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Students for Sustainability Lobby in Olympia
The 2024 Legislative Session Past the Halfway Mark--How Will the Environment Fare?
The 2024 legislature convened January 8 for a short session that will end March 7. The Sierra Club is lobbying to ensure hard won gains are not rolled back and that actions are taken to address the many environmental challenges we face.
On January 15th, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., students from Port Townsend’s Students for Sustainability (SFS) traveled to Olympia to lobby for the "Re-WRAP Act" (HB 2049 and SB 6005) that would establish a producer responsibility program requiring manufacturers and brands to come together to reduce unnecessary packaging, fund statewide residential recycling services for packaging and paper products, and ensure that materials are actually recycled. The students had been working with Zero Waste Washington and Environment Washington to prepare for the day. After the legislative session is over the students are planning to network with students around the state to ensure that a number of anti-environmental ballot initiatives are voted down in November. If you would like to contribute to SFS’s work to make our community more sustainable, you can send checks to the club in care of Samantha Massey, ASB Secretary, Port Townsend High School, 1500 Van Ness, Port Townsend, WA 98368.
And, you too can lobby Olympia to support pro-environment legislation. Sign up to be an Ambassador with Washington Conservation Action and get alerts when there are critical hearings and key votes:
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What Are Sierra Club's Priorities in Washington State?
Thursday, February 18 at 7PM on Zoom
All Sierra Club members and supporters are invited to attend the next quarterly statewide Zoom meeting, scheduled for Thursday, February 15th at 7 PM. The purpose of this meeting is to provide updates regarding the activities and efforts of the WA Chapter, as well as local Sierra Club Groups, including North Olympic. You can RSVP here: |
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Climate Forum to Focus on Threats to Salmon
Sunday March 3, Port Angeles
The Olympic Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Sequim/Port Angeles will present its first Climate Forum of 2024 at the Fellowship,1033 N Barr Rd, Port Angeles on March 3 at 12:20PM. The Forum will focus on the threats salmon are facing in the Northwest and solutions that are currently being implemented. It's part of the Fellowship's Green Sanctuary climate actions to address the seriousness of our changing climate due primarily to the burning of fossil fuels. Nate Roberts of the North Olympic Salmon Coalition will be the speaker. The presentation will be about 45 minutes including Q&A. The Forum is free and open to the public. Parking is conveniently located adjacent to the Fellowship Hall. |
Join Friends of Miller Peninsula State Park
Saturday, February 24, Sequim
We are fortunate to have a 3000-acre state park in our very own midst--a quiet hiking, biking, equestrian day-use park with 35 miles of trails and three miles of beach. It has been this way for three decades but this may not last. WA State Parks and Recreation is planning to intensely develop it for 200 overnight campsites, a hotel, swimming pool, shops, etc.
Please join Friends of Miller Peninsula State Park and Save Miller Park for a presentation on Saturday, February 24 at 10 AM to learn about the history of this park and its potential future and how you can help save it. This event is sponsored by M. Kachi Cassinelli and will be held at Dandelion Botanical Company, 4681 Sequim Dungeness Way, Sequim WA.
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Dungeness Levee Trail
Sierra Club Opposes Paving the Dungeness River Levee Trail
The Clallam County Commissioners are about to make a critical decision whether to pave the Dungeness River Floodplain and Levee Trail. Sierra Club feels paving this well-used and loved trail poses a significant risk to the newly restored floodplain that's habitat for migrating birds and waterfowl. We also urge you to voice your concerns and help protect this important ecosystem. There are several ways you can do this: You can attend the Clallam County Commissioners' regular meetings in Port Angeles on Tuesdays at 10:00 AM, located at 223 East 4th Street, Room 160. For those who cannot attend in person, you can also join via Zoom on the County's website. Finally, you can write the commissioners asking for them to defer paving the trail and, instead, preserve the natural beauty of the Dungeness River floodplain.
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Protecting Jefferson County's Legacy Forests
An important case for protecting legacy forests in Jefferson County came before the Superior Court on Jan. 19. At issue was the future of 76 acres of forest land in the Andrew’s Creek watershed in Quilcene. DNR wants to log the property, referred to as the “Last Crocker” timber sale. DNR lawyers claimed that forest lands “are (there) to be logged” and asserted that there is “no proof that logging this stand will cause any harm.” It was clear that DNR’s justification for clear-cutting the property did not sit well with roughly two dozen citizens who occupied the gallery. Environmental attorneys argued the Crocker property is mature, structurally complex forest that DNR needs to preserve if it is to meet its own goals of maintaining or restoring such forests. They also argued if DNR is allowed to harvest the Last Crocker plot, using a “cut it now, grow it later” philosophy, it will take more than 70 years to return that property to the structurally complex status that exists today. Judge Mack handed the environmental plaintiffs a temporary victory by ordering an injunction that prevents the DNR from logging the site pending a final decision in the case.
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Find out what Washington Sierra Club is doing to protect our state forests from looking like the above photo:
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Big Win For Wildlife and Public Health
Washington State citizens will now be better protected because of a recent decision by a state Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB). In 2022, the Department of Ecology released its five-year biosolids permit allowing the continuation of sewage solids’ toxic/hazardous waste as fertilizer to be spread on soils, particularly farmlands. There was a huge public response to the draft, including our Sierra Club Washington State Chapter. Public responses emphasized the danger of PFAS and other harmful "forever" chemicals. These concerns were essentially ignored in the final permit. The Nisqually Delta Association appealed Ecology’s permit decision to the PCHB and won. The PCHB remanded the permit back to Ecology to correct these deficiencies. It requires Ecology to consider impacts caused by PFAS, PBDEs and microplastics. And, relatedly, the USEPA recently announced it may designate several PFAS chemicals as hazardous.
Find out more about EPA's plan to regulate "forever chemicals" here:
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Pleasant Harbor Development Ignores Court Order
The Growth Management Act (GMA) restricts residential growth and density in rural areas. Master Planned Resorts (MPRs) are an exception to the rule. MPRs are a high density, residential rural area planned around a recreational amenity such as a golf course. The Pleasant Harbor MPR in Brinnon has been in the planning stages for more than 20 years despite consistent local opposition.
An MPR requires extensive infrastructure, such as sewage plants and water systems. The profit for the developer, of course, is from the residential part of the MPR, including a hotel. In 2018, the Brinnon Group, which opposes the MPR, won a decision in Kitsap Superior Court requiring the developer to build infrastructure and recreational amenities before building residential buildings. Despite this, the developer has tried to sell lots while portraying the resort as already built. In fact, the Black Point property is empty land that has been logged. The developer has also asked the county to issue permits to begin construction. Rick Aramburu, the Brinnon Group’s attorney, has written a letter to Jefferson County protesting the permit applications. He also asks the prosecutor to look at the offers to sell lots. More information here:
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Comments, Feedback? Let us know here:
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The North Olympic Group's website is updated to reflect current environmental issues and events. Members are encouraged to periodically check it out.
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