A majority of Washington’s Congressional delegation united Monday behind a proposed Wild Sky Wilderness, but missing from their ranks was the Republican congressman who boasts he’s the lawmaker who will make it happen.
The state’s two U.S. senators and seven of its nine representatives urged the leader of the House Resources Committee to take action on a bill protecting more than 100,000 acres in the Skykomish River and Beckler River areas north of Index. A hearing is set for 8 a.m. Thursday.
“Over three years of bipartisan effort have gone into this popular and important proposal,” lawmakers wrote in a letter delivered to U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., the committee chairman. All the signers are co-sponsors of the wilderness bill authored by U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash.
Republican U.S. Reps. George Nethercutt, who says he supports protecting Wild Sky, and Doc Hastings, who says he’s neutral, did not sign.
Nethercutt did send his own note to Pombo on July 13, five days after the two legislators met to discuss the issue. In that meeting, Nethercutt pushed, without success, a compromise proposal chiseled together last month by members of his staff and those representing Larsen and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.
“I believe that the Wild Sky area deserves protection and will work to address concerns you may have with the current proposal,” Nethercutt wrote to Pombo.
April Isenhower, Nethercutt’s spokeswoman, said late Monday that she did not know of Pombo’s specific concerns. “That will likely come up at the hearing,” she said.
Thursday’s hearing in front of the Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee is pivotal because there is little time left in this year’s session. Congress takes its summer break Friday and returns Sept. 7 before adjourning for the year Oct. 2.
Given that time crunch, Larsen figured it would be beneficial if the entire delegation signed one letter. “It’s more critical that the delegation continues to pull together and put a concerted effort behind getting Wild Sky to the president’s desk,” said Abbey Blake, Larsen’s press secretary,
Nethercutt’s decision to send his own letter fuels the thinking that election-year politics are energizing the debate.
He is challenging Murray for her Senate seat and thus far avoided any public sign of collaboration with her on this issue. A Wild Sky bill that she wrote won Senate approval last year, but Nethercutt in May declared it would not become law.
However, in June, after representatives of Nethercutt, Murray and Larsen met privately and shook hands on a compromise measure, a joint announcement was readied. But Nethercutt veered away after his meeting with Pombo, describing the agreement as “an option” for consideration by the congressional panel.
At stake are thousands of acres north of Index and Skykomish. For four years, environmentalists, loggers, mountain bikers, snowmobilers and lawmakers negotiated boundaries and uses for the region proposed for the strictest of federal protection.
Bills written by Larsen and Murray cover 106,000 acres. The compromise proposal that Nethercutt showed Pombo covered a slightly smaller area, 103,661 acres. Excluded are some roads and lowland areas.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
Wild Sky hearing
What: A hearing on the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness
Who: The Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee of the House of Representatives. Bill author U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax, a Wild Sky opponent, are expected to testify Thursday. A complete witness list is being prepared.
When: 8 a.m. Thursday. For information and to listen to the hearing live, go online to http://resources committee.house.gov.
What: A hearing on proposed Wild Sky Wilderness
Who: The Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee of the House of Representatives
Rep. Rick Larsen and Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax, a Wild Sky opponent, are expected to testify Thursday. A complete witness list is being prepared.
When: 8 a.m. Thursday.
For information and to listen to the hearing live, go online to:
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov
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