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CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 9, 2021
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approved by members of the
Capital Press Editorial Board.
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Opinion
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com | CapitalPress.com/opinion
Our View
Prop 12 is bad law that should be struck down
N
ext week the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals will hear a case
to overturn California Proposition
12, an animal welfare measure approved
by voters in 2018.
Officially the Farm Animal Confinement
Initiative, Prop 12 bans the sale of eggs and
pork and veal products in California unless
production facilities meet animal-confine-
ment standards dictated by the state. The
practical impact of Prop 12 would be to
impose California’s animal husbandry rules
on producers throughout the country.
It is bad law, and should be struck down.
The National Pork Producers Council
and the American Farm Bureau Federation
filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court
in San Diego, arguing that subjecting out-
of-state producers to California’s regula-
tions violates the U.S. Constitution’s Com-
merce Clause.
Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution
gives to Congress the power to regulate
“commerce with foreign nations and among
the several states.”
Plaintiffs argued that Prop 12 would
National Pork Producers Council/Linked In
A California proposition dictates how
farmers in other states must raise their
hogs if they want to sell pork in the
Golden State.
upend pork production in the United States
and make it all but impossible for the pork
industry to cater to the California market
without mandating that all producers adopt
that state’s standard.
In similar cases the Supreme Court
has adopted a two-tiered test to deter-
mine whether a state law violates the
Commerce Clause.
First, laws that “discriminate against
interstate commerce” or “directly regulate
extra-territorial conduct” are generally stuck
down.
Second, laws that “regulate even-hand-
edly to effectuate a legitimate local pub-
lic interest, and where its effects on inter-
state commerce are only incidental, will be
upheld unless the burden imposed on such
commerce is clearly excessive in relation to
the putative local benefit.”
The district court found that plaintiffs
failed both tests, ruling that the purpose of
Prop 12 was not specifically meant to reg-
ulate activity in other states and that its
impacts on interstate commerce are limited
to those who directly sell to California.
On its face, Prop 12 deals solely with
products sold within the state. The animal
welfare advocates who backed the mea-
sure, however, knew the larger impacts of
Prop 12.
Part of a litter of pigs born in Iowa could
be sold to feeders in Nebraska while others
could go to North Carolina. All of the pigs
Our View
Comparing apples to Apple
A
s legislators continue to debate
whether and how much over-
time pay should be paid to farm-
workers who pick apples and do other
jobs on Washington’s and Oregon’s
farms, we were reminded of another
Apple — the maker of the iPhone.
Instead of being reviled as a com-
pany that takes advantage of its workers in
China, Apple is seen as the very model of
a modern corporation. With a market cap-
italization of more than $2 trillion, Apple
is the largest company in the world and the
darling of Wall Street and Main Street.
But let’s take a close look at Apple and
how its Chinese contractors treat workers
compared to how a typical apple orchard’s
workers are treated.
First, let’s look at Apple’s iPhone, the
company’s cash cow. Now ubiquitous in
the U.S. and much of the world, the iPhone
debuted in 2007 for about $200. The latest
model costs 5 1/2 times as much.
So how much does that $1,100 iPhone
cost to make? According to NBC News
and the Investopedia website, workers at
Foxconn or one of the other companies
that assemble the iPhone in China make a
base salary of about $295 a month. Typ-
ically, companies in China pay a weekly
salary for a set number of hours.
China officially has a 40-hour work-
week, but iPhone factory workers during
peak periods put in more than 100 over-
time hours a month, according to CNBC.
The cost of materials for that iPhone
is about $490. Labor, shipping, market-
ing and administrative overhead also must
come out of the purchase price. Apple does
not publicize how those costs are broken
down.
Now let’s look at the apple. While
much of the debate is about overtime,
many apple pickers are paid by how much
they pick. When that is broken down on
an hourly basis, it can range from the min-
imum wage — $13.69 in Washington and
$12 in Oregon — to over $20 an hour.
But the tree fruit industry — and the
dairy, nursery and other labor-intense agri-
cultural industries — all face chronic labor
shortages.
To fill that gap, many apple growers
lean heavily on the H-2A foreign guest-
worker visa program. This allows farmers
to bring in workers from such countries as
Mexico to pick apples.
Under the H-2A program, farmers
pay to transport workers from their home
countries and back and provide housing
once they get to the U.S. The federal gov-
ernment also mandates a higher minimum
wage — $16.34 an hour this year in Wash-
ington and Oregon — that must be paid to
H-2A workers and any domestic workers
who work alongside them.
Depending on prices and which apple
varieties they grow, many orchardists typ-
ically break even or make money. They
maintain that paying pickers time-and-a-
half for more than 40 hours a week would
likely turn their bottom lines red.
Some legislators fantasize that apple
growers can simply jack up the price of
their apples to cover added labor costs. As
price takers, farmers cannot do that.
Only the other Apple can jack up its
prices at will — and get cut-rate Chinese
labor to boot.
That brings to mind an interesting
choice. When Apple was looking for a
place to make its iPhone, it didn’t build
a plant in the U.S., which has strict labor
laws and environmental regulations.
Apple chose China, where there’s a certain
opaqueness about how workers are paid
and treated.
Interestingly, China also produces the
other kind of apple. In fact, it is the world’s
largest apple producer, with a harvest of 41
million metric tons last year. That’s nearly
nine times the size of the U.S. apple har-
vest. One wonders whether those apple
pickers received a $12-an-hour minimum
wage and time-and-a-half overtime pay or
whether farmers have to meet strict labor
and environmental regulations.
Which makes us worry about what will
happen when apples from China and other
low-cost producers compete against U.S.
apples here or in overseas markets.
But it also makes us wonder why leg-
islators are spending so much time debat-
ing overtime pay for workers who by any
measure are well-paid when they are silent
on the world’s largest multinational com-
pany that low-balls every part of its opera-
tion — except the price.
A farmer’s opinion of the Scout Energy Wind Farm Project
T
o the residents of the
Tri Cities: In light of the
ongoing debate about the
Scout Wind Farm Project, I think
it is time you are introduced to
your neighboring community in
the Horse Heaven Hills.
Yes, you heard that right.
There are people that live in this
dry, barren and seemingly iso-
lated plateau that borders the
south of Tri Cities.
You see, these hills are more
than an afternoon escape for
your bike rides and hikes. This
is more than a place where you
take scenic Sunday drives. This
is more than the home of beau-
tiful sunsets featuring Mount
Adams, Rainier and Hood. This
is more than the scenic view
from your backyard.
And to another group of
Tri Cities residents: This is
more than a place for you to
dump trash, unwanted dogs or
dead livestock when you think
nobody is looking. This is more
than a place for your high school
kids to take their girlfriend on
Friday night. This is more than
“the place where the dust comes
from.” This is more than a place
for you to drive your Jeep and
tear up a freshly seeded field.
This is more than a place for you
to go shooting and start wildfires
in July. This is more than the
place where the Hillbillies live.
This is the home of a fami-
ly-based community, which is
very old. My family has been
GUEST
VIEW
Christopher
Wiley
here since 1946. Many others
were original homesteaders here,
who took a chance breaking out
farm ground in a desert. We are
proud to be dryland wheat farm-
ers living on some of the dri-
est non-irrigated farmland in the
world.
This is the home of peo-
ple whose neighbors live miles
away, not city blocks. This is the
home of people who get excited
when they see rain clouds for the
first time in weeks and are often
disappointed when they change
their path at the last minute, leav-
ing their crops dry and thirsty.
This is the home of people
who do without modern luxuries
like wells or city water service,
sewage service or reliable high-
speed internet.
This is the home of peo-
ple who started a volunteer
fire department because they
watched their friend burn up in
a tractor trying to save his crop
from wildfire. This is the home
of people who face frequent
hardships such as drought, bliz-
zards, dust storms, poor crop
prices, constantly rising input
costs and increasing restrictions
on how we make a living.
This is the home of people
who watch housing develop-
ments pop up on land that used
to be the farm of their grand-
father’s best friend. This is the
home of people who patch up
their 20-year-old harvester,
their 75-year-old plow and their
60-year-old planter year after
year because the new technology
coming out just isn’t designed
for such a small niche market.
This is a community of survi-
vors, forgotten by the world and
whose numbers are ever shrink-
ing, but not going anywhere any-
time soon. And lately we are
feeling rather betrayed by our
neighbors in the Tri Cities.
You see, we have recently
been given a great opportunity.
An opportunity to diversify our
farm operation, increase our land
value and raise our bottom line.
An opportunity to insulate our-
selves from unstable crop mar-
kets. An opportunity to maybe
update some of our farm equip-
ment and hopefully enter the
21st century one of these days.
An opportunity to not be
quite so reliant on rain and finan-
cial aid to send our kids to col-
lege. An opportunity that will
maybe let my father retire some-
day, instead of working himself
to an early death like his father
and grandfather before him. The
name of this opportunity is the
Scout Energy Wind Farm.
Now I’m not here to argue
about how much energy these
turbines will produce, where
they will send it, or how they
will store it. I’m not going to tell
you I think they look pretty. But
I will say shame on you for pre-
tending to care about the beauty
of an area that up until now, you
have treated as your personal
playground, your dumpster, a
shortcut to Oregon, or the future
site of more houses.
Shame on you for condemn-
ing construction on a ridge while
hoping to someday build a man-
sion on the very same hill. Shame
on you for being this upset about
something that at the very most,
would be a slight change to your
backyard view. Because this
same thing would be an abso-
lute life-changing blessing to your
neighboring community.
In closing, please don’t feel
this was written to bash the Tri
Cities. The Tri Cities is a great
community, which the Horse
Heaven community benefits
from as well. Every once in a
while when we get a wild hair,
we do get off our tractors and
come to town. And guess where
we go to buy groceries and
clothing? Guess whose restau-
rants and small businesses we
love to support? Yes that’s right,
we deeply care for, respect and
support the Tri Cities commu-
nity. We are just asking for the
same in return. May we all grow
and thrive together.
Christopher Wiley lives and
farms in the Horse Heaven Hills
of Eastern Washington.
could go then to finishers in other states and
end up in multiple packinghouses. Most of
the animals that would be subject to Prop 12
reside outside California.
The nature of pork production, process-
ing and marketing all but ensures that every
out-of-state producer would have to comply
with California rules.
Not only does Prop 12 require out-of-
state producers to meet California animal
confinement standards, it would require
those producers to submit to inspections by
California agricultural officials.
Prop 12’s impacts on interstate com-
merce are anything but incidental.
We do not dispute California’s authority
to regulate livestock production within its
borders. But what if Texas, Florida or any
of the other 49 states passes equally strict
rules that are at odds with those outlined in
Prop 12? How could a national food system
function with 50 different sets of rules?
In similar cases, the 9th Circuit has
upheld the Commerce Clause — as have
several other jurisdictions. We await a
favorable verdict.
The future of
Columbia-Snake River
hydro operations?
O
ver the past 30 years, the Colum-
bia-Snake River Irrigators Associa-
tion (CSRIA) has steadfastly defended
the Lower Columbia-Snake River hydro proj-
ects. The CSRIA believes to this day that these
projects contribute substantially to the eco-
nomic vitality of the region. But formidable par-
ties to the Lower Snake River Dam operations
seek to “breach” the dams, including EarthJus-
tice, the state of Oregon, several Tribal inter-
ests, a multitude
of environmental
GUEST VIEW
groups, and even
The Columbia-Snake River
some munici-
Irrigators Association
pal and elected
representatives.
What is now happening? What about the
federal hydro agencies’ “new” environmental
impact statement (EIS) and biological opin-
ion (BiOp)?
Following a successive string of court vic-
tories, EarthJustice, Oregon, and others have
challenged the new EIS “preferred alternative,”
because it did not include dam breaching/draw-
downs, perceived as optimizing fish survival
requirements. The environmental groups stress
that the EIS evaluations did acknowledge that
dam breaching would likely lead to higher fish
survival, but the hydro agencies determined that
the economic costs to the power, navigation and
irrigation sectors were unacceptable. The court
will review EarthJustice’s claim, and injunctive
relief motion, in the next few months.
Does Congress or the federal judiciary
have the power to authorize dam breaching
decision?
The U.S. District Courts have ruled that they
have extensive powers to order agencies to
“rebalance” the purposes of the federal hydro
projects — both on the Columbia River sys-
tem and elsewhere. In effect, the courts hold
that they have the (congressionally authorized)
rebalancing authority under the Northwest
Power Act (“equitable treatment” for power and
fish), per the ESA mandates, and perhaps even
under new applications of the Clean Water Act.
Under existing court approved BiOps, the hydro
system has already relinquished about 1,200
MWs of firm power.
It is a small reach for the Court to order fur-
ther “rebalancing” operations. CSRIA has
grimly concluded that U.S. District (Oregon)
Court Judge Michael Simon will rule against
the hydro agencies’ EIS-BiOp, and give Earth-
Justice Court-ordered relief; likely to include a
Lower Snake River dam breaching plan, with
a court-appointed river master to ensure over-
sight. Injunctive relief motions will be filed in
July 2021.
What can CSRIA do to confront the
future?
Against this backdrop, U.S. Rep. (Idaho)
Mike Simpson has released a very far-reach-
ing dam breaching “mitigation plan,” allocat-
ing about $34 billion to many affected (or poten-
tially impacted) parties. For the irrigators, water
rights are protected, but about 91,000 acres
would experience severe pumping problems
requiring major retrofits. Rep. Simpson views
court directives as being inescapable; Govs. Jay
Inslee and Kate Brown, regional Tribes, and oth-
ers, support this mitigation review.
CSRIA must engage prudently and realisti-
cally in this process — not being directly involved
is a reckless proposition. The CSRIA must ensure
that its members’ businesses and livelihoods, and
related community economic support services,
are well represented in the mitigation discussion.
As well, CSRIA concurs with Gov. Inslee’s Office
that diverse Lower Snake River project operations
should receive full review.
The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Asso-
ciation (CSRIA) represents many of Eastern
Washington’s most prominent farming opera-
tions, with its members irrigating about 300,000
acres of prime row crop, vineyard and orchard
lands.