Friday, April 22, 2022
CapitalPress.com 5
End of canola
acreage limit may
free cultivation 4
or trigger battle
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
AMITY, Ore. 4 The
500-acre limit on canola
planting in Oregon9s Wil-
lamette Valley expires next
year, either allowing its free
cultivation 4 or trigger-
ing another legislative battle
over crop restrictions.
This summer, farmers
in the region must obtain
approval to plant fall canola
from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture for the
¿QDOWLPHXQGHU6HQDWH%LOO
885, which caps the crop9s
annual acreage.
Supporters of expanding
canola production in the val-
ley are hopeful that changed
political circumstances and
D ODFN RI FRQÀLFWV RYHU WKH
FURS ZLOO LPSHGH H൵RUWV WR
restrict its production.
<I think trying to stop a
commodity will face greater
opposition than it has in the
past,= said Anna Scharf, a
farmer near Amity and a
state representative. <There
are no disaster cases to fall
back on. I don9t think there9s
an appetite to regulate any-
more where there are no
major issues.=
Lawmakers passed the
500-acre restriction in 2019
at the request of specialty
seed companies, extend-
ing a limit that had been
imposed six years earlier
when a study of canola9s
impacts was initiated.
That Oregon State Uni-
versity study concluded
that canola posed no greater
threat to the specialty seed
industry than other brassica
crops, such as radish and
turnips.
The Willamette Valley
Specialty Seed Associa-
tion has long opposed unre-
stricted canola planting,
fearing
cross-pollination
with related seed crops and
a greater potential for dis-
HDVHV D൵HFWLQJ RWKHU EUDV
sica plants.
Canola proponents point
out that canola9s been grown
in the valley for nearly a
decade but specialty seed
buyers haven9t contended
ZLWKJHQHÀRZSUREOHPVRU
seen their customers aban-
don the region.
<Since then, we9ve never
had a single issue that9s
been brought to ODA,=
Scharf said.
As SB 885 approaches
LWVVXQVHWLQPLGR൶
cials from ODA do not plan
WR SURSRVH FDQRODVSHFL¿F
planting regulations as they
did in 2019, when the previ-
ous cap was nearing its end.
In 2019, the agency pro-
posed a 937,000-acre <iso-
lation area= in the cen-
tral valley where farmers
couldn9t plant canola, leav-
ing roughly 1.5 million
acres available to the crop.
The
time-consuming
rule-making process ulti-
mately proved moot when
SB 8859s approval pre-
empted the agency9s pro-
posed regulations.
<Over the years, the Ore-
gon Legislature has shown
a keen interest in canola
and the conversation will
likely come up again in
2023. ODA looks forward
to working with the Legis-
lature if they decide to take
on canola once again,= said
Andrea Cantu-Schomus,
the agency9s communica-
tions director.
Meanwhile, the WVSSA
isn9t commenting on how it
plans to deal with the leg-
islation9s sunset next year,
said Angie Smith, its execu-
tive director.
Radish and turnips
grown for cover crop seed
have been grown without
an acreage limit in the val-
ley while coexisting with
the specialty seed indus-
try. Critics of SB 885 say
this undermines the ratio-
nale for singling canola out
for tougher regulations than
other brassicas.
<I9d like to see them
treating it like any other
crop. We don9t have an acre-
age cap for any other crop,=
said Kathy Hadley, a farmer
near Rickreall, Ore.
Like Scharf, Hadley has
urged lawmakers and ODA
against subjecting canola
to more burdensome rules,
but she9s not sure whether
resistance to the crop has
decreased.
<There9s still a lot of peo-
ple who don9t want it grown,
so a lot will depend on how
hard they push and how
much money they spend,=
she said.
It9s possible the lack of
problems with canola simply
means the crop9s been <out
of sight, out of mind,= but
won9t actually reduce oppo-
sition to expanded cultiva-
tion, Hadley said.
<I don9t know that it9s
changed anybody9s mind,
per se,= she said.
Scharf said she9s optimis-
tic because many lawmak-
ers will be newcomers to the
statehouse next year, unbur-
dened by opinions formed
during past battles over
canola.
Though she9s long advo-
cated for the crop, Scharf
only became a legislator her-
self last year.
She expects to win
re-election in her conserva-
tive-leaning district this fall
and educate other lawmakers
DERXWEHQH¿WVRIFDQRODSUR
duction, should new restric-
tions be proposed next year.
Canola is a globally
traded commodity, so farm-
ers can plant it without
obtaining contracts, which
dictate the terms of spe-
cialty seed production and
often require they wait for
payment.
Growers can be paid for
canola immediately upon
delivery while hedging and
locking in prices using the
futures and options markets.
Rotating canola with
grass seed production would
provide farmers with agro-
nomic advantages, said Jason
Scharf, Anna9s husband.
<I9ve always compared it
to wheat because it9s one of
our grass seed rotations,= he
said. <I can control grass in it
better than I can with wheat.=
Prices for canola have
also made it more attractive
to regional farmers: The crop
is currently fetching up to 48
cents per pound, up 10 cents
from a year ago and 30 cents
more than two years ago, he
said.
5HQHZDEOHGLHVHOUH¿QHU\UHDFKHV
milestones, faces continued opposition
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
&/$76.$1,(2UH²&RXQW\R൶
cials in northwest Oregon have signed
R൵RQDELOOLRQSURSRVDOWREXLOGZKDW
would be the largest renewable die-
VHO UH¿QHU\ RQ WKH:HVW &RDVW GHVSLWH
objections from nearby farms and
landowners.
NEXT Renewable Fuels wants to
EXLOG WKH UH¿QHU\ DW 3RUW :HVWZDUG
Industrial Park near the Columbia River
in Clatskanie, producing up to 50,000
barrels of renewable diesel per day from
recycled organic materials such as used
cooking oil.
The Columbia County Board of
Commissioners voted in February to
approve conditional use permits for
ERWK WKH UH¿QHU\ DQG D UDLOZD\ EUDQFK
line to the property. Part of the track
would cross land zoned for Exclusive
Farm Use.
State regulators also approved the
project9s wetland mitigation plan at
a site within the neighboring Beaver
Slough Drainage District, where farm-
ers raise livestock and grow high-value
crops such as mint and blueberries.
Opponents argue the development
threatens local agriculture and the envi-
ronment, while supporters say it will
create hundreds of jobs and displace
more than 7 million tons of carbon
dioxide every year by supplying clean-
er-burning renewable diesel.
<I see extraordinary opposition to
this project from my neighbors and the
Beaver Drainage District, all of whom
may be severely impacted by NEXT9s
GHHSO\ ÀDZHG SODQ´ VDLG 0LNH 6HHO\
who farms about 650 acres of mint in
the area with his son, Warren.
Branch line or rail yard?
Seely, Columbia Riverkeeper and
1000 Friends of Oregon and challeng-
ing the legality of the rail portion of the
project.
Their appeal hinges on whether the
4.7 miles of track constitutes a branch
line, which is permitted on Exclusive
Farm Use land, or a rail yard, which is
not allowed unless the developer gets an
exception under Oregon9s land use plan-
ning laws.
5DLOWUDQVSRUWWRDQGIURPWKHUH¿Q
ery would be capped at 318 cars per
week, according to the permit issued by
Columbia County.
In written comments submitted to
the county on Jan. 18, Gordon How-
ard, community services division man-
ager for the Oregon Department of Land
Conservation and Development, said
the facility <appears to be a storage yard
or rail yard= and not a branch line.
<The applicant provided no narrative
to address how this line will be used,
George Plaven/Capital Press
Warren Seely, left, and his father, Mike, farm about 650 acres, most of it pep-
permint, in the Beaver Drainage District. They say a proposed wetland mit-
igation project could af ect how the district operates and put farms at risk.
Port Westward, the Oregon Department
of State Lands ordered NEXT to enhance
476 acres of wetlands elsewhere to com-
pensate for plants and wildlife.
After scouting for mitigation sites
along a 40-mile stretch of the Columbia
River, NEXT contracted to buy the land
it needs from the former GreenWood
Resources Lower Columbia Tree Farm,
DERXWDPLOHIURPZKHUHWKHUH¿QHU\ZLOO
be built.
That property, however, is within the
5,717-acre drainage district, which man-
DJHVZDWHUOHYHOVIRULUULJDWLRQDQGÀRRG
control. The district is in a low-lying area
that has been farmed since the 1860s.
Dikes were built in the 1920s by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers to hold back
the Columbia River.
Warren Seely 4 Mike9s son 4 is
the district president. He said NEXT9s
mitigation project poses several issues,
including the spread of new weeds and
SHVWVLQWRQHLJKERULQJ¿HOGV
Ground excavation could also hit
areas of high underground water pres-
sure, known as <boil points,= that could
overwhelm the district9s pumping capac-
ity, Warren Seely said, leaving farmland
submerged and crops ruined.
<Ultimately, what we9re responsi-
ble for is maintaining the integrity of
the levees and drainage system,= he
said. <We feel that pretty much all of our
concerns up to this point have not been
DGGUHVVHGRUKDYHEHHQEUXVKHGR൵´
7KHGLVWULFW¿OHGLWVDSSHDOWR'HSDUW
ment of State Lands on April 11.
Even with DSL and county permits in
hand, NEXT still has a ways to go before
breaking ground.
Wetland mitigation
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The Beaver Slough Drainage District
is also appealing whether the state erred must complete an Environmental Impact
LQJUDQWLQJ1(;7DUHPRYDO¿OOSHUPLW Statement for the project, which Hinrichs
for wetland mitigation related to building said could take up to a year. The state
Department of Environmental Quality is
LWVUH¿QHU\
Since construction would disturb a lit- also considering whether to issue an air
tle more than 117 acres of wetlands at TXDOLW\SHUPLWIRUWKHUH¿QHU\
ZKHUH DQG KRZ WKH RQ DQG R൵ORDG
ing will occur and what measures are
in place to ensure that adjacent uses and
resources are protected from the activ-
ity that may take place there,= Howard
wrote.
Mary Kyle McCurdy, deputy direc-
tor of 1000 Friends for Oregon, said the
county should have required a deeper
analysis of how the rail would impact
surrounding farms.
³:H KDYH KHDUG WKH VLJQL¿DQW FRQ
cerns of area farmers,= McCurdy said.
<The county9s failure to address these
puts at risk many acres of irreplaceable
farmland.=
NEXT spokesman Michael Hinrichs
VDLGWKHUH¿QHU\ZLOOUHFHLYHIHHGVWRFNV
and ship out renewable diesel mostly via
barges on the Columbia River. The rail
line, he said, is a contingency measure in
the event river passage is closed.
<We are a water-dependent facility,=
Hinrichs said. <The rail (proposal) is a
permit for an unlikely scenario.=
Hinrichs estimated 1,000 to 2,000 feet
RIWUDFNLVQHHGHGWRFRQQHFWWKHUH¿QHU\
to the main rail line. The remaining mile-
age will be on the project site and allow
NEXT to move trains without holding up
UDLO WUD൶
F DQG EORFNLQJ LQWHUVHFWLRQV KH
said.
Seely said he and other farmers remain
concerned about possible spills, and set-
ting a future precedent for more rail devel-
opment on farmland.
<If this gets approved, then it basically
allows anybody to do whatever they want
on agricultural ground with a rail,= he said.
Oregon land use agency names new director
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM 4 Brenda Orti-
goza Bateman will move
from Business Oregon to
lead the Department of Land
Conservation and Develop-
PHQWH൵HFWLYH0D\
Her appointment was
announced by Robin McAr-
thur, chairwoman of the Land
Conservation and Develop-
ment Commission, whose
seven members are empow-
ered to choose the director of
the state land use planning
agency. The commission
and agency were created by
the 1973 Legislature, which
required city, county and
metro plans to follow state-
wide planning requirements
known as goals.
Bateman, a veteran of two
state agencies, will succeed
Jim Rue, who at 11 years was
the agency9s longest-serving
director.
The agency has a two-
year budget
of just under
$30 million
and employs
65 people.
McAr-
thur
said
Brenda
in a state-
Ortigoza
ment
that
Bateman
Bateman
was the right
choice as the agency takes on
new responsibilities.
<From clean energy
development, to managing
our coast, taking on issues of
housing supply and preserv-
ing our natural resources,
clear guidance and strong
direction is imperative to
DLCD9s success in these
areas,= McArthur said.
<While we were fortu-
nate to have had a number of
TXDOL¿HG FDQGLGDWHV ZKLFK
PDGH WKH GHFLVLRQ GL൶
FXOW
we are enthusiastic about our
support of Dr. Bateman. I
DPFRQ¿GHQWWKHDJHQF\ZLOO
thrive under her direction.=
For the past three years,
Bateman has been the chief
RSHUDWLQJR൶
FHUDQGDVVLVWDQW
director for operations and
¿QDQFH DW WKH 2UHJRQ %XVL
ness Development Depart-
ment, known as Business
Oregon, where she worked
in strategic planning, imple-
mentation and management
roles with a focus on natural
resources policy. She serves
on the Governor9s Climate
Cabinet and is an appointee
of the governor on the Ore-
gon Geographic Information
Council.
From 2007 until 2019,
as administrator of its
technical services divi-
sion, Bateman was sci-
ence chief and senior policy
adviser at the Oregon Water
Resources
Department,
where she co-authored the
2012 and 2017 versions of
Oregon9s integrated water
resources strategy. As a past
president of the American
Water Resources Associ-
ation, she represented the
association internationally
in venues such as the World
Water Forum and World
Water Congress.
From 2004 to 2007, she
was a policy coordinator for
the Tualatin Valley Water
District.
She earned a doctorate in
public policy in 2003 from
the University of Mary-
land Baltimore County, and
bachelor9s and master9s
degrees in international
relations and international
law/economics in 1992 and
1993 from Johns Hopkins
University.
Rue joined the state land
use agency in 2009, became
its acting director in 2011
and elevated to the job per-
manently in mid-2012.
Before then, he had been
general manager for envi-
URQPHQWDOD൵DLUVDWWKH5%
Pamplin Corp. He also sat
on the state Board of Agri-
culture for eight years.
Washington mulls rule for working in smoke
ODVW VXPPHU¶V ¿UH VHDVRQ
L&I adopted an emergency
rule for working outdoors in
Washington farms will ZLOG¿UHVPRNH7KHUXOHKDV
have to require workers to expired.
ZHDU VPRNH¿OWHULQJ PDVNV
The department plans to
ZKHQHYHU ZLOG¿UHV PDNH impose another emergency
the air hazardous to inhale, rule for this summer, while it
under a rule being consid- continues working on a per-
ered by the state Department manent regulation. L&I has
of Labor and Industries.
not formally proposed a new
The mask mandate would emergency rule, but has cir-
kick in if the concentra- culated a draft. The depart-
tion of tiny smoke particles ment will host an online
reaches 555 micrograms per meeting from 1 to 4 p.m.
cubic meter. The Environ- April 27 to talk about its
mental Protection Agency proposal.
FODVVL¿HV FRQFHQWUDWLRQV RI
The 2022 emergency
205.5 and higher as likely to rule likely will carry over
D൵HFWHYHU\RQH
requirements from last year.
The mandate would apply Employers will be respon-
to other outdoor workers, as sible for checking air qual-
well as farmworkers. During ity and required to inform
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
workers about the hazards of
smoke. Workers sickened by
smoke must be treated.
Last year9s rule did not
include a mask mandate.
Under the draft proposal,
employers would have to
provide N95 masks or other
UHVSLUDWRUV FHUWL¿HG E\ WKH
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
Surgical masks, scarves
or bandanas are examples
of face coverings that would
not be good enough, accord-
ing to L&I.
If the EPA9s air-qual-
ity index hits 69, or 20.5
micrograms
per
cubic
meter, employers would be
<encouraged= to provide
respirators and <implement
exposure controls.=
Sprinklers • Rain Guns
Drip Tape • Dripline • Filters • Poly Hose
Lay Flat Hose • Micro • Valves • Air Vents
Fertilizer Injectors ...and much more!
Fast & Free Shipping from Oregon
1-844-259-0640
www.irrigationking.com
10% OFF
PROMO CODE:
CAP10
S280808-1
