By Susanna Ray
Herald Writer
OLYMPIA — Did the Creator endow Edmonds residents with the unalienable right not to have a sewage treatment plant on their waterfront?
State Sen. Paull Shin thinks so.
The Mukilteo Democrat quoted Thomas Jefferson’s famous phrase from the Declaration of Independence at a hearing Thursday on his bill to require local approval for public facilities built on sites outside their service areas.
Shin’s bill, Senate Bill 6366, is called by many the "Brightwater Bill," after the sewage treatment plant King County is considering building on Edmonds’ waterfront in Snohomish County.
But a Senate committee chairwoman quickly came up with a new name for it.
"We like to characterize bills with nicknames, so I guess we could call this the ‘Ask Me First Bill,’ " said Sen. Georgia Gardner, D-Blaine.
The name issue didn’t stop there. Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, joked about the irony of calling a sewage plant "Brightwater."
Thursday’s meeting was full of patriotic references to this country’s government of democratic representation. Brightwater opponents believe it’s unfair that King County has the right under state law to impose eminent domain to build a public facility outside the area it serves, where people can’t vote for the project’s elected decision-makers.
"America was founded on this principle," said Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson. "The citizens of Edmonds have lost their voice. … This is hardly the democracy that we all expect and believe in."
Five members of the group Washington Tea Party, which was formed to oppose the Brightwater plant, also showed up to support the bill, including Peggy Pritchard-Olson of Edmonds. She won points with several senators by mentioning her father, the popular former Lt. Gov. Joel Pritchard, who the state library is named after.
She said she was so shocked to discover that the plant would likely be built, "and there was not one person I voted for who was part of the final decision."
Civics aside, the Brightwater issue comes down to one problem: what to do with the sewage created by 2½ million people.
It has to go somewhere, testified Pam Bissonnette, director of King County’s Department of Natural Resources. The county will be out of capacity to deal with the sewage it treats for its own residents and south Snohomish County residents within this decade, Bissonnette said. And if that happens, she said, serious economic consequences will result, not to mention the public health issues of sewage backing up and spilling over.
Sixty percent of the Brightwater sewage would come from south Snohomish County residents, she said. If King County doesn’t treat that waste at its Brightwater plant, Snohomish County will have to build its own plant somewhere anyway.
Bissonnette also contested the claim that there’s no local input allowed in the project: "We have met 235 times to date with the local citizens in the community."
No action was taken on the bill Thursday. Senators have until Feb. 8 to pass it out of committee.
There’s also potential activity on the topic in the House. Newly elected Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, chose to take on the Brightwater issue in his first bill as a state legislator by sponsoring House Bill 2340. It hasn’t yet been scheduled for a hearing.
You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 360-586-3803 or send e-mail to ray@heraldnet.com.
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