capital press

Oregon water regulators have once again rejected a proposal for a large irrigation reservoir in the Willamette Valley.

Idaho ranchers Lynn and Glenna Rasmussen are suing Simplot for allegedly causing a major toxic spill from a phosphate slurry pipeline, which they claim devastated their cattle operation.  The lawsuit alleges that agribusiness giant downplayed the volume and toxicity of the September 2023 spill in the Caribou National Forest, which the couple claims contaminated local water sources with hazardous s

Starting in October, several changes are coming to the Washington cattle industry, including new rules for selling cattle in the state, an increase in fees, and most notably the migration to USDA approved Radio Frequency Identification Tags, better known as RFIDs...

Many in the Washington Ag community are frustrated with the Department of Ecology.  The state Department of Ecology recently announced it has appointed public employees to represent agriculture on committees that will chart the future allocation of water in seven river basins.  Th...

Thanks to the capital budget approved last week, over $21 million will be available to a variety of agencies looking to make high-speed internet available in rural portions of Washington.  Over the next two years, the state’s Public Works department plans to loan $14.44 million...

Earlier this week, a western Washington judge reinstated WOTUS.  The Judge ruled the Trump Administration’s EPA and the Army Corp of Engineers made a “serious procedural error” by rolling back the 2015 legislation.   The agencies took comments earlier this year on delaying the Obama administration’s definition until at least February 2020.  But as Capital Press noted, EPA...

The Employment Security Department has proposed a program in which Washington farmer would pay additional fees for using foreign workers.  The ESD said the additional funds would be used to beef up oversight of the H2A program.  It’s estimated that Washington farmers will hire roughly 30,000 foreign workers in 2018.   Accord...