| Watershed plan opponents pack hearing October 7th, 2004 Sequim, WA-- More than 150 people filled Sequim’s Guy Cole Convention Center last night for the continuation of a watershed planning hearing. Most of those who testified during the two-and-a-half hour evening hearing urged county commissioners to send the proposed plan back to the planning units for further revision. Many of those who opposed the plan, said it places too many regulations on exempt wells of residential property owners. They said the county commissioners shouldn’t let themselves become the scapegoats for the state Department of Ecology by decreasing the amount of water that may be drawn from a residential well. Current state law allows an exemption of up to 5,000 gallons per day to be drawn by a residential well. A handful of plan supporters last night said water resources need to be addressed and the document included the best science available to deal with it. But opponents of the plan worried the recommendations would soon become burdensome regulation and complained that the planning process excluded many. Commissioner Stever Tharinger says part of the reason the planning process began was the state’s desire to deal with a backlog of water right applications that can't be granted under current law because too much water has already been allocated. The proposed watershed plan encompasses the watersheds stretching from the Elwha River to the Sequim Bay area. The hearing was continued to Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Written testimony will be accepted until noon that day. RELATED STORY: More attacks on watershed plan 10/7/04 A handful of support, but overwhelming opposition to adoption of a controversial watershed management plan for Clallam County. That was the general theme Wednesday night, as county commissioners faced a capacity crowd at Carrie Blake Park in Sequim. This second hearing into the Elwha-Dungeness Watershed Plan, also known as WIRA 18, drew an even larger crowd than the first hearing in Port Angeles last month, with upwards of 200 people showing up. But the general message remained the same, with most of the speakers blasting the 500 page plan as an ill-conceived document that needed a lot more work. The idea of the plan is to frame a management plan for the two watersheds that is based on local guidelines, rather than having the state Department of Ecology implement its own rules without county input. Critics fault the 4 years of work on the plan, saying the science is shaky, and expressing fears about new rules restricting water use. Not everyone in the audience was critical of the WIRA (sic) plan, which already has the endorsement of the local cities, tribes and irrigators who hashed out the details. A few stepped forward to encourage commissioners to proceed. Commissioners have three options with the plan; accept it as presented, remand it back to the committee for further work, or do nothing, leaving the door open for the state to impose its own regulations. People will have a third, and final chance to comment on the watershed plan this coming Tuesday during the commissioner’s regular morning meeting. That’s also the deadline for written comments. (Comment on the PNN story: The reporter came about halfway through and left before the hearing ended. He was not present to hear testimony from Sequim Mayor Walt Schubert who made it clear that the Sequim City Council had not approved the plan, and he was against it as written. The reporter also missed a testimony by one of the planning unit members who had signed the proposed plan, who requested the commissioners send it back to the planning units for more work.)
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