Flood Policy on the Chehalis River in Lewis County, Washington: Who Makes the Decisions?

Chapter VI The Politics of Flood Plain Management on the Chehalis River

Chapter VI The Politics of Flood Plain Management on the Chehalis River

The lives of Chehalis River Valley residents have historically been intertwined with the river in many ways, and flooding has been a familiar problem. But as development has increased the amount of land covered by buildings and paved surfaces. flood waters have been forced into areas that previously had been beyond the water's reach.

In response to increased flooding as well as a growing awareness of the need for environmental protection related to fish and water quality, several governmental and private, nonprofit organizations have been formed in recent years to address the complex issues facing the Chehalis Basin. Due to disagreements over goals as how to achieve them, as well as various power struggles, these organizations have at times come to blows over the flooding issue.

The Chehalis River Council

In 1990, under the sponsorship of the Lewis County Conservation District, representatives from state and local agencies, tribes, the business community and residents of the Chehalis River basin formed the Chehalis River Council (CRC). This nonprofit volunteer citizens' group includes people from Lewis, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties. Its main focus was to improve water quality in the basin by educating local residents about the causes and effects of nonpoint pollution. The group developed the Chehalis River Basin Action Plan for the Control of nonpoint Source Pollution, a guidance document that was approved by the state Department of Ecology in December 1992. Following the epic inundation in February 1996, the group arranged the first public meetings for citizens of the three affected counties to discuss the issue of flooding.

The group's goal is to "promote the conservation and restoration of the Greater Chehalis River Basin resources." (Chehalis River Council Web site, 1999) The CRC Web site statement indicates the organization pursues its goal by working closely with the state Department of Ecology, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, local governments, conservation districts, schools and local businesses. The CRC, which is funded through membership, donations and grants, focuses on educating the public about water quality and flood issues. It offers free public seminars, publishes a quarterly newsletter on water resource topics that is distributed to about 45,000 households in the watershed through newspapers in Lewis, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties, and maintains an extensive library of materials related to the Chehalis River watershed, which is open to the public. The group also maintains a comprehensive Web site that offers up-to-date information on water and land use topics throughout the Chehalis River watershed. Members of this grassroots group are actively involved in monitoring and providing input on land use and flood policy development and may be considered the "squeaky wheel" that represents a moderate environmental approach to these issues.

The Lewis County Flood Action Council

The catastrophic flood of February 1996 caused widespread damage in the Chehalis River Valley, resulting in an estimated $50 million in damages and another $80 million in statewide economic losses. (Richard Graham, interview, April 17, 1999) Local residents report the flood volume was so great, the water in the river stopped flowing along its usual route in the big horseshoe bend north of Chehalis and instead flowed in a shortcut directly north across the flood plain. The 1990 and 1996 floods were the worst since 1929, and flooding appears to be on the increase as six other major floods have occurred in the past 10 years. (Pacific International Engineering, 1996, Chehalis River Council Web Page)

In response to the February 1996 flood, members of the Lewis County Economic Development Council formed a group called the Lewis County Flood Action Council. Other local business leaders were also involved in the effort, which was chaired by state Rep. Bill Brumsickle, R-Centralia, who was hired to lead the effort. Their goal was to identify ways to control flooding and reduce the cost of damage. U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton and then-U.S. Rep. Linda Smith, both Washington Republicans, expressed support for the work of the Flood Action Council. (Henderer, March 4, 1997)

With money contributed by local business leaders, the Lewis County Economic Development Council, the ports of Chehalis and Centralia, the Twin Cities Chamber of Commerce and the Chehalis Industrial Commission (which represents the owners and supporters of a local private industrial park), the Flood Action Council hired a private engineering consulting firm, Pacific International Engineering, to study the flooding problem and propose solutions. (Mackey, March 5, 1997) Pacific International Engineering recommended a three-part project that included building a new dam on the upper Chehalis at Doty; increasing the capacity of an existing dam on the Skookumchuck River, a Chehalis River tributary; and dredging the shallow, flood-prone Centralia Reach section of the river. But when the Flood Action Council held a town meeting in March 1997 aimed at garnering public support for the project, some local citizens complained that elements of the plan would increase flood risk by encouraging further development on the flood plain. Informants report that many citizens who opposed the plan argued that the Flood Action Council represented only Centralia and Chehalis business interests, not the views of the general public, including those upstream and downstream of the urban area. The most vocal opponents of the Flood Action Council proposal were residents of the upper Chehalis Valley communities of Pe Ell and Doty, which would likely have been displaced by a dam project proposed by the group. (Ilona Peterson, interview, April 13, 1999)

The Flood Action Council proposal was further doomed by the group's efforts to initiate a countywide flood control district in 1997 for the purpose of securing government funding and creating a taxing authority to pay for the project. Under state law RCW 86.05, a flood control district has a separate level of local government to manage flood control projects and is exempt from normal taxing limits. Decades-old state laws governing the proposed election would have required the county to use a "weighted ballot" system under which the only citizens who can vote on the issue are those who own land within the proposed flood control district. Under the law, a land owner with I 0 acres or less is allotted two votes. For every I 0 acres of property, the land owner is allowed two votes, to a maximum of 40 votes. Those who live within the district, but who rent rather than own property, are excluded from voting at all. All property owners are entitled to vote, even if they live 'de of the proposed flood control district - or outside of Lewis County - such as corporate land owners Weyerhaeuser (timber), Burlington Northern (railroad) and PacifiCorp (electric utility), which owns and operates the Skookumchuck River Dam. (Henderer, March 4, 1997)

Local citizens cried foul, and the Flood Action Council abandoned its efforts to generate support for its proposed flood control plan and the creation of a flood control district, handing the project over to the Lewis County Board of Commissioners. Lewis County accepted the lead role in pursuing a flood control project, which held as its primary goal the protection of existing business investment in the flood plain and the pursuit of future economic development. (Richard Graham, interview, April 17, 1999) Due to strong public opposition at three public meetings on the issue, the commissioners decided against a public vote on the flood control district proposal. They chose instead to institute a county-created and administered "flood control zone district," which is limited to the same levels of taxation as the county itself. (Henderer, March 4, 1997)

The Flood Action Council had been working for more than a year to develop a solution to the flooding issue, and grew frustrated with the failure of the flood district proposal. Richard Graham, the only Lewis County commissioner who took part in the Flood Action Council, said the group believed the county's decision to initiate a flood control zone district instead would be unworkable because it would include participation of so many interest groups. "I'm afraid the zone is going to prove cumbersome, as they include Thurston County, Grays Harbor County, the Chehalis Indian Tribe and probably Hawaii and Japan .... It's going to be a long time before the first shovel gets in the dirt." (Henderer, March 4, 1997)

In taking on the project, the Lewis County Commissioners allocated $300,000 from the county roads budget and general budget to pay for the flood control study begun under Flood Action Council. The funds were reduced by 1998 budget cuts and a state Auditor's Office ruling that required the county to reduce the amount of roads fund money earmarked for the flood study. After a competitive bid process, a contract to develop a baseline flood model was awarded to Pacific International Engineering (PIE) and Pharos Corporation, the same firms that had been hired previously by the Flood Action Council to study the flood problem and propose solutions. The state Department of Ecology also provided $150,000 to the project by allowing the city of Centralia to transfer funds from other county projects.

Lewis County continued to pursue other funding for the flood control project, including money from local, state and federal government. In January 1998, Lewis County requested $600,000 from the state Legislature to conduct a feasibility analysis and project optimization. In April of the same year, the Lewis County commissioners and PIE staff traveled to Washington, D.C. to solicit support from the Washington Congressional delegation - Rep. Norm Dicks, Rep. Linda Smith, Sen. Slade Gorton and Sen. Patty Murray. By late summer 1999, PIE had received contracts -worth an estimated $3 million for work on the Chehalis River flood problem. (Email letter from Lewis County Planner Shirley Kook, Aug. 18, 1999)

Chehalis River Basin Technical Team

At the same time, the state Department of Transportation was developing a plan to raise and widen Interstate 5 in the twin cities area to prevent a repeat of the February 1996 inundation - a project with an estimated price tag of $98 million. (Presented at April 21, 1999 summit meeting, Seattle, Wash.) Lewis County failed to land a requested $2.5 million from the Federal Highway Administration to address the flood problem, but state Rep. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, secured allocation of $600,000 in state Department of Transportation funds for flood prevention. Of that money, $560,000 was paid to PIE to continue researching flood control solutions. To coordinate work related to flooding and the highway project, the Department of Transportation created the Chehalis River Basin Technical Team, which included representatives from federal, state, tribal and local governments, and was chaired by Jerry Alb, Director of the Washington State Department of Transportation Environmental Affairs Office. Later, the Department of Transportation lowered the priority on the Interstate 5 improvement project, moving the timeline about five years to give Lewis County more time to address the Interstate 5 flooding issue.

Chehalis River Flood Hazard Reduction Project Executive Committee

In an effort to strengthen its ability to attract state and federal funding for flood control projects, Lewis County enlisted the participation of the cities of Centralia and Chehalis and two neighboring county governments - Thurston and Grays Harbor - in an intergovernmental agreement that called for representatives of each local government to serve on the executive committee of the Chehalis River Flood Hazard Reduction Project, chaired by Lewis County Commission Chairman Richard Graham. Lewis County retained the lead role in the project, which called for negotiating and overseeing government grant funds and records. (Olson, Aug.1, 1999)

In February 1999, tensions emerged between representatives of state government and local government over who should have authority for flood management policy decisions. From the perspective of the Chehalis River Flood Hazard Reduction Project Executive Committee - composed mainly of commissioners from Lewis, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties - the Chehalis River Basin Technical Team was just a group of meddlesome, power-hungry state bureaucrats trying to tell local government what to do.

This power struggle came to a head when the Technical Team presented a strongly-worded letter to the commissioners and Col. James Rigsby, director of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District. The scathing letter, signed by the directors of eight state and federal agencies, roundly criticized the proposed flood reduction plan as well as the refusal on the part of local government to address land use practices that contribute to flooding: "We are concerned that the downstream impacts associated with the proposed channelization and flow manipulations on both the Skookumchuck and been evaluated Chehalis Rivers have not been evaluated adequately and may have dramatic consequences to the residents of Thurston and Grays Harbor counties along with those of the Chehalis and Quinault Indian Nations." (Agency letter to Graham and Rigsby, Feb. 2, 1999) The letter stated that local land use laws must follow environmental standards established by state and federal agencies. In an interview, Centralia Mayor Bob Spahr called the letter evidence of state and federal government "tyranny" over local government. (Bob Spahr, interview, May 5, 1999)

The Executive Committee fought back with muscle provided by local congressional representatives, who sent a letter to Rigsby asserting that statements made in the letter "are of great concern to us because there appear to be significant misunderstandings among communities and agencies that should be working together." (Letter from Congressional Representatives to Col. James Rigsby, Feb. 19, 1999) The letter went on to request that Rigsby arrange a summit at which all the parties involved would meet to clarify responsibilities. The meeting, which was held on April 21, 1999 at the Corps office in Seattle, included representatives from the office of Washington Gov. Gary Locke, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, members of the Executive Committee and representatives from the Chehalis Tribe as well as representatives from four federal agencies and six state agencies. (Forrest Brooks, interview, April 22, 1999) The outcome of the summit has never been made public.

Lewis County Flood District Zone Control Plan Citizens' Advisory Committee

In July 1997, the Lewis County commissioners were bombarded with complaints of citizen disenfranchisement from the Flood Action Council-initiated local flood control planning. The commissioners responded by creating the Lewis County Flood District Zone Control Plan Citizens' Advisory Committee, a citizens' volunteer group initiated by the Lewis County Board of Commissioners based on provisions in state law (RCW 86.15.080), advertising in local newspapers to solicit citizen applications. More than 65 applications were submitted to fill the 15 voting seats on the committee. A total of 32 people serve on the committee. (Henderer, June 17, 1997) The Citizens' Advisory Committee includes representatives from the three river watersheds within the county, the Cowlitz, the Nisqually and the Chehalis. Doty area resident Ilona Peterson, chair of the Chehalis watershed subgroup, said in an interview: "We had originally understood that we would comment on their [PIE and Lewis County government] plans. They chose the members of the group to try to appease the public. Chose vocal people, thinking they would be quieted by that. A lot of citizens' groups form and nothing comes of it. The [Lewis County] commissioners didn't realize how seriously we would take it." (Ilona Peterson, interview, April 13, 1999)

Chehalis River Basin Alternatives Subcommittee

Later, members of the Technical Team split off into another group called the Alternatives Subcommittee with a mission to "develop technically feasible and environmentally sound alternatives for flood impact reductions in the Chehalis Basin." (Lopez, 1999, unpublished. See Appendix VII.) The Alternatives Subcommittee includes members from federal and state agencies as well as the Chehalis Tribal government, elected officials and staff from local government and local citizens.

Chehalis River Partnership

Concurrent with the creation of the Citizens' Advisory Committee, another group called the Chehalis River Partnership (sometimes referred to in written materials as the Chehalis River Basin Partnership) was developed through an intergovernmental agreement and focused on providing information and recommendations to local government. Their broad list of goals ranges from improving water quality and managing water resources to reducing the effects of flooding, expanding recreational opportunities and increasing awareness of watershed environmental issues through education. (Chehalis Basin Intergovernmental Agreement, 1998: 1) The group, which was formed largely to take advantage of state money available for watershed management, received a start-up grant of $453,956 from the state Department of Ecology to assess water supply, water quality and fish habitat in the upper and lower Chehalis River. (Michael, June 27, 1998) The Chehalis River Partnership includes representatives from throughout the region, including Lewis, Thurston, Mason and Grays Harbor counties. The Partnership consists of two subcommittees: a technical committee that includes state, local and tribal staff members; and a citizen advisory committee that includes four citizens from each county. Representatives from Lewis County were appointed by the county Board of Commissioners. The authors did not investigate how representatives in the other counties were chosen. (See Appendix V for an organization chart describing this group.)

Chehalis Tribe

The Chehalis Tribe reservation is centered on land located near Oakville in Grays Harbor County, which is downstream from the Centralia/Chehalis urban area. Following severe flooding in 1972, tribal member Curtis DuPuis began to place flood markers around the reservation and on adjacent lands. During the 1990 and 1996 floods, DuPuis returned to these sites to again record the level of flooding. Lewis County efforts to speed floodwaters downstream are of special concern to the tribe, whose lands are located in the flood plain close the confluence of the Chehalis River and its tributary, the Black River. The tribe claims U.S. government treaty protections should prevent local governments from taking any actions that adversely impact tribal lands and commerce, and has threatened litigation if a problem develops.

Pharos Corporation, Pacific International Engineering and Harry Hosey

In the years following the February 1996 flood, the Lewis County Board of Commissioners has contracted with two Edmonds, Washington-based consulting firms to work on this project. Pacific International Engineering, which has provided engineering consulting for proposed flood management projects on the river, is owned by Bellevue, Wash. developer Harry Hosey. Pharos Corporation, a joint venture consultant, is owned by Hosey's wife Judith Schulman. Both Hosey and Schulman are registered as lobbyists at the federal level. (Hyde, Sept. 30, 1998) These two firms have a strong interest in local flood control because of the potential for business income. Since 1996, Pacific International Engineering (PIE) alone has been paid more than $3 million for its work. (Shirley Kook, E-mail correspondence, Aug. 18, 1999) PIE has an interest in promoting structural solutions such as dams and dredging because such projects require engineering work that generates income for the firm, while non-structural flood control activities such as changes in land use regulations do not. Hosey has been closely involved not only with the engineering side of the Chehalis River flood management proposals, but also with efforts to secure state and federal funding for flood control projects. For example, he has used his connections with U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks and U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton to try to gain federal support for projects proposed by his firm on behalf of Lewis County government. PIE has also worked on a number of lucrative government contracts to provide studies and engineering work on erosion control in Pacific and Grays Harbor counties. (Hyde, Sept. 30, 1998)

Other Groups Influencing Flood Control Decision-making

Other groups that influence local land use and flood control policy include the Lewis County Planning Commission, whose nine members are appointed by the Lewis County Board of Commissioners; and the Comprehensive Plan Citizens' Committee, a group of 11 volunteers who help steer the development of the county's Comprehensive Plan, a document required under the state Growth Management Act.

Public Perception of Growth Coalition Power

In the survey conducted as part of this project, the authors asked respondents to indicate which groups they perceived to have strong influence over land use and flood management decisions in Lewis County. Respondents said government local, state and federal - has the most influence over policy decisions. However, they also perceived that business organizations such as the Lewis County Economic Development have more influence over policy decisions than individual citizens or any other group. Public perception and acknowledgment of the power and influence of the growth coalition may contribute to a sense of public disenfranchisement from the policy-making process. (Results of the survey appear in Appendix VI.)

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