SEQUIM — State officials got an earful last week from citizens vehemently opposed to a proposed water management rule for the Dungeness Valley.
More than 200 attended Thursday night’s state Department of Ecology open house, presentation and public hearing on a rule that would set minimum in-stream flows for the Dungeness River and its neighboring streams.
If approved, the rule would create a water exchange and require the owner of a new well to “mitigate” the use of water by buying credits.
Existing wells and water rights would not be affected by the rule, Ecology officials said.
The state-initiated rule applies to the eastern half of Water Resource Inventory Area 18, from Bagley Creek on the west to Sequim Bay on the east.
“Ecology has proposed a solution in desperate search of a problem,” said Dick Pilling, Realtor and Clallam County Republican Party chairman.
He was one of several dozen who spoke against the rule in a 90-minute question-and-answer session and two-hour public hearing.
The Sequim Association of Realtors and the Washington Realtors Association mailed nearly 24,000 cards to property owners saying that if they don’t drill wells, build homes on their land now and adequately use their water, they will have to pay for water rights later.
Ecology had moved the event from the Guy Cole Convention Center to Sequim Community Church to accommodate more people.
Questions were raised over Ecology’s scientific methods and cost-benefit studies. Concerns were raised over the economic effects of the rule, unknown costs to property owners, potential litigation and bureaucratic overreach.
“With science conducted like their economic impact statements and assumptions that don’t hold water, what we’re witnessing is a naked power grab by an out-of-control agency,” said Steve Marble of Sequim, adding that the rule is “flawed beyond redemption and should not be adopted.”
Tom Williamson of Sequim said the proposed rule “has never been about anything except money.”
Ecology officials were on hand to answer questions one-on-one in a 21/2-hour open house before the main program.
Ann Wessel, Ecology in-stream flow rules coordinator, gave a PowerPoint presentation before Tom Loranger, Ecology’s deputy programs manager, opened the floor for questions.
Ecology representatives said the rule would provide certainty that people have access to water when they develop their property.
According to state officials, the rule would accomplish the following:
■ Establish in-stream flow levels — which comes down to a water right for the stream itself — in the Dungeness to protect fish and wildlife habitat.
■ Establish reserves of water for future indoor domestic use.
■ Allow water storage projects.
■ Require mitigation for all new use of water, including permit-exempt wells.
■ Require measuring of new water use.
■ Close surface water to new withdrawals with the exception of seasonal water from the Dungeness.
The new rule would take effect 31 days after Ecology adopts it, most likely in September.
Three Jefferson County residents said the WRIA 17 in-stream flow rule had adverse effects after it was adopted there in 2009.
Jefferson County Public Utility District Commissioner Wayne King said minimum in-stream flows for the Chimacum basin were set higher than the stream banks will hold.
“We have property for sale for 20 acres that can drill a well but can’t water their cat, they can’t water their dog, they can’t water their petunias,” King said.
“I’d like to congratulate Ecology for destroying the economy of the Chimacum basin. Did a real good job.
“Businesses are closing, moving.”
King encouraged the audience to stand up to Ecology.
“Believe me, they make it up as they go,” King said.
Pilling and others said Ecology’s own economist, Tryg Hoff, had indicated that the cost of implementing the water management rule would far outweigh the benefits.
Hoff created the rule’s first cost-benefit analysis before he was reassigned.
Speaking on behalf of the Port Angeles Business Association, Kaj Ahlburg said Ecology’s “economic analyses are incomplete” because they don’t address lost property values, lost tax revenue and the cost of litigation should the rule be adopted.
Pilling said Ecology is “proposing a number of significant, even draconian limitations, on water usage in our area.”
“These limitations will ultimately stifle development, decrease land values, adversely impact the business- and real estate-related tax bases, and likely result in lawsuits over what could be construed as a government taking of land,” Pilling said.
Two public speakers asked the crowd to raise their hand if they were against the proposed rule.
Nearly everyone in the church sanctuary raised their hand.
The only person who spoke in favor of the proposed rule was Hal Beecher, in-stream flow biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Among the elected officials in the audience was Clallam County Community Development Director Sheila Roark Miller, who submitted comments to Ecology in a June 15 letter.
Roark Miller asked Ecology to “compare the economic value per fish to that of saving family-wage jobs, specifically in the construction industry.”
“That a State DOE economist agreed that there is no economic benefit to the proposed Dungeness Water Rule, only enforces the belief that the state Department of Ecology is deceiving Clallam County citizens,” she wrote.
Ecology is accepting comments on the proposed rule until 5 p.m. July 9.
The proposal is available at http://tinyurl.com/pdnwater1.
Comments can be emailed to awes461@ecy.wa.gov, faxed to 360-715-5225 or mailed by the U.S. Postal Service to Department of Ecology, Bellingham Field Office, Attn: Ann Wessel, 1440 10th St., Suite 102, Bellingham, WA 98225-7028.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
