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Hanford Reach deal in chaos
WASHINGTON - A six-month effort to broker a compromise providing long-term protection for the Hanford Reach apparently has collapsed, with environmentalists saying Monday that Sen. Slade Gorton's staff torpedoed a deal they thought they struck with local officials. A Gorton spokeswoman, however, denied local officials ever signed off on any agreement. Grant, Franklin and Benton county commissioners backed that stance. The proposed compromise, which already had been drafted into bill language, would have provided federal protection for the Hanford Reach while at the same time creating a 12-member board of local officials, tribal officials and representatives of various interest groups to develop a plan for future management of the area. The proposal also called for a comprehensive study of erosion of the sensitive White Bluffs, which line one stretch of the 50-mile Reach, and would provide federal funding for a handful of local projects ranging from a visitors village in the Tri-Cities' Columbia Park to a sewage system for Basin City and a boat launch at the Vernita Bridge. Rick Leaumont, chairman of the conservation committee of the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society, said environmentalists were convinced they reached an agreement with most local officials until Gorton's chief of staff, Tony Williams, and a legislative aide for the Washington Republican arrived in town almost two weeks ago. "We thought it was a generous agreement," Leaumont said. "We tried to make it a win-win for everyone. Then Sen. Gorton slammed the door and said no." Washington's other senator, Democrat Patty Murray, also thought a compromise had been reached and her office had a bill prepared, said Tovah Ravitz, a Murray spokeswoman. Ravitz said Murray, who long has supported designation of the Reach as a federal Wild and Scenic River and had been prepared to introduce the bill and push for its passage, was surprised when the compromise fell apart. "Our understanding is Sen. Gorton and his staff didn't agree with the compromise and suggested it wouldn't work," Ravitz said. But Gorton's spokeswoman, Cynthia Bergman, said Murray and environmentalists must have been mistaken if they thought commissioners from Benton, Franklin and Grant counties and other local officials had agreed to the deal. "We don't consider it a compromise when local communities are opposed to it," said Bergman. "We want a compromise, but this isn't it. In their zeal to craft a deal, they (environmentalists) overlooked the impact on local communities." Gorton and Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., have adamantly opposed any effort to provide federal protection. They insist the state and local communities could do just as good a job in protecting the Reach and its important salmon spawning beds. Hastings said he advocates "a shared partnership between federal, state and local representatives" to manage the Reach. The three counties' commissioners had two fundamental objections, according to commissioners Sue Miller of Franklin County, LeRoy Allison of Grant County and Max Benitz Jr. of Benton County. One objection is the perception county governments are giving most of the ground in any proposed compromise, while the commissioners believe the pro-federal control backers have not budged. "We have given and given and given, and they have not given," Miller said. The other fundamental objection is over who would have the final say if any local-tribal board cannot reach an agreement on a Reach issue. State and federal representatives would be nonvoting board members under the compromise. Allison and Benitz argued the Fish and Wildlife Service still would have actual authority over the Reach because it would control the budget and the spending priorities. Consequently, any board would be stuck with a merely advisory role, they contended. Any board would need actual authority to control federal dollars and priorities at the Reach before the county governments would consider re-addressing a compromise, the commissioners said. Now, the three sets of commissioners want to continue to back Hastings' longtime proposal to create a joint federal-state-local commission to manage the Reach with the local governments having the final say in any deadlock. James Watts, a Tri-City labor leader who served as a mediator in the negotiations over the compromise, said the proposal remains under consideration, even though there has been some "backing off" by Gorton's office and some local officials. "We are right in the middle of this," Watts said. "It's a tentative, ticklish situation." Leaumont said he and other environmentalists first were approached last summer by Ben Floyd, a Benton County staffer, about negotiations to explore the possibility of a compromise on the Reach. The talks, which lasted through the fall, involved environmentalists, Floyd, Adam Fyall, who represented Benton, Franklin and Grant counties, and other local officials. Watts was brought in to help because of his ties to both Republican and Democratic offices on Capitol Hill and a so-called facilitator was loaned to the talks by Battelle. Under the compromise, the Reach would have been protected under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and a commission created to develop a management plan. The 12 voting members of the commission would include representatives of each of three counties, representatives appointed by the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Wanapum tribes, two representatives from the environmental community, a representative from the recreational community and a representative of local agricultural and utility interests. Nonvoting members of the commission would include federal and state representatives. The secretary of interior would have to provide final approval of the management plan and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would implement it. Among other things, the compromise would have required assistance to the Wahluke School District to develop curriculum focusing on the history and ecology of the Hanford Reach and funding for a Columbia Park visitors village, the Basin City sewer project and the Vernita Bridge boat launch. The compromise also called for an analysis of economic development in the Mattawa area and construction of a White Bluffs memorial to commemorate the region's original tribal inhabitants, early European-American settlers, veterans of World War II who have ties to the Reach and the role of Hanford in the Cold War. | ||