Kim Kalliber, Author at Tulalip News

Ship owner gets more than he bargained for: prison time

The Legislature is considering legislation that aims to prevent old vessels from turning into costly environmental problems.

By Maureen O’Hagan, Seattle Times

he Davy Crockett, scrapped illegally in the Columbia River, cost $22 million to clean up, plus its owner will serve a federal prison term. Photo: Steven Lane, The (Vancouver) Columbian

When Bret A. Simpson heard the hulking old barge Davy Crockett was for sale several years ago, “he saw the steel and he saw dollar signs,” said assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Oesterle.

Simpson, of Ellensburg, figured he could scrap the 400-foot former Navy ship and walk off with a tidy sum.

“He probably regrets that decision,” Oesterle said. Because in the midst of his ragtag scrapping operation, the Davy Crockett began spilling oil into the Columbia River.

On Monday, Simpson was sentenced to four months in federal prison plus a period of home detention, community service and supervised release for violations of the Clean Water Act. The mess cost $22 million in federal funds to clean up.

It was the first time in Washington that a boat owner was sent to federal prison in such a case.

But Simpson is by no means unique as a boat owner. Hundreds of derelict or abandoned vessels sit on Washington’s waterways, in constant danger of drifting or sinking. When that happens, the state Derelict Vessel Removal Program is forced to step in, sometimes at a cost of millions of dollars. There is now broad agreement the state has neither the money nor the authority to truly address the problem.

Some of that may change. Both the House and the Senate are considering legislation this week that aims to prevent old vessels from turning into costly environmental problems in the first place.

“The bill changes the focus of the Derelict Vessel Removal Program to prevention over cleanup,” said Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge, sponsor of the House bill.

Among the provisions under consideration in both bills are some aimed at making boat owners register their vessels as required.

This would make it easier to track down the owners of problem vessels — a huge, and sometimes insurmountable hurdle in these cases. The legislation would create civil penalties for those who fail to register.

Also proposed is a pilot vessel turn-in program where an owner can give the state custody of a vessel before it’s a real problem.

A third provision would require owners of older, larger vessels to obtain an inspection before selling. This, said Melissa Ferris, who runs the state Derelict Vessel Removal Program, might dissuade some people from buying problem vessels when they don’t have the means to repair them.

Ferris recalled one recent case in which a young man bought a trimaran for $100. Only later did he realize “no marina was going to give him moorage because it was rotten and horrible looking and had no mast,” Ferris said.

It ran aground in a storm one weekend, and the state is billing the man for the cost of removal, more than $20,000.

“Talk about a game-changer for your life,” she said.

Boat sellers who fail to get the required inspection could be held liable for some of these cleanup costs, under the legislation.

“We’re trying to hinder some of these transactions that just happen in a bar somewhere,” Ferris said. “Is it the end-all be-all? No, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

Another provision would prohibit public agencies from selling a vessel that isn’t truly seaworthy. The agency would either have to repair it before the sale or dismantle it.

That was at the root of the problem with the Deep Sea. The Port of Seattle sold the 140-foot former fishing vessel to a scrap dealer who didn’t really have a good plan for it. The scrap dealer, a Maple Valley man with a long history of troublemaking, parked it in Penn Cove and left it. It caught fire and sank last spring, and cost $5.4 million to clean up.

Another provision under consideration would allow the Department of Ecology to board troubled vessels and check for pollution threats.

With little to no opposition to the House and Senate bills, some version of the legislation is expected to pass.

Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt raises funds for Arlington Relay March 31

ARLINGTON — Arlington’s second annual Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt will wrap up “Paint the Town Purple Day” on March 23 in the Haller Middle School stadium, with the gates opening at 8 p.m.

At 8:30 p.m., attendees 5 years old and younger will be released onto the field, and at 9 p.m., the lights will go out for all ages, come rain or shine, at a cost of $5 per person, with all the money raised going toward the American Cancer Society.

“The pre-hunt for ages 5 and under this year was added by popular demand,” said Heidi Clark, who organized last year’s Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt. “The main hunt will be open to ages 3 to 103. Teenagers and adults are encouraged to attend.”

While hundreds of plastic Easter eggs will be filled with candy, some eggs will contain raffle tickets for cash prizes, gift cards donated by local businesses, vacation packages and more, with some of them valued at $500 or more.

Attendees should bring their own baskets and flashlights. For more information, call Clark at 360-925-6436.

Superintendent search nears its final steps

By Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — The search for the Marysville School District’s new superintendent is heading into its homestretch, and as he has throughout the process, MSD Board President Chris Nation is encouraging community members to take part in the selection.

The six candidates whom the Marysville School District Board of Directors have selected to move forward to the first round of preliminary interviews on Saturday, March 23, are Dr. Becky Berg, Dr. Carl Bruner, Dr. Tony Byrd, Michelle Curry, Dr. Dennis Haddock and Jon Holmen.

“Each interview should take about an hour and 10 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes each,” Nation said. “If we start at 8 a.m., we should be able to wrap it up that Saturday by 5 p.m. If members of the public want to attend and submit feedback to the Board in writing, we’d only ask that they do so for all six candidates, since that’s only fair, but they can drop in to observe them at any time during the day.”

According to Nation, the Marysville School Board will ask questions of the candidates in the MSD Service Center Board room, and narrow the selection from six semifinalists to three finalists that evening, based on those interviews, so that the three days of finalist candidates’ interviews and visits to the district — from Monday, March 25, through Wednesday, March 27 — will devote one full day to each candidate.

Marysville School District staff, parents, students and community members will be able to meet each day’s candidate during open forums scheduled at 11 a.m., 4:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., again in the MSD Service Center Board room.

In the wake of the applicants’ files being screened on March 15, Nation reiterated the Marysville School District’s commitment to conducting its superintendent selection process as transparently as possible.

“This is not just the decision of the Board, but of the community as a whole,” Nation said. “We wanted to make sure that the community and school district staff were involved in this process, because the new superintendent will be a leader to both, hopefully for years to come. Through observation and feedback, we hope the community will help us choose a superintendent who fits the needs of our community, because if that person doesn’t understand our relationships, especially with the Tulalip Tribes, they might not get done what’s needed. Everyone has to be on board for this.”

The Marysville School District Service Center Board room is located at 4220 80th St. NE. The full schedule for the candidate visitations is posted on the MSD website at www.msvl.k12.wa.us. For more information on the search process, contact Jodi Runyon by phone at 360-653-0800 or via email at jodi_runyon@msvl.k12.wa.us.

Special Olympian Brady Tanner Leads Six New Inductees Into American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Cherokee Nation citizen Brady Tanner completes a deadlift during a competition.

On Saturday, March 16, six people were inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame, which is located on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Leading the group of outstanding athletes and coaches was gold medal-winning powerlifter Brady Tanner, Cherokee, of Lawrence. Tanner is the first Special Olympian to earn a place in the prestigious Hall.

Tanner won three gold medals and a silver at the 2011 World Special Olympic Games in Athens. He also competes in the World Association of Bench and Deadlifters and Natural Athletic Strength Association events. After Tanner completed high school, a football player from Haskell University (where Tanner’s father was coach at the time) noticed Tanner’s strength and began helping him train.

Tanner is a champion. (Submitted to Topeka Capital-Journal)

Meet the other five inductees:

• Kenneth O. Tiger, Seminole, who played football for Kansas in 1961-62 and was part of the Jayhawks 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl-winning team (a 33-7 victory over Rice). He was co-captain of the 1962 team.

• Roy Old Person, Blackfeet, who won the National Junior College Athletic Association cross country title in 1965 while attending Haskell. Old Person also was a two-time all conference selection at Wichita State.

• Herman Agoyo, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, who played on the Manhattan College baseball team that won the New York City Baseball League Championship in 1957. He also was a standout Senior Olympian.

• Yawna Allen, Cherokee/Quapaw/Euchee, who was a Junior National Open Doubles Champion in 2000, 2002 and 2003 and is a seven-time North American Indian Tennis Association Women’s Open Singles Champion. Her aunt, Dawn Allen, also a tennis star, was inducted into the Hall in 1995.

• Sid Jamieson, Mohawk, who was the first lacrosse coach at Bucknell University and worked at the school for 38 years. He was the Patriot League’s Coach of the Year three times and is part of the Pennsylvania Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Chaske Spencer: A Native Actor Who Left Addiction Behind

By Carol Berry, Indian Country Today Media Network

Chaske Spencer is known for his alpha wolf portrayal in The Twilight Saga, but many people aren’t aware that he’s also an activist speaking out against the addictions that almost took his life.

“I know a higher power led me to where I am now,” he said, describing the Red Road way of life as “the way I try to center myself” after years of drinking and abusing drugs. Temptation is also a fact of life in Hollywood, where “it’s crazy.”

Spencer gave an address January 30 on the urban campus of Metropolitan State University of Denver, Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado – Denver (UCD) under the sponsorship of UCD’ s Native American Student Organization.

Spencer is a spokesman for United Global Shift, an organization focusing on the environment, employment, entrepreneurship, health and education. Sensing a serious water shortage in the future, for example, he praised innovative programs around water recycling.

Chaske Spencer speaking in Denver on January 30. Photo by Carol Berry.

But although he often talks about the environment and empowering and creating sustainable Native communities, when addressing youth he sometimes focuses on substance abuse and the role it plays in the “horrific” violence, drugs, and alcoholism on some reservations.

Spencer, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, went to New York City to pursue photography, but began getting acting parts and took bartending and catering gigs between acting lessons and performances.

He had a part in the movie Skins before he developed an addiction to cocaine and heroin that finally led him to become a self-described crackhead, an addict who would “steal from you, would rob you” for drug money.

His career today, with the Twilight Saga’s success, is a far cry from the days when he’d show up to auditions drunk and high, and lose out. “The acting god smiled on me that [Twilight audition] day,” he said, adding he believes that getting the part was a “gift because I got sober.”

After treatment, which also involved healing from Indian country’s hurtful past, “I started to put myself into service,” he said. “I had a spirituality—when I got clean, I needed something. I got into Sun Dance; if you walk that Red Road it’s a very strict and humbling road and it’s a hard life,” requiring sacrifice to “try to be of service” and “love everybody.”

But he accepted the hardship, he said, as he recalls a medicine man telling him, “It’s all about love—it really is.”

Tribes plan for worst with looming budget cuts

When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

By Felicia Fonseca, Seattle Times

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

That wasn’t the case with programs for American Indian reservations, where unemployment is far above the national average, women suffer disproportionately from sexual assaults, and school districts largely lack a tax base to make up for the cuts.

The federal Indian Health Service, which serves 2.1 million tribal members, says it would be forced to slash its number of patient visits by more than 800,000 per year. Tribal programs under the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs that fund human services, law enforcement, schools, economic development and natural resources stand to lose almost $130 million under the cuts, according to the National Congress of American Indians.

“We will see significant impacts almost immediately,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told The Associated Press, referring to the BIA. “We will have to furlough some employees. It will mean that there’s going to be a slowing down of the processing of applications and so there will be an impact on the work that the BIA does on behalf of Indian Country.”

The timing and magnitude of most of the cuts are uncertain as Congress looks for a way to keep the government operating beyond March 27 with no budget in place. In the meantime, tribes across the country are preparing for the worst.

Some are better-positioned than others.

In northwestern New Mexico’s McKinley County, where about a third of the population lives below the federal poverty level, the Gallup-McKinley County School District is facing a $2 million hit. The cuts could result in job losses and more crowded classrooms. The district that draws mostly Navajo students from reservation land not subject to state property taxes relies heavily on federal funding to pay its teachers and provide textbooks to students.

“To me, it seems very unfair that one of the poorest counties with one of highest Native enrollment in the country has to be impacted the most by sequestration,” said district superintendent Ray Arsenault. “We are very poor, we’re very rural, and it’s going to hurt us much more.”

The district faced enormous public pressure when it wanted to close schools on the Navajo Nation due to budget shortfalls, so it won’t go that route under looming cuts, Arsenault said. Instead, he would look to reduce his 1,800 employees by 200 – mostly teachers – and add a handful of students to each classroom.

The Red Lake Band Of Chippewa Indians in northern Minnesota expects 22 jobs, mostly in law enforcement, will be lost immediately. Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. said police already operate at a level considered unsafe by the BIA. Deeper cuts forecast for later this year will increase job losses to 39, and “public safety operations at Red Lake will collapse,” he said.

On the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, a new $25 million, 67,500-square foot jail that was to provide cultural and spiritual wellness programs for tribal members charged with crimes sits empty. The annual operating budget of $5 million would be reduced to around $840,000 because of the automatic budget cuts, said jail administrator Melissa Eagle Bear.

“I don’t think this is intentional, but I do feel like it’s the government’s way of controlling things,” she said. “They definitely have control, and we’re going to keep going. … I know Indian people. We tend to survive off what resources we have.”

The National Indian Education Association said the cuts to federal impact aid will affect the operation of 710 schools that serve about 115,000 American Indian students. Those cuts would be immediate because the money is allocated in the same school year it is spent.

In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation said it is well-poised to handle cuts to its diabetes, housing rehabilitation, Head Start and health care programs. The tribe put a freeze on nonessential hires and halted most travel and training for tribal employees. The tribe’s $600 million budget for services and programs comes largely from federal funds, but tribal businesses also post annual revenues in the same amount that have been used to fill in gaps, said Principal Chief Bill John Baker.

“What this really is going to boil down to mean is that there won’t be any new purchases, new equipment, and probably we’ll hold our programs but not be in a position to add new programs,” Baker said. “Luckily, we’re in pretty good shape.”

Baker and other tribal leaders have argued against the cuts, saying the federal government has a responsibility that dates back to the signing of treaties to protect American Indian people, their land and tribal sovereignty.

While food distribution, welfare programs and health care services that serve the needy are exempt from the cuts, similar services on reservations aren’t, said Amber Ebarb, a budget and policy analyst for the National Congress of American Indians.

“Tribes have too little political clout, too small numbers for those same protections to be applied,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the intent of any member of Congress. The ones we hear from, Republicans and Democrats who understand trust and treaty rights, think it’s outrageous that tribes are subject to these across-the-board cuts.”

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona said he doesn’t believe Congress as a whole understands the potential impact to tribes and the duty that federal agencies have to meaningfully consult with them on major actions. He and Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska are urging their colleagues to spare those populations from automatic budget cuts, particularly when it comes to health care.

“It’s not about creating a niche for American Indians. It’s about addressing areas in which need is great,” Grijalva said.

Clara Pratte, director of the Navajo Nation’s Washington, D.C., office, said regardless of the outcome of the budget talks, tribal leaders should press Congress to make funding for Indian programs mandatory, not discretionary.

Nearly two-thirds of the Navajo Nation’s $456 million budget comes from federal sources that go to public safety, education, health and human services, roads and infrastructure. The tribe is facing up to $30 million in automatic budget cuts.

“A lot of these programs go to people that cannot lift themselves up by their bootstraps,” Pratte said. “I’m talking about grandmas, grandpas, kids under the age of 10. We can’t very well expect them to go to work.”

Snoqualmie tribe gives casino plan another look

The Snoqualmie Tribal Council is taking a fresh look at the tribe’s possible casino-expansion plan that has been controversial in the town of Snoqualmie.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times

Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle TimesArlene Ventura, a Snoqualmie tribal elder, urges members to make a fresh start by establishing a government and membership that meets constitutional requirements. — Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle Times
Arlene Ventura, a Snoqualmie tribal elder, urges members to make a fresh start by establishing a government and membership that meets constitutional requirements.

The Snoqualmie Tribal Council is taking a fresh look at the tribe’s possible casino expansion, including the idea of a 20-story hotel next to its casino.

The tribe canceled a meeting of its general membership in February to discuss refinancing its debt for the project, while the council takes a second look at the plan.

The project has been controversial in the town of Snoqualmie, where the hotel would be the tallest building for miles. An original proposal called for a 340-room hotel, conference center, larger casino and theater, and two new parking structures.

One estimate indicates that could pump up total revenue for the tribe’s casino property to nearly $300 million a year, including $230 million in gambling revenue. That would be a big jump from 2012, with $189 million in gambling revenue and $40 million from the casino’s restaurants and other facilities.

The city of Snoqualmie provides sewer, emergency and fire services to the tribe’s casino property, and is in negotiations about what size expansion of the Snoqualmies’ development it would or could service. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe beat out the Snoqualmies in 2007 to purchase the nearby Salish Lodge.

Consideration of the development comes at a time when the tribe is struggling with other issues.

The tribe’s longtime administrator, Matt Mattson, is on paid administrative leave during separate investigations by the tribal council and tribal gambling commission.

Robert Roy Smith, attorney for the Snoqualmie Tribe, said he could not discuss the details of the investigations.

Tribal members also met last week to try to resolve a long-running enrollment dispute but did not have a quorum to take action.

At issue is the base roll of tribal members. “The base roll is just a mess,” said Milo Gabel, a tribal member who turned out for the meeting at the Preston Community Center on Sunday.

Members at the meeting Sunday signed a statement declaring they are true Snoqualmies, entitled to vote or hold office, because they are at least one-eighth Snoqualmie in their blood line, as the tribe’s constitution requires.

They also agreed to accept an enrollment audit done last year, so far ignored by the tribal council, and to submit it for final review.

“We have to start somewhere. This is a starting point for our tribe,” said elder Arlene Ventura, of Renton, one of 38 tribal members of all ages who gathered at the community center. They needed 40 members to take official action.

Elwha gnaws away at a century of sediment

There’s more sediment and more wood than expected coming out of the Elwha River as the Elwha dams are taken down — causing more than a few surprises.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times

Greg Gilbert / The Seattle TimesGlines Canyon Dam is two-thirds down, with the Elwha River pouring through the gap. Elwha Dam, 8.6 miles downstream, is already gone. — Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times
Glines Canyon Dam is two-thirds down, with the Elwha River pouring through the gap. Elwha Dam, 8.6 miles downstream, is already gone.

A mother lode of mud is making its way down the Elwha River, and with it, an armada of floating and waterlogged debris.

Contractors are taking two dams out of the Elwha River as part of a watershed and fishery recovery project that is the largest of its type ever in the world. The first, Elwha Dam, came out a year ago. Glines Canyon dam is about two-thirds gone.

Scientists recently learned there was about 41 percent more sediment trapped behind the dams than originally thought — and that the river is transporting more mud and wood than they expected.

As the river, dammed for 100 years, comes back to life, the other surprise is a forest of waterlogged wood and other organic debris the Elwha is muscling out of the former lake beds of the reservoirs.

All that wood is interacting with the sediment in the river with unpredictable results, said Andy Ritchie, restoration hydrologist for the National Park Service, which is running the Elwha recovery project. He was surprised this winter to see the river building fences and jams of wood that trapped sediment in places where it wasn’t expected, such as at Elwha Campground, or causing erosion in others, such as at the historic Elwha ranger district.

There have been other surprises.

Dam removal was put on hold last October until contractors make more than $1.4 million in emergency retrofits to the new $71.5 million Elwha Water Facilities plant.

It was built as part of the dam-removal project, to clean sediment from the water supply to an industrial pulp and paper plant, a fish-rearing channel and a hatchery. But the plant failed during the first fall rains last October, when fish screens and pumps became clogged with leaves, twigs, branches and sediment.

What the total cost to the project of the breakdown will be — on a plant that was already the single most expensive piece of the $325 million Elwha restoration — and what caused it to fail are still being sorted out, said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for the park service.

The agency hopes to get contractors back at work taking down Glines Canyon Dam by mid-April. Meanwhile, taxpayers are paying $245,000 to contractor Barnard Construction for the project delay (on top of the repair costs, paid to contractor Macnac Construction of Lakewood) while the water plant is fixed.

Contractors are taking the rest of Glines Canyon Dam down ten feet at a time, and only three whacks remain. The park service still expects to complete dam removal by September 2014, as originally planned.

But even with dam removal on hold, restoration is not standing still.

After a 100-year hiatus, the Elwha is back at work moving sediment, carrying some of it all the way to the river mouth, where a whole new world is emerging.

Surveys both by airplane and by an underwater video camera show a kelp armageddon is under way. The amount of floating kelp at the river mouth and east to the Ediz Hook has already been reduced by 44 percent in the year since dam removal began, said Helen Berry, marine ecologist at the state Department of Natural Resources.

Underwater video also shows a dramatic shift on the sea floor, with a transition in one year from lush pastures of seafloor plants to a war zone of tattered vegetation and large areas nearly denuded.

The reason is sediment. It is blocking light in the water column, and smothering the rocky seafloor with soft mounds of fine material transported by the Elwha, making it unsuitable for the holdfasts which kelp species need to affix themselves to the seafloor.

But scientists think the kelp’s demise is a gain for other species, in a reset of the nearshore ecology to a more normal state. Old maps show no kelp at the river mouth and east to the Ediz Hook.

The accretion of soft sediment is expected to provide habitat for sea grasses that nurture salmon, said Anne Shaffer of the Coastal Watershed Institute in Port Angeles. Soft, sandy beaches also could provide spawning grounds for a chrome tide of sea smelt and sand lance.

“I see it as a return to how things are supposed to be,” Shaffer said. “And we are only at the beginning of these ecological effects.”

Closest to the river mouth, the resumption of the river’s delivery of sediment is also hoped to slow erosion that has claimed up to 100 feet a year in some parts of the tribe’s reservation, east of the river.

Just how much of a difference will be made long term isn’t known, especially when, in about 10 years, the amount of sediment the Elwha delivers annually resumes to its new normal.

But for now, at the river mouth the results are dramatic as the river plays catch-up, gnawing at 100 years of entrapped sediment, and moving it out to sea.

Jonathan Warrick, a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center at Santa Cruz, Calif., is helping to map a new sand spit that has formed at the west side of the river mouth. It’s already about one-third of a mile long, and growing.

“I thought it would happen this year,” Warrick said. “But I am a little blown away at how big the bar is.”

Climate change a top concern for Gov. Inslee

Washington governor’s focus on the issue goes beyond ordinary politics. He says finding solutions is both a moral obligation and an economic opportunity.

By Andrew Garber, Seattle Times Olympia Bureau

OLYMPIA — There was a telling moment just before Gov. Jay Inslee raised his right hand and took the oath of office.

He was introduced as a politician who sees climate change as “an existential threat that transcends politics.”

“More than any other president or governor before him, Jay has an electoral mandate on this issue,” Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, told a packed audience in the rotunda two months ago.

If lawmakers did not grasp the significance of those remarks then, they do now.

Inslee talks about climate change all the time. He discussed it in his inaugural address, during most of his news conferences, when introducing a bill on the issue in the state House and Senate, even in announcing his choice for transportation secretary.

“This is about pollution with a capital P,” he said, testifying before the House Environment Committee this month on climate-change legislation. “It’s about reducing a pollutant, namely carbon dioxide, which has very, very significant impacts on Washington state, on our health, on our well-being and on our economy.”

Hayes, who is president of the Bullitt Foundation, said no one should be surprised by all this.

Inslee established himself as an authority on climate change and renewable energy in Congress. He co-authored a book, “Apollo’s Fire,” touting the potential benefits of a clean-energy economy. And when running for office, “it was the core of his campaign,” Hayes said. “He constantly referenced his … book. People knew what they were getting.”

Still, not everyone was expecting so much, so soon.

“I think there are greater, more pressing priorities at the moment,” said Senate Deputy Republican Leader Don Benton, R-Vancouver. “I think we need to look long term, and do little things that add up over time that will benefit and help the climate-change situation and the environment. But they are long-term strategies.”

Inslee, in an interview, said there’s no time to waste.

“If you have a huge problem that becomes worse over time, it doesn’t mean you should start later, it means you should start earlier,” he said. “This is not something that we just have to worry with our grandchildren. It’s happening today.”

No shortage of issues

To be sure, climate change isn’t the only thing on Inslee’s plate.

The governor is working on a budget. He’s pressuring the federal government to clean up radioactive waste at Hanford. He’s lobbied lawmakers to approve universal background checks for gun purchases. He’s looking for ways to implement the voter-approved legalization of recreational marijuana use.

Inslee is also pushing the Legislature to come up with more money for the state’s transportation system and K-12 education.

Yet there’s little doubt Inslee spends far more time talking about climate change than his predecessors, former Govs. Gary Locke and Chris Gregoire.

“I’ve had more time with him in the last three months on these issues than I had with Locke and Gregoire combined over the past 16 years,” said Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Technology & Economic Development Committee.

Inslee introduced a climate-change bill in the House and Senate aimed at developing ways to reduce state greenhouse-gas emissions and meet targets set by the Legislature in 2008. The measure creates a work group that’s supposed to come up with recommendations by the end of the year.

He also brought up the issue in relation to another bill he introduced dealing with long-term plans to improve water supplies in Central Washington, saying warming will reduce snowpacks, making it “absolutely necessary that we increase the water storage and water efficiency … in the Yakima River Basin because of climate change.”

(Watch Inslee speak about improving water supplies in Central Washington.)

And when he hired a new secretary of transportation, Lynn Peterson, he noted that motor vehicles are the state’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. “Lynn is very committed as I am in finding better options for people to get to and from work and reduce carbon pollution,” he said.

The governor’s staff says this is just the start of a deeper conversation on climate change.

Cliff Traisman, state lobbyist for Washington Conservation Voters and the Washington Environmental Council, said Inslee “is clearly not taking a play out of any political consultant’s playbook. That is for sure. And yes, people are surprised because he’s running against the grain. He is tackling the issue because he feels it’s a moral obligation to do so and an opportunity.”

It’s worth paying attention to that phrasing — a “moral obligation” and an “opportunity.”

That is the core of Inslee’s argument around climate change.

Moral principle

The governor uses homilies to get his points across. During testimony on his climate-change bill, House Bill 1915, he talked about watching his 4-year-old grandson play on the beach and “just seeing his face light up when he sees a crab or critter” coming up from underneath a rock.

“I can tell you with a high degree of assurance that unless you and I and other people in our state embrace a commitment that we’re going to see to it that our grandkids have that experience, they’re not going to have it. And the simple reason is the water will be too acidic to support those life-forms,” he said.

(Watch part of Inslee’s testimony on his climate-change bill.)

Richard Feely, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle and an acidification expert, said the governor was probably accurate when it comes to the Pacific oyster, but the science isn’t clear yet on other species such as crabs.

When GOP Rep. Shelly Short, of Addy, Stevens County, noted any reduction in Washington state carbon emissions would be minuscule compared to what China pumps out, Inslee responded it doesn’t change the state’s moral obligation.

“I know you’re not going to roll down the window and throw anything out the window tonight worried that somebody in another district won’t follow your ethical behavior,” Inslee said. “I think that is the best answer to this issue.”

(Watch Inslee’s exchange with Rep. Shelly Short.)

Climate-change jobs

The carrot the governor uses when discussing climate change is the prospect of jobs.

When he rolled out a jobs package last month, Inslee talked about how the state can be “an example to the world of how a clean-energy, climate-change-reduction strategy is a winning proposition economically. The reason we believe this, is this is something perfectly built for the skill set of the state of Washington.”

“We will not be passive while our state is ravaged by forest fires, by the loss of our shellfish industry due to ocean acidification, by the loss of irrigation water due to the loss of snowpack,” he said. “We are better than that, and we will not accept defeat.”

Inslee has talked about spurring the development of biofuels at a commercial scale, using biofuel blends at major state ferry and vehicle-fueling centers, helping business develop technologies to produce and consume “clean energy,” and creating a Clean Energy Fund to leverage investments in clean-energy technologies, among other things.

There are few specific proposals at this point. One example he’s discussed is using the Clean Energy Fund to provide funds to utilities to develop ways to store electricity from wind farms when the power is not needed.

Inslee’s office said more ideas will be fleshed out when the governor presents a budget proposal later this month.

One purpose of Inslee’s climate-change bill is to identify job opportunities that go along with helping the state reduce carbon emissions.

“This is an economic race and an economic imperative as much as it is an environmental one,” Inslee said in an interview. “We are competing with other countries for the first launch of these new technologies. … We don’t want to finish second or third.”

Skeptics in Legislature

It’s not clear how the governor’s proposals will fare this session.

Republicans, who control the Senate, say the state’s focus should be on jobs, education and the economy. Some even question that carbon emissions are causing climate change.

“Whenever you speak in absolutes about the science being concluded, history is replete with people being proven wrong,” said Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, chairman of the Senate Energy, Environment & Telecommunications Committee.

The Senate last week did pass Inslee’s climate-change bill, but Ericksen’s committee removed language talking about problems associated with global warming.

That was a major bone of contention in the Senate — how definitive the state should be in saying there is a climate-change problem, said Ted Sturdevant, the governor’s legislative-affairs director.

Specifically at issue is whether the Legislature should say that “Washington state is facing negative impacts from climate change,” Sturdevant said. “That’s where there is a divide here in terms of their comfort level in saying that, and the governor’s desire to say that.”

The distinction is important, he said, because Inslee feels “that responding to climate change here is both seizing an opportunity and responding to a problem. The governor wants to make sure this conversation acknowledges both of those things.”

In the end, the governor’s office agreed to take the language out. It has not yet decided whether to ask House Democrats to put it back in.

McCoy’s measures salute veterans and military families

Armed-forces training, experience recognized in legislation sent over to Senate

Clint Robbins, Legislative News, March 13, 2013

OLYMPIA — Here’s a definitive “no-brainer” we can all recognize: Men and women who have come out of the Armed Forces honorably should certainly receive respect and recognition for their service when they are pursuing a college education or professional licensing.

The House of Representatives today passed House Bill 1858 and House Bill 1859, sponsored by state Rep. John McCoy, to write this recognition into state policy.

“Colleges and universities should have a policy in place by December 31, 2014, to recognize and award academic credit for military-training courses or programs,” McCoy said of his HB 1858. “The policy must be submitted to the Prior Learning Assessment work group for evaluation. Schools must provide a copy of their policy to award academic credit for military training to enrolled students who have listed prior or present military service in their application.”

McCoy’s HB 1859 directs that military training and experience should satisfy requirements for professional licensing if the training or experience is documented and substantially equivalent to the requirements in state law.

“The Department of Defense is thrilled with the House passage of HB 1858,” said Mark B. San Souci, Northwest Regional State Liaison, Defense State Liaison Office, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Military Community and Family Policy.

“There has been good progress with the Washington State Prior Learning Assessment Group established in 2010 legislation,” San Souci added. “Passage of this measure continues that progress by requiring our college and universities to develop policies to provide earned academic credit for our new veterans when we have already paid for their training with our hard-earned federal-tax dollars. We are extremely grateful for Representative McCoy’s proactive approach to this issue to aid our new veterans and American heroes.”

“The Department of Defense is also thrilled with the passage of HB 1859 because it complements House Bill 1858 which has also already passed the House,” San Souci said. “This second bill leverages what Washington state regulatory agencies and boards are working hard to make possible — specifically, that newly separated military members should receive occupational-license credit, where deserved, for their military education and training. After all, this previous education and training has already been paid for by people’s federal tax dollars. If passed in the Senate and signed by the governor, Representative McCoy’s efforts on this issue and other, similar matters will greatly help our new veterans reach their academic goals — and then secure rewarding employment. We are extremely grateful for Representative McCoy’s proactive approach to this issue to make sure there are reasonable programs and policies for our new veterans and American heroes.”