The following was sent as a letter to the editors of the Chronicle and Aberdeen Daily World. It is a short version of a letter sent by the Chehalis River Council to the Chehalis tribe. This copy was released for use on the CRC internet site by:
Margaret Rader, Chairman, Chehalis River Council
The Chehalis River Council is a grass-roots citizens organization working to protect natural resources in the Chehalis Basin since 1994. We are concerned about plans recently reported in The Daily World for the Chehalis Tribe to build a service station at the corner of Route 12 and Anderson Road near Oakville in an area that has frequently been subjected to flooding. What follows are excerpts from a letter we recently sent to David Youckton, tribal chairman:
The Chehalis River Council has frequently looked to the Chehalis Tribe as an ally in our mission to protect natural resources in the Chehalis River Basin. For example, the tribe has worked hard to suggest environmentally sound alternatives for the Centralia/Chehalis Flood Project.
Now, however, we are concerned about published reports that the tribe intends to build a service station at the corner of Route 12 and Anderson Road.
1. The site is inappropriate for a gas station. In this frequent flooding and aquifer recharge area, where people are dependent on wells and septic systems, petroleum tanks and transport and filling activities, no matter how carefully done or well constructed, could pose a hazard to groundwater. Run-off from the impervious surfaces of a gas station also has the potential to pollute groundwater.
2. This development is inconsistent with the tribe's previous stance regarding filling in the floodplain in Centralia and Chehalis. The tribe has been an opponent of filling in the floodplain upstream of the reservation, rightly recognizing the impacts of fill on floodplain storage.
3. We do not believe the hydraulic modeling results fully address the project's impact. Hydraulic modeling of small projects like this will almost always find that the project by itself has little impact on flooding. This does not mean that the project has no impact -- all floodplain filling reduces floodplain storage to some degree, and the cumulative impact of multiple small fill projects will eventually result in significant impacts. The problem is that no one tracks these cumulative impacts, and when they become critical it is too late to do anything about it.
4. Responsible floodplain management addresses the cumulative impacts of small projects by, at a minimum, requiring compensatory storage for all fill placed in the floodplain. Lewis County recognizes this in its Flood Hazard ordinance. The tribe should, as a responsible partner in watershed planning, at a minimum ensure that the project results in no net loss of floodplain storage.
As good watershed stewards, we hope the tribe will include the opportunity for public comment in their plans. We suggest that the Chehalis Basin Partnership, to which the tribe belongs, would be a good place to begin to inform the public about this proposal and explain what will be done to minimize the environmental impacts, if you decide to go forward.
Margaret Rader, chair
for the Chehalis River Council board of trustees
This page created and maintained by Chehalis River Council
Send comments or questions to the: Chehalis River Council