PORT ANGELES — It’s time to start planning for water shortages and other impacts of global climate change, Clallam County commissioner candidate Mark Ozias said during a forum.
Incumbent District 1 Commissioner Jim McEntire told Port Angeles business leaders it is “wise to think ahead, but it is wisest to use data and not conjecture” when planning for the future.
McEntire, 65, and Ozias, 45, sparred over climate change, sales taxes, leadership and other topics in a 45-minute candidates forum at the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon Monday.
Ozias: Water big issue
Ozias, the executive director of the Sequim Food Bank who is making his first run at political office, predicted that water will be the most significant long-term issue for the county.
“We need to acknowledge that there might be a problem with having enough water in the future,” Ozias told about 50 forum attendees at the Port Angeles Red Lion Hotel.
“We’re expecting that due to the impacts of global climate change, there’s going to be less snowpack. We’re going to have warmer winters. We’re hoping more people move to the Peninsula,” he said.
“So when we put those factors together, we’ve got a limited resource that’s likely to be more limited in the future.”
McEntire, a retired Coast Guard captain who is seeking a second four-year term as a county commissioner, acknowledged that “there is a climate and it does change.”
He questioned the motivation of United Nations policymakers who make recommendations based on scientific reports.
“Policymakers always have an agenda,” he said.
Questions data
McEntire cited two sentences from an executive summary found on page 743 of “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis,” which was produced by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“Most simulations of the historical period do not reproduce the observed reduction in global mean surface warming trend over the last 10 to 15 years,” the summary on climate models reads.
“Most, though not all, models overestimate the observed warming trend in the tropical troposphere over the last 30 years, and tend to underestimate the long-term lower stratospheric cooling trend.”
“So in plain English,” McEntire said, “that means the surface temperature models don’t work as far as their predictive ability as against observed climate information, observed temperature data, over the last 10, 15 years or so.
“So how can we plan with any certainty if the scientists say that their models don’t work about the central issue with this thing called climate change, or global warming, whichever you prefer?”
Ozias said tribal villages on the West End are trying to move to higher ground because of sea level rise.
“There’s shellfish farmers who are wondering what their future holds because the oceans are acidifying,” Ozias said.
“And while nobody thinks this year’s drought is indicative of what’s going to happen every year from here on out, most people agree, most scientists agree, that we expect what’s coming.
“I think it’s our job to do our best to prepare for the future that we most expect.”
Opening statements
Each candidate was given 15 minutes to make an opening statement and five minutes to respond.
McEntire, a Sequim Republican, touted his leadership experience, his record on the economy and his influence as the representative of 21 timber counties on the state Board of Natural Resources.
Ozias, a Sequim Democrat, said he decided to run for office because he is concerned about the county’s financial state and the values of its leaders.
“I’m running for commissioner because I think I can do a better job, pure and simple,” Ozias said.
“I have the D after my name, but I consider myself a pragmatist, not a partisan.”
Sales tax cut
Ozias questioned the Board of County Commissioners’ decision to lower the sales tax rate by 0.2 percent this year, saying the money could have restored full funding to the Washington State University Extension office.
“While I think that that [tax break] might make a good election-year slogan, I question whether that really has a positive impact in terms of business and personal economics around the county,” Ozias said.
McEntire disagreed.
“Around a million dollars is not a trivial amount of money in my book to leave in family budgets or an individual citizen’s [budget],” McEntire said.
“That money is theirs, and I believe that any government, county government in particular, should only burden the economy to the extent necessary for an effective government to do the kinds of things that county government is legally authorized to do.”
Sequim school bond
Although county commissioners have no purview over public schools, the candidates were asked to weigh in on the proposed $49.3 million construction bond for the Sequim School District to replace aging facilities.
“I am fully supportive of the Sequim school bond,” Ozias said.
“Everybody in the county has a vested interest in strong schools.”
Said McEntire: “I do support the capital needs of any of our school districts in Clallam County.”
McEntire noted that Sequim-area voters have rejected school bonds and levies for the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center in recent years.
“I need to understand personally how running the same play is going to work this time when it didn’t last time,” McEntire said.
“We cannot afford another levy failure. That’s a headline that we all don’t need to see.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
