Friday, August 12, 2022
CapitalPress.com 3
Bill aimed at improving freight rail
shipping introduced in U.S. Congress
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
WASHINGTON, D.C.
— Several members of the
U.S. House of Representa-
tives have introduced a bill
aimed at improving freight
rail service.
The bill, called the Freight
Rail Shipping Fair Mar-
ket Act, would expand the
power of the Surface Trans-
portation Board, a federal
agency that regulates trans-
portation, to hold railroads
accountable to provide more
reliable service.
Proponents say the legis-
lation could improve rail ser-
vice reliability, which many
customers say has recently
been erratic. Opponents say
the bill would infl ate the fed-
eral government’s power,
interfering with the free
market.
The bill was introduced
by Reps. Donald Payne, Jr.,
D-N.J., chair of the Subcom-
mittee on Railroads, Pipe-
lines and Hazardous Mate-
rials; Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.,
chair of the House Commit-
tee on Transportation and
Infrastructure; David Scott,
D-Ga., chair of the House
Committee on Agricul-
ture; and Jim Costa, D-Ca-
lif., chair of the Subcommit-
tee on Livestock and Foreign
Agriculture.
“I am pleased to join
Chair Payne on the Freight
Rail Shipping Fair Mar-
ket Act, which will hold the
freight rail industry account-
able for their appalling ser-
vice to shippers and ulti-
mately help American
families burdened by the
increased price of goods,”
DeFazio said in a statement.
The legislation would
allow the Surface Transpor-
tation Board to regulate rail-
roads in several ways.
First, it would strengthen
the Board’s authority to
address rail service emergen-
cies. An example of a recent
emergency, according to the
Board, was when the poultry
company Foster Farms com-
plained that Union Pacifi c
Railroad Co. wasn’t deliv-
ering feed on schedule to the
company’s chicken farms in
California.
Second, the bill would
require rail contracts to
include service delivery
standards and remedies.
The legislation would
direct the Board on how to
resolve common carrier obli-
gation complaints.
Additionally, the act would
allow shippers to charge rail-
roads demurrage charges for
not meeting obligations.
Finally, it would fund the
Board to resolve disputes
more quickly.
Railroads oppose the bill,
saying it “threatens the via-
bility of the nation’s freight
rail system.”
The Association of Amer-
ican Railroads says the act
would unfairly re-regulate
the industry and grow the
government’s and Board’s
jurisdiction.
The association argues
that the Staggers Act of
1980, which partially de-reg-
ulated the rail industry,
allowed railroads to operate
with more fl uidity and earn
more sustainable revenue.
This bill, they say, would
erase those advancements.
“This imprudent proposal
turns the clock back more
than 40 years and reinstates an
unbalanced regulatory frame-
work that replaces free-mar-
ket principles with unjustifi ed
government mandates,” said
Ian Jeff eries, CEO and pres-
ident of the association.
Some say the Board
already has suffi cient power
and more regulation won’t
solve deeper challenges.
On May 12, the Board’s
chairman, Martin Oberman,
testifi ed before a U.S. House
committee that expanding
the Board’s regulatory over-
sight would not solve labor
and supply chain challenges.
“While the problems fac-
ing the rail industry today
are signifi cant, in my view,
the Board can use its existing
authority to mitigate those
problems in a meaningful
way,” Oberman testifi ed.
More than two dozen
agricultural groups, however,
welcomed the legislation,
including the Agriculture
Transportation
Coalition,
American Farm Bureau Fed-
eration and National Cattle-
men’s Beef Association.
Farm Bureau chapters seek
to limit Ecology’s reach
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Two county Farm Bureau
chapters in Washington are
advocating limits on the
Department of Ecology’s
power to require small live-
stock operations to get a
CAFO permit.
Farms that confi ne live-
stock must have a CAFO
permit if manure washes or
seeps into water. The per-
mit lays out Ecology’s rules
for storing and spreading
manure.
Statewide, 24 operations
have CAFO permits, includ-
ing one dairy with fewer than
200 cows. The other opera-
tions are larger.
Ecology, however, can
require any farm that con-
fi nes any number of ani-
mals to get a permit if the
department designates them
a “signifi cant contributor” of
pollutants.
Yakima County Farm
Bureau President Mark
Herke said Wednesday that
he’s concerned the CAFO
rules could be used to tar-
get people with just a few
animals.
“I feel the bureaucracies
are getting more aggressive.
If some authority is written
down, Look out!” he said.
Ecology is currently revis-
ing the CAFO permit. Ecol-
ogy proposes to keep its
authority to designate farms
Wolf advocates sue Washington Fish and Wildlife
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Five
environmental
groups on Friday sued the
Washington Fish and Wild-
life Commission, claiming
it failed to comply with Gov.
Jay Inslee’s order to write a
rule on when wildlife man-
agers can shoot wolves to
protect livestock.
The suit, fi led in Thur-
ston County Superior Court,
alleges that the commission’s
5-4 vote in July against
adopting a rule directly con-
tradicted Inslee’s directive.
The suit names the
Department of Fish and
Wildlife and its director,
Kelly Susewind. A depart-
ment spokesman said the
agency does not comment on
pending litigation.
The Center for Biologi-
cal Diversity, Cascadia Wild-
lands, WildEarth Guardians,
Western Watersheds and
Kettle Range Conservation
Group fi led the suit.
The organizations sought
to put into law new limits on
when Fish and Wildlife can
resort to lethal control to stop
predations by wolves. Inslee,
sympathetic to their argu-
ments, ordered the depart-
ment in 2020 to write a rule,
while acknowledging he
couldn’t dictate the contents.
By one vote, the commis-
sion decided to not take any
action, leaving the depart-
ment’s current policy in
place. The policy gives Suse-
wind considerable fl exibility
in authorizing lethal control.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
Cattle in a Washington feedlot. Two county Farm Bu-
reau chapters want limits on the Department of Ecolo-
gy’s power to require small livestock operations to get
a CAFO permit.
with any number of ani-
mals as signifi cant sources of
pollution.
Thurston County Farm
Bureau President Greg
Schoenbachler said the rules
should be revised to exclude
the smallest operations, such
as the hobby farms in his
county.
The rules now could apply
to one horse in a stable, he
said. “There’s a tremendous
amount of ambiguity here.”
The Yakima and Thurston
chapters have hired former
Washington Farm Bureau
CEO John Stuhlmiller as a
consultant on the issue.
Stuhlmiller said that small
farms should have a chance
to work with conservation
districts or the Voluntary
Stewardship Program before
being required to get a CAFO
permit.
The
permits
would
JEWETT
impose impractical rules on
small farms and expose live-
stock owners to fi nes — up
to $10,000 a day — and even
jail if they can’t comply, he
said.
“I don’t know of one
small CAFO that’s been
tagged by Ecology as of
yet, but it doesn’t mean it
couldn’t happen,” Stuhl-
miller said.
Ecology spokeswoman
Stacy Galleher said in an
email that Ecology and
Department of Agriculture
inspect farms and off er tech-
nical assistance to stop the
discharge of pollutants.
If problems continue,
Ecology considers factors
such as how much waste
went into water and the like-
lihood of future discharges
before designating a farm a
signifi cant contributor of pol-
lutants, she said.
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