SALEM — The fate of an environmentalist lawsuit over the removal of wolves from Oregon’s list of endangered species will soon be decided by the Oregon Senate.

Under House Bill 4040, the legislature would ratify last year’s decision by state wildlife officials to delist wolves, effectively neutralizing a legal challenge filed by several environmental groups in the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The Senate will soon vote on HB 4040 having passed a key legislative committee on Feb. 23 and earlier having passed the House.

Proponents of the bill, including the Oregon Farm Bureau and the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, argue that livestock producers could be excluded from any potential legal settlement between the environmental plaintiffs and Oregon’s wildlife regulators, thereby circumventing the public process in setting wolf management policy.

Environmentalists and animal rights advocates fear the delisting will lead to hunting and argue that HB 4040 will preclude judicial review of whether the delisting decision was based on sound science, which the Legislature should not attempt to answer.

Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, said it’s not unprecedented for Oregon lawmakers to weigh in on thorny policy issues instead of having them hashed out during prolonged litigation.

“As public policy makers, we do intervene when we believe it’s healthier to resolve a situation rather than let it happen in a courtroom,” he said.

Edwards joined two Republican colleagues on the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources in voting in favor of the bill, which passed the committee 3-2 and is now headed for a vote on the Senate floor.

The two other Democrats on the committee — Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland — said they were uncomfortable with lawmakers trying to influence the legal process from the outset.

Prozanski said he would have preferred a bill that would require the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and Oregon Farm Bureau to be included in any settlement negotiations, rather than render the lawsuit moot.

“I’m concerned about us being asked to intervene at this stage in a judicial proceeding,” he said.

Hemp

A far less controversial bill on hemp growing regulations, House Bill 4060, is also headed for a vote on the Senate Floor after passing the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

The bill, which was already approved by the House, eliminates restrictions on hemp that require the crop to be directly planted in fields larger than 2.5 acres and prohibit it from being grown from cuttings or in greenhouses.

These limitations were enacted by the Legislature in 2009, when recreational marijuana wasn’t yet legal in Oregon and lawmakers thought hemp would be grown mostly for industrial products like fiber and oil.

Instead, many growers want to plant hemp on a smaller scale for cannabidiol, a compound intended for medicinal uses.

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means has appropriated $25,000 for a Task Force on Drought Emergency Response, which will consist of up to 15 members chosen by the governor and legislative leaders. The goal of the task force will be to identify short-term, medium-term and long-term tools to combat drought, which caused severe problems for agriculture and the environment last year.

House Bill 4113, which would establish the task force, will now be voted upon by the full House.

The House will also vote on another drought-related bill, Senate Bill 1529, which invalidates rules requiring landscape irrigation by local homeowner associations when a drought has been declared by the governor, the Oregon Water Resources Department or a local government. The bill was approved unanimously by the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Government Effectiveness after earlier passing the Senate.

Local county governments will be allowed to create rangeland protection associations to fight fires in remote areas under House Bill 4007, which will be voted on in the Senate after earlier winning the approval of the House and now passing a key committee in the Senate.

Without this bill, only the Oregon Board of Forestry has the authority to create such associations. The county-created associations will be able to obtain more favorable insurance terms if HB 4007 passes, but they’re still subject to the oversight of the Oregon Board of Forestry.

Ag interests say the three-tiered plan to hike the state’s minimum wage passed by the Legislature is better than some alternatives, but still will have a bit impact on growers and processors.

Under the plan awaiting Gov. Kate Brown’s signature, in July Oregon’s minimum wage will jump from $9.25 to $9.75 statewide.

It will gradually climb to $14.75 in 2022 in the Portland urban growth boundary, which includes parts of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. It will rise to $13.50 in Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Deschutes, Hood River, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Wasco and Yamhill counties, and parts of Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties outside Portland’s urban growth boundary.

In rural areas, the minimum will increase to $12.50. Those areas include Malheur, Lake, Harney, Wheeler, Sherman, Gilliam, Wallowa, Grant, Jefferson, Baker, Union, Crook, Klamath, Douglas, Coos, Curry, Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Jenny Dresler, state public police director for the Oregon Farm Bureau, said the increased minimum wage will cause some farmers to mechanize while others will probably go out of business because they can’t compete against growers in other states.

“Farmers are price takers. They have no ability to recoup those higher labor costs,” Dresler said.

The three-tiered county wage schedule is a “bizarre choice” since many farms operate across county lines, she said. Growers in some areas will now be less competitive than those in their neighboring counties, Dresler said.

Malheur County onion growers say the plan will have a major impact on local packers.

But the 46 farmers, onion processors and small business owners who traveled 400 miles by charter bus to Salem last month to oppose proposals to raise the state’s minimum wage prevented the outcome from being worse, participants said.

“As bad as it was, it could have been worse,” said Nyssa farmer Paul Skeen, president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association, which helped finance the trip along with the Malheur County Potato Growers Association.

Bus trip participants told lawmakers that raising the state’s minimum wage would result in agricultural and other businesses moving to neighboring Idaho, which has a $7.25-an-hour minimum wage.

The governor’s original two-tier proposal would have raised the minimum wage to $15.52 in the Portland area and to $13.50 in the rest of the state, so the noise made by the Malheur County crew clearly made a difference in the final outcome, said Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, who helped organize the bus trip.

The change to a three-tier system was made as a result “of the loud noise made by the people of Eastern Oregon,” he said. “I think it’s extremely important that people understand they did have an impact.”

The increase in the state’s minimum wage will still have a negative effect on Malheur County’s agricultural industry, which competes against Idaho farmers and processors just across the border, Skeen said.

While Oregon’s final minimum wage plan is somewhat better than the original, “It’s just a slower death,” he said.

Faced with a much higher minimum wage than their competitors a few hundreds yards away in Idaho, onion processors in Malheur County will do one of two things that will result in fewer Oregon jobs, Skeen said: “They will mechanize or move to Idaho or both. They won’t have a choice.”

The bus trip did some good, said MCPGA President Rob Wagstaff. But based on the ultimate outcome, “I feel like (legislators are) telling us they don’t really care a lot about small businesses here. I’m just frustrated they didn’t hear us a little bit better.”

The minimum wage increase will also have a major impact on Oregon fruit growers, said Jean Godfrey, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Fruit Growers Association, which represents 440 cherry, apple and pear growers.

The group’s producers are in an area that will experience the $13.50 minimum wage rate by 2022.

One fruit grower who penciled out the impact of a $13.50 minimum wage on his 150-acre orchard calculated it would cost him an additional $150,000 a year in wages, Godfrey said.

“If you’re in retail, you can pass the increased cost on to consumers,” Godfrey said. “But we can’t do that. We don’t set our prices. It seems to me the people in Salem don’t understand agriculture and the impact (the increase) has on our industry.”

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24

PORTLAND — Generational changes are expected to stymie per-capita U.S. consumption of wine in 2016, at least temporarily stunting the longtime upward trend, experts say.

The “baby boomer” generation, which consumes the most wine, is now preparing for retirement and feeling pressure to spend less and save more, said Mark Freund, managing director for Silicon Valley Bank, which tracks the wine industry.

Meanwhile, the “millennial” generation faces its own financial concerns — such as paying off student debt — and isn’t as dedicated to wine, he said Feb. 23 during the 2016 Oregon Wine Symposium in Portland, Ore.

Over the long term, though, there’s reason to believe that history will repeat itself and young people will come to prefer wine as they grow older, Freund said.

Other economic factors cut both ways.

Fuel prices are lower, allowing consumers to spend more on wine, but the volatile stock market has raised concerns about recession and inflation-adjusted incomes remain flat, he said.

“It’s difficult for the middle class to get ahead when there hasn’t been real wage growth,” Freund said.

U.S. wineries can also expect to face more foreign competition: While the output of wine-producing countries such as France, Italy and Spain has trended upward, their domestic consumption is down, he said.

That means those countries will be eager to export to the U.S., which has emerged as the top wine consumer in the world, he said.

Young drinkers’ appetite for craft beer doesn’t necessarily have to come at the expense of the wine industry, said Christian Miller, proprietor of Full Glass Research, a market analysis firm.

The popularity of craft beer is associated with consumers seeking higher quality and more intense flavors, which is a “cultural trend” that may also help wine, he said.

“What they’re shedding is the Budweisers and Coors of the world,” Miller said.

The millennial generation represents about 30 percent of the “high frequency” class of U.S. wine drinkers, who buy roughly 80 percent of the wine in the U.S., he said.

Baby boomers comprise 38 percent of high frequency wine drinkers, while the older generation represents 13 percent and “Generation X” represents 19 percent.

Sparkling wines are experiencing consistent growth since 2010, which may bring new consumers to the overall wine industry, Miller said.

Consumers associate Oregon wines with small producers, food friendliness and good value, though the region still isn’t as well-known as the Napa and Sonoma regions of California, he said.

The main reasons cited by high-frequency drinkers for not buying Oregon wine is that they prefer wine from other regions, that Oregon wines aren’t available where they shop and that Oregon doesn’t produce the varietals they commonly drink, Miller said.

In 2016, Oregon wine producers surveyed by Silicon Valley Bank said they expect sales to increase 13 percent in value and 9 percent in volume, which reflects the trend of consumers “trading up” to higher-quality wines, said Freund.

However, about 28 percent of Oregon wineries said they were experiencing poor financial performance, compared to 16 percent for all wineries surveyed, he said. Oregon wineries also reported being more willing to sell their companies than the industry as a whole.

PORTLAND — Average temperatures in various parts of the Pacific Northwest have risen 1.3 to 2.5 degrees since the mid-20th century, forcing changes in how vineyards and wineries operate, speakers at the annual Oregon Wine Symposium said.

Climate change has altered the timing of harvest, changed grape ripening profiles and forced growers and wine makers to account for fluctuating sugar and acid balances and to deal with new pests and diseases, said Greg Jones, a Southern Oregon University professor who specializes in wine climatology.

The past year was the warmest in recorded history globally, Jones said. The “heat content” of the world’s oceans has increased tremendously, he said, which likely will have dramatic impact on weather patterns. “This may be the real issue as we go forward,” Jones said.

Jones and his counterpart from France’s famed Burgundy region, Benjamin Bois, headed a discussion that attracted an estimated 200 people. Mark Chien, coordinator of Oregon State University’s Wine Research Institute, moderated the discussion. Chien noted that Oregon’s niche success within the wine industry began with cool weather grapes, Pinot noir. A warming challenges the industry, he said. The wine symposium and accompanying trade show attract about 1,400 people annually to the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. The agenda each year includes detailed discussions of grape growing and wine making. Many of the sessions included Spanish interpretation, a nod to the workforce in most vineyards.

The trade show annually features equipment dealers, label makers and suppliers of corks, barrels and tanks, among many others. Vendor booths ranged from one staffed by the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm, which has a wineries, breweries and distilleries practice group, to MaxYield Falconry, which uses falcons to chase pest birds from vineyards, orchards or berry fields.

The climate change presentation was among the better-attended sessions. Bois, a professor of viticulture and climatology at the University de Bourgogne in France, lent some perspective to the relative youth of the West Coast wine industry when he said 2003 was the earliest Burgundy harvest on record — which dates to the 14th century.

But he said the region’s Pinot noir wine from 2003 is in good shape, suggesting there is some “range and space” within a warming environment in which wine quality is not harmed.

“That does not mean there are not some challenges in climate change,” Bois said.

He said temperature increases linked to climate change have shortened the grape growing season in Burgundy by eight days. Researchers compared bud burst to harvest records from 1951-2000 with records kept 2000-2015, he said. The growth process that took 162 days in earlier times now is done in 154 days, he said, and starts five days earlier. That puts grapes somewhat more at risk for spring frost or summer rain, Bois said.

He said some vineyards in southern France now irrigate, after centuries of not doing so. Soil temperature has increased at a greater rate than air temperature, with unknown impact.

“It’s a black box, we really don’t know what’s going on with soil,” he said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — FBI personnel say they have completed the evidence-collection process at an Oregon wildlife refuge following a 41-day standoff.

The FBI said Tuesday they have turned control of the facility near Burns over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Officials say it will remain closed until further notice.

Government prosecutors also filed a motion Tuesday to push back the trial dates for those arrested following the standoff.

Prosecutors want a federal judge to deem the case complex, citing the large number of defendants and other issues, which would likely send the case into 2017.

Defense attorney Lisa Hay filed a document opposing those efforts.

Standoff leader Ammon Bundy and 15 others are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on a conspiracy charge.

Prosecutors say a superseding indictment with additional charges could be filed next month.

The 41-day armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge cost Oregon counties at least $1.2 million, according to documents obtained by OPB.

The FBI prepared the cost estimate Feb. 13. It illustrates how the counties incurred those costs, from lodging and meals to fuel expenses and overtime.  

The Harney County School District paid some $16,000 for security and counseling services. The school district also spent $160,000 in wages for teachers and staff to stay home during the first week of the occupation.  

Meanwhile, more than $700,000 was spent on backup law enforcement in the area from police and sheriff’s departments across the state. Nearly 200 law enforcement officials from 35 agencies worked 3,678 regular hours during the occupation, according to the documents.  

Of the $700,000, the biggest expenditure went to 4,588 overtime hours for law enforcement, costing those departments more than $400,000.  

The figures compiled by the FBI do not include costs incurred by the Oregon State Police, which played a visible role in assisting the FBI.

Clackamas County spent more than any other department assisting Harney County, racking up $136,000 in costs. Meanwhile, Lane, Marion and Multnomah counties each spent more than $60,000.

Lodging costs alone for all of the assisting law enforcement topped $52,000.  

Local and state officials were in Washington D.C. this week, lobbying the federal government to reimburse counties for the costs.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and other Oregon representatives have introduced federal legislation and amendments since the occupation ended that would shift some of the costs to the federal Interior and Justice departments.

“The vigilantes who occupied the Malheur Wildlife Refuge for over a month sapped resources from local and state governments and inflicted tremendous damage to a valued national resource,” said DeFazio in a statement Monday. “It will take time, money and hard work to clean up the destruction left behind.”

An Oregon man who shot an endangered wolf while hunting coyotes last fall pleaded guilty Tuesday in Grant County Justice Court.

As part of a negotiated deal, Brennon D. Witty, 26, of Baker City, pleaded guilty to taking a threatened or endangered species, a Class A violation, Harney County District Attorney Tim Colahan said in a news release.

A companion charge of hunting with a centerfire rifle with no big game tag was dismissed. Witty originally was charged with two Class A misdemeanors; the reduction of one charge to a violation and dismissal of the other was part of the plea negotiation.

Witty was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $1,000 restitution to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The rifle he used, a Savage .223 with a scope, was forfeited to the state.

The investigation began Oct. 6, 2015, when Witty voluntarily notified ODFW and Oregon State Police that he’d shot a wolf while hunting coyotes on private property south of Prairie City. Police recovered the carcass of a radio-collared wolf, designated OR-22, on the property.

The shooting happened in Grant County but Colahan, the prosecutor in neighboring Harney County, handled it as a courtesy. The Grant County district attorney was acquainted with Witty’s family and wanted to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The shooting happened a month before Oregon removed gray wolves from the state endangered species list, but that had no apparent bearing on the case. The ODFW Commission on Nov. 9 removed wolves from the state list, and they remain on the federal endangered species list in the western two-thirds of the state.

The wolf was a male that had worn a GPS tracking collar since October 2013 and dispersed from the Umatilla Pack in February 2015. He was in Malheur County for awhile, then traveled into Grant County.

Wildlife biologists don’t believe he had a mate or pups. Young or sub-dominant wolves often leave their home packs to establish their own territory and find mates.

TUESDAY, FEB. 23

SALEM — The pastoral stereotype of a handful of cows living in a red barn isn’t doing the dairy industry any favors, according to animal science professor Frank Mitloehner.

Consumers can react with distrust when they encounter commercial dairies after being exposed to bucolic advertisements about “happy cows,” the University of California Extension specialist said during the recent Oregon Dairy Farmers Annual Convention in Salem.

“They say this and this here have nothing to do with each other and they feel betrayed,” said Mitloehner.

Farmers should instead promote the efficiency of the modern U.S. dairy industry, which has increased milk production 60 percent since the 1950s while reducing the number of dairy cows from 16 million to 9 million, he said.

Mitloehner also said there’s plenty of room in the market for organic and conventional producers without various dairy sectors trying to give each other a “black eye.”

“That must stop,” he said.

It has been a decade since the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization published a highly publicized report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” that blamed livestock for causing more greenhouse gas emissions than global transportation.

Mitloehner was a chief critic of the report, which pointed out that the “lifecycle” analysis of greenhouse gases from livestock production was much more extensive than for transportation, which considered only direct emissions.

Greenhouse gases caused by feed manufacturing and land use changes were included in the livestock analysis, but emissions from the manufacture of automobiles was not included in the transportation analysis.

While one of the UN report’s authors acknowledged this shortcoming, Mitloehner said the allegations of livestock’s disproportional impact on climate change have become ingrained in the global media.

Even though the UN has since shifted its position on livestock production, talk show hosts and advertisements continue to allude to the 2006 report, he said.

“It implies transportation choices are inconsequential,” he said. “The consumers now believe it’s true.”

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has since “come around full swing” on livestock production, though the change is not widely publicized, said Mitloehner, who’s involved in the organization’s environmental assessments of livestock production.

For example, a 2013 report, “Tackling Climate Change through Livestock,” found that improving livestock production efficiency through technology and breeding helps reduce emissions.

“You have to discuss this in public,” Mitloehner said.

While a cow in the U.S. can produce 20,000-25,000 pounds of milk a year, a cow in Mexico can produce about 4,000 pounds and a cow in India can produce about 1,000 pounds, he said.

That effectively means that U.S. dairy farmers can produce the same amount of milk with much smaller herds, shrinking their “carbon footprint” compared to more traditional systems, he said.

“Do you think the population knows that?” Mitloehner said. “They think the opposite is true.”

With growing populations, the world will have to adopt more intensive and efficient agricultural practices despite pressure from critics to abandon technology, he said.

China, for example, loses 40 percent of its hogs before weaning due to inferior nutrition, genetics and veterinary care, which isn’t affordable in the long-term, Mitloehner said. “They actually have to change the way they produce food.”

MILTON-FREEWATER, Ore. — Mahlon Zehr walks carefully down the middle row of his cage-free hen house, clapping his hands to scatter the flock of chickens that gather close around his feet.

“They’re very curious,” Zehr said. “If you’re working in here, they’ll come right up pecking at your hands and pecking at your shoes.”

For Zehr, the chickens came first — all 30,000 of them —and the eggs won’t be far behind. Zehr signed a 10-year contract last July to raise commercial eggs for Wilcox Family Farms of Roy, Washington, and has built a production facility at his home near Milton-Freewater.

The chickens arrived on trucks earlier this month, and Zehr said they should start laying eggs in the next week or two. He expects to raise 8.5 million eggs over the course of the year.

“It should be pretty busy here in the next couple weeks,” he said.

At 20,000 square feet, the hen house is longer than a football field and divided into three main rows where the birds are free to wander and roost. By summer, Zehr plans to turn the chickens out onto pasture, but for now he keeps them inside over concerns of avian flu.

An avian flu outbreak affected two backyard poultry flocks around the Tri-Cities early last year. If just one of his chickens gets sick, Zehr said the entire flock would be euthanized and that would put him out of business for at least six months, and possibly a year.

In the meantime, Zehr said he will build a meshed-in porch where the hens can go outside for some fresh air, while protecting them from other wild birds. The operation is cage-free, which Zehr said is becoming increasingly important for consumers.

“The cage-free market is growing,” he said. “It’s what people want.”

Wilcox Farms owns all the chickens and provides the feed, though Zehr has already invested $1.2 million on new equipment and labor. Nearly all the technology is automated, from the ceiling lights to the conveyor belts where eggs are carried off and sorted into trays.

“It’s automated enough to where I should be able to handle it myself,” Zehr said.

When the chickens are ready to lay eggs, they will head into one of many nesting boxes layered up and down each row. The eggs drop gently onto conveyors, which twist their way to the front of the barn. A separate line of conveyors also sweeps feathers and droppings into a nearby shed.

Zehr plans to sell the manure as fertilizer for organic farms and gardens. As for the eggs, Wilcox Farms pays by the dozen and sells at grocery stores across the Northwest.

“It’s a fairly stable investment,” Zehr said. “It’ll provide a good living for us.”

Zehr, who grew up in the Willamette Valley, moved to Milton-Freewater in 2008 to help start Blue Mountain Christian Fellowship, a Mennonite church where he serves as co-pastor. Two years ago, he sold his flooring and carpet business in town to buy 40 acres of land along Edwards Road, about halfway to Umapine.

As a child, Zehr lived on a small farm where his father bought and sold grass seed. Zehr said he is excited to return to his agricultural roots, and jumped at the opportunity to raise eggs.

“It’s a stay-at-home job. I’m working in my own back yard,” he said. “It’s a very family-friendly business.”

Zehr said he’s been working 14-15 hour days and walking 6-8 miles up and down the hen house getting everything ready for production. He’ll have this flock of hens for about 14-15 months, until they’re replaced by another shipment from Wilcox.

So far, Zehr said he’s drawn some mild curiosity from neighbors, but no complaints. As an animal lover, Zehr said raising chickens is a perfect fit for him.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” he said.

A former Oregon legislator and one-time Republican gubernatorial candidate thinks he has the answer to reviving container shipping from Portland.

Kevin Mannix, who spent more than 10 years in the Legislature and ran for governor against Ted Kulongoski in 2002, wants to create a container shipping authority that would take over Terminal 6 from the Port of Portland. The authority would be in charge of re-establishing container business after the terminal lost its two main carriers, Hanjin Shipping and Hapag-Lloyd, early last year.

Without container service in Portland, Eastern Oregon producers are paying between $500-$1,000 more per container to truck their goods up to Tacoma, Wash. Locally grown agricultural products, such as potatoes, onions and hay, are all shipped overseas in containers.

On Thursday, Mannix traveled to Boardman, Hermiston and Pendleton to discuss his proposal — the Oregon Trade and Container Shipping Act — which he plans to bring to the Legislature in 2017.

“What I hear universally is that we need options. We need Terminal 6 operating,” Mannix said during a meeting Thursday morning at the Hermiston Conference Center. “To deal with this problem so far, people are spending more money to ship their products.”

Common Sense for Oregon, a political advocacy group founded by Mannix in 2009, has put together a draft version of the Container Shipping Act which Mannix is now circulating among the state Capitol and local communities for feedback.

The bill would establish the Oregon Container Shipping Authority, or OCSA, focused on restoring efficient container service to Portland. It would be run by a board of nine directors appointed by county commissioners from across Oregon. Potential directors would need at least three years of experience in shipping, international trade or imports and exports.

The Port of Portland would transfer ownership of Terminal 6 to the OCSA, which as a public corporation would have the power to support projects, contract with other agencies and borrow money to support container shipping for Oregon businesses.

The OCSA could also renegotiate lease agreements with the terminal’s current operator, ICTSI Oregon Inc., and take action against anyone who illegally slows down operations.

“The shipping companies will want guarantees,” Mannix said. “We can set up a structure that can lead to this being capable of working.”

Port officials in Umatilla and Boardman were mostly non-committal about the bill, but agreed something needs to be done to get Portland’s container service back on track.

Kim B. Puzey, general manager at the Port of Umatilla, attended Thursday’s meeting in Hermiston. He said Portland used to have 12 ocean carriers in 1997, which has since dwindled to one: Westwood Shipping. That’s due to a number of factors, Puzey said, but most recently Hanjin Shipping and Hapag-Lloyd left Terminal 6 after slowdowns during contract negotiations between West Coast port operators and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

“This is an enormously complex issue that relates to the global economy, the domestic recession and the relationship between dock operators and union interests,” Puzey told the East Oregonian. “I am appreciative that someone has taken the initiative at the level (Mannix) has.”

Puzey said he was “intrigued” by Mannix’s presentation, but did suggest it should be port commissioners — rather than county commissioners — who ought to have a larger say in appointing the proposed OCSA board.

Puzey has also been a longtime advocate of short sea shipping, which would allow inland ports to bypass Portland entirely. Mannix said that could be something the OCSA ultimately discusses.

“Every container that doesn’t go down the Columbia-Snake River system goes down Oregon and Washington highways,” Puzey said. “Our waterways are extraordinary, and they are vastly underutilized.”

Gary Neal, general manager at the neighboring Port of Morrow, said their rail yard is currently handling containers arriving from the Port of Lewiston in Idaho. Though Neal did not specifically weigh in on this proposal, he did say he appreciated Mannix trying to identify solutions.

“Our main goal is to see services back in Portland that our shippers can take advantage of,” Neal said.

Mannix said his group continues to fine-tune their bill based on the feedback they get from local ports and producers.

“I see an opportunity for us here to do something good for Oregon,” he said. “The worst thing that could happen is if we do nothing.”

A federal grand jury indicted Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and four others Wednesday on felony charges related to a 2014 armed standoff at Bundy’s ranch.

Bundy led that standoff near Bunkerville, Nev., after the Bureau of Land Management attempted to seize his cattle as restitution for unpaid grazing fees.

“The rule of law has been reaffirmed with these charges,” wrote U.S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden. “Persons who use force and violence against federal law enforcement officers ... will be brought to justice.”

Bundy and his sons — Ammon and Ryan Bundy — as well as Montana resident Ryan Payne and Ohio conservative Internet radio show host Pete Santilli were charged with a total of 16 felonies.

The charges were:

• 1 count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.

• 1 count of conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer.

• 4 counts of using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.

• 2 counts of assault on a federal officer.

• 2 counts of threatening a federal law enforcement officer.

• 3 counts of obstruction of the due administration of justice.

• 2 counts of interference with interstate commerce by extortion.

• 1 count of interstate travel in aid of extortion.

All of the defendants listed in the indictment are currently being held in Oregon. They were arrested in relation to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Other than Cliven Bundy, all those charged in the Nevada standoff Wednesday also face charges in the Oregon standoff.

“Today marks a tremendous step toward ending more than 20 years of law-breaking,” said Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze in a statement, referring to Cliven Bundy’s longstanding dispute with his agency.

If convicted of the charges in the indictment, Bundy and the other four men could be forced to forfeit any property they gained as a result of the alleged crimes — totaling at least $3 million, according to prosecutors — and any firearms or ammunition used during the 2014 standoff.

Wednesday’s indictment identifies Cliven Bundy as the “leader, organizer, and chief beneficiary of the conspiracy,” and states that he “possessed ultimate authority” over the 2014 standoff. 

“The remaining defendants are charged as leaders and organizers who conspired with Bundy to achieve his criminal objectives,” Bogden wrote in a statement.

The maximum penalties for each of the charges against the men range from five to 20 years in prison. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

Salem-based attorney Noel Grefenson, who is representing Cliven Bundy in Oregon, said via text message Wednesday night that he hadn’t yet seen the indictment. “That being said, I have every confidence Mr. Bundy will immediately plead not guilty and will welcome the opportunity to have a jury of his peers decide what really happened,” Grefenson wrote.

Ammon Bundy’s defense attorney, Mike Arnold, also said that he hadn’t yet read the indictment, but added he wasn’t surprised by it because the criminal compliant against Cliven Bundy filed last week listed four unnamed co-conspirators. “It’s what we expected,” Arnold said. “It’s something we’ve learned about this last week. We’ve just been waiting for the indictment.”

Arnold later said by text message that “it’s important for the public to remember that there is a constitutional presumption of innocence in America.”

“A government charge is proof of nothing,” Arnold wrote. “That’s what courts and trials are for.”

SALEM — A proposal to give local governments more control over farm-to-wetland conversions has won the approve of the Oregon Senate, although in scaled-back form.

Under the original language of Senate Bill 1517, Oregon farms could not be converted into wetlands unless the local county government agreed the change wouldn’t disrupt nearby agricultural operations.

The scope of the bill has now been narrowed to a pilot project in Tillamook County, which needs to preserve farmland for its dairy industry and is a “big center of the most pressing issues” involving wetland conversions, said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for the Oregon Farm Bureau, which supports SB 1517.

This amended version of SB 1517 was approved 25-3 by the Senate on Feb. 18 and will now be considered by the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, with a hearing scheduled for Feb. 23.

However, some lawmakers have expressed misgivings about the bill’s reduced scope.

While Tillamook County certainly needs the pilot program, farmers elsewhere in Oregon also experience problems created by wetland conversions, said Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls.

“It’s distressing to know the rest of the state won’t be able to protect themselves from being flooded out by a rampant neighbor,” he said.

These concerns were echoed by Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, who voted against the bill because the issue is statewide, as well as Sen. Alan Olsen, who voted in favor of SB 1517 despite wanting “to see this go further.”

Wetlands are currently allowed outright in Oregon farm zones, but Senate Bill 1517 would first require Tillamook County to consider whether new wetlands will significantly change local farm practices or disrupt agriculture.

Wetland developers could also opt to undergo a “collaborative process” with concerned stakeholders instead of the regular county conditional use permit process.

The Oregon Farm Bureau supported a change in land use rules for wetlands because the current approach doesn’t provide farmers with a “meaningful opportunity” to weigh in on such projects, said Nash.

Farmers cited numerous problems created by wetlands during earlier hearings on the original version of SB 1517.

Wetlands can increase the frequency of flooding and impede the drainage of nearby farmland, as well as attract birds and noxious weeds to an area, according to growers who support the proposal.

Joe Rocha, who farms near Tillamook Bay, said the changes in hydrology can kill grasses that dairies depend on for feed.

“They brought the saltwater closer to us,” he said.

Kathy Hadley, a farmer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, said a 500-acre wetland bordering her property increases erosion during the wet season and attracts elk that damage fences.

Such problems can discourage potential buyers when farmers are looking to sell property, said Sharon Waterman, whose farm in Coos County is near a 400-acre wetland.

“Can we even sell our property? I don’t know,” she said.

Supporters of the bill emphasized that it would not block wetland conversions, but would enable a collaborative process in how they’re sited and designed.

“This bill allows rural Oregon and local governments to have a say in what happens in their communities,” said Mark Labhart, a Tillamook County commissioner.

A favorable ruling won by an Oregon farm in a legal dispute over radish seed may have positive consequences for other operations involved in the lawsuit.

Several farms in Oregon are fighting a legal complaint filed by Northwest Bank of Warren, Pa., that claims it has a security interest in radish seed they grew in 2014.

The bank claims the radish seed serves as collateral for a $7 million loan taken out by Cover Crop Solutions, a seed company that contracted with Oregon growers to produce a proprietary variety.

Radish seed is used as a cover crop in the Midwest, but weather in 2014 reduced demand among farmers in that region and resulted in an oversupply.

Northwest Bank’s lawsuit contends that its security interest in the radish seed has priority over that of the growers, but a federal judge in Portland has disagreed with that argument in regard to at least one farm.

U.S. Chief District Judge Michael Mosman has found that Hawman Farms of Hermiston, Ore., agreed to grow roughly $180,000 worth of seed and has a “possessory lien” on the crop that takes precedence over the security interest held by the bank.

Under a possessory lien, a party can retain possession of property until a debt has been paid.

Northwest Bank claimed the contract between Hawman Farms and Cover Crop Solutions invalidated all such liens, but Mosman decided that it only barred liens against the licensed radish cultivar — which was owned by another company — and not the physical seed crop.

Sanford Landress, attorney for Hawman Farms, said Mosman’s opinion may also be consequential for other farms, which claim they have possessory liens on the seed.

Hawman Farms grew, cleaned and stored the radish seed, which puts the company in a different legal position than growers who had another firm clean and store the crop, Landress said.

“People with continuous possession of the seed, like Hawman, are going to beat the bank,” he said.

Several other farms that also possessed the radish seed without interruption have filed similar motions citing the Hawman Farms ruling and asking the judge to declare that their possessory liens have priority.

Farms that did not retain possession of the seed still have other valid legal arguments aside from a possessory lien, Landress said. “The jury is still out as to whether they will prevail or not.”

Capital Press was unable to reach James Ray Streinz, the attorney representing Northwest Bank, for comment.

BEND, Oregon (AP) — U.S. Forest Service officials are preparing to take public comments on a plan that would create an off-road vehicle trail system in Oregon’s Ochoco National Forest.

The Bulletin reports that the plan was developed after a 2005 rule limited off-road recreation on federal forestland.

The federal plan is separate from a new proposal by Oregon Wild, a Portland-based conservation group. Their plan would limit vehicles to roads, rather than trails. It would also designate about 312,000 acres as a national recreation area.

The Forest Service says its proposal would allow regulated off-road use in the Ochoco Mountains and would rely primarily on existing trails and road segments. The system would be open to motorbikes, quads and other off-road vehicles for a four-month summer period.

SALEM — A three-tiered minimum wage plan cleared its last hurdle Thursday when the House of Representatives approved the measure 32 to 25.

Gov. Kate Brown said she plans to sign the bill. The Senate approved the bill last week.

“Today’s action advances one of my priorities for 2016: raise the minimum wage,” Brown said in a statement Thursday.

The plan increases wages to $14.75 in the Portland metro area, $12.50 in rural and coastal areas 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.

“Thousands of working families are in poverty,” Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene. “They can’t make ends meet. We have the opportunity to address this issue, which hasn’t been addressed in 25 years.

“It is time for us as a state to do everything we can to help the needy,” he said. “This is another tool to make that happen.”

The controversial measure has stirred fears that the increase could threaten the survival of the state’s small businesses.

Supporters of a ballot initiative to raise wages to $15 in the next three years said the legislative plan raises wages too slowly given skyrocketing costs.

They have yet to decide whether to pursue placing the initiative on the 2016 ballot. They are continuing to gather signatures but plan to meet in the next couple of weeks to discuss whether there is enough support and resources for the ballot measure to succeed, said Justin Norton-Kertson, campaign manager for Oregonians for $15 Now.

“We think this bill is grossly inadequate,” Norton-Kertson said.

The halls of the Oregon Capitol echoed with fury while the House debated the legislation.

Demonstrators supporting the $15 Now ballot initiative repeatedly disrupted the debate.

First, demonstrators filled the gallery of the House before House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, ordered them to be removed for interrupting Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants Pass, during a floor speech and displaying signs.

Then, the demonstrators assembled in the front of Gov. Kate Brown’s office, located between the House and Senate chambers, and chanted slogans demanding higher wages and affordable housing.

A flier distributed around the demonstration indicated participants came from 15 Now, Portland Tenants United and several other groups.

Later, the demonstrators started pounding on the doors of the House chamber. Legislators in the back of the chamber said they couldn’t hear the debate, and some expressed concern for their safety. She said Oregon State Police were addressing lawmakers’ security concerns.

The debate stopped for about 20 minutes until demonstrators quieted down.

The bill increases wages to $14.75 in the Portland metro area, $12.50 in rural and coastal areas with struggling economies and $13.50 in the rest of the state by 2022.

The first pay bump would start in July, increasing the wage from $9.25 to $9.75 statewide.

During more than five hours of debate Thursday, the House rejected proposals by Republicans to send the proposal to the ballot.

“Let the 2.2 million voters decide what is best for Oregonians and for themselves,” said Rep. Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City.

Lawmakers also rejected a proposal by Republicans to send the measure to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means for a fiscal analysis.

The legislative fiscal office has said the total cost of the bill to state government is indeterminate because the plan is phased-in and it’s unknown how many wages will be affected each year.

“The decision by the majority party to bypass our budget committee in favor of an expedited approach to passing this bill is nearly unprecedented,” said Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner. “We owe it to Oregonians to fully vet this proposal, figure out what it is going to cost taxpayers and make sure we have a plan for addressing those costs.”

Rep. Tobias Read, D-Beaverton, said raising the wage also would save revenue because fewer people would need public assistance.

The minimum gradually would climb to $14.75 in 2022 in the Portland urban growth boundary, which includes parts of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. It will rise to $13.50 in Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Deschutes, Hood River, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Wasco and Yamhill counties, and parts of Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties outside Portland’s urban growth boundary.

In rural areas, the minimum would increase to $12.50. Those areas include Malheur, Lake, Harney, Wheeler, Sherman, Gilliam, Wallowa, Grant, Jefferson, Baker, Union, Crook, Klamath, Douglas, Coos, Curry, Umatilla and Morrow counties.

LANGLOIS — Bandon’s girls didn’t panic when they trailed Gold Beach by 13 points in the first half of a must-win Sunset Conference tiebreaker game Wednesday at Pacific High School.

LANGLOIS — A stingy defensive performance and a big night from Austin Smith put Bandon’s boys basketball team in the Class 2A playoffs as the Tigers beat co-champion Toledo 47-36 in a Sunset Conference tiebreaker game at Pacific High School…

SALEM (AP) — The Oregon House has passed a bill to protect the identity of the officer who fatally shot refuge standoff spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum in January.

The Oregonian reports representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve allowing a judge to bar for 90 days the disclosure of the name of an officer who uses deadly force. The bill heads to the Senate for consideration.

Oregon State Police requested the bill, saying they have received death threats against the officer who shot Finicum.

The 55-year-old rancher died after law enforcement officers initiated a traffic stop near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Finicum was a leader of an armed group that took over the refuge to protest federal land restrictions and object to prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.

Some against the bill say it could protect officers from public scrutiny.