- Legislative Priorities -
We were interested to read in a recent edition of a Seattle newspaper that among Governor Locke's priorities for this legislative session were salmon restoration, watershed planning, water pollution assessment and controls, and dairy waste controls. The report stated that the largest single item in his supplemental budget request, $7.8 million, was for opening fish barriers "mostly in poorly installed culverts - that block salmon and steelhead from at least 3,000 miles of streams."
In a follow-up article, the Governor is reported to have requested $905,000 to accelerate cleanup work as required by the Clean Water Act, to fix pollution problems in all "636 state lakes and streams that have flunked water quality standards."
We highly commend the Governor for these actions and encourage him to continue his commitment to clean water. With this in mind, we must question how the State can reconcile this commitment with the plan by a State governmental agency to build a State facility at a location that has the potential to destroy miles of salmon-bearing streams, fill acres of wetlands, pollute an internationally essential estuary and place at significant risk marine resource industries that depend on clean water? We are referring to the Washington State Department of Corrections' plan to build a prison on Stafford Creek on the shores of the Grays Harbor Estuary. Grays Harbor has already flunked quality standards and is on the EPA's 303(d) list of impaired waterways, requiring water test samples to be taken. Called TMDL's (total maximum daily loads), they establish how much pollution can be tolerated by the estuary. However, these studies are not yet complete. The Department of Corrections (DOC) and the City of Aberdeen's plan proposes to lay utility lines parallel to the Westport Highway (SR 105) along this shoreline through 5-1/2 miles of critical wetlands and under six salmon-bearing creeks.
It is important to remember that each of these creeks is its own watershed. Stafford Creek, alone, drains 1100 acres. These creeks support habitat for coho, chinook, steelhead, and cutthroat trout. The wetlands supply functions that are important for the health and safety of people and wildlife. Wetlands serve as flood and erosion control, create fish-supporting habitat and recharge our aquifers, providing clean and abundant drinking water. Because of their value, the federal agencies that have jurisdiction over shoreline and wetland issues, U.S. EPA, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) have recommended the utility lines not be placed along the Westport Highway. The Corps goes further and questions the efficacy of locating this non-water dependent facility on so fragile a shoreline.
Why is it that only federal agencies are able to see the significance of the damage that will be done to this precious estuary and surrounding creeks and wetlands? Is it because they are immune to the political pressures put on the State agencies to keep the prison on Stafford Creek at any cost? Some of our State legislators are angry with these agencies for upholding the Clean Water Act, a law of the United States of America. Yet it is this same law that is invoked to support efforts to protect our salmon and our waterways. How can the law be applied so arbitrarily?
We also believe that the Department of Corrections was irresponsible in spending millions of dollars of public funds on the Stafford Creek project before all mandatory permits were approved. The DOC had been cautioned early on not to begin with any construction on the project. At a 21-Day Coordinated Permit Meeting, held December 10, 1996, a representative from the Army Corps of Engineers stated that work should not begin prior to the approval of the Section 404 Permit.
FOGH - Friends of Grays Harbor
CLEAN WATER
HEALTHY ESTUARY
PO Box 1512
Westport, Washington
98595-1512
Foghorn: (360) 648-2254
E-mail: olearycrk@aol.com Write FOGH now
URL: http://www.fogh.org or or visit FOGH now
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