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Friday, December 25, 2020
Volume 93, Number 52
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A PAUSE?
As White House changes
hands, lawsuits expected
to change course
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
he Center for Biological Diversity’s “Trump
Lawsuit Tracker” reports that the environmen-
tal organization sued the current White House
administration 248 times during the past four
years.
That’s an average of about one lawsuit a week,
with Sundays off. When he takes office Jan. 20, Joe
Biden will inherit those unresolved
cases, including several with major
national consequences for farmers and
ranchers.
What the new administration will do
with those lawsuits, however, has law-
yers on all sides of the issues guessing.
“It will affect lawsuits, and it will affect
Eric
Glitzenstein lawsuits dramatically,” the center’s litigation director,
Eric Glitzenstein, said. “That much is easy to predict. The real
question will be how it affects a particular case.”
As a long-time lawyer, Glitzenstein has witnessed the White House reset environmental positions since
Ronald Reagan unseated Jimmy Carter. To make policies stick, he said, new presidents need to move care-
fully, both administratively and in court.
See Lawsuits, Page 9
T
Getty Images
When the
Trump EPA
finalized its
Waters of the
United States
definition, it
prompted law-
suits across the
country.
Washington farm fined $2 million for virus violations
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Courtesy of Gebbers Farms
Plastic barriers sep-
arate workers in a
break room at Geb-
bers Farms in Okano-
gan County, Wash. The
Washington Depart-
ment of Labor and
Industries announced
Dec. 20 it had fined
the farm more than $2
million for violating
coronavirus-safety
rules.
Washington tree fruit grower
Gebbers Farms, where two workers
died last summer of COVID-19, has
been fined more than $2 million for
breaking coronavirus-related hous-
ing and transportation rules.
The Washington Department of
Labor and Industries announced the
penalty Monday, claiming the farm
defied the regulations and commit-
ted more than two dozen violations.
“Gebbers made it very apparent
to investigators they had no inten-
tion of following the rules as written
regarding temporary agricultural
worker housing and transportation,”
L&I Director Joel said in statement.
Gebbers spokeswoman Amy
Philpott said Sacks’ comment
was “extremely concerning” and
“untrue.”
“We explicitly said we would
come into compliance as quickly as
we could,” she said. “We strongly dis-
agree with the agency on this matter.”
Philpott said the farm was con-
sidering whether to appeal the fine.
A 37-year-old farmworker from
Mexico died July 8, and a 63-year-
old farmworker from Jamaica died
July 31 of COVID-19. Both were in
the country on H-2A visas and lived
in company housing.
According to L&I, the farm
improperly housed and transported
workers, potentially exposing 2,700
H-2A workers to the coronavirus.
See Fine, Page 9
Oregon to phase out most uses of chlorpyrifos by end of 2023
Farm Bureau calls for research into alternatives
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon is
moving forward with a final
rule to phase out most uses
of the pesticide chlorpyrifos
by the end of 2023.
Chlorpyrifos
was
approved for use on more
than 50 crops statewide —
including Christmas trees,
hazelnuts, grass seed, alfalfa,
sugar beets and cranber-
ries — but garnered contro-
versy after studies showed
it may have harmful neuro-
logical effects, especially in
children.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture convened a
13-member workgroup in
December 2019 to evaluate
potential health and safety
restrictions for chlorpyri-
fos. Members represented
industry and environmen-
tal groups, farmworker
advocates and public health
experts.
Legislation
to
ban
chlorpyrifos also passed the
Oregon House earlier this
year, before stalling in the
Senate amid the Republican
walkout.
Ultimately, ODA crafted
a three-year phaseout that
immediately
classifies
chlorpyrifos as a restrict-
ed-use pesticide. The rule,
formally adopted Dec. 15,
stops short of a complete
ban and will continue to
Associated Press File
Oregon researchers are exploring alternatives to
chlorpyrifos, but they say they do not have sufficient
funding to do the work.
allow certain uses, such as
cattle ear tags, pre-plant
seed treatments and granular
formulations aimed at con-
trolling soil-borne pests.
“We feel like we came up
with a rule that gives some
flexibility to the agricultural
community, and is protec-
tive of workers, bystand-
ers and water quality,” said
Rose Kachadoorian, ODA
pesticides program man-
ager. “We will work with the
industries as best we can to
help find alternatives.”
As of Jan. 1, 2021,
chlorpyrifos may no longer
be used to spray for mos-
quitoes, on golf courses or
inside greenhouses unless
they meet minimum ventila-
tion standards.
Aerial
spraying
of
chlorpyrifos is prohibited on
all crops, except for Christ-
mas trees within a short win-
dow from April 1 through
June 15. Farmworkers can-
not re-enter fields for at
least four days after the last
application.
Also
beginning
in
2021, only licensed appli-
cators may use and
See Chlorpyrifos, Page 9