By Nate Land / Herald Forum
The confluence of the North and South Forks of the Stillaguamish River are home to legendary salmon and steelhead runs now struggling to survive. These rivers are connected to a sensitive unconfined aquifer that overlaps the City of Arlington’s water supply recharge area.
Nevertheless, the Arlington School District Board signed a contract with Miles Sand and Gravel to sell 168 acres of historic farmland for what is currently proposed to be an 82-acre quarry pit, stockpiles of concrete demolition waste, industrial reprocessing to make concrete, industrial wastewater pits, and 214 trips a day onto the Arlington-Darrington Road (Highway 530).
The results of this type of industrial activity in this ecologically sensitive place could pose significant and irreversible impacts that would be left to future generations to fix. With those potential consequences to our local environment and permanent impacts requiring complicated mitigation activities to clean up such a mess, why would this type of industrial activity be allowed to occur at this specific site?
Where is our Snohomish County Councilman Nate Nehring, on this? Either on the sidelines or quietly rooting for it. We know he’s not against this short-sighted development proposal because we contacted him for help months ago, yet he’s done nothing. I wonder whether his history of campaign contributions from Miles Sand and Gravel is a factor?
Why won’t Nehring stand up to protect our farms, our fish, the clean and healthy drinking water supply for the school and our community? Without intervention by our elected leaders, future generations will be responsible for paying to fix mistakes made today.
The damage will ultimately extend beyond the City of Arlington’s drinking water, downriver to the drinking water for livestock throughout the Stillaguamish River valley, and to the shellfish beds of Salish Sea. Public comment is overwhelmingly against putting this type of operation at this sensitive location: see County Conditional Use Permit application 24 113107 CUP at Snohomish County Planning and Development Service’s Online Records.
Nate Land lives in Arlington.
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