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Benton official changes stance
Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver endorsed a proposed compromise for managing the Hanford Reach on Tuesday, publicly breaking with the unanimous stance previously held by the nine commissioners from Benton, Franklin and Grant counties. The proposed compromise would provide federal protection for the Reach and create a 12-member advisory board of local officials, tribal leaders and representatives from several interest groups to develop a long-term management plan. The same compromise appears to have stalled - even with Oliver's own board of commissioners. His two colleagues and the Franklin County commission have objected to the compromise's proposal for a Wild and Scenic River designation, which they say would keep effective control in the hands of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Oliver wants the compromise, which has been drafted into bill language, sent to Sens. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Reps. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and Norm Dicks, D-Wash., for bipartisan review. "It would be self-defeating not to send it forward because there isn't unity," Oliver said during a press conference. Kennewick Mayor Jim Beaver and Jim Watts, a Tri-City labor leader who helped mediate the negotiations to develop the compromise, also attended. The three men are concerned that if the compromise doesn't move forward for public review, all local control could be lost and the region could lose economic development and tourism opportunities. "With a stroke of a pen, the president of the United States can make this wild and scenic," Beaver said. "Decisions made in Washington, D.C., are not all the time in the best interest of local jurisdictions." Beaver said he feared all local control would be ceded to the federal government if the compromise isn't pushed forward to the congressional delegation. Over the last nine months, Watts has worked on a compromise with environmentalists Ben Floyd, who is Benton County's sustainable development manager, and Adam Fyall, who represented the three counties and other local officials. "All in all, it was frankly a good compromise," Watts said. "It offered a lot to the Tri-Cities." Watts said the compromise would provide economic and tourism opportunities to the Mid-Columbia. "Frankly, now, the Tri-Cities economy is becoming a two-legged stool," Watts said. "A wild, scenic river would really aid in the third leg of the stool" - tourism. The compromise calls 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. Although Oliver said he spoke only as an individual commissioner at the press conference Tuesday, his action apparently upset members of all three county commissions. "I was never notified," said Frank Brock, a Franklin County commissioner. "Claude is out there on his own." Brock said his board supports a move toward local control of the Reach and opposes giving Fish and Wildlife authority over the area. LeRoy Allison, a Grant County commissioner, was irked he wasn't notified about the press conference and said his board's position has been portrayed inaccurately. He said his commission has not taken on a position on the compromise because the members were waiting for a briefing from Floyd and Fyall. "I'm disappointed that there was an undercutting of communication," Allison said. "How can we be accused of taking a position?" Allison said that before he makes up his mind on the Hanford Reach portion of the Columbia River, he wants to talk ot members of the informal committee about its ideas for managing the area. Max Benitz Jr., Benton County commission chairman, said Oliver should have notified him of the press conference because thatis customary commission procedure. Benitz added that in a 1997 letter to House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Oliver opposed a federal wild and scenic river designation for the Reach. Oliver said he has changed his position since 1997. "That's what needed to happen in 2000," Oliver said. In 1997, "There was no process. There was no group trying to work something out." | ||