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SPOKANE--Today
the Sierra Club released a special report, Locke's
Legacy: Water Crisis. The report focuses on
decisions by Gov. Locke that are damaging the state's
waters, fisheries and public health. The report is being
released as Gov Locke prepares for his final legislative
session, candidates in the 2004 election are developing
positions on water issues, and as concerns grow about fresh
water supplies at home and around the world.
"Locke's
legacy is Washington's water
crisis,"
said John Osborn, a Spokane physician and conservationist
who co-edited the report. "This
report 'connects the dots' and allows Locke's disastrous
record on water to speak for itself."
Locke's
Legacy: Water Crisis discusses seven key topics. A
central figure in the report is Tom Fitzsimmons, who Locke
appointed as director of the Department of Ecology in 1997,
and then promoted to Chief of Staff on October 1 this year.
The
report includes:
•
Walk the Talk? Locke touts environmental wins that too
often lack substance.
•
Corporate Giveaways. When mining companies proposed an
open-pit cyanide-leach gold mine at Buckhorn Mountain,
Fitzsimmons reassigned professional staff at Ecology who
stood in the way, and issued water permits for already
over-allocated streams. The Pollution Control Hearings Board
(PCHB) struck down Fitzsimmons' decision. Mining
corporations are back, this time using Locke's Office of
Regulatory Assistance (ORA) to get the gold.
•
SeaTac's Third Runway. The Seattle Port Authority turned
to Locke for help in building the third runway atop the
Great Wall of SeaTac: 20 million cubic yards of fill dumped
on top of streams and wetlands prone to earthquakes.
Fitzsimmons again removed Ecology personnel. The PCHB ruled
the third runway could be built, but imposed 16
environmental safeguards. The Port again turned to Locke who
helped lead the effort at the Legislature to overturn the
legal decision, allowing the use of toxic fill not just at
SeaTac, but statewide. The case is now before the
state Supreme Court.
•
Columbia River. Salmon need water, but Washington state
has already given away water rights for much of Columbia
River flows. Shortly after taking office in 1997 Locke
lifted a moratorium on issuing new water rights from the
Columbia. Millions of tax dollars to purchase water rights
for river flows and fish are used by Locke to justify
issuing new water rights. During drought, Locke has lifted
restrictions on irrigators to use water needed by salmon.
Locke's mishandling of the Columbia River has meant that
bypassing the four dams on the Lower Snake River in
Washington is the only viable option for saving salmon
runs.
•
Hanford and the Spokane River: Toxic Deals. Fitzsimmons
negotiated a secret deal with Hanford's owner, the
Department of Energy, to allow cleanup deadlines to slip by
and accept nuclear waste from other regions of the country.
The fate of the Spokane River polluted by mine wastes
largely rests with decisions upstream in Idaho. Fitzsimmons
secretly negotiated a deal with Idaho, effectively
transferring cleanup authority from the US Environmental
Protection Agency to Idaho despite Idaho's vigorous
opposition to Superfund designation and cleanup.
•
Looting Water in Olympia. Locke has repeatedly
steamrolled state Democrats to enact highly destructive
water laws. In 2003 the Governor sought and got a massive
giveaway of water rights to municipalities and utilities (HB
1338) and a bill exempting irrigators from clean water laws
(SB 5028).
•
Watchdog or Lap Dog? Professional integrity in public
service within the Department of Ecology is essential to
protect our waters and our health. What is clear is that
Locke and Fitzsimmons have pursued strategies such as the
Competitiveness Council that have severely compromised the
professional integrity of Ecology.
The
40-page report includes the Governor's statements,
independent legal analysis, media accounts, and views from
the state's environmental and tribal leaders. Locke's
Legacy: Water Crisis was compiled over the past year
and spans Locke's two terms as governor.
"How
sad that Governor Locke has catered so much to big business
growth rather than protecting the needs of people who live
here today,"
said Billy Frank, chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries
Commission and tribal elder. "His
water policies jeopardize our quality of life by endangering
the health of natural resources so vital to our Northwest
way of life."
"Backroom
deals continue to be struck to allow increased groundwater
contamination, and decreased groundwater monitoring, while
contamination flows into the Columbia River,"
said
Gerald Pollet, Executive Director and attorney for Heart of
America Northwest, the region's leading Hanford citizens'
watchdog group. "The
Protect Washington campaign for Initiative 297 was launched
to stop our State from being used as a national radioactive
waste dump. Changes in state law are needed to protect our
State from being whipsawed into future deals to take waste
and reduce environmental standards at
Hanford."
"Impacts
of these decisions will haunt our rivers and wildlife long
after Locke's term as governor
ends,"
said Rachael Paschal Osborn, co-editor of the report and a
public interest water lawyer. "Our
state once enjoyed some of the most protective water laws in
the nation. No longer. Because of Locke our rivers and
salmon are in grave peril."
"From
radioactive plumes and mine wastes to salmon extinction, the
diagnosis for Washington's waters is
grave,"
said Dr. Osborn.
"Diagnosis is the first step to treatment at the bedside as
it is at the streamside. The people of Washington must
demand real remedies for our water crisis from those elected
to serve the public interest."
"Locke
is not entirely responsible for our state's water
crisis,"
said Craig Engelking, the Sierra Club's staff in Olympia.
"But
Locke's decisions have hugely worsened Washington's water
crisis."
"The
upcoming legislative session will be the final chapter in
Locke's water legacy,"
added Engelking. "As
disappointing as his story has been so far, he still has one
more chance to turn it around."
This
special report was compiled by
John Osborn and Rachael Paschal Osborn.
Rachael
Paschal Osborn is a public interest water lawyer who is the
co-founder of the Center for Environmental Law and Policy
and the Washington Water Trust.
John
Osborn has served as the Sierra Club's conservation chair
for eastern Washington and Idaho since 1985, is founder of
The Lands Council and RENEW, the Regional Ethics Network of
Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
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