This is not new: Ecology has been after our water for a very long time

Opinion by Lois Krafsky-Perry
Citizen Review Online

March 2, 2009

(This letter addresses the response from Cynthia Nelson, Department of Ecology. whose letter was printed in the Peninsula Daily News at the same time a letter from Dick Pilling of Port Angeles was run regarding the Ecology meeting in Sequim.)

Sequim, WA - The letter by Cynthia Nelson, who has been roaming around our county for over 15 years, deserves some observations.

The first question one might ask, “is it ethical to divulge a letter and encourage answers to a letter before it is published?

In her dissertation, Nelson continues to refer to hundreds of local tax-payers and citizens, who attend meetings as, “the audience”. If that be the case, then who are the performers?

Recently the writer publicly stated  they are going to present information to the “county.”  That raises another question.  Would that include county commissioner Steve Tharinger, longtime Chair of the Dungeness River Management Team (DRMT), who has helped craft many of their plans?

That “conflict of interest” question has been asked  more than once, and never seems to get an answer.

Nelson continues to speak in generalities and offers promises for the future in the same way.

When asked about measuring flows, she states that their scientists can provide more on that question, if needed.

One cannot help but wonder if their scientist will be available at the same time she contacts her, “numbers man”, with whom she said she would have to ask, when she could not answer a citizen’s question.

Threaded through the letter are comments such as, “if needed and if deemed necessary”.  Does she make the  determination and if not, then---who does?

A glaring paragraph deals with mitigation and also buffers.

Nelson states, “The effect of mitigation would be to minimize future effects of development and to provide a small buffer.”

Who would provide the property for the small buffer, how would her people acquire it, and how small or large is that buffer?  Should we guess or will the answer be supplied later, in an email, by a scientist, “with extensive history on Dungeness ground water issues”.  

Stay tuned!