SEPA
May 13 letter in Cascadia Daily News:
Editor,
The Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) requires specific questions be asked of land use developers. In theory, when land use development applicants or planning departments lie, the state departments of Ecology, Health, and Auditor hold them accountable. In reality, the state leaves it to citizens to fight municipalities and developers who are breaking the law.
The consequence can be seen throughout the Salish Sea region, where unlawful developments are now undermining decades of salmon recovery efforts by Northwest tribes. To expedite developments — now destroying the Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas in east and west Blaine that moderate flooding and provide drinking water to all Blaine and Birch Bay residents — Blaine City Council plans to adopt SEPA amendments to the Blaine Municipal Code that would impose a $5,000 fee to challenge environmental decisions by the Blaine planning director.
In Whatcom Watch this month is a Water Planning Matters article about the Blaine hearing examiner removing climate science from the public record. You can also read about arsenic contamination of Blaine’s public water system.
We need the Washington state Attorney General, director of Ecology, and secretary of Health to correct this SEPA planning travesty that threatens Birch Bay Village with flooding, and all 17,000 Blaine and Birch Bay consumers of Blaine’s public water system. The governor needs to mobilize the state health director to intervene now, not later, when Blaine’s aquifer is deforested and bulldozed, leading to a public health crisis.
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