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September 21, 2018 CapitalPress.com 5 Zinke orders transparency in settlement agreements By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Interior Department Sec- retary Ryan Zinke has issued an order a public lands advo- cacy group says is intended to bring more transparency and accountability to consent decrees and settlement agree- ments entered into by the de- partment. The order is intended to alleviate concerns that the litigation process has been used to undermine procedural safeguards to ensure the pub- lic has input in policymaking, particularly when it comes to the practice of “sue and set- tle.” Sue and settle has been used for years by environ- mental groups that don’t like a policy decision by a federal agency, Ethan Lane, execu- tive director of the Public Lands Coun- cil and federal lands for the National Cat- tlemen’s Beef Ethan Lane Association, said. They use it as a spring- board to settle with the agen- cy to get an outcome that’s closer to the policy they want, he said. They’ve learned in the process that “federal agencies will settle rather than roll the dice in court,” he said. It’s a low-cost way to sue and get the public policy they want, he said, adding that they’re holding federal policy hostage and being compensat- ed for legal fees through the Equal Access to Justice Act, he said. One group, Advocates for the West, obtains 31 percent of its annual revenue from at- torney fee awards, he said. Advocates for the West has not responded to Capital Press’ requests for comment, but its 2017 annual report ver- ifies Lane’s assertion. “This is a business model for these people and a very ef- fective one,” he said. Loopholes exist to al- low these groups a conse- quence-free environment to pester federal agencies with habitual litigation, he said. “Litigation is the most consequential issue impact- ing land management in the West,” he said. Zinke’s order is not a sil- ver bullet to fix the abuse, but it will shed some sunlight on the process and give every- body a chance to see what is unfolding in these different challenges, he said. These groups claim to be suing on behalf of the pub- lic, and the public deserves to know who is using that lever- age, he said. With more transparency, people will be able to see what’s going on — and they might say “no, don’t settle with these people,” stick with the science-based decision, he said. “In general, if you can make a decision to placate somebody who’s suing you with nobody knowing … it’s easier to make the decision,” he said. The American Farm Bu- reau Federation maintains that activists have grown rich by suing the government and reaping billions of taxpayers’ dollars — and all in secret. Permanent fire breaks, targeted grazing used to help stop wildfires By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press U.S. Bureau of Land Management fire-fuels spe- cialists in southwest Idaho late this year aim to seed forage kochia in sagebrush steppe where they’ve been clearing roadside fire breaks. Also soon, BLM offi- cials expect to get progress reports on the first year of targeted grazing in a similar landscape to the west, where anecdotal results were favor- able. BLM-led crews have been clearing roadside fire-fuel breaks from Blacks Creek Road east of Boise east to Glenns Ferry, and in some areas to the north and south. Ideally, the firebreaks will slow or help stop range fires while improving access for fire vehicles and crews. “This fall, we will be disking about 1,400 acres along existing road systems to prepare the seed bed for forage kochia seeding later this winter,” said Courtney Wyatt, who leads implemen- tation of the 10-year project, Photo Submitted A patch of forage kochia grows as part of the Bureau of Land Management’s Paradigm Project. called Paradigm. Kochia is known to slow a wildfire’s progress — if working on 300 miles of fuel some that was degraded, she “There is a learning curve for this for everybody, but the compact, perennial shrub breaks. said. with a deep taproot manages “It is challenging to estab- Wyatt said some land- all indications are that it is a lish, has poor seed viability owners to the north have success,” Leonard said. Cat- to establish itself. tle operators rode horses and “Success of forage kochia and does not establish where their own fuel-break plans. seeds has a lot to do with pre- there is already seed compe- To the west, BLM crews used other methods to keep paring the seed bed,” Wyatt tition” such as where prolific, have been working on a the animals in targeted areas. said. non-native annual cheatgrass roughly 30-mile stretch It appears the grazing cat- The 100-foot fuel breaks and medusahead cover the from outside Murphy, Idaho, tle reduced total fuels along- are in place on BLM land ground, he said. “We need to west to the Oregon border. side the break, he said. “They that equipment could access, reduce all of that competition That fuel-break project is consume annuals, and if we she said. Crews cleared sage- first. about 90 percent completed, can manage the livestock brush and other vegetation Wyatt said established ko- said Steve Leonard, BLM up against that fuel break, mechanically or by applying chia outcompetes cheatgrass Owyhee Field Office acting then we complement the fuel and medusahead, including manager in Marsing, Idaho. herbicide. break by reducing fuel loads If seeding goes well in interior spaces between “As we move forward, we further.” enough, “we would look at plants. Fires that run into are looking at doing some Fuel breaks will require an additional approximate- kochia often lose speed as chemical treatment to keep annual maintenance, Leon- ly 100 feet of fuel break,” they go through a patchwork annual grasses out of the fuel ard said. The fuel-break project in Wyatt said. Such extensions of plant material and open break,” he said. would be farther from roads space rather than a contigu- On another front, several the Murphy area is part of and contiguous to existing ous “fire mat” of grass, she cattle operators in the area a $67 million rehabilitation said. kochia’s flame heights recently completed the first effort following the 2015 breaks. Growing kochia can be are also lower. year of a three-year project Soda Fire that burned 436 tough at the beginning, said Clearing roadside breaks that aims to reduce fuel loads square miles of Sagebrush Lance Okeson, fire-fuels took out sagebrush, though it alongside the break using tar- Steppe in Idaho and Oregon, manager based in the BLM was a small percentage of the geted grazing. Final reports the Associated Press report- ed in July. Boise District. The agency is total population and included are forthcoming. The action by the Interior De- partment will open backroom deals to public scrutiny and is long overdue, according to the organization. “The Department of Interi- or is shining light on a corner of government most people don’t even know exists,” El- len Steel, AFBF general coun- sel, said in a statement. Basic transparency de- mands that citizens know what their government is do- ing, she said. “When activists sue, they can tie up the government with dozens of frivolous claims but still recover attor- neys’ fees if a judge upholds even one, solitary claim. Faced with a barrage of alle- gations that sap agency time and resources, whether they have merit or not, the govern- ment is too often motivated to capitulate through secret set- tlements,” she said. Some agencies have even been known to invite liti- gation with the purpose of entering a settlement to pro- vide political cover for con- troversial agency policies, she said. “And in settling, agencies often agree to pay legal fees, which further fuels the sue- and-settle machine. This ac- tion is a solid first step to fix- ing the problem. Every other federal agency should follow suit,” she said. Every decision unfolding on public lands in the West affects cattle and sheep pro- ducers, and all are subject to litigation, Lane said. “Anti-multiple-use groups really target grazing. We cov- er a large area, and we’re easy to regulate,” he said. Ag cautiously optimistic about Trump trade agenda By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press The wheels are beginning to turn on trade moves that will benefit U.S. farmers, but some major concerns remain, the head of an agricultural trade organization says. The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing Sept. 13 fo- cused on the Trump admin- istration’s trade agenda. Brian Kue- hl, executive Brian Kuehl director of Farmers For Free Trade, said he is cautious- ly optimistic. “We’re still very worried about the impact farmers are feeling and are going to con- tinue to feel,” Kuehl told the Capital Press. “A lot of farm- ers are being impacted today, so there’s not a lot of time. People are trying to sell their grain, fruit and produce, and prices are down because of this trade war.” The trade conflicts are causing long-term damage to U.S. agricultural markets, Kuehl said. “The longer we’re in a trade war with China, the more op- portunity Brazil and Australia have to step into that vacuum,” he said. “Even after we get the trade war resolved, it could be a decade before the U.S. gets back to where it was in terms of agricultural trade.” Kuehl said he was con- cerned by comments made by U.S. chief agricultural nego- tiator Gregg Doud during the hearing that the U.S. Trade Representative’s team is not responsible for lifting steel and aluminum tariffs on Mex- ico, calling it a Department of Commerce issue. “That’s really alarming to us, because all of these gov- ernmental entities should be marching in the same direc- tion,” Kuehl said. “If we don’t lift the steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico, they’re not going to lift the tariffs they put on U.S. ag products.” Several months ago, the U.S. announced a similar trade deal with the European Union, but did not lift steel and alumi- num tariffs, and the EU did not lift tariffs on agricultural prod- ucts, he said. “On the one hand, it’s good that we’re talking, that’s en- couraging,” he said. “But we’d like to see these tariffs rolled back while we talk. There’s no point in having the tariffs on and inflicting pain. Everyone knows we can put the tariffs on if we want to; why don’t we lift the tariffs, have the conver- sation and try to reach a deal?” President Donald Trump should not pull the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement until a new deal is solidified with Mexico and Canada and receives con- gressional approval, Kuehl said. “Let’s make sure we have the votes for the new deal be- fore we scrap the old deal,” he said. Another priority is no fur- ther tariffs on China, which would respond further with more tariffs of its own, Kuehl said. “What we want to see is both parties de-escalating, throwing back tariffs and sit- ting down for serious talks,” he said. U.S. Wheat Associates and National Association of Wheat Growers said they appreciat- ed that the administration and committee leaders recognize the challenges farmers face. “It looks like progress to us,” said Steve Mercer, vice president of communications at U.S. Wheat Associates. “There’s rhetoric, there’s real- ity and I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. We’re pleased with the acknowledgment that there is damage to wheat growers from these policies and they are taking steps to ad- dress that.” Farmers are already sowing wheat, said Jimmie Musick, president of National Associa- tion of Wheat Growers and a Sentinel, Okla., farmer. They’d like to see the trade issues resolved to know how much wheat they need to plant and how the market will look, he said. 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