Members of Congress entered the fray on the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness on Thursday, but when a two-hour hearing ended the fate of the plan remained unclear.
Snohomish County officials, residents and activists testified for and against a bill to grant strict federal protection to 106,000 acres of rivers, forests, meadows and peaks north of the towns of Index and Skykomish.
As expected, the House of Representatives panel took no action on the legislation, which was written by Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash.
With lawmakers starting a six-week summer break today, there will be little time to act when they return. Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year Oct. 2.
To further cloud the picture, the chairman of the House Resources Committee began Thursday’s hearing by reiterating his opposition to the bill unless nearly 16,000 acres of lowland areas are stripped out and given less stringent federal protection.
The proposal “has miles of roads, culverts and dams. This is not wilderness,” said Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif. He said he was open to compromise, though he seemed resolute in wanting those particular acres reclassified.
Larsen pressed ahead in urging the committee to act on the bill. If it doesn’t, Wild Sky will not happen this year. If the panel follows Pombo’s path, Larsen could end up with a plan he doesn’t like.
“I would argue that we are in the nip-and-tuck stage of the proposal, and any major changes would represent an extreme makeover and undercut the value of this bill,” Larsen said in a statement.
At the hearing, Larsen told how he, Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., knitted together a compromise paring a couple of thousand acres out of the wilderness area. Pombo rejected that plan, too.
“Our bill is a strong bill. I think the ball is in the court of those who don’t want to see it become law,” Larsen said after the hearing. “It’s really their time to put up or shut up.”
Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax, one of three opponents of the bill who testified Thursday, didn’t see it quite that way.
“I got the impression even from chairman Pombo that there was an ability to find compromise,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a matter of protecting all 106,000 acres as wilderness or die. If they don’t want a compromise, they’re doing it for other reasons, maybe for political reasons.”
Mike Spahn, a spokesman for Murray, countered Sax.
“We’ve compromised again and again and again,” he said. “The 16,000 acres are the heart and the soul of the plan. Opponents of this plan need to make a reasoned objection and a reasoned proposal.”
Nethercutt could be the linchpin. He pledged in May to steer a Wild Sky proposal through the Republican-controlled committee. He said Thursday that he wants to “get to the result I think everybody wants.”
But that doesn’t mean he has the answer today, said April Isenhower, Nethercutt’s spokeswoman. “He’s going to talk to both sides. Pombo left room to compromise. Larsen left room to compromise. Something can still get done.”
Thursday’s hearing marked the first time this session that House members had considered Larsen’s Wild Sky plan. In 2002, before Pombo became chairman, the committee passed the same legislation, but it never came up for a vote in the full House. The Senate has passed an identical bill written by Murray.
In the hearing, Mark Rey, undersecretary for natural resources for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said President Bush would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
Sultan resident Ed Husmann testified against that possibility.
“Although I have tried, I have yet to understand why this area needs to be protected,” Husmann wrote in prepared testimony. “This area is not wilderness to start with. This proposal is fraught with technical and legal problems.”
He and Sax contended that the Congressional Budget Office estimates $18 million would be spent to remove existing roads and bridges on the 16,000 acres that are the focus of dispute.
John Leary, leader of the Wild Washington Campaign, who attended the hearing, said the process is ongoing and expressed optimism.
“Today, the Pombo view of wilderness got aired. But I wonder what the reaction will be from the thousands of Washingtonians who want Wild Sky,” he said. “People need to assess what they heard today and let some persuasion occur.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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