Brightwater challengers may lose right to appeal

Opponents of the planned Brightwater sewage treatment plant might have to come up with a new way to try to stop it.

King County is proposing to build the $1.62 billion plant along Highway 9 near Highway 522 in Maltby to meet what it says is growing demand on the sewage treatment system.

An opposition group, the Sno-King Environmental Alliance, is trying to force King County to test for earthquake faults on the site.

The county says it has designed the plant to the highest possible seismic standards.

The group has been fighting the plan through King County administrative channels. Now, the county is planning a rule change that would prevent the group’s appeal from being heard by the county’s hearing examiner.

That would leave the Snohomish County permit process or King County Superior Court as the group’s last options for a challenge.One earthquake fault is known to exist on the north side of the 114-acre site, where no structures are planned. Another is believed to run through the south end of the property, crossing a tunnel that would bring sewage into the plant and send treated water out to Puget Sound.

“They’re afraid of what’s going to be found, which is another fault,” said Richard Aramburu, attorney for the opponent group, explaining his view of why King County doesn’t want to hear the appeal.

The rule change would bring King County in line with state law, officials there said. It would prevent any project from being appealed to the hearing examiner if an environmental impact statement already has been issued and if the permitting process already has begun, Brightwater manager Christie True said.

“We don’t believe the hearing examiner has any jurisdiction,” she said.

The rule change can be made by Pam Bissonette, director of the county department of natural resources and parks, without approval of the King County Council, True said. It can be made retroactively, to cover projects for which appeals already have been filed, such as Brightwater.

It also could be made despite a King County Superior Court ruling by Judge Michael Hayden, denying the county’s request to take the hearing examiner out of the process, True said.

She said the plant has been designed under the assumption that the second fault is present. If an earthquake occurs, King County’s study says the plant could survive a magnitude 6.8 to 7.3 with little damage. That’s what the U.S. Geological Survey projects is likely on the fault system.

Emma Dixon, a board member for the alliance, said the group has spent more than $100,000 on attorney fees. A Superior Court challenge “obviously would be a lot more costly for us,” she said.

Aramburu said it’s uncertain what the group’s next move would be. He said the group hasn’t appealed to Snohomish County “because there haven’t been any decisions made.”

True said Snohomish County has issued permits to King County for demolition and for trails and stream restoration. King County applied for another permit for its site plan, with hearings scheduled beginning at the end of this month, she said.

New users of the system in King and Snohomish counties are paying for the plant, which the county hopes to have running by 2010.

Herald reporter Lukas Velush contributed to this story.

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.

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