A bill that would protect a large chunk of eastern Snohomish County as wilderness has languished for two months in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives without action, ever since a key Senate committee approved it.
That’s one reason why environmental groups recently conducted a public opinion poll in Washington’s 8th Congressional District in eastern King County, seeking to prod the state’s ranking Republican member of Congress to use her leadership to get it to a committee hearing in the House.
The poll, commissioned by the Wild Washington Campaign, said that 71 percent of the voters in Rep. Jennifer Dunn’s district support the wilderness act, which would permanently protect 106,000 acres in the Skykomish River drainage north of the towns of Index and Skykomish.
"It was important to find out what the voters thought there because it is not only a classic bellwether for Washington statewide, it is the home of Jennifer Dunn, the senior Republican in the delegation," said John Leary, director of the Wild Washington Campaign.
The district is well known for voting for members of both political parties on the same ballot, he said. The campaign is made up of conservation organizations, fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation groups and businesses.
The campaign is hopeful "she will use her leadership to see the Wild Sky bill is passed this year," Leary said. "What’s really important is that Republicans are the controlling party in Congress and are responsible for getting the Wild Sky proposal passed."
The bill’s prime sponsors are Democrats Sen. Patty Murray and 2nd District Rep. Rick Larsen. Dunn signed on as a co-sponsor, and her office said she sent a strongly worded letter of support to Colorado Republican Scott McInnis, chairman of the subcommittee that would hold a House hearing.
The numbers in the poll show that environmental issues matter to Dunn’s constituents and the wilderness issue is just one of the things in that area the representative is pushing, press aide Danielle Holland said.
This is the second year area lawmakers have fought for this legislation.
The measure passed the full Senate last year and was approved by a committee in the House. In the final days of the 107th Congress last fall, the Wild Sky measure was one of about 90 bills that died without a floor vote.
Larsen and Murray introduced new bills early this year.
The bill would create the first new wilderness in Washington since 1984, protecting steep mountain terrain, old-growth forests and hundreds of miles of salmon, trout and steelhead streams.
One problem is that the controlling House Resource Committee has a new chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif. Larsen and others have written to Pombo asking for a hearing on Wild Sky in McInnis’ subcommittee, but none has been scheduled so far.
Larsen said he’s talked to the Democratic staff on McInnis’ subcommittee, and they are well aware of Wild Sky. He said Resources Committee chairman Pombo is less inclined to push wilderness legislation that his predecessor.
"This provides a new challenge with the bill. For me this is the top priority I have on my environmental agenda," Larsen said.
He said the environmentalists’ poll is important for two reasons.
It shows that Wild Sky has strong bipartisan support at the grass-roots level, Larsen said. "It also shows Republican leadership is needed to move this bill, equal to the efforts put forth by Democrats on this bill."
On the Senate side, the two Democratic Washington senators are optimistic after the committee hearing.
Murray said Wild Sky has broad support in the Puget Sound area.
"It will provide outdoor recreational opportunities for generations to come," Murray said. "This bill was passed by the Senate in the last Congress, and I’m committed to getting it done again this time."
Sen. Maria Cantwell, is a member of the committee that approved the bill in July. Her press aide, Charla Neuman, said the measure passed the Senate last year "and nothing has changed. We fully expect it will pass by unanimous consent before the end of the year."
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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