May 25, 2008
Sewer of Corruption (XLVI)

"Mistake sends raw sewage into Ravenna Creek"

An estimated 8 million gallons of raw sewage has poured into Ravenna Creek after county crews mistakenly diverted it into a Seattle storm drain, a King County spokeswoman said Saturday.

The sewage has overflowed at a rate of 800,000 gallons a day for 10 days and likely went into Union Bay, county Wastewater Treatment Division spokeswoman Annie Kolb-Nelson said.
...
The King County Wastewater Treatment Division is ultimately responsible for what happened and could face penalties

In other words, it's Ron Sims' fault, but you and I get stuck with the bill.

You know, if Sims really wants to protect Puget Sound, he would do better to keep King County government focused on its real work at hand, instead of fooling around with all sorts of grandiose nonsense.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 25, 2008 02:15 PM | Email This
Comments
1. Word.

Posted by: Hinton on May 25, 2008 03:08 PM
2. King Sims has always done better waving his arms in support of a grandiose scheme than with practical matters. Take elections for instance.

Posted by: deadwood on May 25, 2008 04:31 PM
3. The thing that's irritating about Democrats is that they never want to assume personal responsibility for anything.

Smoke cigarettes for 50 years and get cancer? Heck, that ain't your fault: it's the fault of the tobacco companies.

Cut your hand off while using your Sears lawnmover as a hedge trimmer? That's Sears fault 'cause they never said on the lawnmower to not use it as a hedge trimmer. Deceptive labeling from the get-go. Sears' fault - you get a gazillion dollars.

I suspect Sims is NOT going to assume any responsibility for any sewage spills, nor will any other Democrat from KC.

Posted by: Politically Incorrect on May 25, 2008 04:50 PM
4. Sims's "Ten steps to reduce greenhouse gases today" are an affront to any thinking citizen of a democracy.

1. Know your "carbon footprint"
2. Bus, bike or walk to your errands.
3. Change your commute times, etc etc etc.

What Their Arrogancies are proposing is a top-down aristocracy which rules its citizens, rather than a Council which represents them. They are approaching the mindset of a Politburo. This is the sort of central-command propaganda that the early Soviet Union blasted out into its villages from loudspeakers mounted on utility poles, first thing each morning.

If Their Arrogancies are honest enough to lead by doing, let them commute by bus, walk to their meetings, trade in their limos and SUVs for bicycles, conduct all meetings by conference calls, turn down all County thermostats to 65F and attend no meetings outside the County of King.

But they are not so honest, and will not lead by doing. And by failing to act as if there's a global emergency, by failing to adopt the minimum steps thoughtfully provided above, they are demonstrating that there's no global emergency at all. For them, it's all about increasing their power over the citizens (not to mention spotlighting the activities of the Great Leader).

Vote no for every incumbent on the County Council next election. Time for representatives, not commissars.

Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on May 25, 2008 06:22 PM
5. What was that phrase?? "accuracy the banking industry would envy." Not everywhere Ronnie.
If that was a private company, the county and left contingencies would be kissing every news camera in town screaming for the stiffest of penalties. But I'm sure they'll come around and blame Bush for it.

Posted by: PC on May 25, 2008 06:28 PM
6. Right PC, wasn't Bush in town recently? Oh yeah, that was Bush III and he was in North Bend agreeing with King Sims on AGW.

Posted by: deadwood on May 25, 2008 07:12 PM
7. What a mess!

Posted by: Michele on May 25, 2008 08:01 PM
8. Wonder what happened to the individual(s) that wrongly directed the sewerage into the storm sewer ? Eight million gallons is no small error.

King County had better get back to the basics instead of the grandiose fluff of achieving "carbon neutrality". Rumor is that Ron Sims will not run for County Exec next time. The UN should pick him up as a consultant for big government bureaucracy or maybe he can work as a lobbyist for Maxine Waters to help her achieve government control of the major oil companies. Then he will come out of the closet as a full-fledged socialist/Bolshevik that he has been under the guise of political correctness.

Posted by: KS on May 25, 2008 08:51 PM
9. My question is, why does such a "lever" exist?

Posted by: mark on May 25, 2008 10:29 PM
10. In private sector mistakes, an employee that made such a mistake would probably be fired. But this is government, so he or she will likely get protection from the union and their usual wage increasae. It's not their fault, it's the valve's fault. Blame Bush and collect milliions too.

Posted by: Jeff B. on May 26, 2008 01:47 AM
11. I totally agree, why does a diversion to Union Bay even exist? I bet Karl Rove did it!

Posted by: Easycure on May 26, 2008 08:08 AM
12. What I find amazing is that 550 gallons every minute of raw sewage for 10 days in an urban creek were not noticed.

This stream is under intense scrutiny by all of King Sim's enviro-buddies. Where were they? Or does he get a pass because he's in tight with them over global warming?

Posted by: deadwood on May 26, 2008 08:10 AM
13. What's really sad here is that King County might get fined $50,000 by the DOE for the 8 million gallons of raw sewage, but I know farmers who were fined $50K and lost their farms for just a teaspoon worth of pollution - that's no joke, it really happened - and it happened only a few years ago the last time King County dumped 8 million gallons of raw sewage.

Posted by: Doug on May 26, 2008 09:06 AM
14. There's a term for incompetence of this magnitude in King County - "Simbecile".

Posted by: Smoley on May 26, 2008 01:21 PM
15. Just what was in that teaspoon?

Posted by: BA on May 26, 2008 09:22 PM
16.
This is why the Republicans must win.

At the very least its getting an incompetent rulership out of power so some measure of reform and oversight can return...whether it's at the polling box or in the sewer drain.

Seattle needs a change.

Fill in the dot for Rossi.

Posted by: John Bailo on May 26, 2008 09:31 PM
17. Perhaps the odor of the excrement and other non-particulate materiels will help identify the real cause of problems in King County: THE BOSS SIMS ADMINISTRATION. I would like the name: BOSS SIMS to catch on and stick. It is the best discription of this 'global warming', Hillary supporting Democrat.

Posted by: Bob Clark on May 27, 2008 03:01 AM
18. And yet there are people on this board quite willing to believe that King County can control the Earth's climate.

Posted by: Gary on May 27, 2008 06:58 AM
19. BA, it was a chemical that at the time was available over-the-counter for people to use in their yards to kill mosquitos. The lesson learned from that incident was that the DOE has no problem going after farmers who can't afford legal representation, but they are quite hesitant to take on large cities and counties, because it's too expensive of a proposition in the long run.

King County can expect a little slap on the wrist for this massive affront on the environment, but a peon citizen would get toasted. Think of how many people in the rural areas were slapped with fines and red-tagged for non-up-to-date septic systems that over their life could leak a few thousand gallons of raw sewage. That's right Tens of Thousands of homeowners outside of King County were forced to pay upwards of $25K for new systems.

If the state wanted to 'correct' King County in such a way that it would be commenserate with how they 'correct' the smaller folks, you could be looking at billion dollar fines for this spill.

Posted by: Doug on May 27, 2008 09:29 AM
20. Boy, we sure have come a long ways from when sewage plants dumped basically untreated water into Lake Washington and really untreated water into Puget Sound with impunity.

A one time shot into Ravenna Creek won't hurt anything. But, the County should have to face the same consequences as inudstrial polluters.

Posted by: swatter on May 27, 2008 09:57 AM
21. good ol KC; best minds running the premier agency;

mistakes happen, but given their long line of "mistakes," one wonders; esp. about the voters re-electing them; too bad this "river of votes" did not flow down Ron's residential street;

sounds like another imminent blue-poo ribbon study & investigation given to a cronie's law office;

Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on May 28, 2008 05:42 AM
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