May 13, 2000: Reach appeal offered to Clinton

Reach appeal offered to Clinton

This story was published May 13, 2000
By Mike Lee
Herald staff writer

With the Hanford Reach's future possibly days from being decided, Mid-Columbia county officials offered an 11th-hour plea Friday to President Clinton.

Taking a conciliatory tone, they invited the president to "cast your own eyes upon the Hanford Reach" before using administrative powers to secure the stretch of the Columbia River under federal control.

A decision on the status of the Reach could happen as soon as next week.

"I would hope there is still opportunity for discussion," said LeRoy Allison, Grant County commissioner.

Staff for Bruce Babbitt, Clinton's Secretary of the Interior, confirmed Friday that Babbitt was visiting the Hanford Reach by bus and boat Tuesday. But they said the president would have to make the call, not Babbitt.

"He's coming out to look at it, not to name it a national monument," said Stephanie Hanna, at the Interior Department in Washington, D.C.

Other key political figures who have made the tour in recent years include former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Gov. Gary Locke and a former top environmental appointee of the Clinton White House.

Babbitt's tour is different because of his ability to influence the Clinton administration to immediately place the Reach under federal protection and shut out local officials.

"We need to look at providing permanent protection to this unique area," he said in a press release.

With the end of the Clinton administration just months away and Northwest environmentalists upset with Vice President Al Gore over his lack of support for breaching the lower Snake River dams, designating the Reach for federal protection is seen by some as a political play to secure environmental support in the coming presidential elections.

And, it fits a Clinton administration goal to protect important lands before a new administration comes in, federal officials said earlier in the week.

Babbitt is planning to hold a public meeting about the Reach from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Red Lion Hanford House in Richland.

And he's taking some time Tuesday to meet with county commissioners who have drafted a plan for federal, state and county management of the Reach instead of sole federal control.

Mid-Columbians have been fighting over the future of the Reach for years. After several stalled bills in Congress and broken compromise talks, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said it's time to move forward and make sure one of the West Coast's best salmon spawning grounds is protected.

Murray long has enjoyed a strong base of support in the Tri-Cities - at least among environmentalists - for her push for federal control. Her backers say the river's resources are too precious to leave to the whims of county politics and budgets.

On that point, there's much disagreement. "If we have the local responsibility, we will see to it that the Hanford Reach is taken care of," said Sue Miller, chairwoman of the Franklin County Commissioners.

Carl Mansperger, Franklin County farmer, wants Babbitt to see more than the Reach.

"Why not take him up through the agriculture (land) and show him the concerns of the farmers up there," he said.

Like many farmers, Mansperger worries that if the federal government turns the 51-mile stretch of river above Richland into a national monument, it eventually will lead to restrictions on their way of life.

"The danger is that a bureaucrat ... will stop irrigation," he said, citing several instances in the Mid-Columbia where federal agencies have disrupted local plans.

County commissioners, pleased they at least will have a few minutes alone to sway Babbitt, railed Friday against federal land grabs made possible by the Antiquities Act of 1906. The four-paragraph law gives the president discretion to "declare by public proclamation" national monuments covering "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest."

The Clinton administration's use of the act has sparked controversy across the West. And county leaders said Friday that it doesn't appear to allow for their input on land management.