Growing clout
New farm bureau chapter seeks bigger voice on regional water, land-use policy
by Kasia Pierzga
Leader Staff Writer
Concern about recent state efforts to regulate water use has prompted a group of farming and property-rights advocates to join forces with a state-wide lobbying organization that shares its views.
With its charter to be granted June 28, the North Olympic Counties Farm Bureau would be the 25th chapter of the Washington State Farm Bureau, and part of the nationwide American Farm Bureau.
Third-generation farmer Roger Short of Chimacum is serving as president fo the local chapter until formal elections are held.
Short said the decision to form a local farm bureau is a strategic one. By taking advantage of the expertise of the state-wide organization, the local farm bureau can have a bigger impact on local and state policy decisions that affect farmers and other landowners.
"We feel if we have a more mature organization with known clout, we will be able to deal with some of the issues and draw on some of their resources better than we can id we have to do it ourselves," he said. "If we have our own bureau, we as a board can request help from the state bureau."
The local farm bureau is the second local lobbying group to ahve formed as a result of uproar last year among Jefferson County small-scale farmers and other property owners about the Washington Department of Ecology's attempt to set an in-stream flow rule — the amount of water that must be left in streams for salmon — in the Quilcene-Snow watershed.
The watershed, known as Water Resources Inventory Area 17 for state water resource planning purposes, is one of 62 watersheds across the state, each of which are at various stages of state-required planning.
Jefferson County is also within the boundaries of several other watersheds — the Sol Duc-Hoh and the Queets-Quinault watersheds on the West End of the county; the Skokomish-Dosewallips watershed, which extends into Mason County; and the Elwha-Dungeness watershed, which is largely in Clallam County.
After public outcry over what many saw as a ham-fisted effort on the part of Ecology to push ahead with an in-stream flow rule for East Jefferson County's Quilcene-Snow Basin, Olympic Peninsula legislators called for a public forum in November 2005 that drew a standing-room-only crowd of about 300 people to Fort Worden State Park Commons. At the meeting, Joe Stohr, special assistant to Ecology Director Jay Manning, admitted the agency had gone too far too fast, and promised to seek more public input from local residents.
Water rights controversy
The controversy last fall erupted in response to statements made by Ecology officials that it was illegal to use water from exempt wells — generally household wells — for crops that are sold commercially, no matter how small the acreage or amount of water used.
At the time, Ecology officials said farmers whose wells don't already have water rights must apply for water-right permits. They also warned that the Quilcene-Snow watershed, which serves the most populous part of Jefferson County and the greatest number of small farms, doesn't have enough water to grant new water rights.
Ecology's statements contradicted a court decision that people with exempt wells, including small-scale, sustainable agriculture producers, could use water from those wells for their crops.
Ecology later reversed itself on the issue of agrucultural use of exempt wells, saying that small-scale farmers can use existing wells for irrigation.
Some local residents, including those who are launching the new farm bureau chapter, have worried the state might say it owns all the water in Washington, and while people have a right to use the water, they'd have to install meters to keep track of what they use — and perhaps even pay the state for it.
At the November meeting, Stohr promised to open up Jefferson County watershed planning discussions to a broader variety of interest groups. The watershed planning unit now includes not only representatives from local and tribal government but also homebuilders, real-estate agents, environmental and conservation groups and the Port Townsend Paper Corp. As an organization representing agricultural interestss, the new farm bureau chapter could also join the planning unit.
In January, Stohr promised to work with Jefferson County businesses and residents to develop an in-stream flow rule that balances the need for salmon habitat and the health of the local economy.
But in May, Ecology officials said the state would require agricultural water users to install meters to track water use — a development that drew sharp criticism from Short, whose family has been farming along Chimacum Creek since 1945.
Ecology officials explained that the metering would help ensure adequate flow in streams where endangered salmon might not have enough water to survive.
A professional facilitator has been hired to help manage discussions for the WRIA planning unit. Negotiations on setting an in-stream flow rule are expected to begin this fall.
Gathering allies
Short said he was never sure whether Ecology's explanations of state water policy were accurate. He'd rather get information about the issue from an organization that represents and shares his concerns.
The state organization's expertise might also come in handy as Jefferson County planners work on an update of county development codes related to critical areas such as fish and wildlife habitat areas, wetlands, aquifer recharge areas and areas that are prone to flooding.
"It's going to draw a lot of controversy," said Short. "The state farm bureau has a lot of expertise in dealing with critical areas in agricultural areas all around the state, and we want to draw on that expertise to help us with that."
The new farm bureau chapter for Jefferson and Clallam counties already has about 250 members, most of whom have been members of a chapter that also included Grays Harbor and Pacific counties. Included are traditional farmers as well as people who maintain small-scale fruit orchards and organic farms.
Short said members of the new chapter also are gathering signatures in support of Initiative 933, the property rights measure now being promoted by the Washington Farm Bureau.
Short also has been involved in previous state-wide campaigns aimed at preventing government policies and regulations from hurting the economic value of privately owned land.
"I really think that if the government is going to make a regulation, they need to look at the alternatives and see what the impact is going to be," he said. "Especially the economic impact on property owners."
Ruling backs permit for Marrowstone water
The following article appeared in the June 4, 2006 Jefferson County edition of the Peninsula Daily News.
Ruling backs permit for Marrowstone water
By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — A deputy hearing examiner has granted a substantial shoreline permit request for the Jefferson County Public Utility District, clearing a major hurdle in the district's efforts to construct a Marrowstone Island water system.
The decision from Tacoma attorney Mark Hurdlebrink acting as hearing examiner, which was issued Thursday to the county's Department of Community Development, grants PUD the shoreline permit, allowing it to build within 200 feet of the fresh-water-deficient island's shoreline.
A Port Townsend environmental activist, who has represented Olympic Environmental Council in Jefferson County, indicated that an appeal of the decision, required within 14 days, might be in order.
Expressing her disappointment Friday over the decision, Nancy Dorgan said Hurdlebrink was wrong to conclude that the new water system protects the aquifer since it borrows from Chimacum Valley to feed Marrowstone.
"To date, every state and local agency has rolled over to facilitate construction of the Marrowstone system," Dorgan said in a statement Friday.
"The hearings examiner ruling is just the latest, but I expected better from a non-local lawyer."
The decision comes with a long list of conditions, none of which PUD officials contest.
"There was testimony regarding possible problems during construction," Hurdlebrink said in his written decision.
"Though this is certainly a possibility, appropriate provisions are going to have to be made by the public utility district to ensure this dows not happen."
"Currently there is not a contamination problem with runoff. There will certainly be disturbance of the ditches when installing the lines."
"Appropriate steps are going to have to be taken to prevent increased contamination. Conditions of approval address this issue."
May 16 hearing
The decision comes after a May 16 public hearing in which about 50 people — mostly Marrowstone Island residents — crowded into the county commissioners chambers to raise issues such as the Chimacum Valley aquifer, wetlands, soils, the shoreline, water rights and water capacity.
The hearing came after the county Community Development Department accepted more than 50 pieces of written public comments and opinions from seven public agencies.
Hurdlebrink's ruling was applauded by the three PUD commissioners.
"It's awful good news," said PUD Commissioner Wayne King of Gardiner, who supports the project along with fellow Commissioners Kelly Hays of Marrowstone Island and Dana Roberts of Cape George.
King said he was not surprised by Hurdlebrink's decision.
"We've done more than we were required to do," King said.
Hays, who hauls water for his family and others on East Marrowstone because of saltwater contamination, also expressed his approval of the decision, saying, "It's what I expected."
"Obviously, the examiner felt everything we were doing was not detrimental to a shoreline."
The shoreline permit clears the way for a county conditional use permit for the Marrowstone water system project, which would allow PUD to lay eight-, six-, four- and two-inch water lines along county and state roads crisscrossing the island.
In about nine areas the waterlines would come within 200 feet of the shoreline.
They include an area a quarter-mile north of the causeway on state Highway 116 connecting Marrowstone with Indian Island; Mystery Bay just north of Nordland, another area north of Highway 116, the end of Madrona Road, the end of Murphy Road, along Fort Gate Road, at teh intersection of East Beach Road and East Marrowstone Road, on Jansen Road, and at the southern end of the island south of the intersection of Robbins Road and Beach Drive.
The hearing examiner listed 13 conditions that the PUD must meet, including obtaining appropriate county and state permits, making substantial progress in work within two years, and not interfering with eagle nesting.
PUD General Manager Jim Parker said one of the conditions is that the agency must secure a permit with the Army Corps of Engineers for the shoreline work.
He said PUD has already applied for a Joint Aquatic Resource Permits Application through the corps.
"We will work that out," said Parker, adding that there was some debate between PUD and the corps over the corps' jurisdiction.
Parker said the decision comes with other good news that the county has issued a conditional use permit to PUD to run a 3,000-foot water line from a PUD-built water tank at Fort Flagler State Park to Fort Gate Road and Reef Road.
End of the year?
Parker estimated it would still take months to get the first pipe laid for the water system.
"It would be nice to go out to bid by the end of this year," Parker said of the Fort Gate pipeline link.
Parker said he was submitting an application for a county conditional use permit for the north mile of state Highway 116 pipeline, which does not affect any shoreline or wetlands.
He said PUD was also talking again with Navy officials about buying their water system on Indian Island, which serves the naval ammunition station.
Ralph Rush, Water for Marrowstone chairman, lauded the hearing examiner's decision.
"We are delighted," Rush said, adding that he was not surprised by the decision.
"I felt like there was an overwhelming support for the system," Rush said, adding that his group's effort was well-organized and communicated the need for water service.
About 100 wells of the estimated 500 in existence on Marrowstone Island are either dry or contaminated by saltwater intrusion, a growing problem.
The water project would bring water to about 300 homes on the island.
Utility district officials reapplied for county and state permits after prevailing over a lawsuit filed by a group of residents opposing the project.
The PUD Marrowstone water project has been endorsed by Jefferson County's three state lawmakers, Rep. Lynn Kessler, Rep. Jim Buck, and Sen. Jim Hargrove.
Dorgan argued that rather than fighting the construction permits, "it's now time to go to the heart of the matter — Ecology's erroneous and illegal transfer approval in 1997 converting the Sparling wupplemental only water right into an outright grant of a new primary groundwater withdrawal, comething a water right transfer may never do under state law."
Water right required
Dorgan contends that PUD's Sparling Well water right was aquired via its Glen Cove system swap with the city of Port Townsend in 2001 "and has always been legally bogus."
She said the well's status needs to be litigated "before the PUD wastes taxpayer money laying pipe that will never hold water."
She called the hearing examiner's ruling on the shoreline construction permit "a lazy response at taxpayer expense that ignored the serious issued raised in the record regarding improper State Environmental Policy Act review of the overall project and statutory requirements that do not allow SEPA exemptions for lands under water.
"Without required decommissioning of excising (sic) wells, the hearing examiner was wrong to conclude that the new water system protects the aquifer."
"New lawns and bigger gardens are going to be watered for free from the aquifer still used by people not hooking up to the new pipes."
