PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Big retail chains are spending millions of dollars to fight Measure 97, the ballot initiative that would establish a 2.5 percent tax on Oregon sales over $25 million to help fund education and other state services.

Grocery stores are particularly active in the fight, and it’s easy to understand why: They do huge volumes of sales in an industry with famously thin profit margins.

Measure 97 is a one-of-a-kind tax, though, with unusual exemptions and applications. And the state’s largest grocery chain, Safeway and Albertsons, is exempt.

The grocers, who share a common owner, have given $1.8 million to defeat the initiative — as much as any other contributor to the “No” campaign.

That raises an obvious question: Why are Safeway and Albertsons spending so much to fight a tax that affects their rivals but not them?

The answer says a lot about the tax, and about the fate of Safeway and Albertsons.

Measure 97 is highly unusual in that it taxes certain types of businesses and not others. The tax applies to companies registered as C-corporations, which are often large businesses, but does not affect a “benefit company” or S-corporation.

There are many distinctions among the various types of companies, and different tax implications for each corporate status. But for our purposes think of it this way:

C-corps frequently have many investors, like a publicly traded corporation.

S-corps have few owners. Sometimes that’s a family-owned business, but it can also be a large business controlled by one person or company.

A “benefit company” is a special category of business under Oregon law, established to create public benefits in addition to profits for the owners.

Costco, another leading opponent of Measure 97, is a C-corp. So is Fred Meyer, owned by a publicly traded company called Kroger Co.

Portland grocery New Seasons is a kind of benefit corporation, called a B-corp., but is not registered as a “benefit company” under Oregon law. It may still be exempt from the taxes, though, if it’s an S-Corp. (New Seasons’ status isn’t public, and the company declined to clarify its status.)

Safeway and Albertsons are, apparently, S-corps. The grocery chain did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but the main organization campaigning against Measure 97 confirmed that the stores would not pay the tax because of their corporate status.

It’s not completely clear why Measure 97’s authors (the measure’s supporters are public employee unions) chose to exempt some businesses from the tax, or how it chose which companies to exclude. The measure’s supporters did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The initiative’s authors may have been trying to protect smaller businesses and target larger companies, which might be in a better position to afford the new tax. But using corporate classification turns out to be a blunt instrument.

Safeway and Albertsons illustrate why. They have 125 stores across Oregon, more than twice as many as their closest rival, yet would pay no tax under the initiative. Compare that to Costco: if its 10 Oregon stores perform on par with its companywide average, the retailer would pay more than $40 million annually in additional state taxes under Measure 97.

The fact that the initiative taxes some businesses and not others adds complexity to one of the great uncertainties around Measure 97 — how much of the tax companies will pass along to consumers.

Measure 97’s authors insist consumers won’t pay anything more, that companies will eat the entire cost. Opponents say that’s unrealistic, and that some portion of the tax is sure to flow downstream to shoppers.

As the state’s largest grocery chain, Safeway and Albertsons have enormous pricing power. Since they are exempt, they could squeeze competitors who do pay the tax by keeping their prices constant. Or, if the tax prompts rivals to raise prices, Safeway and Albertsons could increase their profits by matching the price hikes.

And that takes us back to the original mystery: Since Measure 97 gives Safeway and Albertsons a competitive advantage, why are they fighting it so hard? The grocers just gave another $900,000 to help fund the opposition.

In the statement from the measure’s opponents, they say Safeway and Albertsons strongly oppose Measure 97 “because national and local suppliers that would be subject to the tax would increase the company’s costs, triggering higher prices to its customers or adjustments in its workforce to remain competitive.”

That highlights another unusual feature of Measure 97: Unlike other taxes on sales, it applies to both retailers and wholesalers. Economists warn it could trigger a “pyramiding effect,” layering costs upon costs that drive down profits while forcing up prices.

It makes sense that Safeway and Albertsons would want to avoid those costs — except its rivals would also be subject to the pyramiding effect, plus the direct cost of the tax. Measure 97 would still be a substantial advantage for Safeway and Albertsons relative to its rivals.

So there’s obviously something else going on.

The answer, as you may have guessed, has to do not with what Safeway and Albertsons are today, but what they might become.

Albertsons was sold in 2013 to an investment firm called Cerberus Capital Management. Then last year, Cerberus bought Safeway.

Big investors like Cerberus don’t buy supermarkets because they’re eager to get into the competitive, low-margin grocery business. Cerberus specializes in troubled companies.

It bought Safeway and Albertsons to shake up the businesses, cut costs, package them together and sell them at a profit — either to another investment group or, more likely, through a public stock offering.

New owners likely would be ineligible to continue the S-corp. tax status, which would make Safeway and Albertsons subject to the tax. So the groceries may be fighting Measure 97 knowing the Oregon tax would depress the value of the business to prospective new owners.

“When they take it public it’s not going to be an S-corp,” said Frank Dell, chief executive of Dellmart & Co., a management consulting firm specializing in food and consumer products. He said Safeway and Albertsons’ opposition reflects long-term planning for a tax whose effects would resonate for years.

“They’re thinking down the line,” Dell said, “and they should be thinking down the line.”

GRESHAM, Ore. — Hiroshi Morihara jokes that his current project — finding a clean-fuel replacement for coal — was his wife’s fault.

“Hiroshi,” his wife, Mary McSwain, told him several years ago, “you look bored. Why don’t you invent something again?”

On Oct. 18, Morihara’s company announced it has refined a process for turning logging slash or other biomass into briquettes that can be burned in coal-fired electrical plants such as the one in Boardman, Ore. His company, HM3 Energy Inc., has built a $4 million demonstration plant in Troutdale, Ore., just east of Portland. It plans to license the technology and sell it worldwide. A Japanese firm, New Energy Development Co., has invested $2 million in HM3 and said it will build a production plant at an undisclosed location in Oregon.

The fuel is produced through a method called torrefaction, in which woody debris, crop residue or other plant material is essentially roasted in the absence of oxygen. The end product is a brittle, briquette-looking material that can be crushed and burned.

Morihara and others believe the briquettes can be a cleaner, “drop-in” replacement for coal, which is considered a dirty energy source. Portland General Electric, which operates the Boardman power plant, is looking for a replacement fuel. Later this year, PGE will conduct a 24-hour test burn of torrefied biomass to see if it works.

The utility would need up to 8,000 tons of biomass fuel per day to replace the coal it now burns. Other companies are pursuing the technology; PGE is working with a coalition called Oregon Torrefaction to obtain the material it needs for the test burn.

The project potentially could become part of the West’s solution to intrusive Western juniper. Part of HM3’s grant funding came from the USDA as part of its search to find a use for juniper, and the fuel on display at the company’s press tour this month was made from the gnarly wood.

Morihara said using logging debris or material from forest thinning projects reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfire and could be part of an economic revival in rural Oregon.

“I wanted to make sure rural people have family wage jobs, and forestry is the best way,” he said.

Hiroshi Morihara

Occupation: Founder, president and CEO of HM3 Energy Inc., Gresham, Ore.

Age: 79, but “Age is relative,” he said.

Personal: Married to Mary McSwain. He’s an expert skier and still teaches skiing at Mount Hood Meadow. He also runs, and has completed more than 50 marathons.

What he’s up to: He and partners developed equipment to turn woody debris into briquettes that can be a “drop-in” replacement for coal and used to fire electrical generation plants. HM3 Energy built a demonstration plant in Troutdale, Ore., and intends to license the technology to companies that could build processing plants.

Ag connection: Intrusive Western juniper trees could be a key feedstock for briquette plants. Ranchers, wildlife officials and land managers say removing junipers improves rangeland, restores watersheds and can improve habitat for sage grouse.

Background: Born in Japan, he was 8 years old when Japan surrendered to end World War II. Came to the U.S to attend college, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Buffalo.

Professional life: Worked for Union Carbide Corp. and on projects for the U.S. Department of Energy, helped start a silicon processing plant, ran a pair of biotech companies, owned a golf course. Claims he’s retired three times.

NYSSA, Ore. — Onion yields and sizes in the Idaho-Eastern Oregon growing region were both bigger than normal this year.

Prices, however, are down near break-even for the 300 growers who produce roughly 25 percent of all the Spanish bulb onions consumed in the United States.

“We had a very good growing season and we had some good yields; quality looked very good and size is larger than normal,” said Snake River Produce Manager Kay Riley.

Riley said the result is a larger-than-average crop that has led to depressed prices at the moment, a situation exacerbated by a strong U.S. dollar and weak export market.

Bulb onion prices are off close to 50 percent from this time last year and are near the break-even price for farmers, he said.

Onion growers in the Treasure Valley region of Eastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho are under a federal marketing order and produce more than 1 billion pounds of bulb onions each year, making this the nation’s largest onion-growing region in terms of volume.

About 90 percent of the bulb onions grown in this area are yellows, while the rest are red and white varieties. Harvest usually begins in August and is mostly complete by the end of October.

There are 36 packing sheds in the valley and the industry’s annual economic impact is estimate at about $1.3 billion, making onions the backbone of the region’s economy.

Onion acres were close to 20,000 this year and production is about 10 percent more than last year, said Riley, marketing order chairman of the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee.

Growing conditions this year were superb and as a result, the area produced an unusually large amount of super colossals, the biggest bulb onion size.

“The crop is looking really good,” said Nyssa grower Paul Skeen, president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association. “The one negative is that they’re actually too big. We have more super colossals than normal and less jumbos and mediums because of that. We may have a shortage of mediums and jumbos.”

The season got off to an early start, growing conditions were ideal and the oppressive heat that affected the crop the past two years skipped 2016, said Stuart Reitz, an Oregon State University cropping systems extension agent in Malheur County.

“Those onions just got bigger and bigger,” he said. “It was a good growing season so the onions naturally are big.”

Reitz said onion sizes were so big that a farmers cooperative in the area held a “biggest onion” contest this year and a lot of 3- pound onions were brought in. Super colossals are typically 1.5 to 2 pounds.

“There were some big ones out there, he said.

The good news, he added, is that quality is excellent. “There are some really nice looking onions out there.”

BOARDMAN, Ore. — The milking parlor at Columbia River Dairy is a large, warehouse-like building where cows arrive twice a day to be milked by modern machinery.

First, the animals are loaded onto slowly rotating carousels where their udders are sprayed with a disinfectant and attached to automatic pumps. Each spin lasts just a few minutes before the cows are unloaded back where they started. The process is smooth, continuous and efficient.

Outside, Milky Way trucks are waiting 24/7 to deliver milk from the dairy — part of Threemile Canyon Farms — to Tillamook Cheese, which runs a cheese-making plant at the nearby Port of Morrow. With 26,000 milking cows producing 170,000 gallons every day, there is always lots to do.

Threemile Canyon is, by far, the largest dairy operation in Oregon. The herd totals 70,000 total cattle, including calves and heifers. Located on 93,000 acres in rural Morrow County, the farm also grows a variety of conventional and organic crops, such as potatoes, onions, corn and wheat.

Now, another mega-dairy is looking to expand in the county, which is raising questions about water and air pollution in the surrounding communities. Willow Creek Dairy, which has leased land from Threemile Canyon since 2002, wants to strike out on its own and add 30,000 cows on part of the former Boardman Tree Farm.

More than 2,300 comments have poured in on the proposal, mostly in opposition. Environmental advocacy groups argue that Willow Creek would produce as much waste as a mid-size city, and regulations don’t offer enough protection. They also question the wisdom of having two large dairies so close together.

But Marty Myers, general manager for Threemile Canyon, defended their management practices, which he said are forward-thinking and sustainable.

“It isn’t bad just because it’s big,” Myers said. “It’s agriculture of the future.”

In fact, Myers said the size of Threemile Canyon allows them to do things that wouldn’t be practical for a smaller dairy farm.

By growing crops and raising cows all in the same place, the farm is able to recycle its own waste to use as fertilizer in the field. That, in turn, creates more feed for the animals, thus completing the closed-loop system.

“We get big beneficial uses out of that cow manure,” Myers said. “It’s not a negative for us. It’s a positive.”

It all begins with the cows. Threemile Canyon dedicates between 20,000 and 25,000 acres to growing feed crops, such as grain corn and a hybrid wheat known as triticale. Everything is harvested and stored for the animals to eat year-round.

Once the heifers are two years old, they are ready to be milked. Of course, they are also producing waste throughout their lives — roughly 436 million gallons of liquid manure every year. Per Oregon rules for confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, none of that material can be discharged into surface water or groundwater.

At Threemile Canyon, free-stall barns are flushed regularly into a concrete collection basin, and from there pumped into a methane digester at the farm. The digester then heats the waste at 100 degrees and bacteria breaks it down into a gas. The gas is then burned to drive three 2,000-horsepower engines capable of generating 4.8 megawatts of power.

Myers estimates the facility, which was built in 2012, removes 60,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere annually.

From there, about half of the leftover solids are made into animal bedding. The other half is used for organic fertilizer. The liquid is pumped into one of three lagoons, which is treated and run through irrigation pivots to grow more conventional crops and feed.

“Our average time in that lagoon is 10 days,” Myers said. “We’re applying that year round to growing crops. ... We never let it become anaerobic. That reduces air emissions.”

Threemile Canyon is located within the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area, where the level of nitrates in the groundwater already exceeds the federal safe drinking water standard. According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the primary source of nitrogen in groundwater comes from fertilizer, with irrigated agriculture making up 81.6 percent of the problem.

Opponents of mega-dairies are concerned about adding a second operation so close by, comparing it to a “sewer-less city.” Oregon CAFO permits also lack surface water monitoring required under the federal Clean Water Act, they argue.

Myers said the fertilizer that is applied onto the farm’s own crops is mixed at precise rates to ensure nothing leaches into water supplies. Employees regularly test the manure to keep tabs on the nutrient level, and will apply only as much as the crop will use for nutrition.

That’s easier said than done. Phil Richerson, a hydrogeologist for DEQ in Pendleton, said the soil in the area is coarse, making it difficult to keep irrigation from seeping down below the plant’s roots.

Don Butcher, who manages water quality permits for DEQ in Pendleton, said the problem isn’t just limited to CAFOs. More land is being converted to grow vegetable crops. And more food processors are popping up to turn those vegetables into high-value products.

“With all the expansion and change in the Groundwater Management Area, we are concerned,” Butcher said. “We still have an increasing nitrate trend.”

Butcher said DEQ works closely with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which enforces CAFO permits for the state. Wym Matthews, CAFO program manager for ODA, said they generally conduct routine inspections of facilities once every 10 months.

However, due to the size of Threemile Canyon, Matthews said that farm is inspected once every five or six months. The most recent was in July. Over the past decade, he said the dairy has been issued six water quality advisories — essentially a warning — and two notices of noncompliance, meaning they’ve violated a condition of their permit.

In every case, Matthews said the problem was dealt with quickly. Overall, he said he believes the management practices at Threemile Canyon are thorough.

“If they see an issue, I think they do a very good job to bring it to our attention and repair it,” Matthews said.

In addition to environmental practices, Myers said Threemile Canyon is subject to a three-layer approach to animal welfare.

First, Myers said the farm conducts voluntary animal welfare audits through a company called Validus. Inspectors arrive unannounced, and are free to watch employees and go over protocol, Myers said.

Last year, Myers said Columbia River Dairy was the first in the country to receive a perfect score from Validus. They also consistently scored 95 percent or better on how they treat their heifers, he said.

“Those are pretty impressive scores,” Myers said.

Along with voluntary audits, Myers said the dairy works regularly with its own animal advocate, a veterinarian and professor at Evergreen University. Along with the farm’s own animal welfare committee, they make recommendations on how to improve practices.

“It’s not a static process,” Myers said. “It’s a continual improvement process, and we’re proud of that.”

Greg te Velde, a California dairyman, is the owner of Willow Creek Dairy, which has applied for its own CAFO license under the name Lost Valley Ranch.

Myers has testified in favor of te Velde and his longtime tenant. Myers said he believes they too will be dedicated to best management practices. A similar lagoon and land application system is proposed at Willow Creek, and though a methane digester is not in the immediate plans, it could be phased in later down the road.

“They know how to do things right,” Myers said.

The public comment period for the Willow Creek/Lost Valley CAFO has been extended through Nov. 4.

Federal climatologists predict that dry conditions will generally recede over the winter in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and parts of Northern California, providing an early and upbeat outlook on next year’s water supply.

The Climate Prediction Center forecast a 70 percent chance of a weak La Nina, a cooling of the ocean around the equator.

La Nina generally tilts the odds in favor of wetter and cooler winters in the northern U.S., according to the center.

It’s not a sure bet, though. La Nina’s influence will vary by region. The odds it stays through the winter are 55 percent.

Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond said he expects the La Nina to be too feeble to dictate the weather.

Higher ocean temperatures in the northeast Pacific Ocean and a trend toward warmer winters also may influence the weather, he said.

Still, even a normal winter would seem cold after the past several years, Bond said.

“There’s no indication that we’ll have a snowpack like the disaster we had two years ago,” he said. “There’s no reason to be pessimistic about next summer’s water supply.”

Idaho State Climatologist Russell Qualls also said La Nina’s influence may be blunted by unusually high inland temperatures. Still, most of the state is expected to have above-average precipitation, and snow may accumulate at high elevations, he said.

“The signals are a bit confusing in terms of the water supply outlook,” he said. “From what it looks like, the drought at least is likely not going to be getting any worse.”

The center issued the forecast for November, December and January.

It also projected that drought conditions likely will be erased by the end of January in Oregon and parts Northern California. About one-third of Oregon is in drought, while 81 percent of California remains in drought.

A year ago, 100 percent of Washington was classified as being in a drought. Now only 8 percent of the state is even “abnormally dry.”

In Idaho, 19 percent of the state is abnormally dry and 1 percent is in drought.

Bond, the Washington climatologist, said that even without a strong La Nina or El Nino, the state could have an eventful winter. He said current climatic conditions resemble the months before massive flooding in February 1996. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t have some major flooding,” he said.

The seasonal outlook rates the chances that an area will have above-average or below-average precipitation and temperatures.

Here’s a state-by-state look at the seasonal outlook:

• Washington: The odds favor above-average precipitation in most of the state, though the chances are no better than even in the South Cascades, south Puget Sound, and southwestern and south-central Washington. The chances are even that temperatures will be above or below normal for most of the state. The odds favor above-average temperatures in southeastern Washington.

• Idaho: Southwest Idaho has equal chances for above- or below-average precipitation. The odds favor a wet winter elsewhere. The north end of the panhandle has equal chances of above- or below-normal temperatures. In the rest of the state, the odds favor a warm winter.

• Oregon: Equal chances of above- or below-average precipitation. Odds favor above-average temperatures.

• California: Chances for above- or below-average precipitation are equal in most of the state. Precipitation could change the status of parts of Northern California that are now in moderate drought. Odds favor a dry winter in the southern tip. The odds favor above-average temperatures throughout California. The drought could worsen in Southern California, according to the climate center.

LANGLOIS — Join Langlois community for your holiday shopping at the 21st annual Holiday Crafts Fair at the Langlois Lions Hall on Floras Loop Road just south of town.

SALEM — Oregon’s water regulators are seeking more than $3 million to better handle problems with groundwater depletion and water rights enforcement.

In its 2017-2019 budget proposal, the Oregon Water Resources Department wants state lawmakers to pay for 11 new positions while increasing the pay and duties of several existing positions.

The agency will ask for three funding “packages” to be included in Gov. Kate Brown’s recommended budget for the next biennium.

Concerns about water have grown in recent years due to drought as well as increased public scrutiny.

Last year, groundwater depletion concerns in Southeast Oregon’s Harney Basin prompted OWRD to suspend drilling of most new agricultural wells.

In August, the Oregonian newspaper also ran a package of articles, “Draining Oregon,” claiming the agency had allowed over-pumping by farmers.

“In some locations throughout the state, groundwater aquifers are no longer capable of sustaining additional development,” OWRD acknowledges in its “budget narrative” for the three funding proposals.

• Groundwater studies: Scientists from OWRD require about five to six years to finish a groundwater study within a single basin, such as the current Harney Basin study.

Without more staff, though, the agency can only conduct one basin study at a time.

To allow OWRD to undertake two studies at once, the agency has proposed hiring five new employees — a hydrologist, two hydrographers and two hydrogeologists — at a cost of more than $1.8 million.

• Water rights enforcement: Drought and new water demands have also saddled regional watermasters, who enforce water rights, with greater workloads at a time financial support from county governments has dwindled.

Aside from causing “delays in regulation” and “excessive overtime,” the workload has reduced watermasters’ visibility in the field, which is needed to deter illegal water usage, according to OWRD.

To alleviate this burden, the agency proposes hiring five new regional assistant watermasters and a new hydrologic technician to help with water monitoring.

The $1 million funding package would also raise the status of five existing hydrologic technicians so they could take on additional duties while receiving higher pay.

• Well inspection: Groundwater supplies are at risk from “misconstructed, poorly maintained and improperly abandoned” wells, according to OWRD’s budget narrative.

To ensure wells are properly built and kept up, OWRD relies on well inspectors. Though it’s authorized to employ six well inspectors, the agency only has enough income for four.

OWRD wants to hire two new well inspectors and upgrade the status of all six positions, which would entail more responsibilities and higher pay, with about $337,000 from the general fund.

Under this proposal, the agency would also generate revenues by imposing new and larger fees.

Landowners are allowed to drill their own wells, but they require more intense oversight and assistance from OWRD well inspectors than do licensed well drillers.

To help offset these costs, the agency proposes increasing the landowner permit application fee from $25 to $500, raising about $20,000 a year.

Professional drillers would also pay a new fee of $100 for wells that require variances from construction standards, generating another $25,000 a year.

BOISE — Sharing successful experiences that improve the management of Western forests and rangeland was discussed Oct. 20-21 in Boise.

The “National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative” brought together states, land managers, industry, local leaders and federal officials to share best practices and explore policy options that could improve forest and rangeland management.

Western Governors’ Association officials hope the results of the initiative will position the organization to recommend congressional efforts to improve forest and rangeland management.

It was launched Aug. 15 by WGA Chairman and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. The two-day Boise workshop is the second of five that will be held in different Western states.

By focusing on steps that can be taken to increase forest and rangeland health, “we are also taking steps to increase their resilience to wildfire and other threats like insects and disease and invasive species,” said WGA Executive Director Jim Ogsbury.

“We hope that these conversations will yield a number of recommendations on best management practices and tools that can help Western governors, the federal government and local communities to strengthen their forests and rangeland habitats, revitalize forest health and help break the current vicious cycle of catastrophic Western wildfires,” he said.

Every Western state has had successes and failures when it comes to managing rangeland and forests, said Idaho Gov. Butch Otter.

“It’s important we share those experiences … with everybody else,” he said.

Otter said all the ideas will be thrown into a pot “and we’ll render those down into actionable items.”

Those ideas and experiences will come from states, the federal government, the environmental community, local officials and industry, he said.

“This is a big deal,” he told Capital Press later.

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation CEO Rick Keller, one of about 80 people who attended the Boise workshop, said he liked the idea of bringing all the stakeholders together “to talk about common issues and solutions.”

“We hear a lot of the things that don’t work; it’s nice to hear some of the things that are working,” he said.

Jim Lyons, deputy assistant secretary of land and minerals management for the U.S. Department of the Interior, commended WGA for the initiative.

“These are important issues, regionally and nationally, and these discussions will help frame solutions to these concerns as we move forward,” he said.

Western forests and rangeland are facing significant challenges from fire, drought, invasive species, insects and disease, and development, Lyons said.

“These challenges cry out for new vision, new strategies and leadership that can sustain these landscapes, their communities and the legacy of the Western way of life,” he said.

Otter said he hopes the initiative results in the federal government placing more weight on input from states and local managers.

“It seems like they don’t place value on the people that are on the ground,” he said. “I would like to see them put equal value and weight on every input and not just from the folks in Washington, D.C.”

INKOM, Idaho — Federal reforms implemented a year ago haven’t enticed more domestic workers to take sheep industry jobs, say leaders of an organization that hires foreign labor for Western sheep ranchers.

Instead, officials of the Twin Falls, Idaho-based Western Range Association believe the November 2015 rule changes to the H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa program have become needlessly complicated and delayed approvals of badly needed workers.

Henry Etcheverry, an Eastern Idaho Basque sheep rancher who started a three-year term as the association’s president in June, said his organization’s more than 200 sheep operations have collectively hired only two domestic workers since the changes were enacted.

One worker was fired for being intoxicated on the job. The other never showed up for work.

Sheep ranchers are required to advertise job openings before filling them with foreign H-2A workers, but Etcheverry finds the few locals who express interest are typically out for a “camping trip.”

“It’s just a pipe dream,” Etcheverry said. “This government thinks there should be availability of (jobs) for domestic people, but domestic people don’t want to herd sheep — at least not for any period of time.”

H-2A visas fill a critical labor need for U.S. agriculture. But Etcheverry said the application process is so complicated that most operations rely on outside help, such as the association.

Etcheverry intends to visit with federal officials about the need for reforms during a November sheep producers’ convention in Sun Valley, Idaho.

H-2A workers are allowed to work at a U.S. sheep ranch for up to three years, with their status renewed annually.

According to a government fact sheet, the program changes improve administrative efficiencies and “promote greater consistency in the review of H-2A applications, provide workers employed in the U.S. with improved health benefits and protections and provide greater clarity for employers with respect to compliance of program requirements.”

Sheep ranchers, however, say the federal government couldn’t keep pace with H-2A applications under the revised rules and failed to process renewals in time, forcing many operations to send workers home and then bear the expense of re-processing them and bringing them back.

Castleford, Idaho, rancher Mike Guerry had to return 30 workers to Peru and Chile from January through March.

He noted the new rules roughly double minimum wages for sheep workers over the next three years, though sheep prices are down. Other changes require operators to give each employee a cell phone and prohibit compensating workers who would rather use their own phones, restrict workers from cutting wood and restrict lodging and dining facilities from within 500 yards of a corral, though watching sheep is a key role of a sheepherder.

Guerry said operators may even be fined for failing to publicize benefits offered in excess of minimum requirements.

Tremonton, Utah, rancher Lane Jensen, the association’s interim executive director, said another change specifies herders can’t deliver supplies to one another.

Jensen said the association is lobbying to restore the status of members who were short of workers and kept them past deadlines when the government failed to renew their H-2A visas.

TROUTDALE, ORE. — An Oregon company showed off a demonstration facility where it converts forest slash to biomass briquettes, and said it is prepared to license the technology and sell it world-wide.

Hiroshi Morihara, an Oregon developer and engineer who is CEO of HM3 Energy Inc., also announced the company has found a “big fish” investor: A Japanese energy company that wants to use the briquettes to fire electrical power plants in Japan and replace coal and nuclear facilities. New Energy Development Co. has invested $2 million in HM3 and plans to build a briquette production plant at an undisclosed location in Oregon. The briquettes would then be exported to Japan.

Using logging debris or agricultural crop residue to make biomass pellets is an idea that has had numerous starts and stops over the years, as developers and investors have struggled to make the process pencil out.

The upside has always been appealing from a rural economic development perspective. Using forest slash to produce biomass energy reduces wildfire risk, restores forest health and puts people to work in the woods and in production facilities, backers say. An economical technical solution, however, has been slow in coming.

HM3 believes it has refined the process to the point it can license and sell the technology.

“We were able to say, hey, we can do this,” Morihara said during a news conference and media tour of the company’s $4 million demonstration plant in Troutdale, east of Portland.

The company, and others working along the same line, uses a process called torrefaction. They essentially roast wood debris in a controlled environment and temperature range, which removes moisture and volatile compounds. The finished product is a light-weight, brittle cube that can be pulverized and burned like coal, but much cleaner. At the news conference, Morihara displayed briquettes made from juniper trees.

Portland General Electric is interested in converting its coal-fired power plant in Boardman, Ore., to operate on biomass. Later this year, a company called Oregon Torrefaction will supply PGE with enough briquettes to operate the power plant for a day, considered a key test of the technology.

Oregon BEST, an arm of the state business department that provides funding and university research expertise for a variety of energy projects, estimates Oregon, Washington and British Columbia could provide 35 million tons a year of biomass material to torrefaction plants.

The event at HM3 included an appearance by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon’s senior senator. He said HM3’s progress demonstrates that politicians don’t generate jobs themselves but can best help by creating a good business climate through such things as research and development tax credits.

A settlement appears possible in a federal lawsuit against an Oregon farmer accused of violating the Clean Water Act by stabilizing a riverbank.

Earlier this year, the federal government filed a complaint alleging that farmer Bill Case of Albany, Ore., discharged pollutants by placing large rocks within the high water mark of the North Santiam River.

Case claims the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allowed him to stabilize the bank with riprap rock to prevent floods from washing out roughly 50 acres of his field.

The bank stabilization has actually reduced pollution in the river by preventing erosion, according to Case.

While the corps said a Clean Water Act permit wasn’t needed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency believes such a permit was required, he said.

The EPA’s lawsuit seeks up to $37,500 in fines per day for the alleged violations — which it claims stretch back to 2009 — as well as returning the riverbank to its original condition.

However, a recent court document indicates that settlement talks could be fruitful in resolving the dispute.

In a joint filing, attorneys for the government and for Case say that a recent survey of the site, as well as other new information, “may provide the basis for a negotiated resolution of the claims asserted in this lawsuit.”

The attorneys asked that deadlines in the lawsuit be pushed back three months to assist in “furthering settlement discussions of all or some issues in this case.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin has approved the request.

An attorney representing the federal government refused to comment on settlement talks and Capital Press was unable to reach an attorney for Case.

Case said that government representatives spent two days making measurements on his property but he didn’t know specifics about what they found or how it may influence any settlement.

However, he said it’s possible the government has realized it lacks jurisdiction in the case because he didn’t place rocks into the river.

“We’ve proved to them we weren’t working in the river. I had pictures and everything,” Case said.

ONTARIO, Ore. — A full water allotment for the fist time in four years has made a huge difference for farmers in Oregon and Idaho who depend on the Owyhee Reservoir to irrigate their crops.

They received only a third of their full 4 acre-foot allotment in 2014 and 2015 and as a result drastically altered their crop rotations and left a lot of ground fallow to save what water they did receive for their onions, the area’s main cash crop.

The reservoir provides irrigation water for 1,800 farms and 118,000 acres of ground in Eastern Oregon and part of southwestern Idaho.

“It meant a lot to have a full allotment this year,” said Owyhee Irrigation District Manager Jay Chamberlin. “It was good to see growers get back to more normal planting.”

During the drought years, when water was sparse, a lot of farmers moved their onion acres to areas where they had access to well water or where water held out a little bit longer in the system, said Bill Buhrig, an Oregon State University cropping systems extension agent in Ontario.

In areas where water was scarce, a lot of early season crops such as cereal, wheat or triticale were planted.

As a result, Buhrig said, a lot of onions and cereals were planted on the same ground several years in a row and farmers got out of their normal five- to six-year rotations, which is not ideal for soil health.

“To go to a full allotment enables growers to get back into the rotations that really benefit both what their production needs are and soil health,” he said.

As a result of the drought, acreage for some water-intensive crops, such as sugar beets, was cut significantly. After falling to 4,725 acres in 2014 and 5,500 acres in 2015, sugar beet acres in the area bounced back to 8,000 this year, which is close to normal.

The ground left fallow the past few years has also been put back into production, said Stuart Reitz, an OSU cropping systems extension agent.

The full allotment “gives people more flexibility on what they can grow and where they can grow,” he said. “Having those short water years threw everybody’s rotations off.”

Dairyman Frank Ausman likes to grow most of his own feed but had to leave one of his three farms idle the past two years to spread what little water he did get to the other two.

He was able to put all three into production this year.

“It’s made a huge difference,” he said. “We have basically got back to normal.”

When the OID system stopped delivering water Sept. 30, there was 166,000 acre-feet of carryover water in the reservoir, less than normal but much more than the 5,000 acre-feet left the past two years.

“From the get-go, when we set the allotment, our goal was to try to carry over 100,000 acre-feet and we actually did better than that,” Chamberlin said. “We’re pretty pleased we were able to carry over that much.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The federal conspiracy case against Ammon Bundy and six co-defendants is now in the hands of jurors.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown thanked all 12 jurors and the alternates for their dedication during the trial that began six weeks ago. Earlier this week, the alternates asked the judge if — instead of being dismissed — they could be allowed to listen to a live audio feed of deliberations, since it’s a landmark case in Oregon history.

The judge said she’s never had such a request. She denied it, citing the sanctity of secret jury deliberations.

Bundy in early 2016 led what turned out to be a 41-day occupation of a national wildlife refuge near Burns, Oregon. He and his co-defendants are charged with conspiring to impede Interior Department employees from doing their duties at the refuge.

LANGLOIS -- Holiday shopping abounds at the 21st annual Holiday Crafts Fair at the Langlois Lions Hall on Floras Loop Road just south of town. The Crafts Fair will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18…

BANDON — It was supposed to be the storm of the century.

PORT ORFORD — The Rotary Club of Port Orford will hold its fourth-annual Oktoberfest from 6-10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Community Building at 419 11th St., Port Orford. The event was rescheduled from its original date of Oct.…

If wildlife officials know how Oregon wolf OR-28 died, they aren’t saying so yet.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to provide additional information Oct. 19. The female wolf was found dead Oct. 6 in the Fremont-Winema National Forest near Summer Lake, Ore. Gray wolves in the western two-thirds of the state remain protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, and killing one is a crime.

IR-28 was the alpha female of the Silver Lake wolfpack.

The wolf’s carcass was taken to the agency’s national forensics lab in Ashland, Ore., for a necropsy, which would determine the cause of death.

Officials have said anyone with information about the case should call USFWS at (503) 682-6131, or the Oregon State Police Tip Line at (800) 452-7888. Callers may remain anonymous.

Fish and Wildlife is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible. The Center for Biological Diversity, which frequently comments on Oregon’s wolf management plan, has said it will contribute $10,000 to the reward fund.

Feb. 17, 1951 - Oct. 4, 2016

The Westland Irrigation District in Northeast Oregon has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of cheating smaller growers out of water.

In June, seven farms ranging from about 60 acres to 800 acres filed a complaint alleging the district stole their water to benefit three operations with more than 5,000 acres.

During oral arguments on Oct. 18, attorneys for the district told U.S. District Judge Michael Simon in Portland, Ore., that the lawsuit belongs in state court, not federal court.

“They’ve failed to exhaust the underlying state remedies that would make their claim ripe in federal court,” said Nicole Hancock, attorney for Westland.

The hearing focused on jurisdictional issues rather than the merits of the complaint, which claims the district used fraudulent accounting to make water available to the larger operations at the expense of the smaller growers, who have senior water rights.

The lawsuit belongs in state court because it deals with interpretations of Oregon contract law and water law, said Hancock. “It’s going to be a combination of those.”

Julie Weis, attorney for the plaintiffs, said it would be more efficient to resolve the case in federal court, particularly since filing a new lawsuit in state court may drag the dispute into the 2017 irrigation season.

The lawsuit belongs in federal court because it will likely entail water contracts with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the impact of the Endangered Species Act on water allocation, said Michael Haglund, attorney for the plaintiffs.

“There may well be intersections with federal law in this case,” Haglund said.

The judge signaled that he’s inclined to rule the lawsuit belongs in state court, since the case doesn’t neatly meet the legal standards for trying it in federal court.

Though he does have the authority to make an exception, there would need to be a valid reason — other than his personal preference, said Simon. “That’s no way to run a legal system.”

It also wouldn’t make sense to try the case in federal court only to later refer a question of law to the Oregon Supreme Court, he said.

Simon said he expects to rule on the jurisdiction issue by mid-November or early December.

If the plaintiffs are worried about delay, they can in the meantime file a state lawsuit against the district, Simon said. If he decides the case belongs in federal court, the state lawsuit can then be dismissed.

“That will have absolutely no bearing on what I do here,” he said.