The Oregon Natural Resources Report - Agricultural News from Oregon

Timber industry files lawsuit against murrelet designation

Timber industry challenges marbled murrelet habitat designation
– Claims Fish and Wildlife Service violating Endangered Species Act
By American Forest Resource Council

The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) brought suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) claiming the agency violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it designated millions of acres of forest land in Washington, Oregon and California as critical habitat for the marbled murrelet.

“There is nothing straight forward in how the FWS requires federal forest managers to deal with this bird,” said Tom Partin, President of AFRC. “Because humans almost never see the bird, the FWS seems to think it can throw a net over millions of acres of federal timber land that not only aren’t being used by the bird, but don’t even have the characteristics it is looking for when it flies inland to lay its eggs. Someone has to speak up about this violation of the limits of the ESA.”

USDA to close 260 offices, many in Oregon

Oregon Farm Bureau

The U.S. Agriculture Department announced it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide in an effort to save dollars. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the goal was to save $150 million a year in the agency’s $145 billion budget. About $90 million had already been saved by reducing travel and supplies and the closures were expected to save another $60 million.

A gold rush in Eastern Oregon?

By Oregon Small Business Association

The Corvallis Gazette Times reports that  three miles north of Nevada in Eastern Oregon lies fabulous wealth, in the form of an estimated 425,000 ounces of gold. Close to the gold deposit is another of uranium, which Oregon Energy Corp. hopes to mine over the next twenty years.

Environmentalists are critical of the plan. Heavy metals such as uranium are mined with a process that involves sulfuric acid being used to eat the metal out of raw ore. The leftover tailings are contained and disposed of in accordance with a preconceived plan approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But environmentalists worry that the sulfuric acid and the waste rock will continue to interact in harmful ways over the coming years. Oregon Energy says Oregonians have nothing to worry about, due to the law passed by the state legislature in 1991. That act requires all mining companies to post huge bonds that ensure the company will stick around to clean up its mess.

BLM issues final payments to 18 counties

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today that it has issued payment to 18 counties in western Oregon eligible under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act extension, (Public Law 110-343). The amount paid to the Oregon & California (O&C) counties was $ 40,037,160.

Classic video: People sign petition to ban water

National Corn Growers Association
Corn Commentary Blog

These days, farmers and ranchers seem to be constantly having to defend every practice they use to produce food, fuel and fiber – and much of it is based on just plain ignorance of agriculture in general.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also extremely dangerous. We just recently came across this Penn and Teller video about how willing people are to sign a petition to ban water when it is called by its chemically proper but unfamiliar name, “dihydrogen monoxide.” This illustration of ignorance and radicalism is not new. Wikipedia traces it back to some University of California students in 1990. Penn and Teller updated the hoax in 2006 and it would be funnier if it wasn’t such a sad commentary on how gullible some people can be and how it could have disastrous consequences.

State reduces sturgeon catch by 38%

States agree to reduce sturgeon catch by 38% on the lower Columbia River
By Oregon Dept. of Fish & Widlife

For the third straight year, fish and wildlife directors from Washington and Oregon have agreed to reduce the catch of white sturgeon on the lower Columbia River, where the species has declined in abundance in recent years. Under the new agreement, the total allowable harvest of white sturgeon below Bonneville Dam will be reduced from 22.5 percent of the “legal-size” fish to 16 percent in 2012.

How the White House plan to merge trade agencies impacts ranchers

By National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 

Statement from NCBA President Bill Donald Regarding President Obama’s Proposed Consolidation of Trade Agencies

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) supports the administration’s recognition of the need to improve government efficiency and eliminate wasteful spending. However, precautions must be in place to avoid unintended consequences.

“NCBA has strong concerns about President Obama’s proposal to merge the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) with other trade agencies. NCBA maintains that USTR should remain an independent agency within the Executive Office of the President, focusing on trade negotiations, trade agreements and trade enforcement. USTR is vital to ensuring successful trade negotiations concerning U.S. beef and other agricultural commodities with our global trade partners. USTR must be in a position to have direct access to the White House.

Gov. Kitzhaber maligns loggers, Bill to bailout counties, More

by Rex Storm,
Associated Oregon Loggers,

Governor Maligns Timber Owners and Loggers: The rise in log exports to China has left coastal sawmills facing new price competition for timber. Oregon Governor Kitzhaber unfairly criticized log exports in his Nov. 3 testimony before the state Board of Forestry. “We are at risk of becoming a timber colony for Asia,” Kitzhaber said. “While (log exports are) undermining our mill infrastructure and surrounding communities…” The Governor’s deceptive remarks—repeated by the media—slanders those Oregon forest sector businesses and jobs that grow, harvest and deliver timber.

Congressmen Push for County Bailout: All six members of Oregon’s Congressional delegation announced bipartisan support for a bill to extend the county timber payments law. If the bill passes, the now-expired Secure Rural Schools Act would be extended for six years, providing declining subsidy payments to counties that lost federal timber receipts in the 1990s. Under the current federal budget deficit, renewing the Secure Act is a steep uphill revenue battle, pitted against needed federal timber receipts, run-away federal spending, and defaulting county governments across the West.

Entire Oregon delegation backs forest restoration plan

Greg Walden organizes bipartisan backing for job-creating forest landscape restoration projects
By Congressman Greg Walden,

Estimates from proposals say Lakeview project would create more than 80 jobs; Southern Blues project would create more than 150 jobs

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden has organized a bipartisan letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack that expresses strong support for funding two job-creating and large-scale forest restoration projects – one in the Lake County area and the other in Grant and Harney counties. The letter was signed by Walden, Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader, and Earl Blumenauer.

Arson hits 14 cattle trucks in California

Below is a press release from National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

Ag predictions for the 2012 Congress

Looking to 2012: Long To-Do List, Little Appetite in Election Year
By National Association of Wheat Growers

Members of Congress are headed back to Washington, D.C., from a holiday break, but how much they will accomplish before leaving in early August for full-time campaigning remains very much in question.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to return next Tuesday, with the Senate reconvening Jan. 23. The annual State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, the traditional start of the Congressional season, is scheduled for Jan. 24.

After long delay, Dungeness crab season opens

Dungeness crab season opens Jan. 15 on Oregon’s southern coast
By Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

NEWPORT – Commercial and sport Dungeness crabbing opens Jan. 15 from Gold Beach south, making all of the ocean off Oregon now open to crabbing. The ocean commercial Dungeness crab season in Oregon normally opens Dec. 1, but was delayed this year because crab did not meet minimum pre-season quality testing. Fishery managers made the decision in December to delay the season from about Gold Beach (42°26’00″ N. Lat.) south to the California border until Jan. 15.

Farmers warned: We’re all one regulation away from jail or bankruptcy

By American Farm Bureau Federation

Farmers need to commit their time, energy, money and best thinking if they want to stop the proliferation of federal regulations that threaten their businesses, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said today at the American Farm Bureau Federation 93rd Annual Meeting. “This isn’t academic folks,” said Reed Rubinstein, senior counsel for the Chamber of Commerce. “When the federal government exercises its authority, it can send you to jail. We are all one regulation away from being out of business.”

Bird deaths from wind power prompts new rules

Windpower has killed 2,000 golden eagles in California & 500 other birds in Virginia proding conservationist to call for new guidelines.
By Oregon Tax News,

New federal rules instructing wind companies on how to better monitor and reduce the number of wildlife deaths from wind turbines are being worked on by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The new guidelines, which have been under consideration for a year, will increase potential fines for wind companies but will remain voluntary—a move that underscores the challenge regulators face trying to balance competing environmental priorities.

Private wind farms are cropping up across the U.S. as part of the Obama Administration’s push to increase wind energy to 20 percent of the nation’s total energy production by 2030. Consequently, the U.S. has doubled its wind energy, now at 43,000 megawatts of power, over the last three years. There are now roughly 500 wind farms operating 35,000 turbines, and wind energy accounts for three percent of U.S. energy output. That increase, however, has come at a high price in the eyes of some conservationists who say the government has made peace with wind farms’ threat to wildlife for the sake of reducing the nation’s carbon footprint.

Salazar approves renewable projects in Oregon, California

Projects advance solar, wind energy development on public lands; Will deliver power for 112,500 homes, support over 600 jobs and generate millions in local tax revenue
Dept. of Interior

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the approval of two renewable energy projects that further advance President Obama’s initiative for a rapid and responsible move to utility-scale production of renewable energy. The projects – a solar plant in California and a wind farm in Oregon – will be built on private lands and will use power lines that cross public lands to connect to their respective power grids. When built, the projects will deliver 379 megawatts of power – or enough to power 112,500 homes – and help support over 600 jobs through construction and operations.

Housing starts & building permits look up

By Rick Sohn
Umpqua Coquille LLC

Weaker log and stud prices are seasonally expected, while homebuilding statistics increased, unsold inventory dropped, and mortgage rates continued near record lows. See below for details and a six-year span of prices and analysis of lumber, logs, housing, and mortgage statistics.

Information and interpretation.

2012 Predictions for Timber Industry

Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics

Wood products demand is far more sensitive to the economy than demand for almost any other product. The outlook for the next two years is moderately positive, at least compared to the weak domestic markets we’ve seen since the downturn began. Log export markets look favorable, but with substantial risk deriving from Europe’s financial crisis. The bottom line is that timber industry executives must plan for moderate growth while protecting themselves from a possible recession.

California: Corn Ethanol Court Victory

by Cindy, Corn Commentary
National Corn Growers Association

Corn growers and the grain-based ethanol industry got a late Christmas present last week when a Federal District Court judge in Fresno, California sided with America’s ethanol industry in ruling that the State of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is therefore unconstitutional. The ruling is in response to a suit filed in December 2009 by the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy asserting that the LCFS violates the Commerce Clause by seeking to regulate farming and ethanol production practices in other states.

“This ruling reaffirms our position that the state of California violated the U.S. Constitution when it created a low carbon fuel standard punitive to farmers and ethanol producers outside of the state’s border,” said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer. “We hope that this ruling will lead to an inclusive discussion where regulators join other stakeholders to find effective renewable energy solutions.”

The Commerce Clause specifically forbids state laws that discriminate against out-of-state goods and that regulate out-of-state conduct. The original filing notes that “the LCFS imposes excessive burdens on the entire domestic ethanol industry while providing no benefit to Californians. In fact, in disadvantaging low-carbon, domestic ethanol, the LCFS denies the people of California a genuine opportunity to clean their air, create jobs, and strengthen their economic and national security. One state cannot dictate policy for all the others, yet that is precisely what California has aimed to do through a poorly conceived and, frankly, unconstitutional LCFS.”

On this claim the Court found that the LCFS discriminates against out-of-state corn-derived ethanol and impermissibly regulates extraterritorial conduct. As a result, the Court issued an injunction. The judge also ruled that CARB failed to establish that there are no alternative methods to advance its goals of reducing GHG emissions to combat global warming.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is expected to automatically appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and the industry is prepared to continue the fight to provide clean corn ethanol for all Americans.

Forests for Oregon publication goes online

Free forestry publication available online
By Oregon Department of Forestry

Oregon’s budget has necessitated cuts to a lot of programs – including some in forestry and the Oregon Department of Forestry’s flagship publication, Forests for Oregon – but the magazine-turned-newsletter is still available online, and it’s free. In print since 1930, Forests for Oregon was known as The Forest Log in its early years. It may be one of the state’s longest continuously printed publications. In more prosperous times, it was published six times per year, but over the years budget cuts have forced reductions to both its frequently and distribution.