SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown signed landmark legislation Wednesday to set a three-tier minimum wage increase schedule around the state.

The plan, which establishes a higher minimum wage in the Portland area and a lower amount in areas with a struggling economy, is the first of its kind in the nation, said Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland.

“I am so delighted to be here today to celebrate the achievement of my top priority for the short session to raise Oregon’s minimum wage,” Brown said. “Over the past few weeks, I’ve done a lot of talking about how important it is for hardworking Oregonians to get a much needed raise in order to keep up with the rising cost of housing, rent, food and other necessities.”

Dembrow and Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, crafted the plan, contained in Senate Bill 1532, after a year’s worth of research, meetings with stakeholders, public hearings and negotiations.

The plan hikes wages over a period of six years. The amount differs in each of three regions and is set according to a county’s population, median income and cost of living. In Portland, minimum wage will reach $14.75 in the Portland area, $12.50 in rural and coastal counties with struggling economies and $13.50 in the rest of the state by 2022.

The first pay bump starts in July, from $9.25 to $9.75 statewide.

President Obama commended the Oregon Legislature and Brown Wednesday for approving the plan and called on Congress to follow suit. He said more than half of states now have wages higher than the federal minimum.

“Since I first called on Congress to increase the federal minimum wage in 2013, 18 states and the District of Columbia have acted on their own,” Obama said in a statement. “These efforts will boost the paychecks of hardworking Americans and help support millions of workers trying to make ends meet.”

Brown said the plan would help the state avoid “a number of potentially problematic ballot measures.”

It is still unclear whether all of the initiative campaigns are dead.

The Raise the Wage coalition announced Monday that it has suspended signature gathering to place a measure on the ballot to raise wages to $13.50 statewide during a three-year period. That measure also would have lifted a ban on cities and counties setting higher wages. Chief sponsors said early in the campaign that the union-backed initiative was intended to spur the Legislature to action.

“While this proposal diverges from our initial plan for raising the wage, it is overwhelmingly a win for Oregon workers — in large part because it gives a raise to over 100,000 minimum-wage workers this July,” said Andrea Miller, executive director of Causa Oregon. “Most notably, this bill contains no carve-outs or exceptions for different classes of workers, like farmworkers or restaurant workers, or for people just starting out in their career.”

The $15 Now campaign is still an unknown.

“We are still in discussions with our partners of which there are many,” said chief petitioner Jamie Partridge of Portland. They are figuring out how to go forward. We are trying to determine our capacity to go to the ballot and wage a winning campaign.”

The plan approved by the Legislature is “too low, too slow and too little, too late,” Partridge said. “It’s not enough to bring people out of poverty.”

Anthony K. Smith, Oregon state director for the National Federation of Independent Business called on the governor to publicly oppose the $15 Now campaign.

“It’s bad enough that this unfortunate law will prompt small-business owners to halt hiring, start cutting back hours for workers, start eliminating overtime, or even make layoffs, but her silence on the ballot initiative only adds to the anxiety Oregon’s entrepreneurs are already experiencing,” Smith said in a statement.

As signatories to the original Klamath Basin water agreements try to reassemble their team, an Oregon state senator says he doesn’t think their new plan for removing dams from the Klamath River is legal.

State Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, says he believes a plan by PacifiCorp and four government agencies to set up a private entity to handle the four dams’ removal would still need congressional approval. Under PacifiCorp’s plan, the entity would seek a go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remove the dams.

Whitsett’s argument is based on a legal opinion he received from Oregon Legislative Counsel Dexter Johnston, who told him in a letter that “any interstate compact that creates a joint entity, or that affects matters explicitly reserved to the federal government … is unconstitutional unless approved by Congress.

“If the agreements fail, any modified or later compact or other agreement providing for facilities removal would still require congressional approval,” Johnston wrote.

“PacifiCorp and the government agencies appear poised to manipulate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s administrative process in order to bypass congressional approval of the agreement,” Whitsett said.

However, PacifiCorp spokesman Bob Gravely said most dam-removal proposals are handled by FERC and that the Klamath project was unique in seeking approval from Congress because it was thought that the project would need federal funding.

PacifiCorp has been collecting a surcharge from ratepayers to raise $200 million for dam removal and now plans to cover any further costs with non-federal funds. A “non-federal” private entity is being formed to obtain permits, insurance and contracts for removing the dams in 2020, Gravely said.

“We’ve tried to involve Congress in this for the last six years and they apparently don’t want to be involved in dam removal at all, which has put us on this course,” Gravely said. “As a result, the way we’re looking at doing it now is the formation of a non-federal entity, a private corporation. PacifiCorp and the private entity would jointly file with FERC this summer for transfer of the license from PacifiCorp to the new entity.”

PacifiCorp, the states of Oregon and California and the U.S. Departments of Interior and Commerce outlined their plan in an agreement in principle unveiled last month. Since then, the company and agencies have been crafting an amendment to the 2010 Klamath agreements and hope to have the 42 original signatories on board by the end of this month, Gravely said.

The parties “are making good progress and on track to reach an agreement” with the larger group, Department of the Interior press secretary Jessica Kershaw said in an email.

The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement and Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement expired at the end of 2015 after failing to win approval from Congress — a key element of the pacts. Various bills to authorize removal of the dams have languished in Congress since 2011.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., a longtime opponent of dam removal, unveiled an eleventh-hour draft bill in December to move forward on other aspects of the agreements while putting the approval of dam removal in the lap of FERC. However, the bill received a cool reaction from proponents of the agreements, and no efforts were made to merge it with one by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., which included dam removal.

“As Gov. (Kate) Brown said when the agreement in principle was first announced, Congressman Walden took a step forward by drafting legislation late last year, and the dam removal plan is part of a broader movement to work with him and others to get the Klamath Basin agreements back on track,” Chris Pair, the Oregon governor’s press secretary, said in an email.

Whitsett said it’s politically “poisonous” for any politician in the Klamath Basin to be seen as embracing dam removal.

“I think what (Walden) was attempting to do was remove the dam removal part … so the rest of the issues could be quite easily resolved,” Whitsett said. “If you want to lose an election in Klamath County or Siskiyou County, support taking the dams out.”

Proponents of the agreements say they’re fundamentally a legal settlement that aims to resolve long-standing differences and grievances. Over the years, the parties have sought to identify solutions and build goodwill throughout the basin, they argue.

While he would prefer that the dams remain in place, Whitsett said he understands that PacifiCorp has a right as a property owner to remove them.

“What I have a problem with,” he said, “is trying to force the ratepayers and taxpayers to pay for it.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 3

Thursday, March 3

ONTARIO, Ore. — During a contentious meeting March 1, farmers and irrigation district officials challenged USDA’s recent agreement with Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. to manage a genetically engineered creeping bentgrass that escaped from field trials in 2003.

The grass has taken root in Malheur and Jefferson counties in Oregon and Canyon County in Idaho.

Farmers and others expressed concern about the 10-year plan between Scotts and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

“They created the problem. They let it escape. Now you’re dumping it on Malheur and Canyon county,” seed grower Jerry Erstrom told Sid Abel, assistant deputy director of USDA’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services.

Scotts, in conjunction with Monsanto Corp., was developing a genetically modified creeping bentgrass for use mainly in the golf course industry.

Since the grass escaped from grower field trials near Parma in Idaho and Madras in Jefferson County in 2003, it has taken root in those areas.

Scotts was fined for the incidents and signed a consent agreement in 2007.

Erstrom, chairman of the Malheur County Weed Board, and others said that because the grass is genetically engineered to resist Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer, it is hard to eradicate and is causing problems in waterways.

Erstrom said the grass has also invaded pastures, which is a problem for anyone raising organic livestock, and if it gets into a shipment of hay or grain, the shipment can be rejected for overseas markets that don’t tolerate traces of genetically modified organisms.

“It has a lot of potential ramifications for the county,” he said.

USDA’s agreement with Scotts, approved in September, requires the company to continue to survey for the grass in the affected counties in 2016 and try to eradicate it where possible.

In years 2 and 3, the company will provide technical assistance to affected farmers and irrigation districts and provide incentives for the adoption of best management practices to control the grass.

Scotts will also conduct outreach and education programs.

In years 4 through 10, the company will pull back a little but still continue to analyze the situation, educate growers and provide technical assistance, Abel said.

Scotts will also continue working with Oregon State University researchers to try to identify herbicides that can effectively manage the grass.

Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba expressed concern about the plan in a Feb. 17 letter to USDA that prompted the Ontario meeting.

In her letter, Coba said the plan “passes the burden for management of (the grass) onto affected stakeholders.”

The letter says that ODA “is concerned that Oregon ranchers, growers and irrigation districts will have limited tools and resources available to ... manage this herbicide-resistant grass effectively.”

Clint Shock, director of OSU’s Malheur County experiment station, told Abel that Scotts approached him about conducting bentgrass trials there and he refused the project because he didn’t believe the plant could be contained and should never leave the laboratory.

“What you’re proposing is to (take) all the burden and loss off of APHIS and Scotts ... and (put it) on to the community,” he said. “That’s really what it amounts to.”

Erstrom said the agreement is “nothing more than a plan for Scotts to get off the economic hook of fixing what they broke.”

That prompted Bob Harriman, Scotts’ vice president of biotechnology, to stand up and defend the company.

“We have a history of being an honorable company,” he said. “Judge us on the actions we’re taking (and) the progress we’re making. We want to do the right thing.”

Abel rejected accusations that USDA and Scotts were walking away from the situation and said the plan can be changed if necessary.

“No, USDA is not walking away, nor is Scotts,” he said. “We are in this for the long haul. I ask you to give us a chance. Let this plan evolve and work and we will change it if necessary.”

Poachers shot and killed three wolves last year in Eastern Oregon. In one of those cases, a Baker City man turned himself in and pleaded guilty.

The other two incidents, however, remain unsolved. What’s more, they weren’t mentioned by the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife or Oregon State Police until after ODFW published its 2015 wolf report on Monday.

The news riled some conservationists, including Steve Pedery, conservation director with Oregon Wild, who said it appeared ODFW was trying to tamp down the controversy.

“It really adds to the cynicism of a lot of folks in the conservation community who feel ODFW is hell-bent on getting out of their responsibility to protect these animals,” Pedery said.

Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator, said the department is following up on the shot wolves, but state police are in charge of handling those investigations.

“It’s just the way they’re being investigated,” Morgan said. “It’s not out of any attempt to not be forthcoming.”

The first case of poaching came on Sept. 7, 2015, two months before the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to remove gray wolves from the state endangered species list. OR-34, a wolf from the Walla Walla pack, was shot on private property within the pack’s home range.

One month later, Brennon Witty of Baker City shot OR-22 in Grant County after he said he confused the wolf with a coyote. OR-22 had previously wandered into the area after dispersing from the Umatilla River pack. Witty was fined $1,000, ordered to pay restitution and forfeited his rifle to the state.

Finally, on Dec. 23, OR-31 of the Mount Emily pack was killed on public land near the boundary of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. By then, wolves had been taken off the state endangered species list. Sgt. Tim Brown, with the OSP Fish and Wildlife Division in Pendleton, is investigating the two open cases. He said they are not related, and both happened in remote areas with limited access.

“We’re trying to investigate as thoroughly as we can, and protect any clues we have,” Brown said. “We have leads we’re following. Some of that stuff just takes time.”

Brown said OSP typically doesn’t issue releases on these cases unless police think the public can provide additional information. Since these two wolves were found in such isolated country, he said they didn’t feel it was necessary. By no means were they trying to deceive the public, he said.

“As isolated as they were, the individuals who shot those wolves in both these cases are likely the only ones who know about it,” Brown said.

Pedery, though, said it sends the wrong message to keep quiet about poaching cases while publicizing every incident of livestock predation — especially as the legislature is considering whether to affirm the state’s decision to delist wolves.

“I think for anyone looking at how the last few months have gone down, it should be disturbing that these two poachings were buried down in this report,” he said.

The 2015 wolf report highlighted a 34 percent population increase in Oregon, reaching a minimum of 110 wolves by the end of the year. The number of wolf attacks on livestock confirmed by ODFW actually decreased for the second year in a row.

ODFW also found a new pack of wolves in southern Umatilla and Morrow counties, located in the Heppner unit. Morgan said they made the discovery on Jan. 18, and biologists will try to catch and collar at least one of the five wolves to learn more about them.

“They’re in some pretty remote area,” Morgan said. “Undoubtedly, the adults dispersed from other packs. That’s how this works.”

The pack hasn’t yet been named. Morgan said they were spotted west of Battle Mountain.

SALEM (AP) — Gov. Kate Brown has announced the resignation of the director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

Brown said Tuesday that Dick Pedersen is stepping down as Oregon’s top environmental official for health reasons that she did not identify.

Pedersen’s resignation comes amid a public outcry over discovery of hazardous levels of cadmium and arsenic near two glass-making facilities in Portland. Questions have been raised about whether the environmental agency took too long to respond to discovery of the toxic hot spots.

Pedersen has been with the agency for two decades and became director in 2008.

Deputy Director Joni Hammond will step in as interim director until a permanent replacement is named.

Addressing a question hard on the minds of Southeast Oregon residents, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said during a congressional hearing March 1 that she knows of no plans to designate an Owyhee Canyonlands national monument.

Responding to a question from Rep. Greg Walden, who represents Eastern Oregon, Jewell said the concept was brought up by Keen Footwear of Portland.

“It’s been kicking around, it’s one of the things people have recommended to us,” Jewell said.

But she said the Interior Department, which includes the BLM and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has held no community meetings or discussions about the idea.

“People haven’t been actively in my office asking about it,” Jewell told Walden.

Walden asked if there has been any coordination between the White House and Department of Interior on the issue.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Jewell replied.

The Bend-based environmental group Oregon Natural Desert Association, backed by the Keen Footwear, has proposed a 2.5 million acre Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness and conservation area. Critics say the area is bigger than the Yellowstone, Yosemite or Grand Canyon national parks and would cover 40 percent of Oregon’s Malheur County.

Local opposition is strong. Opponents believe designation would prohibit or severely restrict grazing, mining, hunting and other recreation. Proponents have said traditional land uses will be allowed, but opposition leaders say they don’t believe them.

Opponents worry President Obama will establish the wilderness and conservation area under the federal Antiquities Act, which can be done by presidential order and does not require approval of Congress.

In February he designated three such monuments in the California desert: Mojave Trails National Monument, Sand to Snow National Monument, and Castle Mountains National Monument. They cover almost 1.8 million acres.

Walden and others believe an Owyhee Canyonlands designation would be economically and socially harmful to an area still reeling from the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Walden has called upon the administration to ease tension in the rural West by backing away from the proposal.

On other topics, Walden thanked Jewell for her support of collaborative sage grouse conservation work but said it was frustrating that an environmental group filed a lawsuit over the work. Habitat conservation agreements signed by ranchers and other private landowners were credited with helping keep the Greater sage grouse off the federal endangered species list.

Walden also asked about local reimbursement for costs associated with the 41-day occupation of the wildlife refuge. An analysis by Oregonian/OregonLive estimated the cost in law enforcement presence, school closures, supplies and other items at $3.3 million.

“Because this was a federal facility, and because most of the people who were there were not from Harney County, let alone from the state of Oregon, I do hope the federal government will help figure out a way to help cover some of the local costs,” Walden said.

Jewell said she’s uncertain how the reimbursement question would be handled. “So that’s certainly something that we’re happy to have dialogue on, but I don’t know what the rules are,” she said.

At the hearing, U.S. District Judge Anna Brown agreed with a pre-trial services recommendation that Santilli, an Ohio talk radio host, be granted bail upon condition that he receive a mental health evaluation. Pre-trial services also recommended that Santilli be released to a halfway house with GPS ankle-monitoring.

However, Santilli will remain in custody in Multnomah County because he has been charged elsewhere, too. Santilli is facing felony charges in Nevada related to the 2014 armed standoff between ranchers and the Bureau of Land Management.

To gain release in Oregon, Santilli would first need to win a bail hearing related to the Nevada charges.

Monday was Santilli’s third time trying to obtain release. He was arrested Jan. 26 outside a makeshift FBI headquarters near Burns, Oregon.

Defense attorney Tom Coan argues Santilli is an independent journalist, and did not take part in the Oregon occupation beyond that role. Earlier this month, the ACLU of Oregon made a statement publicly supporting Santilli’s rights to free speech.

Santilli is the host of his eponymous Internet radio show. He broadcast hundreds of hours of the occupation from Harney County.

SALEM — A bill to speed up urban growth boundary expansions on 50-acre parcels in two cities has passed the Oregon House despite opposition from farm and conservation groups.

House Bill 4079 would create two pilot projects — one in a city with fewer than 25,000 residents and one with more — that would be exempt from certain land use rules, with the goal of creating more affordable housing.

Opponents of the bill, including the Oregon Farm Bureau and 1,000 Friends of Oregon, argued that it would short-circuit the UGB expansion process and allow housing developments to sprawl onto farmland.

Several counties — including Clackamas, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington and portions of Jefferson — aren’t eligible for the pilot projects.

Bill sponsor Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants Pass, said HB 4079 was not designed as a “ruse to burst open the UGB” as claimed by opponents.

The bill contains several “siderails” aimed at preventing unintended consequences like shoving low-income residents to the outskirts of cities where they’d have inadequate access to services and transportation, he said.

Under the bill, Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission is required to select pilot projects that are near public facilities and services and that minimize adverse impacts to agriculture, Stark said.

“There’s all sorts of stuff out there that’s not farm or forest lands,” he said before the March 1 vote on the House floor.

Rep. Knute Buhler, R-Bend, said Oregon faces an affordable housing shortage due to a “mismatch between supply and demand” and a cumbersome UGB expansion process.

By allowing the 50-acre pilot projects, lawmakers will take a “small bite at the apple” toward correcting this problem, he said. “It allows us to experiment on a small scale before making big changes.”

No lawmakers spoke against the bill prior to the House vote, but HB 4079 did not receive unanimous approval. The bill passed 31-25 and will now be considered in the Senate.

Critics of HB 4079 say that Oregon’s land use laws already require a 20-year supply of buildable land available for housing within a city’s UGB.

If a city doesn’t have enough affordable housing, it can “upzone” certain areas from single-family units to multi-family units, thereby increasing supplies within the UGB, critics argue.

An Oregon farmer is accused of violating the Clean Water Act by stabilizing a riverbank, which he claims was intended to stop erosion.

The federal government has filed a lawsuit against Bill Case of Albany, Ore., for allegedly discharging pollutants into the North Santiam River by repeatedly placing large rocks and gravel within its high water mark between 2009 and 2013.

The lawsuit, filed at the behest of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeks an order requiring Case to restore the site to “pre-violation conditions” and pay up to $37,500 in civil penalties for each day of violating the Clean Water Act.

The complaint claims that Case discharged “large riprap rock and dredged material,” which are pollutants, along more than 800 feet of the river as well as nearby wetlands and side channels without a required Clean Water Act permit.

Case said he received verbal permission to stabilize the riverbank from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after it was washed out by a flood in 2007.

“What we did worked fine. There’s no pollution or anything,” said Case.

Floodwaters had swept away brush, trees and soils four feet deep along the river, threatening to do further damage in future years, he said. “If we didn’t do anything, we were going to lose probably 50 acres of the field.”

Case said his work was overseen by officials from the Corps and Oregon’s Department of State Lands, who said he would not need to obtain a Clean Water Act permit as long as activities did not take place within the river.

Later, Case said he also repaired an existing dike along the river after checking USDA maps to ensure the work didn’t occur within a wetland.

“The only time the water even comes in contact with it is during an extreme flood,” he said.

Despite his consultation with federal agencies, the EPA later sent letters accusing Case of polluting federal waters, he said.

Case said he doesn’t understand the purpose of the EPA’s actions, since stabilizing the river bank has actually kept pollution out of the river.

“I don’t have any idea, except maybe they’ve got the big hammer and they’re going to prove they’ve got it,” he said.

Kent Hanson, an attorney representing the U.S. government in the case, referred questions to a U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson who said the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.

MYRTLE POINT — Coos County Master Gardeners and Oregon State Extension Service is readying to share their annual "Fertilize Your Mind" garden seminar with gardeners of all types.

Oregon’s confirmed wolf population jumped to 110 at the end of 2015, and wolves continue to disperse from the northeast corner of the state and move into new territory.

The annual count, released last weekend by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, marks a 36 percent increase from the survey completed at the end of 2014. The population numbers represent only wolves that have been confirmed by biologists in the field; the actual number is always thought to be higher.

ODFW considers the growth and geographical spread of wolves to be a conservation success story. Livestock producers, who bear the stress and cost of cattle and sheep losses and of defensive measures, are critical of the state’s wolf recovery program.

However, groups such as the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association supported the ODFW Commission’s decision in November 2015 to remove gray wolves from Oregon’s list of endangered species. Wolves remain under federal endangered species protection in the western two-thirds of the state. The Oregon Wolf Plan, which governs how they are handled by ODFW, remains in effect.

Some details from the report:

• 33 pups born in 2015 survived until the end of the year.

• The state now has at least 11 breeding pairs, up from nine.

• Wolves killed 10 sheep, three calves and one herd dog in 2015, and two other calves and one lamb were injured. Two cows and 30 sheep were confirmed killed by wolves in 2014. Many other livestock attacks are not confirmed under ODFW’s investigation protocol, and producers believe actual losses are much higher. They say livestock often disappear in wolf country and can’t be accounted for.

• The state paid $174,428 to 10 counties for wolf work in 2015. Most of it, $119,390, went for measures to prevent wolf-livestock conflict. Another $14,018 was paid directly to livestock producers to compensate them for confirmed losses.

• Seven wolves were confirmed dead during the year. Three were illegally shot; a pair were found dead of unknown cause; a 5-month-old pup apparently died of natural causes; and one found dead had a rodent in its stomach and traces of a harmful chemical in its system.

Of the wolves that were shot, one involved a Baker City man who shot a collared wolf in Grant County while he was hunting coyotes on private property. The man reported the shooting to ODFW and Oregon State Police, and recently pleaded guilty to killing an endangered animal. He was fined $1,000, ordered to pay another $1,000 restitution to ODFW, and his rifle was forfeited to the state.

The other two shootings are under investigation by state police.

Meanwhile, Oregon’s wolves continue to disperse south and southwest.

On Feb. 22 in Klamath County, in south central Oregon, a private landowner found a 500-pound heifer with a bite wound 10 inches long and five inches wide on its left hind leg. A collared wolf, OR-33, was in the area when the attack is believed to have occurred. The wolf left the Imnaha Pack in Northeastern Oregon in November 2015 and traveled through 13 counties.

California’s first wolf group, the Shasta Pack, has Oregon roots. A genotype analysis of scat showed it was “highly related” to the Imnaha Pack. That means at least Shasta’s breeding female was born into the Imnaha Pack, according to California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Online

http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/docs/oregon_wolf_program/Oregon_Wolf_Annual_Report_2015.pdf

Farmers may be able to drill new irrigation wells in Oregon’s Harney Basin despite a moratorium imposed by water regulators last year.

Worries about groundwater depletion prompted the Oregon Water Resources Department to halt well drilling in 2015, but the agency is considering rules to allow a limited number of new well permits.

In the meantime, regulators are conducting a study of the area’s groundwater that’s expected to be finished in 2020.

“The ultimate goal will be the stabilization of those groundwater levels,” said Ivan Gall, administrator of the OWRD’s field services division.

Each year, roughly 200,000 acre-feet of groundwater rights are used in the Greater Harney Valley area — where well permits are restricted — while only 170,000 acre-feet are available for use, according to an agency estimate.

Extensive well drilling in the past decade convinced the WaterWatch of Oregon environmental group to protest new permits last year, which led to OWRD’s moratorium while the agency performs the groundwater study.

This spring, the agency plans to enact regulations that would allow well permits to proceed despite concerns about declining groundwater, as long as the applications were filed before April 15.

Martha Pagel, an attorney representing the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, praised state water regulators for providing irrigators with a fair path to move forward if they have pending requests.

“It was a tough message in an area that’s really dependent on agriculture that you can’t develop anymore,” she said during a Feb. 26 meeting of the Oregon Water Resources Commission.

Under the proposed rules, an existing groundwater permit can be canceled to drill a well that generates the equivalent amount of water in another area. This allows farmers to switch to irrigating higher-value soils.

Irrigators who cancel a well permit to drill in another location would lose the original “priority date” for their water rights, unless they complete an official transfer of “certificated” water rights that have actually been developed.

Roughly 25 percent of the permitted wells in the area are currently undeveloped and will likely remain that way due to poor soils, said Dwight French, administrator of the agency’s water rights division.

These undeveloped permits, however, are eligible for cancellation to drill a new well under the proposed rules.

Even without a cancellation, new permits would also be allowed in the northwestern and southern sub-regions of the Greater Harney Valley area if the applications were pending as of April 15.

The agency doesn’t have data showing groundwater declines in these sub-areas but they’re likely part of the same overall water system, said Gall.

In both cases, farmers would be subject to certain conditions, such as setback distances between wells and a lack of interference with existing water rights.

Regulators expect the rules to be adopted on April 13, which is shortly before the April 15 cutoff date for pending applications because restrictions can’t be imposed retroactively.

Currently, 39 applications in the affected area are pending with OWRD and no new ones have been filed for several months.

SALEM — A legislative proposal to offset the cost of minimum wage increases to small businesses, farmers and other natural resources employers appears to be on hold until at least 2017.

Reps. Brian Clem, D-Salem, and John Davis, R-Wilsonville, had proposed giving tax credits to certain employers who are most likely to struggle financially to meet the requirements of a new three-tier minimum wage plan. The plan was laid out in Senate Bill 1532, which passed both legislative chambers earlier this month.

During negotiations with legislative leadership, the plan was whittled down to tax credits of no more than $15 million a year only for employers involved in animal production, aquaculture, crop production, fishing, hunting, trapping and food manufacturing.

That amount was insufficient to cover the additional costs of all of those employers, so lawmakers would have had to find a way to prioritize how to divvy out the tax credits, Clem said.

A group of associations representing agriculture has indicated it wants lawmakers to take more time to figure out those details, rather than push through legislation this session, which is scheduled to end by Sunday.

“The reality is that more time is needed to fully run cost and benefit scenarios to ensure any wage relief actually benefits the agriculture industry as a whole,” representatives from the agriculture industry wrote in a letter to Clem. “We believe there may only be one shot at alleviating the burden S.B. 1532 imposes on agriculture. The solution must meet the needs of our member families without picking winners and losers among the industry.”

The letter was signed by the Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Dairy Farmers Association, Oregon Association of Nurseries, Northwest Food Processors Association, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregon Blueberry Commission, Oregon Seed Council, Columbia Gorge Fruit Growers Association, Far West Agribusiness Association and Oregon Wheat Growers League.

“I’m extremely disappointed that our bipartisan effort to try relieve some of the sign burden imposed by the minimum wage bill has been reduced so far,” Davis said. “Part of why there is so little interest in the current proposal is it’s just so small. If we were going to try to cover part or all of increase each year to all businesses, it is hundreds of millions and possibly billions of dollars. This is really a defacto tax we were trying to impose.”

Clem, who voted for the minimum wage bill, said he was concerned that small employers would have to lay off workers due to the cost of the increased minimum wage while larger employers would easily be able to absorb the cost.

The tax credit would have reduced the effective wage rate for those employers. The amount would gradually climb in tandem with the minimum wage, reaching up to $2 per hour per employee in July 2022.

Clem and Davis said their original concept also would have set smaller increases in minimum wage and lifted a ban against setting higher wages in Portland. It became clear early on in negotiations that both of those proposals were too complex to push through the waning days of the Legislature’s 35-day session, Clem said.

The minimum wage plan hikes minimum wages over a period of six years. The amount differs in each of three regions and is set according to a county’s median income and cost of living. In Portland, minimum wage will reach $14.75 in the Portland area, $12.50 in rural and coastal counties with struggling economies and $13.50 in the rest of the state by 2022.

Clem said he plans to pursue the wage support proposal in 2017.

“I think it’s fair to say the independent-minded Democrats are satisfied that if Ag thinks we can wait then we can wait to get it right,” Clem said.

NORTH BEND — The Bureau of Land Management will be holding an open house to discuss the management of the New River Area of Critical Environmental Concern in preparation for updating the New River ACEC management plan.

Armed with a lifetime of on-the-ground sheep production, a degree in animal science and years of research at Kansas State and Oregon State universities, Tom Nichols was the perfect choice for president of the Oregon Sheep Growers Association.

Installed at the OSGA annual convention in Sunriver, Ore., Nichols is focusing on OSGA’s mission — representing the interests of OSGA sheep producers, industry-related businesses and sheep industry products.

“Everything is taking a hit now days, but if Oregon sheep growers can stay united I think we can remain strong,” Nichols said. “My immediate goals are to strengthen OSGA’s annual convention, develop a digital communication system with members and the public and to promote our Make It With Wool program to a larger audience.

“I believe in conventions, I think they are important and I always learn a lot by getting together and rubbing elbows with the other people,” he said. “However, to steal fellow producer Mac Stewart’s phrase, one of the first things we need is to ‘right-size’ them and hold them here in the (Willamette) Valley, where most of the producers that attend live and work.”

He also said developing efficient digital communications will help get animal health and other information to members.

Born and raised in Ashland, Ore., Nichols is a fifth-generation Oregonian. His father raised cattle, sheep and timber, and his mother taught school. He attended Linn Benton Community College for two years. From Linn Benton, he joined a brother in Kansas and ended up getting a degree in animal science from Kansas State University, where he lived and worked at the beef and sheep research centers.

Back in Oregon, Nichols worked as a forage technician, ran sheep on valley grass fields for Tony Wahl and managed the Sheep Research Center for OSU.

Today, Nichols lives in Lebanon with his wife, Karen, and 14-year-old daughter, Anne.

“Karen is a sheep grower in her own right and was assistant shepherd at the OSU Sheep Center when I met her,” Nichols said. “She raises horned Dorsets, some Polled Dorsets and Suffolks while Anne, who is very active in 4-H, raises and shows Romneys. In addition to pasturing sheep for other growers, I’m the fence builder, truck driver and anything else that needs to be done.”

Reed Anderson, sheep grower, lamb processor and owner of Anderson Family Ranches in Brownsville, Ore., spoke highly of Nichols in his role as OSGA president.

“Tom has been raising and producing sheep his whole life, has extensive experience working with OSU and is well known with other state and national industry associations,” Anderson said. “He is the most knowledgeable and well-rounded person I know and I look forward to seeing what his leadership brings to OSGA.”

The OSGA board of directors for 2016-2017: president, Tom Nichols, Lebanon; first vice president, Mac Stewart, Salem; treasurer, Brian Dietrich, Silverton; past president, Paul Lewis, Bonanza.

Area vice presidents: Mike Cowdrey, Scio; Tasha Wahl, Shedd; Correy McAtee, Prineville; Kip Krebs, Ione; Morgan McKenzie; Langlois; John Kokkeler, Junction City.

Oregon Make it with Wool director: Chandra Worman, Bend.

Oregon Sheep Commission representative: John M. Fine, Roseburg.

Online

www.sheeporegon.com

Tom Nichols can be reached at nicholslivestock@gmail.com

With financing in place, a Minnesota-based energy company plans to build its first commercial refinery that will transform farm waste into natural gas and liquid fertilizer at the Port of Morrow.

Novus Energy has received an $11 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s biorefinery assistance program. Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and USDA Rural Development Undersecretary Lisa Mensah made the announcement Friday in Portland.

“This biorefinery will spur economic development, create new jobs and provide new markets for farm commodities in rural Oregon,” Mensah said.

Novus plans to take 750 tons of food waste every day — things like potato peels, onion skins and dairy manure — and convert it into renewable gas at the facility. By allowing the scraps to ferment in tanks, organic material breaks down and releases methane that can be captured and stored.

Joe Burke, Novus president and CEO, said the company has found a way to make that process 40 percent more efficient and is now ready for commercial-scale production. The USDA loan was critical to making the project a reality, Burke said.

“We just can’t wait to go to the next step,” he said.

Novus has spent several years already in Eastern Oregon, conducting small-scale tests using local food waste inside a retrofitted semi-trailer. Burke said he has been working on and off for three years toward a commercial refinery at the Port of Morrow.

The issue ultimately came down to financing. Despite successful tests, Burke said banks wouldn’t lend them money. However, the 2014 Farm Bill expanded the USDA’s biorefinery program to allow the agency to invest in advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals.

Mensah said Novus is one of the first companies to receive a loan under that expansion.

“It’s a very competitive program,” Mensah told the East Oregonian. “We are pleased to see this innovation happening in rural America.”

Novus will break ground on its facility at the port later this summer, Burke said, which will be located near Boardman Foods. The total cost is $25 million, and the plant will provide 5-10 permanent, full-time jobs.

At full operation, Novus will produce 3.8 million cubic feet of renewable gas each day. That’s more than 28 million gallons, which will be pumped directly into the Cascade pipeline on their property. A subsidiary of BP is signed on to buy the fuel.

The plant will also generate 350 gallons of liquid fertilizer daily.

“We’re taking waste and turning it into valuable resources. We’re very excited about that,” Burke said.

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Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825.

SATURDAY, FEB. 27

NORTH BEND — The Bureau of Land Management will hold an open house to discuss the management of the New River Area of Critical Environmental Concern in preparation for updating the New River ACEC Management Plan.