PORT ANGELES — Clallam County lawmakers today will finalize a response to the state Department of Ecology’s proposed water management rule for the Dungeness Valley.
The county has raised some of the same criticisms that citizens aired in a well-attended public hearing Thursday night in Sequim, including an in-house economic study of the state-initiated rule.
Commissioners will discuss the draft comment letter in a continued work session at 9:30 a.m. today before taking a vote in the 10 a.m. business meeting.
Dozens of citizens railed against the state-initiated rule that would set minimum in-stream flows, create a water exchange and require the owner of a new well to “mitigate” water use by buying credits.
The rule affects the eastern half of Water Resource inventory Area 18 from Bagley Creek to Sequim Bay.
Several speakers last week cited internal emails from Ecology economist Tryg Hoff, who said that the cost of implementing the rule would outweigh the benefits.
Hoff asked to be removed from the assignment before the analysis was developed, Ecology spokeswoman Linda Kent said in a Monday email.
“What needs to happen is the public’s confidence, as we were saying earlier, needs to be restored in the integrity of the process by which we got to the economic analysis,” said County Commissioner Jim McEntire, who phoned into Monday’s work session from Spokane.
McEntire’s 1st District includes the area affected by the proposed rule.
“There’s a lot angst and concern about the adequacy of the economic analysis of the rule,” he said.
“I think Ecology can address that by simply having an independent entity, whomever that might be, take a look at their economic study and validate it or change it as they think necessary. That will serve to support the public’s confidence in the process and the product that is specific to that economic analysis of the rule.”
Kent said the analysis is one of the final parts of the rule process because final language for the draft rule must be complete before a formal economic analysis can begin.
“Our approach to the analysis and the draft Dungeness rule is firmly grounded in Washington water law,” Kent wrote.
“The preliminary analysis that was developed was done by Ecology’s senior economist under the guidance of the Office of the Attorney General according to standard economic methodology and the requirements of Washington state water law.
“This document, which is available for public review, projects that benefits of adopting the rule will be four to 6½ times greater than the costs of rule adoption over 20 years,” Kent added.
The preliminary economic analysis is available at www.tinyurl.com/c5u9omo.
McEntire and Commissioner Mike Doherty were among the elected officials who attended last Thursday’s four-hour meeting at Sequim Community Church.
McEntire said he would draft a supplemental paragraph to the county letter calling for a third-party economic study.
“That’s something that the agency can point to to say they’ve gone the extra mile to make sure that everybody can have confidence in the product,” he said.
“After hearing the testimony and that commentary, I can’t see where anybody would understand that this is not a problem.”
Ecology is accepting comments on the rule until 5 p.m. Monday.
Clallam County’s draft letter on the water management rule raises several concerns, including ambiguity, liability, impacts to the community, the requirement for new wells to be metered, water access for non-residential uses and a lack of details about the proposed water exchange.
McEntire, whose district covers the eastern third of the county, said he particularly liked the letter’s call for a periodic performance review.
“The rule simply should accommodate some periodic assessment every five years, every four years, whatever, pick a time frame, for a performance assessment,” he said.
McEntire said he spoke with state Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, about the economic study Friday.
“He and I are of one mind on the third-party idea,” McEntire said.
Commissioner Mike Chapman agreed that the public needs clarity on Ecology’s economic analysis.
“Most of the questions we’re getting from constituents is on that issue,” Chapman said.
“And now that that seems to be under a cloud, it certainly would be in Ecology’s best interest to ensure that that is clarified before they move forward.
“So I support some sort of language that lets them know we’re hearing from constituents and we have questions or concerns, however you want to phrase it,” Chapman added.
Ecology’s proposed rule is available at http://tinyurl.com/pdnwater1.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
