A quick rundown of the legislative achievements, if you can call them that, from Olympia’s last session. Would like to see the detailed list of where all the money actually went. Can’t seem to find it. I do know that money is going to go to Dungeness River restoration work. More will be reported as I find the detail in the budget.
Please do not avert your eyes because you see the words Olympia or Legislature. Yes, the double-overtime session was exhausting and exasperating, but lawmakers did talk about more than taxes and budgets. Important, if incremental, progress was made on various environmental fronts. Lance Dickie writes.
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2021422514_lancedickiecolumnxml.html
And the Washington Environmental Council did a little better at telling the story.
http://wecprotects.org/legislation/end-of-legislative-session-update
- Secured nearly $200 million for Puget Sound restorationand water quality improvements, $65 million for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, and $10 million for forest health projects that improve habitat and fish passage, mitigate forest fire risks, and contain diseases that make our forests vulnerable to fire.
- Adopted bipartisan bills to address and prevent pollution from derelict vessels plus resolve some of our biggest concerns on changes to the Model Toxics Control Act. In addition, we worked with the Environmental Priorities Coalition to defeat a number of bad bills, including one that would have allowed the Pit-to-Pier project on Hood Canal and coal train transportation projects to benefit from an expedited permitting process.