Press "Enter" to skip to content

120-day Public Comment Period Needed

August 28, 2015                                 UPDATED LETTER AND SIGNATURES

 

Jay Inslee, Governor

State of Washington

P.O. Box 40002

Olympia, WA 98504

 

Maia Bellon, Director

Washington State Department of Ecology

P.O. Box 47600

Olympia, WA 98504

 

Brian Shay, City Manager

City of Hoquiam

609 – 8th Street

Hoquiam, WA 98550

 

Ken Dahlstedt, Chair

Skagit County Commission

1800 Continental Place, Suite 100

Mount Vernon, WA 98273

 

Dear Honorable Officials Inslee, Bellon, Shay, and Dahlstedt:

 

We, as organizational leaders and elected officials, are writing to urge a 120-day public comment period for two Draft Environmental Impact Statements: one concerning the proposed Grays Harbor crude oil terminals and the other concerning the proposed Shell rail offloading facility in Anacortes, Washington.

 

You have understood the wisdom of our previous requests.

 

Due to our efforts, studies of significance have been completed. Due to our efforts, the scope of review for both projects was greatly expanded.

 

We ask you to listen to us once again and make the public comment period 120 days.

Our labor, environmental, community, health and fishery groups, along with our Native American allies, have a great deal of knowledge about these issues. You need our participation if your decisions are to be properly informed and legitimate. Please don’t silence us by making our participation impossible. We need 120 days.

 

We are prepared to read the thousands of pages of documents, discuss them with our members and prepare informed testimony, but we need more time. We are people who have full-time jobs and family obligations. We do not have policy staffs like the Governor’s office, the Department of Ecology or the multi-national corporations advocating for these projects.

 

There is nothing routine about these proposed projects. Your decisions about these projects will set a precedent for future projects that will shape the character of Washington State and signal your commitment to reduce global warming.

 

Please send your response to our request via the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters at 1069 Adams Street, SE, Olympia, Washington 98501 or wscff@wscff.org.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Kelly L. Fox, President                                               Kent Wright, President

Washington State Council of Fire Fighters                 Northwest Farmers Union

 

 

Ben Stuckart, President                                              George Barner, Jr., Commissioner

Spokane City Council                                                 Port of Olympia

 

 

 

Bill Ward PE, Commissioner                                      Alan Richrod, Council Member

Port of Camas-Washougal                                          City of Aberdeen

 

 

Larry Thevik, Vice President                                      Arthur “RD” Grunbaum, President

Washington Dungeness Crab Fisherman’s                 Friends of Grays Harbor

Association, Westport

 

 

Dr. Bruce Amundson, President                                 Elise DeGooyer & Paul Benz, Co-Directors

Washington Physicials for Social Responsibility       Faith Action Network, Seattle

 

 

 

Cager Clabaugh, Representative                                 Don & Alona Steinke

ILWU Local 4, Vancouver                                          Sierra Club of SW Washington

 

 

 

 

Tom Glade, President                                                 Carolyn Gastellum

Evergreen Islands, Inc., Anacortes                              Protect Skagit

 

 

 

Ahmed Gaya                                                               Carl Voli

Rising Tide Seattle                                                      350 Seattle

 

 

 

Bill Moyer, Coordinator                                             Tammy Domike, Field Coordinator

Backbone Campaign, Vashon                                     Citizens for a Clean Harbor, Hoquiam

 

 

Linda Orgel, Treasurer                                                Arnie Martin, President

Friends of Grays Harbor                                            Grays Harbor Audubon

 

 

Diane L. Dick, Representative                                    Eric Labrant, President

Landowners & Citizens for a Safe Community          Fruit Valley Neighborhood Association

Longview                                                                    Vancouver

 

Laura Ackerman, Oil Policy Director                         Brian Anderson

The Lands Council, Spokane                                      Climate Action, Bainbridge

 

 

Terry J. Wechsler JD, Co-Founder                            Zoltan Grossman

Protect Whatcom, Bellingham                                    Olympia Confronting the Climate Crisis

 

Note: The Solidarity Roundtable on Oil organized this sign-on letter in conjunction with the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters.

 

 

opeiu8/aflcio/dag

 

Next:
What is the police culture in Olympia? How would you…