A federal official who expressed serious concerns about Clark County’s plans for managing stormwater runoff said Friday he will reconsider his position after he learns more details about the county’s plan.
Steven Landino, the state director for habitat conservation in the National Marine Fisheries Service, sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Ecology, which oversees the federal Clean Water Act. Landino wrote that Clark County’s stormwater plan was a threat to salmon and steelhead.
Landino’s letter touched a nerve with county officials, who had been back-and-forth with the state over stormwater rules until a compromise was reached last December.
The Rosemere Neighborhood Association, Columbia Riverkeeper and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, all represented by Earthjustice, a Seattle law firm, have also challenged the county’s plan and have threatened to sue under the Clean Water Act.
Landino acknowledged Friday that his staff member who wrote the letter did not first talk to anyone with the Department of Ecology or Clark County.
Landino signed the letter, “so the buck does stop here,” he said. “But we didn’t have the kind of conversations prior to writing (the letter) that would have made the best letter.”
Landino said he will meet July 13 with Kevin Gray, the director of Clark County’s Department of Environmental Services.
“If we said something we shouldn’t have said, we’ll correct it,” said Landino, whose office is in Lacey.
He said his office has been pushing the Department of Ecology to set higher standards for flow control and water quality.
“We want things to go well for fish,” he said.
Stormwater runoff is federally regulated as a major source of water pollution because it contains toxic metals, oil, grease, pesticides, herbicides, bacteria and nutrients that run off buildings and pavement into streams.
Last year, the county settled a long-running feud with the state over how far it must go to reduce polluted runoff. The state agreed that the county did not have to meet the state’s “presettlement runoff standard,” which requires that newly developed sites drain as slowly as they did prior to Euro-American settlement.
Under the county’s plan, the developer has to ensure that flow conditions do not change, and the county will make up the difference by restoring flow conditions elsewhere in the same watershed, Gray said Friday.
The county has enough money to pay for restoration for approximately three years, depending on the rate of development, Gray said.
At that point, it will be up to Clark County commissioners to decide whether developers or property owners should bear the burden of restoration costs.
Landino’s letter was sent after the state sought feedback on Clark County’s stormwater permit, which will be issued this year and list what conditions will have to be met.
In the letter, Landino expressed concern that since the state found that Clark County’s stormwater management plan was an acceptable alternative, then other jurisdictions could use it. In a “worst-case scenario,” every similarly-sized jurisdiction in western Washington would follow the Clark County model and end up threatening not only salmon and steelhead but the killer whale, which munches on salmon.
That may have been a stretch, Landino said Friday.
Gray said the county’s not out to starve the killer whale. He said he’ll appreciate the opportunity to speak with Landino. He said the county has worked well in the past with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
“We have the same goals and the same values, and we have been very innovative with our salmon recovery plan,” Gray said. “We want to continue that valuable relationship.”
Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4508 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.
