CapitalPress.com 13
Friday, March 1, 2019
Senate approves Eastern Oregon
industrial development bill
Up to 50 acres in
10 counties could be
slated for industrial
development
outside cities
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Ten counties in East-
ern Oregon could authorize
up to 50 acres of industrial
development outside urban
growth boundaries under a
bill approved 26-2 by the
Senate on Feb. 21.
Senate Bill 2, which is
intended to spur economic
development in Baker, Gil-
liam, Grant, Harney, Lake,
Malheur, Sherman, Union,
Wallowa and Wheeler coun-
ties, will now be consid-
ered by the
House.
Under
the
pro-
posal, the
“industrial
uses or other
Sen. Bill
employment
Hansell
uses”
could
occur on up to 10 sites that
aren’t located on high-value
farmland or sage grouse
habitat.
Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, said
that many lawmakers have
repeatedly tried to make such
changes to Oregon’s land use
laws without success.
“This effort itself took
years and to be frank with
you, I am surprised we were
able to break through,” he
said.
The proposal was crafted
with the help of the Ore-
gon Farm
Bureau and
the
1,000
Friends of
Oregon con-
servation
group, nei-
Sen. Cliff
ther of which
Bentz
are opposed
to the bill, said Bill Hansell,
R-Athena.
Hansell noted that a sim-
ilar land use approach has
been used in Washington
state to spur development in
rural counties, so Oregon is
not “reinventing the wheel”
but rather adapting it to the
state’s needs.
Though 50 acres per
county is “modest” com-
pared to the tens of millions
of acres in Eastern Oregon,
“the impact of this bill could
be enormous,” said Sen. Cliff
Bentz, R-Ontario.
Bentz said that agricul-
tural mechanization has led
to larger farms in Eastern
Oregon, helping to deplete
the rural population.
“Where there used to be
15 or 20 families, there is
now one,” he said.
Over the past 12 years, the
industrial acreage surround-
ing Ontario, Ore., has surged
from about 70 acres to about
1,000 acres, though com-
panies and people have not
“flocked in” to those areas,
Bentz said.
Senate Bill 2 may “sadly”
yield a similar result but the
proposal does offer hope to
the 10 Eastern Oregon coun-
ties, he said.
“This bill will hopefully
slow the erosion of people
from this incredibly beauti-
ful and valuable part of our
state,” Bentz said.
NRCS /Tracy Robillard.
A monarch butterfly on milkweed.
NRCS offers conservation
assistance for monarch
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
A reported 85 percent
decline in the overwintering
monarch butterfly’s west-
ern population from 2017 to
2018 prompted the USDA
Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service in Idaho to
remind farmers of the finan-
cial and technical resources
is has available for conser-
vation projects.
The Xerces Society for
Invertebrate
Conserva-
tion said the abrupt one-
year decline left the western
monarch population at less
than 1 percent of 1980s lev-
els. The population has been
declining since the 1980s —
in part because of decreases
in native plants such as
milkweed, on which mon-
arch caterpillars feed.
In a report, Xerces said
low estimates for 2018 were
foreshadowed by reports of
low numbers of the west-
ern monarch breeding pop-
ulation observed in western
states in the summer and in
preliminary Thanksgiving
count data.
“The drop between the
2017 and 2018 counts may
be attributable to late-season
storms and a severe wild-
fire season in California and
elsewhere in the West,” the
report said.
“With the monarch but-
terfly’s western population
in peril, we’re encouraging
our Idaho producers to work
with their local USDA Ser-
vice Center and Soil and
Water Conservation Dis-
trict on how to implement
pollinator habitat practices
into their operation for
the benefit of our beloved
monarch butterflies,” Cur-
tis Elke, Idaho state con-
servationist with NRCS,
said in a release. “NRCS
offers more than three
dozen conservation prac-
tices that enable produc-
ers to help monarchs and
other pollinators as well
as benefit their agricultural
operations.”
Part of the cost may be
covered through the Envi-
ronmental Quality Incen-
tives Program and other
farm bill-funded programs,
Columbia, Snake locks to
close for annual maintenance
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
All navigation locks at dams
along the Columbia and Snake riv-
ers will close for annual maintenance
starting this Saturday, according to
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
which operates the facilities.
The locks will close to barge
and boat traffic at 6 a.m. March 2,
according to the Corps.
Ice Harbor, McNary, John Day,
The Dalles and Bonneville locks
are scheduled to return to service at
11:59 p.m. March 17.
Lower Monumental, Lower
Granite and Little Goose locks are
scheduled to return to service at
11:59 p.m. March 24. The additional
time is needed for non-routine work
such as structural gate repairs, con-
crete repair and equipment repair or
replacement, according to the Corps.
Grain companies that depend
on barges to move wheat down-
stream to customers in Portland
and overseas plan for the closures,
said Randy Olstad, vice president
of agronomy for Columbia Grain
in Clarkston, Wash.
“We give everybody the heads-up
what’s coming down the river and
this timeline to make sure our locks
are in good condition so it doesn’t
disrupt any service during the rest of
the year,” Oldstad said. “It’s some-
thing we just deal with.”
In an emergency, Olstad said, the
company might take on the addi-
tional cost of using rail or trucks
instead of barges.
“We’re loading grain barges
every week of the year, so we’ve
planned on what we’re going to be
selling and moving,” said Damon
Filan, manager of Tri-Cities Grain
and industry representative on the
Washington Grain Commission
board. “We know when the river
opens back up we’ll be busy again in
March and April.”
Filan’s company loads one or two
barges four or five days before the
closure ends, or earlier if the elevator
space is needed.
“Then they’re ready to go,” he
said. “When the river opens back up,
they’ll be some of the first barges
back down to the export terminals.”
NRCS said.
Planting nectar plants to
sustain butterflies and milk-
weed to feed caterpillars can
help give monarchs the best
chance of recovery, accord-
ing to Xerces. NRCS rec-
ommends Idaho producers
establish plants that bloom
in late summer and early
fall as monarchs leave the
region to return to overwin-
tering sites along the Cali-
fornia coast.
NRCS said that while
many conservation practices
it recommends may target
improving grazing lands or
reducing soil erosion, sim-
ple changes to plant selec-
tion and how management
practices are timed can help
monarchs substantially.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
The Washington Senate is considering a bill that
would raise state brand inspection fees to keep the
program out of the red.
Washington cattle groups
back brand fee proposal
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Three
Washington ranching groups
on Monday endorsed rais-
ing a slate of fees to stop the
state Department of Agricul-
ture from shutting down its
brand-inspection program.
Fees
for
inspect-
ing branded cattle would
increase by 10 percent to
$1.21 per head under Sen-
ate Bill 5959, introduced by
Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Mo-
ses Lake.
The fee for inspect-
ing unbranded cattle would
increase by 150 percent to $4
a head, an incentive for pro-
ducers to identify their cattle.
Warnick said brand
inspections are critical for
preventing theft and helping
the agriculture department
contain diseases. The agri-
culture department agrees,
but says fees, last raised in
2006, aren’t high enough to
sustain the inspections.
The department proj-
ects a two-year deficit of
nearly $1 million by the
end of June. The depart-
ment has taken money
from other programs to
continue the inspections. If
the lawmakers don’t raise
fees, the department says it
hopes they will pass a bill
letting it end brand inspec-
tions, relying instead on
electronic reporting of
transactions.
Over the past several
years, segments of the
livestock industry have
been unable to agree on
new fees.
At a Ways and Means
Committee hearing, the
Washington Cattlemen’s
Association, the Cattle
Producers of Washington
and the Washington Cat-
tle Feeders Association
endorsed Warnick’s bill.
Agriculture department
senior policy adviser Evan
Sheffels said the agency just
wants the program to sup-
port itself. He suggested law-
makers amend the bill allow-
ing the department to reduce
or discontinue services if
higher fees still fall short of
expenses.
In a fiscal analysis of the
bill, the department says
it’s hard to say how much
the higher fees would gen-
erate. The department esti-
mated hiking the inspection
fees to the level proposed in
Warnick’s bill would raise
another $775,350 the first
year.
In the House, Rep. Tom
Dent, R-Moses Lake, is also
working on a proposal. It has
yet to be released.
“I don’t know how we
can ever have unanimous
agreement from the indus-
try,” Dent said. “It’s a strong
industry, with strong person-
alities. That’s a reality.”
Washington has 5,864
active brands, according to
the agriculture department,
but the number has been
dropping. Based on recent
history, the department proj-
ects recording 5,512 brands
next year.
SB 5959 would also
allow all cattle transactions
to be reported electroni-
cally. Currently, only sales
of unbranded dairy cattle can
be reported electronically.
The bill also allows
ranchers to have their cat-
tle inspected by agricul-
ture
department-trained
field inspectors, rather than
department employees.
Under SB 5959:
• The fee for inspect-
ing branded cattle would
increase to $1.21 from $1.10,
plus a $20 call-out fee.
Approximately 55 percent of
cattle are branded, according
to the department.
• The fee for inspect-
ing unbranded cattle would
increase to $4 from $1.60,
plus a $20 call-out fee.
• The fee to record a brand
would increase to $132 from
$120.
• The fee to transfer a
brand would increase to
$27.50 from $25.
• Introduces a $100 fee to
transfer a “legacy brand.” A
legacy brand is older than 25
years.
• The annual fee to license
a feedlot would increase to
$935 from $850. Washing-
ton has six certified feedlot
operators, with 11 feedlots.
The per-head inspection fee
would increase to 28 cents
from 25 cents.
• Annual fees to license a
livestock market would rise.
The four largest markets
would pay $495, up from
$450. Annual license fees for
the state’s two smaller mar-
kets also would also increase
by 10 percent.
Arbitration agreements must
be understood, attorney says
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Arbi-
tration agreements to prevent
employees from filing class-ac-
tion lawsuits may not be the pana-
cea for labor disputes that employ-
ers think, a labor attorney says.
To be binding, arbitration
agreements must be understood
by employees who sign them,
Sarah Wixson, a Yakima attor-
ney with the law firm of Stokes
Lawrence told the Washington
Growers League annual meeting
in Yakima, Feb. 20. Wixson spe-
cializes in representing agricul-
tural companies in employment
litigation.
Noting that one organiza-
tion has been pushing arbitration
agreements as a way to prevent
class-action lawsuits, Wixson said
it can be done but has to be care-
fully done and fair.
Employees have to understand
what they are signing and such
agreements can
lead to arbitra-
tion for each indi-
vidual employee,
which could be
more costly to an
employer than a
Sarah Wixson,
class-action suit,
farm labor
she said.
attorney
The
farm
labor association
WAFLA recommends employ-
ers require workers to sign arbi-
tration agreements as a condition
of getting hired to bar class-ac-
tion lawsuits. Attorneys like large
class-action suits and are less
likely to be interested in small
suits, WAFLA has said.
Among other tips to employ-
ers, Wixson said clear commu-
nications and treating employees
well go a long way to prevent-
ing labor disputes. Uniform and
consistent treatment of employ-
ees is important, she said. Super-
visors should stay calm to prevent
escalations of any given situation,
knowing that if they over-react
the moment will be caught on a
smart phone video and end up on
You Tube, she said.
Job descriptions and expecta-
tions should be clear, handbooks
should be updated and any griev-
ances should be documented and
addressed, Wixson said.
Wages, rest breaks, safety
and health issues, restrooms and
supervisor behavior are the most
common areas of grievances, she
said.
It helps to have bilingual super-
visors to remove communication
barriers, she said.
Harassment can be overt or
more subtle but pervasive and
employers should look to diffuse
small things before they become
big, Wixson said.
For example, a female
employee didn’t like it when
a male supervisor continually
greeted her with a firm hand-
shake when she came out of a
port-a-potty.