount of manure applied
to six of seven nearby fields
surpassed the agronomic re-
quirements of crops, which is
prohibited due to the possibility
of nitrogen pollution.
“It consumes those nutrients
so they don’t become pollut-
ants, so that balance is critical,”
Matthews said.
Although ODA is in the
process of revoking the dairy’s
“confined animal feeding oper-
ation” permit, it will take two
months for that action to be-
come final, or even longer if the
order is contested by te Velde.
Because wastewater vi-
olations at the dairy haven’t
ceased, there’s a “serious risk”
of groundwater contamination
unless the situation is brought
under control this summer, the
agency claims.
It’s “particularly import-
ant” for Lost Valley Farm to
comply with CAFO permit
conditions because it’s in the
“environmentally sensitive”
Lower Umatilla Groundwa-
ter Management Area, which
already has elevated levels of
nitrate contaminants, the agen-
cy said.
ODA is worried that pol-
lutants from the dairy will
eventually reach groundwater,
even if they haven’t yet, said
Matthews.
“Our concern is the opera-
tor is loading the soil,” he said.
If the soil continues to be
loaded with nitrogen, pollut-
ants would be expected to
reach the groundwater within
two years under water-saturat-
ed conditions, said Kirk Cook,
a geologist and program man-
ager of ODA’s pesticide stew-
ardship program.
However, the nitrogen re-
mains immobile when the soil
isn’t saturated and the dairy is
in an arid part of the state, he
said.
The ODA has requested
that Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Judge Kelly Skye issue
remedial sanctions requiring
Lost Valley Farm to cease
wastewater production with-
in 60 days and remove waste
from lagoons to free up 75
acre-feet of storage capacity.
Of the all dairies inspected
by ODA this year, the facili-
ty was the only one to have a
lagoon overflow and the only
one that didn’t turn over agro-
nomic data, said Matthews.
The dairy began construc-
tion of a fourth manure lagoon
said Matthews.
An attorney for te Velde
argued the government’s con-
tempt case should be dismissed
because it’s duplicative of the
permit revocation process.
The judge denied that mo-
tion because the dairy cannot
violate the earlier judgment re-
gardless of those proceedings.
To reduce water usage, the
dairy has installed water-sav-
ing nozzles and cut down on
“flush times,” te Velde said.
A neighboring farmer has
agreed to have wastewater ap-
plied to his fields and the dairy
is installing piping that will
deliver wastewater directly to
crops, he said.
Improvements have been
delayed by the company’s
bankruptcy proceedings, since
investments must be cleared
by a judge and creditor com-
mittee, te Velde said.
Shutting down the dairy
would be “a really extreme
remedy” since te Velde has
spent roughly $700,000 trying
to comply with the legal settle-
ment, said Elizabeth Howard,
his attorney.
The state hasn’t shown
“clear and convincing” evi-
dence that he violated the deal
“willfully,” which is necessary
to prove contempt, Howard
said.
Since starting operations
last year, the dairy has re-
peatedly been cited by ODA
for breaching the terms of its
CAFO permit with unautho-
rized waste discharges and
other problems.
Despite the ODA’s “ex-
haustive efforts” to bring Lost
Valley Farm into regulatory
compliance — including a fine
of more than $10,000 — the
The idea that unsuccessful-
ly trying to comply with the
deal shields te Velde from be-
ing held in contempt “doesn’t
sit right with me,” she said.
“I don’t think merely mak-
ing efforts for lengthy periods
of time will keep you out of
willful conduct,” Skye said.
While te Velde has filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec-
tion, which shields his dairies
from creditors foreclosing on
property, that “automatic stay”
doesn’t apply to regulatory ac-
tions aimed at remediating en-
vironmental hazards, accord-
ing to ODA.
The bankruptcy petition
was filed in April to stop Rabo-
bank, the dairy’s major lender,
from holding an auction to sell
Lost Valley Farm’s cattle to re-
coup some of the roughly $60
million it loaned te Velde.
As part of bankruptcy pro-
ceedings, a subsidiary of the
Tillamook County Creamery
Association has filed a law-
suit to terminate its milk-buy-
ing contract with Lost Valley
Farm, citing high bacteria lev-
els in milk, reputational dam-
age and unpaid debts.
More recently, the federal
government filed a motion for
a “Chapter 11 trustee” to take
over management of te Vel-
de’s company, which includes
two other dairies in Califor-
nia, because he’s allegedly ad-
mitted to regularly gambling
and using methamphetamine
since filing for bankruptcy.
Appointing a trustee is also
warranted because te Velde
has withdrawn more money
than allowed from his compa-
ny and obtained a loan with-
out authorization, according
to the motion.
Wolves kill another calf
Judge denies preliminary
occurred
injunction in Klamath Tribes suit Predation
in Harl Butte area
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Klamath Project irrigators
are breathing a sigh of relief
after a federal judge in San
Francisco denied a preliminary
injunction to hold more water
in Upper Klamath Lake for en-
dangered sucker fish.
The injunction was request-
ed by the Klamath Tribes as
part of a lawsuit against the Bu-
reau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and Na-
tional Marine Fisheries Service
to protect declining populations
of Lost River and shortnose
suckers in the lake.
Judge William Orrick also
granted a motion to transfer the
case to the U.S. District Court
in Oregon. Though he presid-
ed over a separate lawsuit filed
by the Hoopa Valley and Yurok
tribes of northern California
seeking to protect salmon in the
lower Klamath River, Orrick
noted that Upper Klamath Lake,
the endangered suckers and the
Klamath Tribes are all in Oregon.
“Whether venue is proper in
the Northern District of Califor-
nia is not obvious, but the Dis-
trict of Oregon is clearly more
appropriate to hear this case,”
Orrick wrote in the order, filed
Wednesday.
As for the preliminary in-
junction, Orrick described it as
an “extraordinary remedy” giv-
en the situation, while adding
the scientific evidence is “very
much in dispute.”
“I cannot conclude that the
Oregon wildlife officials
have confirmed wolves
killed another calf July 22 in
the Harl Butte area of Wal-
lowa County, where repeat-
ed attacks on cattle in 2016
and 2017 to several “lethal
take” permits for the offend-
ing pack.
The latest incident hap-
pened on a public grazing
allotment within the area of
known wolf activity for the
Harl Butte pack. A rancher
reportedly saw two wolves
in the vicinity before finding
a dead, partially eaten calf.
Ranchers’ struggles with
the Harl Butte pack date
back several years. Wolves
preyed on cattle six times
between July 15, 2016 and
July 22, 2017, prompting
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife to kill two
wolves in August 2017 to
prevent future attacks.
Just one week later, the
pack notched another dep-
redation, leading to a sec-
ond kill order by ODFW
for another two wolves. The
Oregon Cattlemen’s Associ-
Capital Press
Associated Press File
Klamath Falls, Ore., on the far side of Upper Klamath Lake. A fed-
eral judge has denied a request for a preliminary injunction to keep
more water in the lake to protect two species of sucker fish.
Klamath Tribes are likely to
prevail on the merits nor that
the sucker fish are suffering
irreparable injury as a result of
the lake elevation levels,” Or-
rick wrote.
Both the Lost River and
shortnose suckers were listed
as endangered in 1988. The fish
are a culturally significant food
for the tribes, though harvest
diminished from more than
10,000 suckers in 1968 to just
687 in 1985.
According to the tribes’
lawsuit, the cause stems from
increased agricultural activity
since the inception of the Klam-
ath Project, which provides
surface water irrigation for
230,000 acres in Southern Or-
egon and Northern California.
Today, the tribes harvest just
two suckers every year for cer-
emonial purposes.
Don Gentry, chairman of the
Klamath Tribes, said they were
disappointed in Orrick’s deci-
sion, but they will be ready to
present their arguments before
a new judge and do what is nec-
essary to protect the fish.
“We’re really concerned
about the fish this year and
into the future,” Gentry said.
“Hopefully we won’t have a
significant die-off this season,
but we’ll see.”
Weekly fieldwork report
Ore.
Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA)
• Days suitable for fieldwork (As of July 29)
6.8
• Topsoil moisture, surplus
0
• Topsoil moisture, percent short
84%
• Subsoil moisture, surplus
0
• Subsoil moisture, percent short
82%
• Precipitation probability
33-80% Above/
(6-10 day outlook as of July 31)
Normal
ELLIS EQUIPMENT 800-949-2336
31-5-3/102
.COM
MFG OF BRUSH MULCHERS | STUMP GRINDERS | DRAINAGE PLOWS
BOOM MOWERS | PTO GENERATORS | AUGER BITS & DRIVES
TRENCHERS | TREE SPADES | TREE SAWS | LIMB SHEARS AND MORE
ation had argued for killing
the entire pack, while envi-
ronmental groups decried
killing any wolves, favoring
stronger requirements for
non-lethal deterrents.
By the end of 2017, the
Harl Butte pack had four
animals left and was not
counted as a breeding pair,
according to the state’s pop-
ulation estimate. There are
a minimum of 124 wolves
across the state, and the spe-
cies remains federally endan-
gered in Western Oregon.
Derek Broman, state car-
nivore biologist for ODFW,
said it is not clear whether
those wolves disbanded and
joined with other neighbor-
ing packs, such as the Pine
Creek, which also had three
wolves culled by ODFW
earlier this year after a string
of livestock attacks.
Broman said the depart-
ment has not received any
new requests for lethal con-
trol.
Shooting wolves remains
a contentious point in the
state’s wolf conservation and
management plan, which is
now undergoing an update.
ODFW recently hired a pro-
fessional mediator, Debra
Nudelman of Portland, to try
to help resolve lingering dis-
agreements.
Wash.
Idaho
Calif.
7
0
63%
0
58%
6.9
8%
56%
8%
52%
7
0
75%
0
75%
33% Above/
33% Below
40% Above/
Normal
33-80% Above