Water-Fish Recovery Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. Farmers in Whatcom County are upset, saying that Governor Inslee is sending a mixed message when it comes to his commitment to water, fish recovery and the worsening drought.
Save Family Farming’s Dillon Honcoop says despite the Governor’s claim that we can’t continue to “push snooze” on climate change, his solutions are lengthy …
HONCOOP … “The governor is simultaneously is supporting a process here in Whatcom County and the Nooksack River Basin that would push snooze potentially for twenty, thirty, some say possibly even forty years or more on doing some real on the ground work to protect fish, to get more water in the streams and to protect local farming.”
Honcoop says the Governor offers no solutions when they’re needed …
HONCOOP … “It will also create a huge amount of community distrust, literally pitting neighbor against neighbor here in our community as the state and the process that they want, which is called a Water Rights Adjudication, would bring everyone to court, would sue every water user, everyone with a water right, here in the Nooksack Basin, and force them to defend it in court, sometimes at the cost of their neighbors.”
Honcoop says another problem is misleading messages from the Department of Ecology on how the adjudication process works.
Tune in tomorrow for more on water rights and fish recovery in the Nooksack River Basin.
