PORT ANGELES — Fed up with constipated efforts to construct a wastewater treatment facility near Victoria, state representatives have passed a measure to call attention to the situation.
Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2376 includes a section that restricts — except under certain emergency- or court-ordered business — Washington state employees from receiving reimbursement for travel to Victoria.
This restriction would remain in effect until July 1, 2017, or until the completion of a primary sewage treatment system.
The bill passed Thursday in the house 50 to 47 and now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Sequim lawmakers
Sequim Democrats Steve Tharinger and Kevin Van De Wege, who represent the 24th District, voted in favor of the bill.
The 24th District covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
At issue is the 21 million gallons of raw sewage that flows into the Strait of Georgia and Strait of Juan de Fuca each day.
The untreated sewage is pumped into the water through two 1-meter-wide pipes 60 and 65 meters under the surface by twin 1,000-horsepower motors, according to the Victoria Sewage Treatment Alliance.
The two 39-inch sewer outfalls serve the 300,000 people and their drains residing in and around the provincial Canadian capital.
“I am very frustrated with Victoria and their dumping of raw sewage,” Van De Wege said Friday, adding it is his hope this bill will spur action on building a plant.
“What this bill would do would be to embarrass them because I don’t think a lot of people realize they still [pump raw sewage into the Strait].
“I think the more word we get out, the more embarrassed they will be.”
Said Tharinger: “I think it makes a statement. Obviously Canada is a partner, and Victoria is an important destination for people from Clallam County, and there is some tourist activity there.”
However, “I think it makes a statement that they need to address that issue,” Tharinger continued.
“Of course it is state money for state travel, so it doesn’t impact a lot of what goes on, but I think it makes sense to make a statement.”
Tourism loss fears
In a statement issued Thursday, officials with Tourism Victoria — which promotes the city as a tourist destination — said they fear the section in HB 2376 will harm the city’s hospitality sector.
“Tourism Victoria is concerned about the press that debate or passage of this bill will generate and the decline in travel to Victoria by area residents that will ensue,” Bill Lewis, Tourism Victoria board of directors chair, said in a news release.
“This action puts the destination, our 900 business members and the 19,000 private-sector employees in a difficult position.
“While this action is symbolic and related to Washington state employees, it is clearly intended to inspire other organizations to follow suit.”
1993 boycott
Such a tourism boycott was organized in 1993, according to The Seattle Times, but did not result in the construction of a sewage treatment plant.
In 2006, Canadian officials promised to address the issue under pressure from then-Gov. Chris Gregoire, with a goal of bringing a sewage-treatment plant online by 2016.
That deadline was later extended to 2018 and finally abandoned altogether with no estimate on when the project would commence or even where it would be located.
Last March, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer — who grew up in Port Angeles — railed at Canadian parliamentarians who were visiting Washington, D.C., about the untreated sewage. Kilmer represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula.
Water pollution
According to the Victoria Sewage Treatment Alliance’s website at www.victoriasewagealliance.org, ocean currents near the sewage outlets do not carry the sewage out into the Pacific but rather east into Georgia Strait.
Further, because currents change direction with the ebb and flow of the tide, a lot of the sewage either stays nearby or flows back into Georgia Strait, the website said.
Also, dilution does not get rid of the chemicals, heavy metals and pathogens present in the sewage and therefore doesn’t prevent long-term damage to the environment, it said.
Lewis called on Canadian officials to move quickly to engage a solution.
“In recent years, Tourism Victoria has taken a consistent view that sewage treatment is necessary,” Lewis said.
“It is time to make a decision so that we can put this ongoing risk and uncertainty behind us and move forward as a region to an environmentally sustainable and prosperous future.”
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
