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Friday, August 6, 2021
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Opinion
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com | CapitalPress.com/opinion
Our View
Wild and scenic rivers that are neither
P
eople across Eastern Oregon
— and the rest of the state,
for that matter — are right to
question a proposal by Oregon Sens.
Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden to des-
ignate 4,700 miles of rivers, creeks,
ditches and swales as federal “wild
and scenic rivers.”
Perhaps a few actual rivers might
deserve attention, but 4,700 miles?
That’s the distance from Portland to
Oslo, Norway.
When we think of wild and scenic
rivers, we think of the Rogue River in
Western Oregon or the Metolius River
in Central Oregon. In fact, those riv-
ers are already designated wild and
scenic — along with 66 others across
the state. All told, 1,916 miles of riv-
ers have been designated, according to
rivers.gov
Oregon’s 68 current wild and scenic riv-
ers.
the National Wild and Scenic Rivers
System website.
One wonders where the friends of
Wyden and Merkley found any actual
rivers that hadn’t already been des-
ignated. In Wallowa County, com-
missioners hired a consulting firm to
track down 404 miles of “rivers” pro-
posed to be designated wild and sce-
nic. They found that most are not even
labeled rivers, are not free-flowing
and do not have water year-round.
If they are not rivers, how could
they be designed wild and scenic
rivers?
It’s time for Wyden and Merk-
ley to rethink this bill. Whatever the
intent of the bill is, it’s not protecting
wild and scenic rivers, because that’s
already been done.
The senators say school children
and others came up with the list of
new rivers. That’s why they called
their bill the River Democracy Act.
Maybe school children and environ-
mental groups had a say in the bill, but
Eastern Oregon counties didn’t.
Our View
Why we support
keeping the
Snake River dams
W
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.
Midwest hog farmers
aren’t dancing to
California’s tune
C
alifornians are about to learn what
can happen when they try to extend
their rule over the rest of the country.
The Associated Press reports that bacon and
other pork products will soon be in short sup-
ply in California because Midwestern hog
farmers have failed to comply with animal
care requirements mandated by Proposition 12.
Officially, the Farm Animal Confinement
Initiative goes into effect next year. Known as
Prop 12, it bans the sale of eggs and pork and
veal products in California unless production
facilities meet animal-confinement standards
dictated by the state.
On its face, Prop 12 deals solely with prod-
ucts sold within the state. The animal welfare
advocates who backed the measure, however,
knew the larger impacts of Prop 12.
Meat production and distribution is com-
plicated. Part of a litter of pigs born in Iowa
could be sold to feeders in Nebraska while oth-
ers could go to North Carolina. All of the pigs
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.
Californians consume 15% of the pork pro-
duced in the United States — some 255 mil-
lion pounds a month. But, California hog
farmers only produce 45 million pounds a
month.
The practical impact of Prop 12 would be to
impose California’s animal husbandry rules on
producers throughout the country.
Or, maybe not.
Pork producers in the Midwest have resisted
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., said he
talked with the 63 commissioners
representing the 20 counties in his
69,000-square-mile congressional
district; 53 commissioners oppose the
River Democracy Act.
When Eastern Oregon counties
questioned the need to designate
more rivers — and to expand the pro-
tected zones to a half mile on each
side — the senators said they had
sent a letter last fall informing them
of their plan.
That, of course, is not the point.
The point is that Oregon’s sena-
tors would think this is a good idea,
without benefit of local support and
without fully considering how it will
impact Oregonians.
changing their production practices. To pro-
vide their pigs with the space mandated by
Prop 12 would require expensive renovations
that pork prices won’t support.
An Iowa pork producer quoted by AP said
meeting the requirements would cost $3 mil-
lion, reducing the number of hogs in his facil-
ity from 300 to 250. To break even, he’d need
to get another $20 on each of the remaining
animals.
The financial impacts aside, producers say
California ag officials have yet to make the
final regulations. They don’t want to make
changes without knowing precisely how they
will be judged.
The industry’s attempts to get the courts to
block Prop 12 have been unsuccessful.
“Why are pork producers constantly try-
ing to overturn laws relating to cruelty to ani-
mals?” Josh Balk, of the Humane Society of
the U.S. asked The Associated Press. “It says
something about the pork industry when it
seems its business operandi is to lose at the
ballot when they try to defend the practices
and then when animal cruelty laws are passed,
to try to overturn them.”
One might also ask why Californians think
they can dictate terms for producers in other
states.
We do not dispute California’s authority to
regulate livestock production within its bor-
ders, even if the regulations are wrong-headed.
But Californians shouldn’t take it for granted
that farmers outside the state will follow suit.
California voters are free to call the tune
for pork producers in their state, but Iowa hog
farmers don’t have to dance or pay the fiddler.
e add our voice
to those who sup-
port maintaining the
Lower Snake River Dams.
Here at Columbia Grain
International we have been sup-
plying the world with grain,
pulses, edible beans and oil-
seeds for over four decades. Our
supply chain stretches across
the northern tier of the United
States from North Dakota to
Washington, cultivating the
growth of our farmers’ crops to
safely nourish the world.
We operate nine grain ele-
vators in Eastern Washington,
own or participate in loading
grain at 3 Lower Snake River
terminals, and are the majority
owner in 2 export terminals in
the Columbia River District. It’s
an understatement to say that
we have a vested interest in this
topic.
Removing the Lower Snake
River dams as part of Idaho
Congressman Mike Simpson’s
$33.5 billion framework doesn’t
promise to bring back Idaho’s
salmon, but it will have devas-
tating effects on our farmers who
rely on this river system to suc-
cessfully transport their crops to
key export terminals to supply
the international markets.
The Columbia River Sys-
tem is the nation’s single larg-
est wheat export gateway, trans-
porting 50% of all U.S. wheat
to markets overseas. The North-
west Infrastructure Proposal
will slow international trade
including the distribution of
wheat, soy, corn, wood, autos,
mineral bulks and cruise tour-
ism, and has the potential to
eradicate the 40,000 local jobs
that are dependent on this trade.
For us, it will endanger the
economic viability of at least
two Portland-based export ter-
minals, which rely heavily on
barges and don’t have the land
footprint to expand rail place-
ment capacity.
The removal of the dams will
cause transportation methods to
shift towards truck and rail, cre-
ating greater instability in freight
costs, and exposing farmers to
potentially higher transporta-
tion costs for grain shipments
to destination markets, particu-
larly during the fall when corn
and soybean shipments from the
Midwest are heavy.
Although small compared
to the giant Columbia Basin
Project upriver on the main-
stem Columbia, the lower Snake
River also plays an important
irrigation role, watering over
60,000 acres of farmland in Cen-
tral and Southeastern Wash-
ington that produce dozens of
different varieties of fruits, vege-
tables and grains.
The evidence is clear. If the
dams are breached, our farmers
will be paying more and making
less at the end of the day.
For over 40 years, the Colum-
bia Snake River System has suc-
cessfully served our commu-
GUEST
VIEW
Jeff Van
Pevenage
nities, providing our regions
with clean power, jobs, effi-
cient transportation, irrigation,
flood control and more. It is crit-
ical now more than ever to keep
this region stable and competi-
tive in a time of global economic
and social uncertainties. We are
committed to cultivating the
continued growth of our farm-
ers and our PNW communities,
and have serious doubts about
the inherent cons which we feel
drastically outweigh the pros of
this proposal.
Proponents of the proposal
argue that removing the dams is
necessary to restore salmon pop-
ulation. However, studies show
that salmon survival rates may
be greater now than if no dams
existed. This all goes back to the
life cycle of fish, and the fact
that they spend most of their
lives in the ocean. As we learn
more about ocean conditions
from NOAA Fisheries, West
Coast wild salmon and steelhead
runs are struggling, and the com-
monality is the ocean.
When considering dam
removal, I’ve studied the statis-
tics which came from 40 years
of research by the Army Corps
of Engineers and the Bonne-
ville Power Administration,
and were compiled by retired
Fish and Wildlife biologist John
McKern. McKern spent much
of his 30-year career research-
ing fish survival, and develop-
ing and implementing fish pas-
sage improvements at the Snake
and Columbia river dams. He
found that after the fish leave
the Columbia River about 88%
of the remaining fish die during
their first two or three years
in the ocean from predators,
adverse ocean conditions and
commercial fishing.
The Frazier River in Canada
is very similar to the Columbia
River system. It and other rivers
along the West Coast of the U.S.
and Canada have no dams and
have the same fish problems as
the Columbia River system.
Currently, we have done quite
well stewarding fish and protect-
ing them every step of the way
as they move and make their
journey on the river. Removing
the dams will have grave impli-
cations for our vital farm com-
munities that depend on this
transportation system to feed
the world. We hope people con-
sider that there are a lot of other
things taking place that are
impacting our fish.
Jeff Van Pevenage is pres-
ident and CEO of Columbia
Grain International, the lead-
ing supplier of bulk grain,
pulses, edible beans, oilseeds,
both conventional and organic,
worldwide.