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Winds of change - Area windfarm project finds foes - Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

By Erin Mills, The East Oregonian

 Staff photo by Sarah Britain
Kent Madison stands with a wind testing tower Thursday on his Echo property.

On an empty, windswept hill outside Echo, Kent Madison stood next to a narrow silver tower that rose 164 feet into the air. It was the first hot day of spring and Madison squinted at the blue sky as he pointed up. High on the tower, tiny wind gauges - anemometers - glittered and twirled in the sun.

"You can see that, right now, the wind is blowing from the north," he said. "But 90 percent of the time it blows from the southwest toward the northeast."

Madison hopes to capitalize on this unique weather pattern. Before the end of the year, he and his fellow investors hope to complete construction on 39 turbines that will tower over Madison's land and into that of Shannon and Tim Rust, his neighbors to the south.

Each turbine will reach 262 feet into the sky and have a rotor radius of 135 feet. With the wind blowing at a steady 20-25 miles per hour, each turbine will generate 1.65 megawatts of power. All 39 turbines will generate enough electricity to power 18,500 homes, or more than half of Umatilla county.

But the turbines also come with a sky-high price. The whole project - which includes a transmission line and substation - will cost $130 million, Madison said.

To help pay for the project, the investor group applied for and received three $500,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grants. They also would benefit from a two-cent-per-kilowatt green-energy tax credit.

"This is not like a gold mine," said Glenn Ikemoto, a partner at Oregon Windfarms, a company developing and investing in the project. "It's much more like a farming operation, but farming wind."

Recently, the project has taken on a new urgency: If the investors do not get the required permits and start erecting the turbines this summer, the project may run out of air.

Wind turbines have become such a hot commodity, Ikemoto said, they have almost doubled in price in the past four years. To make the project economically viable, they must take advantage of a federal production tax credit that, because the project has been in the planning stages for so long, will expire at the end of the year.

That means, Ikemoto said, if they do not get the turbines up and running by the end of the year, the turbines will go somewhere else.

And that's where Dixie Echeverria comes in.

Echeverria, along with several of her neighbors who live along Highway 207, object to the transmission line the investors hope to build on the public easement along that road, across from an existing Umatilla Electric Co-op line.

To hook up with Pacific Power, which intends to buy the windfarm's electricity, the investors must run a transmission line to a substation in Hinkle. The investors' contract with Pacific Power specifies they must hook up at that substation, Madison said, and they cannot use any of UEC's lines to get there.

Echeverria and her neighbors say the new high-voltage line will devalue their property and create a safety hazard. They also say the line could easily be rerouted to avoid their property or the investors could make an agreement with UEC to use their lines.

They also claim the investors are planning to build the power lines "fast and cheap," with little regard to their continuing maintenance. Furthermore, they argue the easements along the highway are simply not wide enough to accommodate the new lines.

"This is a very busy highway," said Doug Bennett. "It's a main corridor for all the people who live in Lexington and Condon and all those little towns out there, and the people who live up Butter Creek. This is a safety issue for people who live under and travel that road."

Bennett cited a dairy in Idaho that was awarded more than $2 million in damages after a jury decided an electric co-op was responsible for the death of its cows.

According to the lawsuit, the cows sickened and died after being exposed to stray voltage from leaking power lines.

Stray voltage is of particular concern to Echeverria, because she runs a feedlot not far from Highway 207. And she believes the power lines are a health issue for people as well.

"There are a lot of studies that show that high voltage is harmful to people," she said.

Echeverria suggested the windfarm use transmission lines already in place on Madison's land

Furthermore, Echeverria said, the windfarm project is not worth the risks because it will not bring in as much tax money to the county as its investors claim.

The windfarm project will be on an accelerated tax depreciation schedule, Echeverria said, which means the taxes it pays will decrease sharply after five years.

Ikemoto and Madison maintain the windfarm will pay Umatilla and Morrow counties each $330,000 per year for the life of the project, which they expect to be about 30 years.

The East Oregonian called state tax assessors, who didn't return phone calls to confirm whether the windfarm was on an accelerated tax depreciation schedule.

Nevertheless, many of Madison's neighbors simply do not want a transmission line along Highway 207.

"They (the investors) don't mind impacting us to get what they want," Bennett said. "And the landowners here shouldn't have to live with someone else's transmission lines."

Madison claims he approached several landowners with an offer to buy easements on their land so the investors could avoid Highway 207. But almost everyone he talked to refused.

Frank Mueller, for one, was not happy with Madison's offer.

"I got a little uptight with Madison and his engineer," he said. "They came in here like robber barrons and were going to damn well put their line on my place no matter what I said. I told him he could stick that hot wire up his ... ."

Mueller and other objectors will get a chance to stop investors from getting a required zoning permit at a public hearing June 12, said Umatilla County Planning Director Tamra Mabbott. But, she said, objections must be "based on whether the applicant complies with the applicable substantive criteria."

An example of "substantive criteria," she said, would be whether the placement of the line is necessary for the utility to function.

And the zoning permit, Ikemoto said, is necessary for the investors to start construction this summer.

Referring to Echeverria, he said, "if she can stop the permit, she's got us by the throat."

Rising food prices help focus attention on agriculture - Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
 

The East Oregonian 

Agriculture is at an interesting crossroads.

Typically, it's a subject that is an afterthought to front page news - particularly when it involves issues related to the actual production of crops or the market for farm commodities.

Mention the word agriculture at a party, and most people find a sudden need to revisit the hors d' oeuvres table or refill their glass. But change the conversation to food or even the impact that supply and price have on everyday consumers and suddenly people want to listen.

Sadly, the average individual is more likely to draw a correlation between their local supermarket and their source of food then they are to see a relationship between agriculture and the food that makes its way to our tables.

That agriculture is so misunderstood and that the subject has such a limited audience, is a concern to Bill Boggess, the interim dean of the College of Agriculture at Oregon State University. It's also a concern for Thayne Dutson, the retiring dean and for Phil Hamm, superintendent of the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

Their worries were shared by a group of agricultural leaders who discussed this and various other topics last week during a visit by the OSU contingent to Hermiston. They were joined by Todd Crosby from Mercer Canyon Farms, Marty Myers, regional manager for RDO and the chief honcho at Three-Mile Canyon Farms, Kent Madison of Madison Farms, Fred Ziari of IRZ Consulting and Dennis Barnett, of Barnett & Moro, certified public accountants.

These thoughts emerged as the leaders discussed a myriad of subjects related to Oregon State University's outreach and its impact. Dutson reported that OSU currently has $35 million in research grants and that the magazine Science Watch recently named the university No. 1 in the nation for the impact its agricultural sciences program has on science.

The local leaders concurred that OSU's efforts in Corvallis and its outreach through stations like Hermiston, has a tremendous impact on helping farmers increase production and preserve natural resources simultaneously through more efficient practices.

In Dutson's words, the partnership between the university and the producers is built on listening to one another, trying new things, and solving tomorrow's problems.

He also outlined the fact that the mission of the university is to benefit Oregon's citizens in three ways - environmentally, economically and socially and to help focus in a positive way on sustainability. The conversation seems to resonate with, and for the most part include, those directly engaged in agriculture. The problem comes when they attempt to extend the dialogue and a greater understanding of agriculture among the general public.

Even the Legislature is becoming increasingly urban as Oregon's population shifts toward population centers. This leaves the leaders wondering how to create a greater understanding between agriculture and the metropolitan consumer base.

The fact that agriculture has increased irrigation efficiency by 30-40 percent is an important equation as water becomes more scarce. That farmers continually follow more environmentally friendly practices is wonderful news, but it gets limited attention.

Even here in an area where it is impossible not to see and experience the presence of agriculture every day, the vital correlation between agriculture and the production of the food we eat is by and large ignored.

As our sophisticated society has moved beyond a fundamental preoccupation with food, shelter and clothing, there are some basics we are taking for granted.

As food prices rise and as supplies are threatened, perhaps the whole subject of agriculture will become a universal point of interest.

There's certainly alot about the subject we need to know and understand.

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Space-age equipment means higher yields - Thursday, April 24th, 2008

By Kathy Aney, The East Oregonian

Jack Shaw cruised slowly around the Farm Equipment Headquarters parking lot in his pickup chatting with a potential buyer.

"I don't know why they're on sale, but they're '07s and we have a few left," Shaw said into the receiver. "I'd pull the trigger if I were you, but that's up to you."

Shaw's world consists of combines, tractors, sprayers, balers, swathers, backhoes and other big boys in farming. Technology has zoomed ahead since he started in the business 35 years ago, he said, and so have prices.

"There's some real spaceship stuff out there," he said. "We have something called a Fendt - I'll give you a half hour and I'll bet you can't start it."

Tractors and combines carry GPS units, self-steer and respond to computer commands. The machinery can pull wider implements that plant, spray and dig more rows at one time.

Prices have risen along with the technology, however, but maybe that's not so bad.

The hike in costs is overshadowed by boosts in other areas, said Kent Madison, of Echo's Madison Farms.

"It's a lot more expensive," he said. "But there is less operator fatigue and more efficiency."

Madison used his company's self-steering, GPS-guided sprayers as an example.

"A sprayer drives down corn rows at 14 mph and doesn't touch a single stalk of corn," Madison said.

The accuracy translates into higher yields and fewer gallons of chemicals.

"Consequently, it saves the environment," he said. "I'm not over-applying."

"Horse power has increased," said Pendleton wheat farmer Stan Timmermann. "Now one farm laborer can produce 100,000 bushels."

In 1950, a farm worker could produce about 40,000.

Timmerman, 78, has cut back his acreage from 11,000 to about 3,000 - what he calls his "401k farm." Over the years, Timmerman has learned the art of farm equipment repair.

"I believe in maintenance," he said.

He owns a 28-year-old Caterpillar D6D 300 horsepower tractor that still sees plenty of field time.

"They run like sewing machines," he said. "If it's still doing the job, it's not old."

He owns newer equipment, too, and has watched his efficiency rise.

"We can do more in one day," he said.

Shaw said farming operations must own a minimum of equipment to be able to fulfill all phases of production - tractor, plow, cultivator, sprayer and other machinery - though he said "The jury's still out on whether it's best to rent or own a combine."

Renting is expensive, too, he said, costing about $150 an hour for a used combine and $170 to $180 for a new one.

Most farmers follow fathers and grandfathers into the business, Shaw said. A new farmer, starting from scratch, would take it hard in the wallet.

"You'd have to have a pretty deep sock," he said.

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Compared with rising fuel and fertilizer and other farming costs, labor is a line item that is decreasing in some farming operations. The reason is increased efficiency.

Kent Madison, of Madison Farms, said his operation pays wages based on the Consumer Price Index, an average that increases two or three percent most years, an increase that isn't always matched by a rise in crop prices.

Higher salaries don't necessarily mean higher labor costs, however.

"We've become more mechanized," Madison said. "We're doing more with less."

For instance, irrigation systems are radio-controlled.

"You can start or stop them from your office or your pick-up - even with your Blackberry," said the Echo farmer.

Tractors have GPS systems and auto-steer capability. The operator programs the tractor's course into a computer.

"Auto-steering takes over and he drives across the field with more accuracy," Madison said. "He drives 14 mph and overlaps only one inch."

While wages at Madison Farms have risen fairly steadily, field workers generally barely top minimum wage, say staffing consultants at local employment agencies.

"Each farmer is different," said Patty Fernandez of Express Employment Professionals in Hermiston. "They usually hire field workers at about minimum wage."

Fernandez and Beverly Lousignont, the owner of Certified Personnel of La Grande and Hermiston, said farmers pay more for skilled equipment operators.

Dallas Fridley, regional economist for the State of Oregon, said wages are up $1.59 since 2001, an increase of 15.5 percent through 2006. The average hourly wage in Umatilla County, $10.27, rose to $11.86 by 2006.

Meanwhile, minimum wage rose 15.4 percent since 2001 to $7.50 in 2006. As of Jan. 1, it is $7.95, the country's fourth-highest minimum wage behind Washington, California and Massachusetts.

"Both Morrow and Umatilla counties opened dairies over this period," Fridley said. "That is the primary reason for employment, payroll and wage growth."

Offering higher wages doesn't ensure that a farmer will find enough workers, Lousignont said.

"It's obvious there is a shortage," she said. "There are definitely less workers to fill demand than four years ago."

Nelson promotes aquifer replenishment - Wednesdsay, January 30th, 2008

By Flynn Espe, The East Oregonian

State Sen. David Nelson, R-Pendleton, sits on the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, which will present Senate Bill 1069 as a proposal to assess the possibility of recharging Umatilla Basin aquifers.

Unlike the original Oasis Project that Nelson supported, this new direction circumvents the problem of endangering fish runs by removing water only from excess flows during the winter months.

"We wouldn't harm the salmon," Nelson said. "That's the major thing."

Nelson said he applauded Gov. Ted Kulongoski for making a priority of the water issue when he recently proposed a dam and reservoir storage project in Morrow County's Sand Hollow, of which the new February session bill is an offshoot.

"It's no longer an above-ground storage project," Nelson said. "And it's a little bit less water too."

Nelson said the proposed method could likely restore about 80,000 acre feet of water on an annual basis. He cited an estimate that the aquifer could store as much as 6 million acre feet.

Underground storage, he said, is much more inexpensive compared to above-ground storage, which could cost up to $3,000 to $5,000 per acre foot.

Kent Madison, owner of Madison Farms and chairman of the Umatilla County Critical Groundwater Task Force, has been at the forefront of groundwater replenishment for a number of years, using Aquifer Storage and Recovery technology to keep his agricultural operation alive.

When he lost the legal ability to pump water from his wells, located in a Critical Groundwater zone, he looked to the possibilities of ASR. And after a long process of study and legal approval, put a system in place that used existing infrastructure.

"We take the winter flood water of the Butter Creek system and put it on the ground," Madison said, describing leveled rice-paddy-type fields that absorb water.

From there, the water is naturally treated and filtered through the shallow alluvial groundwater system, eventually collected in a drain tile. That water then gets pumped back into the deeper basalt wells.

"The easiest part's the mechanical part," Madison said. Educating the public of its potential and benefits, he said, is the tough part.

Commentary: Cooperation pays off in biodiesel grant - Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

By Kim Puzey, The East Oregonian

Agriculturalists have always faced difficult options about what to produce and for what purposes, but few times in history have they been presented with such critical alternatives. Today, the agribusiness industry is at a crossroads with carbohydrates (food and feed crops) on one hand and hydrocarbons (fuel crops) on the other.

You have probably noticed the rising price of groceries in recent months. Some have described the conditions that have caused these dramatic price increases as a "perfect storm."

The elements of the storm include: urban expansion onto productive farm land; drought (especially in Australia) and flooding elsewhere; diminishing worldwide grain surpluses; growing numbers of people eating more protein; and, biofuels (especially corn for ethanol).

You have also probably noticed fuel prices remain relatively high. Again, there are reasons for this: dependence on foreign crude oil produced in dangerous regions of the world (Venezuela and the Middle East); traffic congestion resulting in lower mileage per gallon of fuel; decreased exploration for new oil supplies; increased numbers of vehicles (especially China); and, lack of conservation through personal and institutional choices.

The combination of these factors has driven prices of commodities, food, feed and feedstocks for finished products to higher levels than in the past. For those who spend a small percentage of their income on food and fuel, this is troubling, annoying or inconvenient. But for others, whose lives are threatened by starvation (25,000 people, mostly children, are starving everyday worldwide), even the slightest increase in prices can exacerbate the already hideous conditions under which they live.

It is in this context that the Port of Umatilla was recently informed that Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., had secured a $500,000 federal grant for a biodiesel refinery to be built in Eastern Oregon.

It is worthy to note that this award required a bipartisan effort by two senators and two congressmen, all coming together to support a specific concept - locally grown, crushed, refined canola-based biodiesel being transported by the Port of Umatilla to the Portland area for consumption by Oregonians.

An appropriately sized (to fit the available acreage as a rotation crop to wheat) biodiesel refinery gives local growers an alternative crop that can be used for food or fuel. In an ideal world, locally grown canola would be crushed for use as cooking oil for human consumption. This would give the high profit margin to growers. Any surplus could be refined into biodiesel.

In either case, the resulting canola meal from the process could be fed to beef or dairy cattle in the local area.

The announcement of the award precipitated a meeting that included officials from the city of Portland, Pendleton Grain Growers, Madison Farms, Sequential Biofuels and the Port of Umatilla. In that meeting, Commissioner Randy Leonard reiterated the interest of the city of Portland to use locally produced biodiesel in their fleet of diesel-powered vehicles. Kent Madison of Madison Farms and Allen Waggoner discussed their respective current capacity to crush and or refine canola into biodiesel. Tyson Keever, managing partner of Sequential Biofuels, described the blending and retail aspects of biodiesel distribution, and the Port of Umatilla confirmed the interest and ability of the Port to transport the product by "connecting Oregon" via the Columbia River with the Port of Portland.

Each of the parties agreed to transparency in the financial mechanisms by which the various aspects of production, processing, transportation and distribution would take place. Each expressed full cognizance of the importance that this project be unique in that it maintain a scale where it combines the advantages of a carbohydrate (food) economy with a hydrocarbon (fuel) economy in local agriculture.

It is a compliment to senators Smith and Wyden and congressmen Blumenauer and Walden, as well as the many local supporters of this project, that some funding has been awarded.

Among those who support our initial request are Gov. Ted R. Kulongoski, Antone C. Minthorn of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Randy Leonard of the city of Portland, Sam Ruda of the Port of Portland, state Sen. David Nelson, state Rep. Bob Jensen, state Rep. Greg Smith, Umatilla Co. commissioners Dennis D. Doherty, Bill Hansell, and Larry Givens, Larry Dalrymple of the city of Pendleton, Kent Madison of Madison Farms, Al Gosiak of Pendleton Grain Growers, Tammy L. Dennee of the Oregon Wheat Growers League, John Turner of Blue Mountain Community College, Tim P. O'Rourke of the Roundup City Development Corporation, Leslie Carnes and Jim Steelman of the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce; and Kurt C. Bendixsen, Bryan Brock, Tim Mabry, Marge Roff and Jerry Simpson of the Port of Umatilla.

Oilseed dream coming true - Thursday, January 17th, 2008

The East oregonian

The dream of developing an oilseed industry in Eastern Oregon finally is beginning to come true. But few new businesses are overnight successes and this one is taking time as well.

Nearly a year and a half ago, we first heard rumblings about creating an oilseed industry, giving wheat farmers an opportunity to grow canola as a rotation crop and developing an Oregon market for the seed and its byproducts. In September of 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Pendleton Grain Growers and Madison Farms of Echo grants for expanding value-added products.

Both used the money to buy more canola seed and to expand biodiesel production. Kent Madison began by producing enough biodiesel to use on his farm, but when he developed a surplus, he began selling to Sequential Pacific Biodiesel of Salem, which supplies the city of Portland.

The next effort to involve federal help came last winter when Kim Puzey, general manager of the Port of Umatilla, and others traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby the Northwest Congressional delegation for money to help build a 5-million-gallon-per-year biodiesel plant in Umatilla County.

That effort paid off this week when Oregon Sens. Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Ron Wyden announced a $500,000 appropriation for the plant. The news is great, but it's like a parent's announcement that you'll get your allowance on Friday. The Port of Umatilla, which will be the ultimate recipient of the grant, isn't likely to see it until summer. Fortunately, it'll have another year and a half or so to spend the money.

By that time, the end of 2008, project proponents are hoping the region's canola output will have expanded to the point that what's now just a couple of small-scale biodiesel brewers truly will have become an oilseed industry worthy of note. If and when that happens, Sequential Pacific Biofuels hopes to build a Umatilla County plant, bringing its production capacity closer to the crop.

And if PGG achieves its goals, it will be selling food-grade canola oil to Oregon restaurants and food manufacturers who, in turn, would recycle their used oil for biodiesel production.

That's what value-added farming is all about.

Smith, Wyden secure $500,000 for biodiesel plant - Wednesday, January 16th, 2008


By Dean Brickley, The East Oregonian