Everett council moves to protect city’s water supply
Published 1:30 am Thursday, December 29, 2016
EVERETT — The City Council vowed to safeguard Everett’s water resources Wednesday with a statement of solidarity and self-preservation.
City Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher said she sponsored the resolution about the city’s water supply to show support for opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a crude oil project that has attracted a massive protest movement to the Great Plains. Among other concerns, protesters contend that the crude oil pipeline would threaten a crucial source of water for the local community.
“It’s incumbent on us to make sure we are preserving that water supply so we do have safe drinking water,” Stonecipher said.
The City Council supported the measure 6-0.
Everett plays a disproportionate role in supplying the region’s water system. Through its Spada and Chaplain reservoirs, the city of 108,000 supplies water for about 590,000 people. That’s roughly 80 percent of Snohomish County’s population.
The resolution highlights the city’s role in upholding environmental standards to protect water quality. It opposes any forced easements that might contaminate the water supply or transmission lines. It stresses the responsibility to protect against natural disasters and man-made threats.
Halfway across the country, thousands of protesters have been camping since August on federal lands near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.
They’ve been drawing attention to a 30-inch pipeline that would span nearly 1,200 miles and four states, from North Dakota’s oil fields to a shipping point in Illinois. Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners has built nearly all of the $3.8 billion project except for a section across federal land and beneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir. The route passes near the reservation, but not through it.
Critics charge that the project threatens drinking water and cultural sites that are sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux. Tribal officials have said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to properly consult with them before initially approving the route. They warn of environmental catastrophe if the pipeline were to break.
Energy Transfer Partners says its pipeline would be one of the safest and most technologically advanced in the world. It would displace some of the oil shipments now traveling by rail, a mode of transport with a far worse safety record.
The Obama administration put the project on hold in early December by declining to issue an easement for the final pipeline segment, pending further study. That could delay construction for months, but won’t necessarily kill it. The regulatory environment is likely to change after President-elect Donald Trump, a pipeline supporter, takes office next month.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
