Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., visits with the public after she held a discussion about raising capital for small business at Vancouver City Hall on Wednesday. | credit: Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian | rollover image for more
April 17, 2014 | The Columbian
Gov. Jay Inslee, who will have the ultimate say over the construction of what would be the Northwest’s largest oil-by-rail transfer terminal in Vancouver, hasn’t taken a stand on the project. But members of the state’s congressional delegation are weighing in.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was in Vancouver on Tuesday and stopped to visit with The Columbian’s editorial board.
Cantwell was asked if she were a Vancouver resident, would she support building the oil-handling facility?
“It wouldn’t be something I would be promoting,” she said.
She said safety is one of her foremost concerns. In a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month, Cantwell, along with other senators, called for more federal dollars going toward addressing safety issues related to transporting crude oil by rail.
“We’re certainly willing to introduce legislation to put requirements on rail car safety because we don’t think it exists now and we’re not waiting for a voluntary system. We’re not waiting for these guys to get their act together,” Cantwell said. “We’re going to push this year.”
Earlier this week, BSNF Railway officials told Vancouver city councilors they would spend millions to prepare first responders in case of an oil spill. City officials have expressed concerns over ensuring the oil travels safely on the rail line, which runs through downtown and by the proposed waterfront development on the old Boise Cascade property.
Although city officials don’t have a say over the $110 million project proposed by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies, they could join other cities, such as Seattle and Bellingham, that have called for a moratorium on new oil-transport facilities until safety concerns, ranging from oil spills to explosions, are addressed.
“This industry has grown far greater than our capacity to deal with it and we need to slow down and get this right,” Cantwell said.
The proposed Tesoro-Savage oil terminal could handle as much as 380,000 barrels of crude per day. The facility would act as a transfer point for oil, arriving by rail to the Port of Vancouver and leaving by water.
Cantwell said she recently pressed the U.S. Coast Guard for details on any safety plans in place for an oil spill.
“So we did get the comment on the record at the hearing that, yeah, we don’t really have a plan … We were glad we were able to clarify that point because we want people to understand there is no solution there,” she said.
Cantwell said she wants to hear about “what people here say about the situation.”
“I get the sense that Vancouver is painting a different picture of where they want their economy to go long-term,” she said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, recently held a hearing to question officials from the Obama administration and city of Seattle about the safety of rail transport of crude oil.
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, said Wednesday she’s still asking a lot of questions about safety and environmental impacts.
But in the last three years, she’s said, she has heard a lot of talk about wanting more trains, moving more commodities.
“If these folks can demonstrate they will be good community partners and meet environmental hurdles, then we should talk about it,” she said.
The governor is waiting to receive a recommendation from the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council before making a decision.
Follow reporter Lauren Dake on Twitter: @col_politics.
Washington State Governor-elect Jay Inslee hugs outreach director Unjin Lee, the first hire made by his campaign, during a celebration on Friday, November 9, 2012 at the Inslee campaign headquarters in Seattle. (AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo)
Gov. Jay Inslee has hired a coal lobbyist to direct his policy office, an eyebrow-raising selection for a governor who has insisted on sweeping scrutiny of coal export terminals proposed at Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, and along the Columbia River at Longview.
The new appointee is Matt Steuerwalt, who has been through the revolving door in recent years. He was a top energy/climate adviser to then-Gov. Chris Gregoire, then went to work for the Seattle-based Strategies 360 group.
At Strategies 360, he represented TransAlta, the Canadian-based owner of the Centralia Coal plant and the state’s only coal plant and its largest greenhouse gas emitter.
The state, under Gregoire, and TransAlta reached a landmark agreement for a phased, decade-long phaseout of coal at the power plant. Steuerwalt also lobbied for a coal port proposal.
“In recent years, Steuerwalt has acted as a lead lobbyist for coal-fired power in Washington, as well as for a now-defunct coal port proposal,” said Eric de Place, research director with the Sightline Institute.
De Place has delighted in giving footprints to Northwest public relations firms which have touted their “green” credentials and commitment to renewable energy, while lobbying on behalf of Big Coal, the railroad industry and “astroturf” front groups.
“Given that Steuerwalt has recently been a paid lobbyist in support of coal in Washington, the move raises questions about whether he will use his influence in the Inslee administration to advance an agenda more favorable to the coal industry,” said de Place.
He won’t, said Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith.
“The choice of a policy director will have no impact on the state’s role in reviewing coal export projects,” she added. ”The governor has a longstanding and well-known position on coal pollution and climate change, and has directed the Department of Ecology to conduct a rigorous review of current coal projects to the full extent allowed under state law.”
Inslee has touted his green credentials and been rewarded for same.
He coauthored a book, “Apollo’s Fire,” which calls for a U.S. commitment to develop new energy technologies that would rival, in intensity, the drive in the 1960′s to put Americans on the Moon. He will preach to the choir next month as keynote speaker at Climate Solutions’ annual breakfast.
In turn, two years ago, the national League of Conservation Voters made Inslee the first gubernatorial candidate it had endorsed in 42 years. The conservation community, state and national, spent an estimated $750,000 to get him elected.
Strategies 360 has close ties to Democrats, but not always of the same mindset as Inslee.
It has hosted fundraisers for Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who supports coal development and export from the Big Sky State. It has represented Puget Sound Energy, which gets electricity from a Montana coal plant, in fighting back movements to create a public utility district in Island and Skagit counties.
Steuerwalt gave $250 to support then-U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee in 2009, and $950 to Inslee in 2011-12 as he transitioned and quit Congress to run for governor.
The Westboro Baptist Church, infamously known for its offensive protest signs which celebrate the death of soldiers, God’s hate toward homosexuals and more, has set their sights to protest the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage on Sunday June 1. Though the former leader of the church Fred Phelps recently died, the members of the WBC are carrying the torch forward.
Shortly after the announcement of the protest by the WBC, a No Westboro Baptist Protest at our AK Native Heritage Center! Facebook page was created to offset the protest. Though the Facebook page had over 600 members on Monday evening, it had doubled in size by Tuesday afternoon to well over 1,200.
According to the ‘No Westboro’ Facebook pages’ mission statement posted by Donna Willoya:
‘We are uniting as Alaskans to honor and embrace our cultural diversity, to preserve our heritage and to teach future generations the importance of acceptance & respect for all people.’
Willoya also posted in the group that though people may get angry at the WBC members for wanting to protest, she wishes the Native community not to respond with violence and sink to their level.
“So many people love the AK Native Heritage Center. Any Westboro Baptist protest will and can invoke a feeling horror in ourselves. It makes us lash out. We almost become like them, those Westboro Baptist people. Some of us want to fight. I do. We must remain non-violent and peaceful. It is the best way to combat the toxic waste of Westboro Baptist protests. Keep it clean in the comments folks. We desire suggestions. We understand the need to spew and basically scream away the toxic waste. Keep it clean and check back for updates,” she wrote.
According to their release posted on their offensively titled website GodHatesFags.com, they will be protesting the Alaska Heritage Center in Anchorage Alaska on Sunday, June 1 from 8:45-9:15 a.m. for two reasons:
“…you make a religion out of the pagan idolatrous practices of past generations. There is nothing appealing or holy about the ‘heritage’ of the eleven ‘distinct cultures’ or ‘diverse population’ of Alaska. They walked in darkness and served idols of every kind, contrary to the direct commandment to have no gods before God.”
“… you fail to give God the glory, instead of the traditions and gods of the past… Stop worshiping dead cultures, man-made idols, and the sinful traditions of past generations. Put the resources into teaching and learning the Bible instead, and warning your neighbor to stop sinning before it’s too late, and he’s sinned away the last day of grace.”
The release is also peppered with bible passages from Acts and Exodus and comments such as “God hasn’t completely destroyed Alaska yet, so there is time to repent of this idolatry.”
Many people in Indian country have already commented on the Facebook page, Twitter and Google+ about the WBC. Comments include the following:
Burt Hanna in the Google+ Native Community wrote: “I thought the Westboro Baptist would settle down after the death of their leader. Now they hate Natives.”
Stacey Duggins of Wasilla, Alaska wrote on the Facebook page: “Maybe a better idea is that they never make it up here at all. Does anyone know anyone that could have them added to the terrorist watch list? That way they would have to stay at least in the Lower 48! And you have to admit, Free speech, Religious Liberty, or whatever, what they do borders on terroristic tactics. Just say’n if they can’t come, they can’t protest!”
Kristin Glitterboots Jones also wrote on Facebook: I would love to see this day set up to be the biggest cultural celebration the center has ever seen!!! Showcase all Alaska’s peoples with dance and events and beauty all day! Perhaps a parade of all our peoples to start at 8:30am? Ignore their stupid protest and don’t give them any power. Don’t cover it on the news, nothing. Instead, cover the beautiful celebration.
According to David Farve, the Public Relations administrator at the Alaskan Native Heritage Center, the WBC while stopping to protest at the center, has also planned to protest at the Governors church that same day. Though he did not have an official statement he did share the following with ICTMN.
“We are not going to release an official statement yet, but most likely in the next 24 hours. We really don’t want to give the WBC any more press that they have already received. Our entire community is up in arms over something that may not even happen.”
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell recently commented on his Facebook page, stating: “Westboro Baptist Church, from Topeka, Kansas, needs to recant its recent despicable position related to Alaska Natives and their culture. There is beauty, depth, and a rich heritage among Alaska Natives, each made in the image of our Creator and each person intrinsically valuable. How about getting to know a few of these fine Alaskans first before pronouncing judgment?”
Something I have always dreamed about has become a reality. It is called an agrihood, a residential neighborhood with a farm at the center—not a golf course, club house or pool, but something really sensible: fresh, organic food!
My dream of long ago was to buy up a large track of land in New England where I live, invite family and friends to invest, and build homes around a central place to grow our own food and be self-sustainable.
In one model neighborhood called Agritopia, a small community based near Phoenix that currently counts 152 families, grows fruit trees, grapes and raises animals. For copy00 per month, members go to the town farm to pick up groceries. The central “square” also functions as a community hub with a coffeehouse and a farm-to-table restaurant, according to The New York Times. Agritopia is also in the process of creating “Generations at Agritopia” for independent and assisted living.
Now many other agrihoods are popping up across the country, such as Serenbe in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia; Prairie Crossing in Grayslake, Illinois; South Village in South Burlington, Vermont; and Hidden Springs in Boise, Idaho.
“I hear from developers all the time about this,” Ed McMahon, a senior fellow for sustainable development at the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit real estate research group in Washington, D. C., told the Times. “They’ve figured out that unlike a golf course, which costs millions to build and millions to maintain, they can provide green space that actually earns a profit.” In addition, community residents get a potential tax break for preserving agricultural land.
Agrihoods fulfill a need for people who want open space and fresh air, and lush fields of organic crops, near an urban center. One of the largest suburban farm consultants is Agriburbia in Golden, Colorado, and another near Atlanta, Georgia, called Farmer D Organics. Apparently these similar agencies are inundated with requests for information—and not just from developers but from golf course owners who are anxious to transfer their costly maintenance to a more profitable venture.
Some of these agrihoods have a central farm market, coffeeshop or restaurant, even craft shops, plus views of their food growing right before them. It gives the residents a sense of secure sustainability—healthy food for themselves and their children right in their own back yard, so to speak. The homes in these areas are no more expensive than similar homes nearby. Because one or two crops won’t cut it, these farms must be very diversified so they need a farmer who can understand the community’s needs. The farmer must plant a variety of crops to sell to residents, then have a good enough business sense to sell any excess to local chefs or farm markets. This farm-to-table initiative is growing all over the country.
In older times this way of living would be called tribal. Sharing food grown with all, caring for elders and children first. We Native Americans were not impoverished when we fed ourselves without so much government help. Health and nutrition, food production and economic growth on reservations is now pretty sad. Even here there is new hope in the projects funded by First Nations Development Institute, Native Agriculture & Food Systems Initiative (NAFSI), Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance and other smaller educational grants. I mentioned several of these in my article Grow Food, Not Lawns! (February 22).
This spring will see many elementary schools in indian country involved in planning and planting their own gardens while learning agricultural practices to last a lifetime. The notion of agrihoods is so sensible for all people. Native communities have an edge because they are already a community; they only need to customize the residential side of this farm living to their needs. It will be very interesting to see how agrihoods play out in the coming years throughout the country.
Dale Carson (Abenaki) is the author of three books: New Native American Cooking, Native New England Cooking, and A Dreamcatcher Book. She has written about and demonstrated Native cooking techniques for over 30 years. Dale has four grown children and lives with them and her husband in Madison, Connecticut.
PORT ANGELES — What does roughly 3.3 million cubic yards of sediment look like?
The ever-changing mouth of the Elwha River can offer some clue.
Between November 2012 and September 2013, about 3.3 million cubic yards, or 2.5 million cubic meters, of sediment once locked behind two massive dams along the river has built up at the mouth of the river, according to U.S. Geological Survey data estimates.
The river, which begins in the Olympic Mountains, empties into the Strait of Juan de Fuca west of Port Angeles.
Ocean currents in the Strait and the force of the river itself continuously shape the Elwha’s maw, with the landscape changing on a monthly and weekly basis.
“The river mouth is just changing dramatically all the time,” said Ian Miller, a coastal hazards specialist with Washington Sea Grant.
Millions of cubic yards of sediment have been released from the bottom of the lakes that once bore the names Aldwell and Mills as part of the $325 million Elwha River dam-removal and restoration project begun in September 2011.
The 108-foot, century-old Elwha Dam, which once cradled Lake Aldwell, was completely removed by March 2012, while all but 30 feet remain of once-210-foot Glines Canyon Dam.
The sediment released by dam removal has built up so much at the river’s mouth that areas that were underwater before the dams were removed are now land for hikers.
“There has definitely been some added land, [some] new land created,” Miller said.
Miller is one of a battery of scientists scrutinizing the effects the restoration effort is having on the river’s body, mouth and surrounding environment.
Miller, who has been monitoring changes at the river mouth since dam removal began, said he will be part of a seven-person team the U.S. Geological Survey is organizing at the end of April to gather the most recent estimates of sediment built up there.
Miller said maybe 1 million cubic meters, or 1.3 million cubic yards, of sediment could have been added to the mouth this winter and early spring thanks to a wetter-than-normal February, another notch taken out of Glines Canyon Dam earlier this year and spring snow melt in the Olympic Mountains.
As sediment continues to course down the flowing Elwha, Miller said, the only sure thing about how the mouth looks is that it will change, likely for years to come.
Visit the mouth (watch where you walk!)
Want to see firsthand the dramatic ecosystem changes where the Elwha River spills into the open waters of Freshwater Bay?
From Port Angeles, go west on U.S. Highway 101 to its junction with state Highway 112.
Take Highway 112 west 2.1 miles (crossing the river) to Place Road.
Turn right (north) and follow Place Road 1.9 miles to the “T” intersection.
Turn right (east), go down the hill to the Elwha Dike access point.
Day-use parking is available along the road (note the signs). Follow the Dike Trail a couple hundred yards to the mouth.
This is also a popular surfing spot. Respect private property in the area.
Miller was at the river’s mouth Friday with University of Washington senior Sarra Tekola. Tekola was taking samples of sediment accumulated there to test how much carbon is in the material.
The pair trudged through thick, slate-gray mud on the blustering day, almost losing a boot or two to the sucking muck.
“There are definitely places [that] are softer, and you just have to be sort of careful and test your footing before you put all your weight on it,” Miller said.
Tekola, who’s studying environmental science, said she’s interested in how carbon finds its way into the environment and wants to see how much of the substance a project on the scale of the Elwha River dams removal will release.
AP/5 GYRES In this February 15, 2010 photo released by 5 Gyres, a coastal area of the Azores Islands in Portugal, is shown littered with plastic garbage.
“Thus he learned that there are spirits in the water – that water is life.” – Wichita Legend of the Water Spirit
The tragedy of Malaysian flight 370, which disappeared en route to China, has brought attention to a distressing fact about our “civilized” society, that we are now drowning in our own garbage. For a full month, searchers have had to comb through an ocean full of waste, making an already extremely difficult task almost impossible. On March 8, the day after the plane was scheduled to land in Beijing, Vietnamese air force planes spotted two massive oil slicks, each between six and nine miles long, that were at first assumed to have been caused by the airliner, but when sampled turned out to be bunker oil for ships. The next day, the Vietnamese also spotted what they thought was a life raft and a door from the plane, but those items turned out to be floating junk.
Two days later, the Chinese reported that their satellites had spotted debris from the plane in the South China Sea, between Malaysia and Vietnam, but this too turned out to be more floating garbage. As the search shifted to the southern Indian Ocean, one of the most isolated and inhospitable regions on earth, satellites from several countries began to spot hundreds of objects, but all turned out to be floating waste. The amount of garbage in the oceans is so great and widespread that it was throwing off the search and rescue teams, and in the end they were forced to focus on analyzing the radar and electronic signals to narrow down the search area.
The pollution of the oceans, and of all water, is a serious threat to our well-being, for water, as indigenous people know well, is the essence of life. Yet civilized society has an almost complete disregard for clean water. Cholera, a disease unknown in the Americas before European settlement, derives from contaminated water. As the pioneers traveled westward, using rivers, streams and lakes as toilets (while at the same time drinking from them), the now contaminated waters killed countless Indians and nearly wiped out entire tribes, such as the Comanche, Hidatsa and Choctaw. More than 150,000 Americans are also believed to have died in the pandemics of 1832 and 1849, including former President James Polk. Due to cholera, Chicago had one of the highest death rates in the world between 1885 and 1890, losing more than 12 percent of its population.
Nor has time made civilized society any wiser. Up until 1970s, with the advent of clean water legislation in the U.S., the average American city sewage treatment plant consisted of a long pipe into the ocean, or lacking a nearby ocean, a lake or a river. It was also common to dump household garbage in the oceans or lakes. New York City dumped more than a million tons of garbage a year in the New York Bight, creating the first ocean “garbage patch.” An article in Indian Country Today Media Network one year ago, entitled, “Lake Erie has a Garbage Patch That Rivals the Oceans,” found that much more needs to be done to preserve Americas water.
Despite some strides in America to maintain clean water, other countries have done little. More than 818 million people in India and 607 million people in China have no sewage facilities at all.
Much of the debris floating in the oceans is plastic, which degrades extremely slowly and eventually becomes toxic to marine life. A 2006 United Nations Environment report estimated that every square kilometer of world’s ocean has an average of 13,000 pieces of plastic litter floating on the surface. In the most polluted garbage patches, located in every ocean, the mass of plastic is greater than that of plankton, the algae upon which all oceanic life depends (the grass of the oceans), sometime by an order of five to six times. Experts believe that virtually every fish, sea turtle, or seabird now has plastic inside of it. Not only are the plastics toxic in themselves, they act like sponges, soaking up other toxins in the oceans. When devoured, the toxins work their way up the food chain, eventually impacting human health.
Parasitic diseases similar to cholera are now spreading to marine mammals such as killer whales, as the ocean waters become filled with human and animal excrement. Yet little is being done to combat this menace. The last international agreement concerning ocean dumping and pollution was a protocol signed in 1996, however it was not ratified by the U.S., nor has it been ratified by enough countries (there must be at least 26) to come into force. The last international marine debris conference, held 2011 in Honolulu, ended with no concrete program for international action.
It was long presumed that dumping in the ocean meant that pollution was out of sight, and thus could be ignored. But now the chickens, or their byproducts, are coming back to haunt our modern society. The search for Flight 370 may not have found the plane yet, but it may have discovered something far more important, and far more tragic.
Canadian-born Cree singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is a living legend, famous for such Indigenous anthems as “Universal Soldier” and “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” But few know that Sainte-Marie led the earliest charge into electronic music at the same time she was being celebrated worldwide as a “folk” artist. She’s now preparing to make her first album since the award-winning 2008 relase Running For the Drum. Speaking from her current home in Hawaii, Sainte-Marie gave ICTMN the lowdown on the directon she’ll be heading with her new music. This is the second of a three-part series; for the first, which focused on her thoughts about the environment, see Buffy Sainte-Marie on Tar Sands: “You’ve Got to Take This Seriously”.Do you know when your new album is due to come out? Is there a title?We haven’t decided. I just spent three weeks out on the road in Nashville, Toronto and L.A. auditioning producers, so I have not yet made my choices. I don’t know if I’ll work with several producers or just one. But I’m sure excited about the music. We’re choosing from about 30 different songs. It’s going to be fun. It’ll be done when it’s done!
Your last album, of course, got a Juno as well as an Aboriginal People’s Choice Award (and around that time you were inducted into the Canadian Country Music Association Hall of Fame) — in many ways, it was a departure from your other work in the immediacy of it.You think so? The songs, as always, were very diverse. I wasn’t worried about trying to make them all the same. Some of those songs I had in the can for a long time, and some were things I’d written over the years. I’d take something I’d written in my notebook in 1970 and I’ll add a second verse in 1980 and I’ll finish it last week. That’s always how it is for me – I have a kind of helicopter vision of life itself. I don’t think about calendars, deadlines or styles. I just play and sing whatever I dream up. Writing for me is just really, really natural. It’s the same as it was when I was a little kid. I hope I’m getting better though!
There’s an immediacy to your sound that really speaks to today. But you’ve always had that along the way. A lot of people were a little bit surprised hearing me with electronic sounds, but that’s because they maybe hadn’t heard about me for a while – so it might have been new to them, but it wasn’t new to me. In 1965, I made the first-ever electronic quadraphonic (four-channel) vocal album, Illuminations.
Is there anything about your new album people should look out for, in terms of style or subjects you’re addressing? Any surprises? It depends. Most people don’t listen to me, so they’re always surprised! (Laughs) Especially if they think I’m a folk singer. But people who have been listening all along will be surprised, because the whole world continues to grow. And that includes me and you. So it will be different. “The Uranium War” is one song, another is “Look at the Facts,” “Your Link with Life” is another. There’ll be some remixes… It’s a really interesting album. There’s some love songs on it, and some Aboriginal things, but mostly it’s just solid songs that are good to dance to or fun to listen to, or whatever.
One of your most famous songs, ‘Up Where We Belong,’ has really been turned into a love anthem. But it has such a special meaning for many Indigenous people, who can read it in a completely different way from non-Indigenous people. What are your thoughts on that? It’s a beautiful love song, but from the perspective of history suddenly it gives you a chill down your spine. I’m glad that it got to be the main theme for the film An Officer and a Gentleman, that’s about the military. Because sometimes people are surprised to see how many veterans come to my concerts, and to find out that soldiers in Vietnam were carving “Universal Soldier” into their bunk beds. If you think pacifists and military people hate each other, it’s not true. That’s just not accurate at all. The fact that “Up Where We Belong” – a love song that does have a real double-entendre meaning – was heard by so many people who don’t ordinarily come to hear me — how good is that? We always have to remain open to the fact that audiences are going to interpret your songs personally for themselves. I think that’s the true power of songs. It’s wonderful… Music has always been a powerful medium, and now with the Internet it can reach so many more people.
Genna Martin / The Herald Patricia Flajole (right) and son Pat look out over a flooded Highway 530 east of the Oso mudslide area on March 23, the day after the slide. The Flajole family owns a cabin just east of the slide area. The water, which had backed up because of river blockage, has mostly receded since then.
By Bill Sheets, Chris Winters, Jerry Cornfield and Rikki King, The Herald
Nearly three weeks after the devastating landslide in Oso, discussion of the fate of Highway 530 is beginning in earnest.
A series of community meetings has been scheduled for next week to gather input and discuss options for the daunting task of rebuilding the 1-mile stretch of highway that was smothered by the March 22 mudslide.
The section has been closed to the public since then, severing Darrington’s direct lifeline to Arlington and the I-5 corridor.
State and Snohomish County officials have been discussing with families of victims the delicate matter of digging out the highway while more people and belongings likely are still buried in the mud.
To date, 36 victims of the mudslide have been confirmed dead, with county officials releasing the names of three more victims Thursday.
Eight people are still missing.
“It’s kind of sacred ground for them and we want to make sure we’re going in there in the most respectful way possible,” said Travis Phelps, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
In the meantime, officials are also beginning to look at the longer-term economic effect of the slide. Residents are deeply concerned about the effects on Darrington’s economy and culture if the town remains cut off for months.
“Of course we need that road open. That’s our lifeline to the outside world,” said Kevin Ashe, a part-owner of the Darrington IGA.
The only other major route into town is on Highway 20 through Skagit County, which turns a 45-minute drive to Everett into a two-hour detour.
Crews so far have removed most of the mud from a few hundred feet of Highway 530 on the western edge of the slide area.
“We’ve made some progress but not a heck of a lot,” Phelps said.
Because much of the highway is still buried, it’s too early to tell whether the road will be salvageable, he said.
“I’m sure some of it’s been damaged and some of it’s not,” Phelps said.
On the east side, part of the highway is still under water where the North Fork Stillaguamish River pooled up behind the slide. Even if the road can be repaired, the river’s ultimate course through the altered landscape will play a large part in determining if the road can remain in its current location, Phelps said.
If the road has to be rebuilt, topography of the surrounding area will be a factor, he said. Some steep hills are located south of the current highway right-of-way.
Engineers have begun studying possible routes, he said. When these become more developed, they’ll be shared with the public at later meetings.
“We’ve started looking at the terrain,” Phelps said.
Because of all these factors, it’s impossible to estimate when the highway could reopen or how much it might cost, he said.
The economic damage isn’t limited to just the highway. Damage to houses and other properties that were destroyed in the slide area is estimated at $6.77 million, according to a county assessor’s report released Thursday. About $919,000 of that was from the flooding.
More than 34 houses were destroyed and at least 10 manufactured homes, in addition to vacant lots, camping sites and other kinds of buildings, according to the report.
Because of the extent of the slide and the flooding, some areas have not been assessed yet, especially east of the slide near where a berm is being built.
While the federal government likely will reimburse the costs of rebuilding Highway 530, the longer-term recovery period is likely to come out of local pockets.
The economic hit to Darrington could be serious due to the reduced access and increased costs of getting to the town.
One worry, for example, is at what point people who commute into Darrington for jobs, or those who commute from Darrington to Arlington or the rest of the county, will decide the hassle of the commute isn’t worth the job.
In looking toward the longer term, the Puget Sound Regional Council has recommended that $5 million in federal funding be used to support economic recovery in Darrington.
The PSRC, an intergovernmental body that distributes about $240 million in federal transportation funding annually, will perform an unusual workaround to free up money that can contribute to Darrington’s recovery.
The PSRC’s federal money is earmarked for specific transportation projects, but some of those projects won’t come to fruition this year, leaving the PSRC money without a designated project. Snohomish County identified an ongoing project — the North Road project between Lynnwood and Mill Creek — that was funded with $9.8 million in local funds on top of $3.2 million in federal money.
By directing $5 million more in federal money to the North Road project, the PSRC will free up the same amount in county money from that project, which can in turn be redirected to projects in the Darrington area.
“County money is much more flexible than these federal dollars,” PSRC spokesman Rick Olson said.
The county money will then be targeted at projects that will have an economic benefit for Darrington.
Darrington’s plan to add curbs, gutters, sidewalks and a storm drainage system to Fir Street has been identified as one immediate need. Other projects that might be considered are upgrading the Whitehorse Trail or more street improvements in the town itself.
These projects would not be eligible for disaster funds, but by directing more county money to them, they would have a positive economic impact and take a little of the burden off Darrington. An upgraded Whitehorse Trail, for example, could be a tourist draw for the town, Olson said.
The issue moves to the PSRC’s executive committee next week, where it stands a good chance of passing.
“I think the PSRC has a good history of counties supporting each other, especially in times of need like this,” said Snohomish County Councilman Dave Somers, who sits on the committee.
These smaller measures may help soften the impact of the closure of Highway 530, but it will by no means eliminate it.
After the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge on I-5 last May, a temporary span was in place less than a month later.
Highway 530 is an altogether different animal, Phelps said. Some kind of temporary road may be considered, but it is still too soon to make that decision.
“Here we have a much bigger emergency response underway,” he said.
There’s no one federal agency to turn to for help. Money could potentially come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Highway Administration and others, Phelps said.
“It’s going to be kind of an ongoing discussion,” Phelps said.
Meetings
Snohomish County and the state Department of Transportation have scheduled three meetings to discuss the situation regarding Highway 530, which was blocked by the March 22 landslide.
*7-9 p.m. Monday, April 14, at the Darrington Community Center, 570 Sauk Ave.;
*7-9 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, at Oso Community Chapel, 22318 Highway 530;
*6-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, in the Main Hall at the Stillaguamish Senior Center, 18308 Smokey Point Blvd., Arlington.
File photo. Sheriff’s deputies, Grant County employees and state Fish and Wildlife officers are patrolling 80 miles of Columbia River shore. Anna King Northwest News Network
The drawdown of water behind Wanapum Dam in central Washington is exposing dozens of human gravesites and hundreds of Native American cultural artifacts.
Grant County officials are working overtime to protect these sensitive sites. And that work isn’t cheap.
Grant County utility district says its spending about $600,000 a month protecting 80 miles of Columbia River shore. Sheriff’s deputies, Grant County employees and state Fish and Wildlife officers are patrolling the riverbanks to keep gawkers and illegal looters away.
At the same time, a team of 25 archaeologists is finding and cataloging sites along the river shore.
Grant County utility district’s Chuck Berrie says the area has a high density of ancient human remains.
“We know of over 20 cemeteries now along that stretch of the river. And there is a lot of people that just have no idea its illegal – looting it’s a big deal.”
Utility district officials hope to know the root cause of the dam’s crack around June. By then protecting the shoreline and cultural resources could rack up to more than $2 million.
Officials say it’s not clear yet, if they’ll raise power rates to cover this expense.
A federal fisheries management panel has approved what some charter captains are calling the best ocean fishing season in 20 years.
It’s a big turnaround from the recent past when ocean salmon fishing was sharply curtailed or not allowed at all.
Fishery managers are predicting strong returns of wild and hatchery-raised salmon to the Columbia, Klamath and Sacramento Rivers this year. These runs provide the backbone for the ocean salmon fishing season. This year’s spawners benefited from good river flows when they were young and productive ocean conditions as adults.
Coho Charters owner Butch Smith of coastal Ilwaco, Washington is looking forward to a seven day a week summertime fishery in the ocean.
“Fishing for both Chinook and coho salmon are some of the best we have had for a long time,” said Smith. “Salmon fishing — the fishing industry — to my town is like Boeing and Microsoft is to Seattle. It’s very important. It is the lifeblood.”
The good times may not last because of drought conditions in southern Oregon and California. Poor spawning and juvenile survival conditions today will probably dampen future returns. This could lead to varying degrees of restrictions coast wide in coming years.
“Hopefully, we’ve still got a couple more of these good cycles left before we happen to see an unfortunate downturn,” said Smith.
Meeting at a hotel in Vancouver, Wash., the Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted the 2014 season quotas unanimously on Wednesday after days of lengthy negotiations between commercial troll and recreational fishing representatives, treaty tribes and government regulators.
