Sequalitchew Creek Watershed Council at February Council Meeting
ByBeth Elliot of the Sequalitchew Creek Watershed Council addressed the DuPont, Washington city council at the last televised meeting. Ms. Elliot’s message is persistent; asking council, the mayor, and her staff to hear the concerns of the citizens.
The comments preceded today’s Sequalitchew Creek Feasibility Study meeting. The meeting was scheduled to kick off at 9:30AM and included time in the afternoon for public comment. Evidently, it wasn’t important enough to the city to broadcast the meeting for citizens on the front page of the city website.
The reader-board is advertising the Kidz Love Soccer event instead.
Oh well.
I have added a link to the Sequalitchew Creek Watershed Council’s website on the right hand side of this webpage. I also would like to provide a link to their online petition. It is straightforward and only takes a few minutes to complete.
To bad City Council can’t pass a resolution to support the SCWC. The City Attorney won’t let them. Just what has city hall done for the Creek lately?
Well done. Council and the mayor behave like they don’t even live here. Where is their passion about the natural beauty of the marsh? Does it always have to be about some historical or tourist site? Take a stand, your conscience will thank you later.
I hope that Ms. Elliot’s thoughtful comments aren’t dismissed as that of a group of malcontents. It is easy for the city to say that they are the only ones protesting the expansion but that is not the point. They just happen to be the most vocal group among the mostly temporary population. Whatever the case, the comments were spot on. The risk outweighs the reward.
The city could show their support by having public works clean up the junk that litters the creek near center drive.
Where was the SCWC and Nisqually Delta Association 3 years ago? Why do they wait to get involved after the city already signed off for Glacier? 1994 Settlement Agreement is great but what happened since 1994?
To be fair to all parties the NDA is at fault as much as the NDA and SCWC. Although it is funny how Glacier slid a MOU in the mix and parties bought in to it like it was a good thing.
From my viewpoint, I think the SCWC was born out of the events leading to the mine expansion. The reason they exist is because they foolishly, like the rest of the townsfolk, expected their elected officials to have a modicum of responsibility to positions AND they expected the hired city staff to be competent. Two big assumptions, but we live and learn. Perhaps the NDA held the same false assumption. Not to put on a tin foil hat, but there is also the possibility that the city and Glacier were not 100% transparent in their intentions 3 years ago.
It all does not matter because the NDA still holds a pretty good legal position. I think that they agreed to the MOU so they could stop the process and more strongly assert their position. The longer the delay, the more protracted a legal battle that CalPortland faces, the less return on investment for their expansion plans. In this economy, it comes down to a game of chicken.
Where Were They – you need to turn your time clock back a little bit more and ask yourself WHERE WAS CITY COUNCIL back in 2006 when they foolishly approved an EXPANDED mineral resource overlay that paved the way for Glacier to apply for their expanded mine permit three years ago. Some of those same council members are sitting on council today. ALso, who on city staff had the technical background and knowledge to approve such an expansion?
For what it’s worth, the SCWC didn’t think the city council should have approved the MOU because all it does is allow Glacier to look at how to mitigate water loss in an aquifer and protected marsh. I thought Glacier had to pay all the parties of the settlement agreement money for this extra research. Lets be real here – Glacier likes to buy people off.
The last people I would blame for this mess is the SCWC or NDA. The city and the city alone are responsible for this mess. Direct your concerns to Bill McDonald because he is the common link in this all.
The City Administrator will never publicly endorse the mine expansion, but does so privately. Actions speak louder than words here.
I wonder if Glacier ever paid for a round of golf or provided other “gifts” to city officials? No, wait, the city just turns their palms up when they need help with printing costs or other help for events like OWLOM.
hence the $5,000 in their 2010 budget – for OWLOM and Shamrock Walk. All from Glacier.
Yet no one in the city seems to think there is a problem.
When is city council going to wake up to all of this? Are they asleep at the wheel?