Rep. Toby Nixon (R-Kirkland) has a guest editorial in "The Northlake News" and "Woodinville Weekly" regarding the Brightwater Sewage Treatment Plant, with this poignant observation:
Environment groups regularly intervene to keep cows away from stream banks, but acquiesced to Ron Sims over building a 36- million-gallon-a-day sewage treatment plant on top of a sole-source aquifer serving more than 10,000 customers and adjacent to an important salmon-bearing stream.Consider the overreaching, costly and unproductive environmental restrictions on private land throughout King County under the "Critical Areas Ordinance." Isn't their purpose incongruent with King County's placement of a sewage plant above an aquifer AND a fault line? Posted by Brian Crouch at May 28, 2006 09:27 AM | Email This
The vocal, litigious, breed of environmentalists are old guard socialist and communists dressing in green. Hence the moniker watermelons, green on the outside red on the inside. Look at the whose who were in the old CPUSA, the Nuclear freeze movement in the '80 and the current environwackos, you see a of the same groups and names pop up.
Ron (tax to the max) Sims is nothing if not a good old fashioned communist commissar. There he and watermelons are birds of a feather.
The proof is in the lack outrage from the watermelon crowd. If they were truly pro-environment they would be suing, protesting, and all the other tactics they use against things political they do not like.
Posted by: JCM on May 28, 2006 08:53 AMToby Nixon should be applauded for raising the alarm over this outrageous scheme. Instead, I fully expect the Dhimmicrats to go on a full offensive, not to seek the truth, but the bury it, and with Nixon in their crosshairs.
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 28, 2006 09:28 AMWhat is Ron Sims' motivation for building Brightwater?
Another act (in an endless list) of foolishness or a place to bury bodies?
What?
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 28, 2006 10:15 AMThank's Ron!
Posted by: Fed Up on May 28, 2006 10:28 AMWith the constant expansion of housing, some new sewage treatment facility is needed - just saying NIMBY forever doesn't make the need go away.
It may well be that there is no good place to situate such a facility, leaving a "least harm" solution left.
Posted by: H Moul on May 28, 2006 12:08 PMBrightwatergate -- SEWAGE TUNNEL over seismic fault . . . OR CONSPIRACY??
Maybe it is as simple as you say . . . but wait. It just seems like there is something more to this story not being discussed . . . yet.
If Sims were a Republican, you know damned well there would be an investigation of "what we don't know" about the culture of corrrrrrrrupt-i-o-n.
Where are the secret funds? Why is Gregoire stone walling? Did Nickels really offer to bribe someone or is his boyfriend just feeeeeling chapped? What is that wily wabbit Sims up to?
By golly -- enquiring minds want to know Sims boy -- what up????
Brilliant!!
Gregoires's friends bought up the property where Brightwater is going to be built, and she is doing a little trade-off for Sim's help in forcing Voting by Mail into effect. She's also greasing enviro-pac skids to cut the red tape for other projects, by sending officials on junkets overseas on the public dime.
She owes Nickels and friends and he wants a precedent for building a trendy but vulnerable facility over a seismic area so he can overcome objections to building an "Alaskan Way" tunnel. Then Sims can get Jimmie's vision of a "bronze plaque with his name on dedication day and a golden shovel for the press."
This is all starting to come into focus now.
Thanks.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 28, 2006 12:30 PMI think you KLOWNS focusing on the wrong imminent threat. But if it keeps y’all busy & happy, I’m all for it!!!
Good thing you have the great Scientists Albert Einstein Gore and Ron “Central Washington Psychology Degree” Sims lookin’ out for you!!
SIMS has an undergraduate degree from CENTRAL WASHINGTON IN friggin’ PSYCHOLOGY!!!!!!!!
Show me where in his vast resume, Sims has become an expert in GLOBAL WARMING much less Sewage Treatment Plants and Critical Areas???
How much HARD SCIENCE did Ron take to get his CWU PSYCHOLOGY degree??!!!
These KLOWNS remind me of what Andy Griffith used to say to Barney Fife………"you beat everything, you know that!!”
However, the only thing that will bring some BALANCE to Seattle is that Cascadian Fault Line cuttin' loose!
Do the people affected or the affected municipality have the option of sueing Sims and his band of corrupt (in other areas) elitists ?
Posted by: KS on May 28, 2006 02:21 PMCan we please try this fix first?
Posted by: Chris Yetter on May 28, 2006 02:31 PM(and btw, govt. is better than everyone, so they don't have to follow the same restrictions they expect everyone else to follow, right???????)
Posted by: Michele on May 28, 2006 03:30 PMSaturday, May 27, 2006
Judge pays off debt for cutting park trees
Money funds full-time gardener, native plantings
By JENNIFER LANGSTON
P-I REPORTER
Nearly four years after more than 120 cherry and maple trees were cut down in Colman Park to create a better lake view, a federal judge has fully paid off his debt to the city.
Senior Judge Jerome Farris of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has paid a total of $618,000, city officials said Friday.
It’s the result of a settlement reached in 2003, in which the judge agreed to pay $500,000 plus 12 percent interest.
Here is his BIOGRAPHY:
Farris, Joseph Jerome
Born 1930 in Birmingham, AL
Federal Judicial Service:
U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Nominated by Jimmy Carter on July 12, 1979, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629; Confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 1979, and received commission on September 27, 1979. Assumed senior status on March 4, 1995.
Education:
Morehouse College, B.S., 1951
Atlanta University, M.S.W., 1955
University of Washington, J.D., 1958
Professional Career:
Private practice, Seattle, Washington, 1958-1969
Judge, Court of Appeals, State of Washington, 1969-1979
Race or Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
The big difference between George Washington and Jerome Farris is that Farris LIED about cutting down the cherry tree!!!
I contacted the state DOE to find out what risks this gas station would cause if built over an aquifer. The response was both surprising and infuriating. I was told that even if built to the strictest regulatory standards, that there was still a 5% to 10% chance that the underground tanks would fail, and potentially destroy our aquifer that currently supplies the water to thousands of homes at risk.
Upon contacting King County the response was as expected. It was the public's fault for not challenging that letter "P" in the table. Of course, our representatives in government had no responsiblity to protect and defend the interests of the people; certainly not when millions in development permit fees were at risk. Not even the gas company was concerned about the risk to our community, but that was not a surprise either.
That station opened up a year ago, so now the clock is ticking.
If you don't get it yet, King County government exists to work for and to shield special interests from the people. Once King County has codified any decision, project or program into law, those special interests have now been insulated from any further challenge and nearly any liability. Any subsequent challenge by the people is a challenge to a government that can only respond with more of our dollars, while those interests move on to the next way to siphon tax dollars.
Don't count on Sims or anyone within King County government to "act" in the defense of the neighbors of Brightwater. Any failure of Brightwater that might destroy an aquifer is a problem for some future government. What's important is that Sims and this current government reap all the benefits from the growth industry for their expansion of sewage capacity, and to hell with the consequences. They'll be someone else's problem!
Posted by: MJC on May 28, 2006 03:43 PMTheir goal is to restrict the availability of land and resources for human use. If that means destroying an aquifer, so be it.
Posted by: supercat on May 28, 2006 09:05 PM"I'd like to know if they actually knew this beforehand and were sitting on that information - has this been substantiated ? If so, the s**t should hit the fan - big time."
Oh yes - they most definitely knew!
Check out www.thewellingtontimes.com In a section of the Brightwater article called Evidence of a cover up you can view a June 2003 email from the USGS to King County
"Field investigations by one of our geologists...suggest that one very strong possibility is that we have evidence of a crustal fault."
Five months later, without waiting for the USGS to study this, Sims decided to site Brightwater at Highway 9.
The s**t should be hitting the fan but unfortunately Sims seems to control not only the s**t but the fan too!
Posted by: The stinking truth on May 29, 2006 08:54 AMIs Brightwater over an aquifer? - Yes
Is anywhere in the Puget NOT over an aquifer? - No
Is the Aquifer below Brightwater in danger from hypothetical spills? - The Aquifers (Yes there's more than one) below Brightwater are separated from the surface by hundreds of feet of clay and silt that do not allow easily broken down treated or untreated sewage much if any chance to contaminate the aquifer.
Much of the mis-information about Brightwater and the Aquifer have to do with the EPA designation of "Sole Source Aquifer" given to the Cross Valley Aquifer that underlies the county boundary area.
The "Sole Source Aquifer" designation is not based on science but is a political artifact whose usefulness is questionable.
In fact most of the water used to supply homes in this area is not even from the Cross Valley Aquifer, but from the Tolt Reservoir.
The other bit of propaganda here has to do with seismic activity. There are two major faults known in the area and it is likely some other are also there but have not been mapped. The known faults are the Seattle Fault which runs along the I-90 corridor and the Tacoma Fault, which parallels 20 miles to the south.
We know that Issaquah, Mercer Island, and North Bend are directly over a major fault. While we might suspect that a fault could be present beneath the Brightwater site, there is no evidence that a fault underlies that location. All we know for sure is that bedrock is shallower in the county boundary area than it is to the south and north. There are other geological explanations for this bedrock ridge.
If we as a society choose to live anywhere along the west coast, from Alaska to California, we are in some danger from seismic activity. Although some would otherwise, science doesn't know all the risks and cannot protect us from everything.
From what I know about the Brightwater plant and the planning which has gone into it, it far better planned than the existing plant in Renton, which is much closer to a known fault and to known salmon runs, as well as being over taxed and old.
Toby is playing the same game that the left and the enviros have been so successful at over the past 30 years. He is using half truths to create fears of environmental catastophy.
I expect better from the Republicans.
Posted by: Deadwood on May 29, 2006 11:12 AMYou framed your objection as a criticism of our willingness to "buying the propaganda" and claim that the concerns that Toby raises are "half truths to create fears of environmental catastophy (sic)." You answer the easy questions fairly straight forwardly, but you fall back to opinion and intimation (half-truths!) on the hard ones.
My read of Toby's column was that we don't know what lies beneath the soil at Highway 9. His complaint is that King County, at the behest of Ron Sims is recklessly and deliberately fast-tracking this project despite the voiced concerns of experts. No where does he state a claim that the site is definitively under a fault line. He does echo the concerns of others who wish to make certain that the project won't suffer catastrophic failure in the event of a seismic event.
Yep, sounds like propaganda to me!
I don't know where you live. I don't live anywhere near this site, and as such will not feel the pain of its failure if that occurs. That fact doesn't change my opinion that, if you're gonna build it, build it right! Not being in the direct path of stinky-poo brings me no more comfort that the "knowledge" that "...most of the water used to supply homes in this area is not even from the Cross Valley Aquifer...". Bon Appetit!
Anecdotally, you cite the Southend Treatment Center in Renton and compare it unfavorably to the Brightwater plan. Funny, as I see it, even the 40+ year old technology of that site is more thoughtfully planned than the new one. Should a seismic event occur, and the plant be breached I would prefer that the overflow drain out into the Sound rather than into my neighborhood. Maybe there is something about the stink that you like?!
Your closing shot at Toby and Republicans is just juvenile. I expect better from trolls.....
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 29, 2006 12:58 PM1. Crap flows downhill just like rivers, putting a sewer plant on the top of a hill doesn't make any sense. At the bottom of about 99% of slopes in S. Snohomish county is a salmon bearing stream, and 99% of S. Snohomish county is on top of aquafier.
1b. Where does a lot of the crap go in S. Snohomish go now. Directly into the ground completely untreated in the form of backyard septic drain fields --- Ugggh. At least with Brightwater it gets treated.
2. The current area is full of junk yards, what about all that run off of oil, rust, etc.
3. Most of the new developments are already eliminating storm water run off or reducing it's flow by code. Check out the massive retention ponds and underground storage tanks developers have to put in for even a 5 acre development.
4. Every single location suggested by the site pickers had major objections.
5. You people are immature. -- land values will go up as people use a sewer instead of a gross drain field. Stop being neaderthals and join the modern era.
Well john, from the sounds of it, this neaderthal suspects that you will soon be swimming in it (not that you mind!)
Thank for the laugh!
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 29, 2006 02:31 PMGet back on your meds. You need em.
Posted by: Amused by liberal bull$hit on May 29, 2006 03:21 PMBoth Pt. Wells and and the Highway location are "brownfields," polluted locations requiring mediation unless a use can be found won't require mediation.
Highway 9 was junk yards lots of automotive fluids in the ground.
Pt. Wells was a petroleum transfer and tar plant.
The big advantage to Pt. Wells was it was on the Sound, where the treated sewage ends up.
Not only do you have to move all the crap to Brightwater, then you have to get it to the Sound.
With Pt. Wells you have to move the crap to plant, and the sound is right there.
Shoreline, in specific those who can afford the views (and political contributions) in Innis Arden and Richmond Beach wanted Pt. Wells for a park. Because it's pollution, that is not likely to happen.
From the logical perspective I never understood picking Highway 9 over Pt. Well (and I live in Shoreline).
Posted by: JCM on May 29, 2006 04:57 PMI'd rather visit a nice coast line on the sound rather than a crap treatment plant. Last time I checked Highway 9, the junk yards, and the few salmon streams are not exactly a tourist destination. Even the salmon stream stinks a good part of the year, I mean 100's of dead fish on the shore and stuck in logs around the bank doesn't smell exactly good.
Posted by: John McDonald on May 29, 2006 07:20 PMInteresting.
"100's of dead fish on the shore and stuck in logs around the bank doesn't smell exactly good."
Hey John, little hint . . . don't go there.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 29, 2006 11:24 PM