Mr. Tom Fitzsimmons
Director DOE
P.O. Box 47600
Olympia, Wn. 98504- 7600
Re: Chehalis Basin Council
Dear Sir,
The Grays Harbor Oyster Growers would like to take this opportunity to discuss our concerns about the emerging Chehalis Basin Council. Water quality, quantity and how they are managed are important to the oyster industry as we use water that has been used by others. We are regulated on this water quality and our product is judged on perception as well as fact.
In 1995 the oyster beds in Grays Harbor were closed for harvest 10 times from known pollution sources. The time that we were closed constituted 20% of the harvest year. The origin was Aberdeen's Sewage Treatment Plant and Weyerhaeuser's Cosmopolis Pulpmill. At that time the growers decided to become proactive on water quality issues and asked our members to join environmental groups that would help us solve current water quality problems. We also volunteered to help any agency that needed help in sampling or needed transportation on the estuary for study purposes. We have been doing this on a regular basis as our active contribution to a healthy estuary and clean water.
Two important citizen based organizations, that we took special interest in, were the Chehalis River Council and the Chehalis Watershed Council (CWC). The Watershed Council held special promise for us as it had a dispute resolution component that we thought would help us resolve issues with Aberdeen and Weyerhaeuser. The growers took special note of the fact that not only was the process agency and business and citizen driven, but that the CWC had the blessing of the Legislature as well.
. Our thought was that when NPDES permits were reviewed we could be at the table, with our own experts, explaining our side of each issue. The growers presented our issue before the CWC and were working through the process, to be at the table, when Weyerhaeuser's new five year NPDES permit was reviewed. To make a long story short our efforts were terminated when Ecology unilaterally decided to promote an alternative organization in contrast to the CWC. We are dismayed as we had invested many hours, driven many miles and put our faith in a process that seemed fair to everyone.
Now we find that the very folks that have created problems for our industry are the principles to a fast moving organization that proposes to manage Chehalis Basin water resources. In fact, this new organization is supposedly advisory but in fact is: contracting for services, developing programs and requesting funding in the form of grants. We wonder if this new process will serve the needs of all citizens in the basin and especially the oyster community.
On the local level there has been scant information available. To date one small article in the Aberdeen World and one small article in the Chronicle have served to inform the public of the most important issue that will face the Chehalis Basin for years to come. Add to this lack of public information we understand that a well rounded participatory structure is absent and that major environmental stakeholders are not represented.
In closing we understand that the democratic process is messy but we also recognize that without it these water related issues will break down into half truths, innuendo and a field day for the legal profession. We respectfully request that we or a group that identifies with our clean water goals be a party to the Chehalis Basin Council process and that a concerted effort be made to inform the public on all facets of its objectives and procedures.
Respectfully,
Co-chairs- Grays Harbor Oyster Growers Ass'n.
Blain Braun 360 648 2226
Brady Engvall 360 268 5518
cc: Mr. Richard Clark EPA
Mr. Dave Palmer CRC
Mr. Bob Beerbower GH County Commissioners
Mr. Brian Walsh DOE