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Can we trust those who don't trust us with Reach?
The Clinton-Gore Administration's plan to unilaterally designate the Hanford Reach a national monument highlights a disturbing trend with which we in Central Washington have become far too familiar - this administration's repeated pattern of ignoring local residents. Time and time again, the federal government has chosen to take decisions out of our hands when compromise and thoughtful solutions still could have been achieved. What's disturbing is that meaningful public involvement in how we protect our natural resources is becoming less a part of the equation. And it doesn't have to be this way. One of my top priorities in Congress has always been to bring some much-needed balance and common sense to land management policies and to ensure that the views of local residents are taken into consideration before decisions are made that will affect their jobs and communities. A gratuitous one-day listening session by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt just doesn't cut it. What this controversy really boils down to is trust. The Clinton-Gore administration is asking us to trust it to protect the Reach and its surrounding lands, even though its proposals show it is completely unwilling to trust us with an equal say in the decision-making process. When someone asks to be trusted, common sense suggests you check their track record. Since actions speak louder than words, let's review the record: * Snake River Dams: The most recent example is the administration's decision to play politics with the dams by pressuring the Army Corps of Engineers to alter its scientific recommendation in order to satisfy those who wish to breach the dams. How can we trust federal officials who allow White House political pressure to overrule sound science? * Kennewick Man: The 1996 discovery of the skeleton gave us a rare chance to look back in time to help determine what life was like 9,000 years ago. But before we had the chance to fully examine the area where Kennewick Man was discovered, the Corps began burying the site under tons of rocks and dirt. Incredibly, this was done after the House and Senate approved language authored by Sen. Slade Gorton and myself prohibiting this burial. How can we trust federal officials who say they will "listen to local input" when they so arrogantly ignore the will of Congress? * Wahluke Slope and White Bluffs: When it comes to the Hanford Reach, this administration already has removed local decision-making authority on the lands north of the Reach, called the Wahluke Slope, and put it under total federal ownership and control. Local residents must wonder why, however, since for years the administration has ignored the most immediate danger to the Reach and the delicate salmon spawning beds below - the sloughing of the White Bluffs into the river. Instead of agreeing to my plan to drain the large lake that has formed above the White Bluffs, which causes the sloughing, and construct a channel to prevent future standing water, the administration has sat back and let this problem continue. This should make us all question whether the administration sincerely wants to protect the Reach. In fact, nowhere in Central Washington has the administration proven less trustworthy than the Wahluke Slope. After all, these lands were taken from local residents prior to WWII and the federal government promised to return the lands when the mission at Hanford was over. However, when these lands were no longer needed as a buffer zone, the Clinton administration moved quickly to ensure they stayed in federal control. Given this administration's sorry record, it seems the only way we can trust the promises they make is by turning a blind eye to the promises they break. The Hanford Reach is already protected by law - a law that I wrote and Congress passed. The law prohibits dam building, dredging and channeling of any kind. The only reason the Clinton-Gore administration is trying an 11th hour national monument" designation is to add to its environmental "legacy" at our expense. This is the wrong thing to do. We should all be concerned when decisions that can and should be made at least in part by local residents are taken entirely out of our hands and given solely to federal bureaucrats. This community has worked too hard for too long on a balanced solution to protect the Reach. For this administration to once again step in and blatantly disregard the ideas and expertise of those who know this resource best and care about it most - the people who live and work in Central Washington - shows just how little they trust us to manage this important resource. We should all ask ourselves, why should we trust the Clinton-Gore administration to manage the Reach when they are so obviously unwilling to trust us? * U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings was elected in 1994 to represent the Fourth Congressional District. | ||