Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current, December 21, 2018, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextFriday, December 21, 2018 CapitalPress.com 3 Even after Farm Bill, hemp needs help from lawmakers By DON JENKINS Capital Press Federal lawmakers have lightened up on hemp, but the non-intoxicating plant still needs an assist from Washington’s marijua- na-embracing legislators. The new Farm Bill takes hemp off the federal list of illicit drugs, but it does not change state hemp laws. In Washington, hemp can’t be grown within 4 miles of marijuana. That regulation helps explain why Washington has lagged behind other states in grow- ing and processing hemp. Washington has more than 1,200 licensed mari- juana growers, according to the State Liquor and Canna- bis Board. A large portion of the state is closed to hemp. Furthermore, a mari- juana producer can displace a hemp farmer. Even if the hemp farmer plants ﬁ rst, the later-arriving marijuana grower takes precedent. “Why would you start a 1,000-acre hemp farm in Washington, when a mari- juana farmer with one lousy greenhouse can come along, and you have to move?” asked Joy Beckerman, pres- ident of the Hemp Indus- tries Association, a national advocacy group. Hemp Northwest, a food maker based in Hood River, Ore., wants to press Wash- ington-grown hemp seeds into vegetable oil and pro- tein powder, but its only Washington supplier is the Colville Confederated Tribes, which raises hemp on its reservation. “That 4-mile rule is deﬁ - nitely a big hinderance,” the company’s CEO, Tonia Farman, said. “I keep hear- ing from farmers that that’s a huge barrier that keeps people from wanting to get into industrial hemp in Washington.” The state Department of Agriculture adopted the 4-mile rule in 2017 to pre- Oregon’s sage grouse population drops 10% By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Oregon’s sage grouse population was down 10 percent in 2018, which reﬂ ects unfavorable weather conditions rather than the efﬁ cacy of recov- ery efforts, according to state wildlife regulators. Aerial and ground sur- veys of breeding sites, or leks, conducted by the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife pegged the number of sage grouse at 18,421, down from 20,510 the previous year. The change in popula- tions wasn’t uniform across the state, ranging from a 6 percent increase in the U.S. Bureau of Land Manage- ment’s Prineville District in Central Oregon to a 14 percent decline in the Vale District in Eastern Oregon. The greater sage grouse was long a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection, which ranch- ers fear would lead to fur- ther grazing restrictions, but the federal government decided against listing the bird in 2015 partly due to habitat conservation agreements by the live- stock industry. Reproductive success was lower than average due to dry weather, with such ﬂ uctuations not unusual in the sage grouse population, testiﬁ ed Kevin Blakely, ODFW’s wildlife division dep- uty administrator, before the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on Dec. 12. Speciﬁ cally, soil mois- ture must be recharged during winter and spring rains must ensure the growth of forbs that attract insects, which the sage grouse eats, Blakely said. Drought in 2017 caused fewer chicks to survive and reduced the bird’s population this year, he said. Blakely’s presentation Jerret Raﬀ ety/Associated Press Drought appears to be a factor in the number of greater sage grouse in Eastern Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. was part of an update for lawmakers on the status of sage grouse recovery efforts, but a partnership dedicated to the bird’s conservation, SageCon, also plans to seek more than $1 million in addi- tional state funds for preservation activities next year. One of the main strat- egies of sage grouse con- servation — rangeland wildﬁ re suppression — was successful in 2018, with 20,000 acres of the bird’s habitat burned compared to 100,000 acres in 2017, Blakely said. Rural ﬁ re protection associations, which are operated by ranchers and other volunteers across 16 million acres in Ore- gon, were instrumen- tal in limiting the spread of rangeland ﬁ res, tes- tiﬁ ed John O’Keefe, a Lake County rancher and past president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. Despite having the same number of ﬁ re igni- tions in 2018, fewer acres burned due to the dili- gence of RFPAs, whose volunteers are familiar with local terrain, ﬁ re fuel sources and travel routes, O’Keefe said. “These are a signif- icant force,” he said. “These are the things that can make an ignition a small event.” Don Jenkins/Capital Press File Hemp consultant Joy Beckerman watches hemp being planted in a ﬁ eld near Moses Lake in Central Washington. The legislature will have to improve the state law on hemp cultivation before the crop can thrive in the state, she says. vent hemp from cross-pol- linating with Washington’s lucrative marijuana plants. The department originally proposed a 3-mile buffer. Marijuana advocates report- edly asked for a buffer as big as 10 miles. It wasn’t a horri- ble outcome for hemp, con- sidering marijuana’s abil- ity to generate government revenue. The state collected $319 million in taxes and license fees from the marijuana industry in the most-recent ﬁ scal year. Meanwhile, the state lost money regulating hemp. The state now has nine licensed hemp farmers or processors. That doesn’t reﬂ ect the level of interest, Hemp Industries of Wash- ington lobbyist Bonny Jo Peterson said. “A lot of it is waiting for the state to get its act together,” she said. Agriculture department spokesman Hector Castro said the department has no plans to propose changing the 4-mile rule or any other of its hemp rules. “It just doesn’t make sense for us to get ahead of the Legislature,” he said. “We’re aware the 4-mile buffer is something the hemp industry has had some frustrations with.” The state agriculture department wrote the rules based on the 2014 Farm Bill. The bill allowed hemp farming under state super- vision, but did not change hemp’s status as a con- trolled substance. As a result, Washington controls the seed supply and prohib- its the manufacture of can- nabidiol, or CBD. CBD has operated in a gray area. It’s a big part of the hemp industry and accepted in many states, even though the Drug Enforcement Administration has maintained it’s illegal. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a trade group, said in a legal analysis that the Farm Bill erases any doubt that CBD is legal. Efforts to obtain com- ment from the DEA were unsuccessful. Peterson said she thinks legislators will lift the CBD restriction. She said Peterson said she expects opposition from some marijuana grow- ers, but predicted the 4-mile buffer will be dropped or reduced. “I’m very conﬁ - dent our legislators want to see (hemp) move forward,” she said. Efforts to obtain com- ment from the Washing- ton CannaBusiness Associ- ation, a trade group, were unsuccessful. Beckerman was a leading advocate for allowing hemp to be grown in Washington. She has since moved to New York, but remains in con- tact with Northwest hemp organizations. Inslee orca plan includes look at breaching dams By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — A $1.1 bil- lion orca-rescue plan rolled out Thursday by Washing- ton Gov. Jay Inslee includes $750,000 for another look at breaching four dams on the Lower Snake River. The dams in southeast Washington generate elec- tricity and allow farmers to move grain by barge down the Columbia River’s main tributary. Inslee said a task force would study whether wind and solar power could replace hydropower and whether trucks and trains could replace river trafﬁ c. “We need a really thor- ough evaluation of that, and I’m pleased that we’re start- ing that serious discussion because we need to have it,” Inslee said at a press conference on a two-year, $54.3 billion spending plan he will present to the 2019 Legislature. It would be a 21 per- cent increase over the oper- ating budget lawmakers enacted in 2017. Inslee pro- posed nearly $4 billion in new or higher taxes, some of which would go to the sepa- rate transportation budget to remove culverts. Inslee based his orca plan on recommendations from a task force he created last spring. The population of South Resident orcas, three pods of killer whales in Puget Sound and off Wash- ington’s coast, has declined to 74 from a peak of 98 in 1995. Experts attribute the drop to a lack of ﬁ sh, pollu- tion and noisy vessels. The Washington Farm Bureau was on the task force, but declined to endorse the report sent to Inslee. The Farm Bureau said it backed many of the recommenda- tions, but could not sup- port another look at breach- ing Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Granite and Lower Monumental dams. Some 40 percent of the nation’s wheat moves through the Lower Snake River’s systems of dams and locks, according to the Army Weekly Fieldwork Report Don Jenkins/Capital Press Washington Gov. Jay Inslee talks at a press conference Dec. 13 in Olympia about his $1.1 billion proposal to help the health of orcas. The plan includes studying whether to breach four dams on the Lower Snake River in southeast Washington. Corps of Engineers, the dams’ operator. The corps has studied and rejected breaching the dams. A fed- eral judge in 2016 ordered another review that may be ﬁ nished by 2020. “By forming this work group, we will have a good state voice in that federal decision-making process,” Inslee said. Environmental groups pushed for a state-level look at breaching the dams. Orca task force co-chairwoman Stephanie Solien said the task force heard more about the dams than other issues. “I think we need to bring people to the table to talk. They’re talking over each other,” she said. “My hope is we can help with that.” Inslee said humans and orcas were having a “shared moment.” “We share so much with the orcas. We share about the same body tempera- ture. We share about the same heartbeat rate. We share close familiar social interactions and bonds, and we share the need to defeat environmental degrada- tion,” he said. “When we save the orcas from toxins, we save ourselves; when we save them from cli- mate change, we save our- selves; when we save them from pollution, we save ourselves.” Pillars of the orca plan include $363 million in the capital budget for salmon recovery and $296 million in the transportation bud- get to remove culverts. The state was already under a federal court order to remove ﬁ sh barriers. Other parts of the plan include $75.7 million to improve hatcheries, $19 million to pay landowners to protect habitat and $6.2 million for enforcement of water-qual- ity laws. Inslee’s budget proposal includes a new capital gains tax projected to raise $975 million the ﬁ rst year. The 9 percent tax would apply to the sale of stocks bonds and other assets of more than $25,000 for individuals and $50,000 for married cou- ples. Sales of homes, timber and farms would be exempt from the tax. Inslee also proposes to raise revenue by rais- ing taxes on some home sales and business taxes on services. Presented by For December 28 th Issue: ® News Display & Legal Ads - Friday, Dec. 21st @ Noon CLASSIFIED REMAINS THE SAME Class Display - Wednesday, Dec. 26th @ 10 am Class Liners - Wednesday, Dec. 26th @ Noon Ore. Wash. Idaho Calif. For January 4 th Issue: 87.4% 79.6% Normal/ 33% below 81.8% 65.7% • Precipitation, 6-10 day outlook 74.8% 100% Normal/ 33% below 92.1% 92.2% Normal/ 33% below 50-70% above 50-60% above 60-70% above 50-70% above News Display & Legal Ads - Friday, Dec. 28th @ Noon CLASSIFIED REMAINS THE SAME Class Display - Wednesday, Jan. 2nd @ 10 am Class Liners - Wednesday, Jan. 2nd @ Noon • Soil moisture anomaly Below normal Below normal Normal/ Below normal Below normal Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA) • Snow water equivalent * • Percent area in drought • Avg. temperature, 6-10 day outlook (Percent chance deviation from normal) (Percent chance deviation from normal) (Monthly deviation from normal) *Aggregate average percent of median as of Dec. 19. Medians calculated for the period from 1981-2010. 33% below Sources: USDA, NRCS; NOAA, www.ca.gov/; www.drought.gov/ www.capitalpress.com 51-2/HOU