The BulleTin • Sunday, June 20, 2021 A7
Legislature
Zippy Duvall, left,
president of the
American Farm
Bureau Federa-
tion, views juve-
nile fall chinook
salmon Wednes-
day as part of the
tour of the Lower
Granite Dam.
Continued from A1
Matthew Weaver/
Capital Press
National, regional ag
leaders get look at lower
Snake River dam issues
BY MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
LEWISTON, Idaho — Lead-
ers of national and regional
farm organizations rallied
around efforts to protect the
four lower Snake River dams
last week, taking part in a day-
long briefing on the role the
structures play in the Pacific
Northwest economy.
Among those joining the
group were Zippy Duvall, pres-
ident of the American Farm
Bureau Federation — the na-
tion’s largest agricultural or-
ganization — and Chandler
Goule, CEO of the National
Association of Wheat Growers.
Farmers shouldn’t let their
guard down when it comes to
Rep. Mike Simpson’s call to
breach the Snake River dams
in the name of salmon recov-
ery, Goule warned.
Simpson’s $33.5 billion con-
cept calls for breaching the
four lower Snake River dams
and mitigating affected com-
munities and industries.
The idea is gaining momen-
tum in Congress heading into
the mid-term elections, Goule
said.
Simpson, a member of the
House Appropriations Com-
mittee, has not proposed any
legislation, but he will work to
insert the money into an ap-
propriations bill without in-
structions to breach the dams,
Goule said.
“If that money gets appro-
priated, then that gets him a
much stronger hand to come
back and actually get the dams
torn down,” Goule said.
Simpson used a similar tac-
tic on another issue 10 years
ago, Goule said.
“He already knows politi-
cally that strategy is going to
work,” Goule said.
It would likely be in next
year’s appropriations, Goule
said. The bill would have to go
through the House and Senate,
and the president would have
to sign it.
Duvall, Goule and 43 others
representing ag organizations,
co-ops and related businesses
were hosted by the Idaho
Grain Producers Association
and the Idaho Farm Bureau.
Tour participants took a
boat through a navigation lock
and toured the dam complex,
seeing fish ladders and juvenile
and adult fish, and toured the
Lewis-Clark Terminal, owned
by CHS Primeland, the Pacific
Northwest Farmers Co-op and
Uniontown Co-op.
Agricultural advocates say
breaching the dams isn’t the
“silver bullet” for salmon re-
covery that environmentalists
claim, noting that mortality
rates on the Snake River are
similar for salmon elsewhere
on the West Coast.
“I didn’t see today the prob-
lems that (Simpson) described.
... I didn’t see the science that
supported that,” said Duvall,
of the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
Duvall compared Simp-
son to a doctor who calls for
a heart transplant when some
medicine will do.
“If we think about the $34
billion and just take a por-
tion of it, put it in research
and development of the other
problems that might be fac-
ing the salmon, we can fix that
problem with a little medicine
rather than transplanting a
heart,” Duvall said.
Breaching the dams would
make the lower Snake River
“completely unnavigable,” and
require adding 38,000 more rail
cars or 150,000 more trucks to
replace barges, Goule said.
About 60% of Washington’s
and Idaho’s wheat is shipped by
barge, according to the Lew-
is-Clark Terminal. It takes 5
1/2 hours to load one 3,600-
ton barge, the equivalent of 120
truckloads of wheat.
A proposed transportation
credit or subsidy under Simp-
son’s plan could also poten-
tially be out of compliance with
World Trade Organization
regulations, Goule said, add-
ing that it could be considered
trade-distorting, undercutting
export competition.
The dams are critical for the
West Coast’s export and im-
port markets, said Jeff Van Pe-
venage, president and CEO of
Columbia Grain International
in Portland.
Some 60-65% of the wheat
exported using the Colum-
bia-Snake River system origi-
nates in the Lower Snake River
region, consisting of 13 barge
facilities with more than 10
owners, Van Pevenage said.
“Without the current vol-
ume, you will endanger the
economic viability of at least
two of the export facilities that
exist in Portland,” Van Peve-
nage said. Those facilities rely
heavily on barges and don’t
have the ability to expand rail
capacity, he said.
Barging provides transpor-
tation competition and alter-
natives to keep freight rates
in check, Van Pevenage said.
Without it, rail costs for grain
shipments to Portland could
potentially more than double,
particularly during the fall,
when corn and soybean ship-
ments from the Midwest are
also heavy.
Without barging, many
regional farmers could find
themselves in a “captive ship-
ping” scenario, similar to one
experienced today by Montana
farmers, Van Pevenage said.
“As an example, at times to-
day, you can ship wheat from
eastern North Dakota through
Montana to the West Coast for
cheaper rates than you can ship
from Montana to the PNW,”
he said. “It’s very possible those
types of scenarios will exist
here without the competition.”
fa•ther
n.
1. provider, protector, & supporter.
2. grill master & best advice giver.
3. creator of “dad jokes”, personal taxi
& friend.
see also: hero
Happy Father’s Day
CALL NOW!
541-317-3544
127 SE Wilson, Bend
Dollar details to come:
More than 78% of Oregon
voters approved Ballot Mea-
sure 107 in November 2020,
amending the state constitu-
tion to explicitly allow regu-
lation of campaign finances.
A 1997 voter measure placing
caps on giving was upended
by the Oregon Supreme
Court’s ruling that it ran afoul
of the broad interpretation of
free speech guarantees that go
beyond even the U.S. Consti-
tution. Oregon remained one
of five states without contri-
bution limits. But how much
is too much bogged down
placing numbers on the lim-
its during the 2021 session
as competing visions stalled
amid the flood of legislation.
“Something as comprehen-
sive as what was being talked
about is going to be really
difficult to pull off,” Senate
Majority Leader Rob Wag-
ner, D-Lake Oswego said last
week. Legislative leaders say
they will try again next year.
Half full: Oregon Health
Authority Director Pat Allen
appeared Thursday for a final
time during the 2021 session
at a virtual meeting of the
Subcommittee on COVID-19.
Allen said OHA was happy
to report that half of the 4.24
million Oregon residents
are now fully vaccinated. As
of Friday, the state reported
68.5% of eligible adults had
received at least one vaccine
From the standpoint of sheer numbers, the biggest
unvaccinated pools of people are in two populous
southwest counties. Jackson is 24,108 short of 65%, while
Douglas is 20,291 from the mark. Third is Umatilla
County, in the northeast, which needs 16,173 more shots.
shot. When over 70% have
one shot statewide, Gov. Kate
Brown has promised to lift
nearly all remaining pan-
demic restrictions. Allen told
the panel that OHA remains
concerned about virus in-
fections spreading rapidly in
counties with low vaccination
rates once the statewide limits
are off.
Vaccine count: OHA said
Friday that 51,616 people
need to get a first shot of
vaccine in order to pass the
statewide 70% mark. Coun-
ties can move into the lowest
level of restriction earlier by
getting one shot into 65% of
residents.
Least vaccinated: There
are 15 counties that have put
a shot into less than half their
eligible adult population.
Some of the counties with
the lowest percentages are
sparsely populated, such as
Lake, Malheur, Gilliam and
Harney. From the standpoint
of sheer numbers, the biggest
unvaccinated pools of people
are in two populous southwest
counties. Jackson is 24,108
short of 65%, while Douglas is
20,291 from the mark. Third
is Umatilla County, in the
northeast, which needs 16,173
more shots.
Going, going...? Under
the constitution, the Legis-
lature must adjourn no later
than next Sunday, June 27, at
11:59 p.m. How much sooner
they will wrap up is part of
a rumor mill hobbled by the
lack of opportunity for law-
makers, staff, lobbyists, jour-
nalists, activists and others to
trade information in the Capi-
tol hallways.
The legislature’s computer
system shows bills scheduled
for floor votes in both cham-
bers on Monday and Tuesday.
On Friday was one interesting
item of interest: Senate Con-
current Resolution 24 was
scheduled for a hearing and
work session in the Senate
Rules Committee at 9 a.m. on
Tuesday. From there it could
swiftly move to the floors of
both chambers.
Despite its random num-
bering, this resolution by this
time of the year is the favorite
of nearly all involved. It is the
final piece of legislation that
lawmakers will vote on in the
2021 regular session.
It calls for adjournment
“sine die,” Legislaturespeak for
“without future date.”
e
gwarner@eomediagroup.com