PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Commissioners Mike Chapman and Bill Peach have signed onto a letter from board Chairman Jim McEntire asking the state Department of Ecology to act on the Dungeness water management rule.
McEntire wants the agency to provide mitigation water to those without access to it.
A lack of available mitigation means certain property owners who drill new wells cannot use that water outdoors.
Such a restriction intrudes on county zoning because farming, agriculture and other outdoor uses are allowed by the county in low-density rural zones, McEntire said in a letter to Ecology Director Maia Bellon.
Chapman and Peach co-signed the letter after a formal vote on Tuesday’s consent agenda.
The region with no available mitigation water is colloquially known as the “yellow area.”
So-named because of its color on Ecology maps, the yellow area is south of the southernmost irrigation lines in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
Ecology implemented the water rule in January 2013 to ensure that the Dungeness River and neighboring streams have enough water to protect fish and human populations, especially in the late summer and early fall.
The rule affects the eastern half of Water Resources Inventory Area 18 from Bagley Creek to Sequim Bay.
McEntire, who represents the rule area and serves a board liaison to Ecology, sent an initial letter to Ecology in January suggesting three ways to provide mitigation for the yellow area.
Bellon replied in a March 3 letter that Ecology has contracted with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to examine mitigation opportunities, with a study expected to be completed next winter.
McEntire has said the rule has diminished property values in the yellow area and even resulted in nixed real estate transactions.
The Olympic Resource Protection Council of Sequim filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court that challenges the water rule.
Speaking on behalf of the Port Angeles Business Association, Connie Beauvais urged the board to join the lawsuit or at least file an amicus brief in support of it.
Beauvais provided the board with a letter from the business association.
“In over two years since the implementation, it has become clear how fatally flawed this rule is,” Beauvais said.
“It has significantly devalued properties, decreased economic activity in eastern Clallam County and almost shut down sales of large parcels.”
Beauvais said the agency’s response to McEntire’s letter contained “nothing but vague offers and more studies that likely will extend into next year with no deadlines,” Beauvais said.
Other speakers questioned the science behind the rule.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
