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CapitalPress.com
August 3, 2018
Washington farm groups tally win as judge sides with EPA
State can keep clean
water grants
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington farm groups
were on the winning side
when a judge ruled in July
that the state Department of
Ecology doesn’t have to re-
fund $14 million it got from
the Environmental Protection
Agency since 2011 to protect
waterways.
U.S. District Judge John
Coughenour in Seattle dis-
missed a claim by Northwest
Environmental
Advocates
that Ecology doesn’t ade-
quately regulate farms and
therefore wasn’t entitled to
federal grants.
In a written ruling, Cough-
enour said that Northwest
lacked standing to press the
claim because its members
hadn’t been hurt by the grants.
The Portland-based group has
asked the judge to reconsider.
If left in place, Cough-
enour’s ruling settles one
aspect of a lawsuit filed by
Northwest against the EPA. A
broader claim — that the EPA
has failed to make Ecology
adopt plans that protect water
from farming and logging —
remains unsettled.
Ecology distributes EPA
grants to tribes, nonprofit
groups and local govern-
ments for projects such as re-
storing wetlands and building
fences to keep livestock from
streams. Northwest argued
that cutting off future grants
and seeking refunds would
motivate Ecology to adopt
agricultural “best-manage-
ment practices.”
The Washington Farm
Bureau and Washington Cat-
tlemen’s Association have
joined the lawsuit as allies
Financial aid available for post-fire rehab
money, Ecology would have
had to either get it back from
different organizations, get
lawmakers to appropriate
money or cut spending on
future environmental proj-
ects. Ecology has convened
a task force to identify the
best ways to keep farms from
polluting water. The agen-
cy says the outcome will be
voluntary guidelines, not
mandatory best-management
practices.
Meat, poultry groups want
USDA to regulate ‘fake meat’
NRCS to provide
funding for
conservation
treatments
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Farmers and ranchers in
north-central Oregon are al-
ready dealing with lost crops
and forage following a rash
of wildfires that charred near-
ly 200,000 acres this summer
across Wasco and Sherman
counties.
Now, an environmental
crisis may also be looming
on the scorched, barren land-
scape.
Clinton Whitten, acting
district conservationist for
the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service in The
Dalles, said high winds are
eroding soil in burnt fields
and rangeland, robbing the
ground of vital plant nutrients
and water-holding capacity.
On Monday, the NRCS
announced funding for con-
servation projects in the wake
of the Substation, Boxcar
and Jack Knife fires, which
combined to burn roughly
192,000 acres of prime wheat
and cattle country.
Financial assistance is
available through the NRCS
Environmental Quality In-
centives Program, or EQIP,
to control soil erosion by
planting cover crops and
range grasses, while stopping
the spread of invasive species
of the EPA and Ecology. The
farm groups and government
agencies said cutting off fed-
eral funding would harm the
environment.
According to court re-
cords, Ecology has received
$14 million from the EPA
since 2011 for the clean-wa-
ter projects. Almost all of
the money has been spent
or committed, according to
Ecology.
If forced to refund the
Mark Graves/The Oregonian via AP
Farmers and ranchers affected by the Substation, Boxcar and Jack Knife fires are eligible for finan-
cial assistance through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
like cheatgrass and medusa-
head.
The top priority, Whitten
said, is in fields where stand-
ing wheat went up in flames,
since they will be entering
fallow next season.
“If (farmers) don’t do
anything, it would be left
bare until next fall when they
plant,” Whitten said.
According to NRCS es-
timates, the Substation fire,
which started July 17, af-
fected roughly 31,000 acres
of cropland over 86 farms
in both Wasco and Sherman
counties, including 18,500
acres of standing wheat. Up
to a quarter of the region’s
crop went up in flames, and
one farmer — 64-year-old
John Ruby — died trying to
fight the blaze as he dug a
firebreak to protect his neigh-
bor’s property.
Wind erosion causes fur-
ther damage, Whitten said,
because it strips away soil
and makes the ground less
productive.
“The deeper your soils
are, and the more silts and
clays it has, the more water it
will hold,” he said. “As you
lose that with wind, it will
lose more water, and that will
affect crop yields.”
Yet another large fire ig-
nited July 26 in the same
area, sparked by farm equip-
ment south of Dufur in Was-
co County. The Long Hollow
Fire was 33,451 acres and 95
percent contained as of Tues-
day.
The Boxcar and Jack
Knife fires were started by
lightning in June, primarily
affecting grazing pastures
around Maupin and Grass
Valley located farther south
in the two counties.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown,
along with U.S. Sens. Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley,
have recently called upon the
USDA to provide additional
aid for local farmers affected
by wildfires. In a statement,
Merkley said this EQIP fund-
ing is a step toward recovery.
“While we need significant
funding for recovery beyond
the usual crop insurance or di-
saster assistance, conservation
treatments will help restore
land in the aftermath of this
devastation,” Merkley said.
The initial deadline to ap-
ply for EQIP funding is Aug.
10. Whitten said they are still
gathering information about
how many producers are
affected by the Long Hol-
low fire, and a second sign-
up period will likely run
through Aug. 24.
Producers may apply at
the USDA service centers
in The Dalles or Moro, or
contact Whitten at 541-289-
8559 ext. 112.
Livestock and poultry or-
ganizations last week sent
a letter to President Donald
Trump urging him to ensure
USDA has primary regulatory
authority over lab-grown meat
and poultry products.
They said protecting the
health and welfare of consum-
ers is their top priority and that
goal is achieved under USDA’s
comprehensive regulatory sys-
tem.
Signing the letter were
American Farm Bureau Fed-
eration, National Cattlemen’s
Beef Association, Nation-
al Pork Producers Council,
National Chicken Council,
National Turkey Federation,
American Sheep Industry As-
sociation and North American
Meat Institute.
The letter follows a recent
FDA public meeting, which
they say excluded USDA and at
which FDA indicated it plans to
assert itself as the primary reg-
ulator of cell-cultured products.
“Cell-cultured protein prod-
ucts that purport to be meat or
poultry should be subject to
the same comprehensive in-
spection system that governs
other amenable meat and poul-
try products to ensure they are
wholesome and safe for con-
sumers and to ensure they are
labeled and marketed in a man-
ner that provides a level playing
field in the marketplace,” the
groups said.
USDA is uniquely equipped
to ensure both elements. Its in-
spectors are on site daily and
the agency approves all product
labels to ensure products are
what they claim to be and to
prevent consumers from being
misled, they said.
Cell-cultured meat and
poultry companies can and
should meet the same require-
ments meat and poultry pro-
LEGAL
SECRETARY OF STATE NOTICE OF
RULEMAKING HEARING
Oregon Department of Agriculture, Administration, Administrative
Rules Chapter #603, Sue Gooch, Rules Coordinator, (503) 986-4583,
ADOPT: 603-020-0001, 603-020-0005, 603-020-0010, 603-020-0015, 603-
020-0020, 603-020-0025, 603-020-0030.
RULE SUMMARY: The rule is for the administration of the Bovine
Manure Tax Credit Program. The rule includes program definitions,
describes applicant eligibility, application process and required
application information, sets program fees, includes steps taken to
prorate the tax credit, outlines process for denying certification of tax
credits as well as suspension, revocation, or forfeiture of tax credit
approval. Hearing date August 21, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. Location: Oregon
Department of Agriculture, conference room “D,” 635 Capitol St NE,
Salem, OR 97301. Last day for public comment is August 21, 2018.
31-3/999
David Parry/Press Association File
A burger made from cul-
tured beef, which has been
developed by Mark Post of
Maastricht University in the
Netherlands.
cessing companies have been
meeting for decades, they said.
FDA’s regulatory power
grab is inconsistent with the ad-
ministration’s recently released
government
reorganization
plan that includes moving pri-
mary food-safety functions into
a single agency within USDA,
they said.
U.S. Cattlemen’s Associa-
tion, which submitted a petition
for rulemaking to USDA in
February requesting that lab-
grown products not be labeled
as beef or meat, said the groups’
comments to the president ig-
nore the most pressing element
of the issue.
“Cell-cultured
protein
needs to be labeled for what it
is — and alternative food prod-
uct that is not beef or meat as
consumers currently know it,”
Kenny Graner, USCA presi-
dent, said in a statement to the
press on Thursday.
“USCA has called on Con-
gress and the administration to
engage on this pivotal issue and
implement policies that will get
ahead of consumer confusion
in the marketplace by enforcing
truth in labeling and facilitating
inter-agency dialogue,” he said.
The Good Food Institute, a
plant-based food advocate, also
released a statement in response
to the groups’ letter to Trump,
saying FDA has demonstrated
the expertise necessary to pro-
vide adequate oversight of cul-
tured proteins.
However, the Institute
and cultured-protein compa-
nies stand ready to work with
whichever regulatory agency
ultimately regulates the prod-
ucts, Jessica Almy, GFI director
of policy, said.
“What is most important is
that there is a single point of
entry into the regulatory frame-
work … and that the path to
market is not complicated by
red tape or politically driven
opposition to innovation that
can provide consumers with
safe food choices,” she said.
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