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4 CapitalPress.com Friday, January 8, 2021 Senator puts Washington meat inspections on table Spending, By DON JENKINS Capital Press The top-ranking Republican on the Washington Senate agricul- ture committee has reintroduced the apparently popular but so far unfunded idea of the state inspect- ing meat and poultry. State inspections would com- plement USDA inspections, help- ing small producers reach retail markets and allowing meat to be labeled “Washington inspected and approved.” “It would give consumers a bet- ter idea of where the meat was raised,” said Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake. The USDA monopolizes inspec- tions under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. But with USDA oversight, states can have their own inspectors. Senate Bill 5045, introduced by Warnick, would direct the state Department of Agriculture to nego- tiate with the USDA to create Reg Keddie/Dayton Natural Meats File Washington state Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, has introduced a bill creating a meat and poultry inspection program within the state Department of Agriculture. a state program. The department already licenses more than 100 custom-meat proces- sors. But those businesses can only process meat for the owners of the animal. State inspections would allow small producers to sell meat without first selling a share of the animal to the consumer. Some 27 states have meat inspec- tion programs, with the USDA pay- ing half the cost. Oregon lawmak- ers last spring voted to have state inspectors. The state Department of Agriculture hopes to have a program formed by mid-2024. Washington lawmakers also con- sidered creating a meat inspection program last year. The state agricul- ture projected that inspecting cus- tom-meat operations would cost $1.8 million a year. The bill was scaled back, direct- ing the agriculture department to help producers market meat and to nego- tiate an agreement with USDA. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and advanced through House com- mittees without opposition. The proposal stalled at the end, though. The bill still cost $245,400 a year and didn’t make the budget. Warnick said she hoped a bill could be written to cost halfway between $1.8 million and $245,400. “We’re hoping to get it done because it would open up an opportunity for a number of facilities,” she said. Pacific Power rates drop 3.5% for irrigation customers By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press PORTLAND — Oregon regu- lators have approved lower electric rates for Pacific Power customers in 2021, thanks in part to cheaper fuel and tax credits from wind and solar energy, according to the utility. That comes as welcome news for irrigators already struggling finan- cially with the coronavirus pan- demic and water shortages due to extreme drought. Most of Pacific Power’s 615,000 Oregon customers will see a 5.2% rate reduction, including an esti- mated 3.5% reduction for agri- cultural pumping. The utility has 7,984 irrigation customers state- wide, about half of whom are in the drought-stricken Klamath Basin. Ben DuVal, power committee chairman for the Klamath Water Users Association, said the group is pleased with the outcome following months of deliberations. “We appreciate Pacific Power’s constructive approach to negotia- tion and settlement,” DuVal said in a statement. “We were able to resolve irrigators’ most important issues efficiently, and cost-effectively.” Given the company’s initial pro- posal, things could have turned out much differently. Pacific Power submitted its request for a general rate revision to the Oregon Public Utility Commis- sion in February 2020, asking for a 6% increase. For irrigators, the rate hike would have been 10%. Rate increases were needed to Energy Trust of Oregon Pacific Power irrigation customers in Oregon will see a rate reduction. help pay for more renewable energy and transmission upgrades while phasing out coal-fired power plants, the company argued. In 2016, Oregon lawmak- ers passed the Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Act, directing the state’s two largest utilities — Pacific Power and Portland Gen- eral Electric — to stop using coal by 2030 and double their renewable energy mandate by 2040. The KWUA and Oregon Farm Bureau, among other organizations, contested Pacific Power’s rate case. “Electricity is one of the most significant operating costs for agri- cultural customers who are highly dependent upon the use of pumping and sprinkler equipment to deliver water to their crops,” KWUA stated in an Oct. 12 filing. Increasing electricity costs would exacerbate an already dire situation for farmers and ranchers reeling from drought, wildfires and COVID-19, the filing stated. The PUC determined that Pacific Power cannot charge ratepayers for incremental decommissioning costs of its remaining coal plants — at least for now. “We must ensure that Pacifi- Corp’s transition away from coal resources is fair to Oregon cus- tomers,” said Megan Decker, PUC chairwoman. “We need to improve Oregonians’ confidence in the cost estimates through additional PUC staff and stakeholder review before we include PacifiCorp’s projected costs in rates.” The PUC also approved Pacific Power’s annual Transition Adjust- ment Mechanism, or TAM, that incorporates fuel costs and tax cred- its associated with multi-billion dollar investments in renewable energy. Stefan Bird, president and CEO of Pacific Power, said the revised general rates and TAM combined should lower customers’ electric bills by an average of 5.2% in 2021. “We kept our commitment to our customers in 2017 to keep rates flat for at least three years and we are pleased to now deliver these price reductions while simultaneously making big strides in decarboniza- tion and network resilience,” Bird said. DuVal, with the KWUA, said irrigators should see a 3.5% reduc- tion with the new base rate and annual adjustments. “Customers are getting eco- nomic benefit from smart invest- ments that Pacific Power has made in meeting its renewable energy requirements in the state of Ore- gon,” he said. But Decker, the PUC chair- woman, cautioned that rates may increase in 2022 after fur- ther evaluation of Pacific Pow- er’s ongoing costs as it drops coal generation. Critic of farm employers wins Washington state grant By DON JENKINS Capital Press The farmworker advo- cacy group Community to Community Development, a politically active organi- zation that accuses agricul- ture of exploitative labor practices, has received a $50,000 grant from the Inslee administration. The Bellingham, Wash.- based organization is one of 358 nonprofits to share in $11.85 million from the Washington Equity Relief Fund for Nonprofits. Gov. Jay Inslee directed the state Department of Commerce to give federal CARES Act funds to non- profit groups led by minori- ties and that serve minorities. Nearly 1,000 organizations applied. Commerce announced the recipients Dec. 30 but did not disclose spending plans by the organizations. The grants ranged from $25,000 to $75,000. Community to Commu- nity has been at the forefront of farm labor issues, argu- ing there is no shortage of U.S. farmworkers and calling for an end to foreign guest- worker programs, as well as capitalism. The group has sup- ported boycotts and strikes, and endorsed legislation to increase state oversight of farm labor conditions. “As a farmworker com- munity leader, I hold the state accountable for the deaths of farmworkers that have hap- pened and will continue to happen,” the group’s head, Rosalinda Guillen, told a Senate committee in 2019. The Commerce Depart- ment declined Monday to provide details on Commu- nity to Community’s applica- tion. A spokeswoman said in an email that “there is noth- ing in the application requir- ing them to say how they will use the money.” “The only requirements are an attestation that the organization has been impacted by COVID and, of course, they cannot use the money for any illegal pur- poses,” the spokeswoman said. Community to Commu- nity’s application was spon- sored by the Institute for Washington’s Future, a non- profit whose board chair- woman is Guillen. 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CUSTOMER SERVICE IS OUR TOP PRIORITY! w w w. w e s t e r n p a c k a g i n g. c o m S214623-1 S224745-1 relief package to benefit cattle producers By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Several provisions in the government spending and COVID-19 relief package signed by President Donald Trump will benefit cattle pro- ducers and the industry. The bill includes $1.4 tril- lion in government spending and $900 bil- lion for pan- demic relief. T h e relief por- tion of the bill includes $11 billion Danielle for USDA to Beck prevent, pre- pare for and respond to COVID by pro- viding support to agricultural producers. It includes addi- tional funding for cattle pro- ducers, said Danielle Beck, senior executive director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Cattle producers received payments from earlier pan- demic relief approved by Congress through the Coro- navirus Aid, Relief and Eco- nomic Security Act. The first was for losses from Jan. 15 through April 15. The second was an inventory payment, which NCBA said fell short of covering all losses. The third payment is for losses incurred from April 16 through May 14, Beck said in the latest “Beltway Beef” podcast. “It’s really intended to provide assistance to those producers who were really left out in the cold after that April 15 cutoff date,” she said. The additional payment will be based on what pro- ducers previously received, she said. “So this is some targeted relief that we’ve really been asking for way back when the CARES Act was enacted,” she said. Another big win for cattle producers and NCBA was the inclusion of provisions pro- posed in the Requiring Assis- tance to Meat Processors for Upgrading Plants, known as the RAMP-UP Act. The COVID relief por- tion of the bill provides $60 million for USDA grants to meat and poultry processors to upgrade their facilities to become part of the federal inspection system to be able to sell across state lines, she said. “That’s, I think, tre- mendous when it comes to increasing competition in the packing sector,” she said. It would allow more mar- ket access, allow custom products to make their way into new markets and, hope- fully, provide more hook space, she said. “These grants getting out the door sooner rather than later are going to help us out quickly and make changes, much-needed changes, sooner,” she said. USDA is also required to work with states to improve the existing Cooperative Interstate Shipping program. It is also required to conduct a report on the availability of financing for new and exist- ing meat and poultry pro- cessing capacity, she said. The bill also includes $284 billion in a second round of Paycheck Protection Pro- gram loans that simplifies the forgiveness process for loans under $150,000, she said. “More importantly, the bill specifies that for- given PPP loans will not be included in taxable income,” she said. In addition, the bill clari- fies deductions are allowed for expenses paid with the proceeds from a PPP loan, she said. The relief portion of the package also ensures live- stock producers are paid for their animals by requiring dealer trusts.