| SOME HELP: 5 sponsors will give $11,000 to prime lobbying effort to get $3 million more within next biennium | "That stuff is all on hold right now."
Richard Graham, County Commissioner on planned study | American Rivers has released a new report that details land uses in floodplains and outlines recommendations for a new course for flood control policy. The report describes the values of natural floodplains; new strategies for floodplain management; available programs for relocation, creation of riverside trails and greenways, and restoration of floodplain habitat; alternative floodplain crops; and resultant economic, habitat, and water quality potential. The report also provides a number of detailed case studies. The report is now available online at http://www.amrivers.org/flood.html. American Rivers Flood Report |
By John Henderer, The Chronicle, 3/23/99
The money's gone, and work has shifted into neutral on a $1.1 million Chehalis River flood-control study.
Five local governments sponsoring the project will each contribute $1 1,000 to continue lobbying for more money, and will keep holding meetings, but the scientific work must wait.
Lewis County, the lead agency, acted Monday to contribute its share.
"We can only go with what money we got," said project manager Richard Graham, county commission chairman. "Then, we'll just have to sit back and see what the Legislature does."
To date, Lewis County has spent $355,400 and Grays Harbor County $103,000. The Legislature contributed $600,000 toward the project last year.
The county is lobbying the Legislature for $500,000 more in the short term and $2.5 million more for the next biennium, Graham said.
Project consultant Pacific International Engineering, Edmonds, has produced two alternatives that show promise.
They involve riverbank excavation near Centralia's Mellen Street bridge, erecting a rubber weir atop the Skookumchuck Dam, and redirecting floodwaters under highway 6 and onto farmers' fields west of Chehalis.
Consultants developed a computer model to show how varying rainfall or development patterns could affect flooding. They hoped to continue refining the work, and to perform environmental reviews.
"That stuff is all on hold right now," Graham said, until more money arrives.
The state has also agreed to suspend review work of a technical group of state and federal environmental, flood-control and transportation agencies.
A $48,800 budget through June includes money to coordinate the project, to hold meetings, and to lobby state and federal authorities.
Four other jurisdictions are participating in the study: the cities of Centralia and Chehalis, and Thurston and Grays Harbor counties.
Lewis County will pass another resolution shortly to pay for trips to Washington, D.C., lobbying for funding, Graham said.
It's possible the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has located $1 million to conduct a feasibility study based on PIE's work, but this is only rumored, Graham said.
Officials hope the Corps will serve as the project coordinator, providing the bulk of an estimated $80 million funding necessary.
Work on the project probably won't begin at least until 2001, officials have said.
The county assumed jurisdiction over flood control issues in 1997, after denying a public vote to create a separate governmental entity devoted to flooding. The vote would have allowed weighted ballots, granting more votes to larger property owners while denying ballots to renters.
John Henderer covers county government and environmental issues for The Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
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