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Legislation
2008 - WALPA Goes to Olympia – A report from Jonathan Frodge, WALPA Legislative Chair
Beth Cullen was wearing high heels that gave her blisters, and I had on a tie, and it was not a clip-on. BiJay Adams brought his wife and new baby all the way from Liberty Lake with Ron and Beth Cocchiarella. During our two days in Olympia, four Representatives, three Senators, and a passel of staff members heard WALPA’s pitch promoting two key bills: SB6228/HB3147 Protecting lake water quality by reducing phosphorus from lawn fertilizer and SB6229/HB3146 Requiring a comprehensive lakes management strategic plan.
President Cullen appeared before the Natural Resources, Ocean and Recreation Committee to present a ‘History of Lake Management in Washington State, and where that leaves us for the future.’ She laid out a brief history of lake funding in Washington, highlighting some neglected issues that need our attention. We’ll be working to get this presentation posted on the WALPA web site soon.
Even more importantly, many of the Representatives and Senators have heard from you. Your emails, calls and letters are the most powerful tool we have. I still haven’t gotten my Christmas letter out, but I did contact everyone on my email list about these bills, and many have contacted their elected officials. In fact I think someone contacted someone else who eventually got Kevin Bacon to send in his support! (Well, that may be an exaggeration.)
Five WALPA members testified for the phosphorus ban, blowing the golf course industry lobbyist out of the water. (Actually the golf course guy was OK; he just didn’t want to do any additional reporting to Ecology. Maybe we can make that change and come to an agreement with them…) We actually had more problems with another environmental lobbyist (whose organization shall remain nameless unless they cross us again). We also heard some doozies from opponents’ testimony, like the fact that no lakes drain into Puget Sound, that this bill will ban the application of compost, and that you’re going to steal our money (we’ve heard that one a lot). From our friends at Ecology, we heard that “it’s not in the Governor’s budget.” We may need to encourage our elected officials to keep pressure on Ecology to support these efforts, as there are rumors of resistance among some of the management in Lacey.
While neither bill will become law this session, we have raised the visibility of both issues in Olympia. The bills did not pass because it was a short session and we waited too long to schedule them on the House side, not because they lack support. The Strategic Lake Report bill was voted out of the Natural Resources, Oceans, and Recreation Committee with a do pass, but could not be scheduled in the Ways and Means Committee. The phosphorus ban for lawn fertilizer did not make it out of the Water, Energy, and Telecommunications Committee in the Senate or the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in the House. Again, both bills were making progress, but lost at the buzzer. So our new battle cry is, “Next year in Olympia!”
We’re getting better at this legislative work, and much of the credit goes to Arlen, our lobbyist. He has proven himself to be a good investment as he deals with the intricacies of the kabuki dance that is legislating. As we continue to learn about the legislative process, we increase our odds of getting these bills passed next session.
While the fate of this year’s bills has been determined, we need to continue to call, visit, and email our representatives and every member of every committee that has jurisdiction over lake issues (http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature). Keep those cards, letters, phone calls and emails pouring into representatives’ mailboxes. Get your friends, neighbors and grandmother to send them in, too, because it really makes a difference.
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2008 WALPA Legislation
WALPA requests your assistance with the following (2) legislative activities:
SB 6229 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6229)
SB 6228 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6228)
Please contact your legislator(s). Here's how:
Find your Legislators
Following the two links below will make it easy to find WA State Legislator contact info based on your home address or a WA map.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/statewide.aspx
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Proposed Washington State Lakes Program
Current Status and Needs
Due to the lack of a statewide coordinated program, the de facto approach during the past several years has been to manage problems on a lake by lake basis, funded by grants obtained by the most successful legislators for their perspective districts. Many of these projects have resulted in successful lake restorations, but several grants of questionable scientific, restoration, or protection value have been funded as well. This approach sometimes provides local benefit in the void created by the lack of a statewide program, but works against the creation of a broader statewide program. It is irresponsible to manage a valuable resource in this piecemeal fashion via lawsuits and legislation driven by user conflicts.
Recent projects have largely, if not exclusively, focused on nutrient control. Although nutrient control remains a primary concern in lakes across Washington, there are other issues that require a much broader view than can be effectively addressed on an individual lake or watershed basis. Issues of climate change, biodiversity, invasive species, endocrine disrupting compounds and toxic cyanobacteria require at least a statewide, or even broader geographic approach.
The issue of conflicting needs or lost opportunities is also critical to lakes. Because there is no program specific to lakes, opportunities are lost to protect them and they are not considered when deciding on activities or legislation that impacts them. The State has taken on a huge watershed planning effort in the past 10 years, but those plans are nearly silent on lake quality and protection issues. The proposed NPDES stormwater permits have a large state mandated monitoring component that has the possibility of significant impacts on the financial and logistical capabilities of local jurisdictions. But the focus of the mandated monitoring in the proposed permits is not in the receiving waters, which are specifically excluded from the required monitoring. This new, unfunded monitoring requirement is driving local work planning to reduce local funds and resources available for lake and stream monitoring. There is a current opportunity to realize some real efficiencies and coordination if the NPDES stormwater program is modified to address receiving water impacts. Lakes are directly impacted by stormwater and should be considered for inclusion in the required monitoring.
Technology and financing are often not available for watershed pollution controls. Long-term watershed solutions, even if fully implemented, will in all probability lag behind the impacts of urbanization. This focus and lag time are institutionalized in the TMDL process with money focused on restoration instead of protection.
In summary, Washington requires a comprehensive and effective statewide lake program to identify and address lake issues, set legislative and research priorities, and support local lake protection efforts. Long term watershed solutions alone are not enough if they are carried out in only the local context. Many other states with far fewer aquatic resources than Washington have far more extensive lake protection programs. Washington needs a coordinated program that will provide the scientific and legislative tools to protect and enhance the quality of Washington’s lakes. This program will only enjoy the broad citizen and legislative support necessary if the protection and recovery of Washington’s lakes are placed into the broader context of protecting the shared resources of our State, and that effort is coordinated across ecoregions.
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Download the
Download the bill information here: SB 6229 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6229)
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Proposed ACT Limiting the Phosphorus Content in Lawn Fertilizer
Statement of Need
Lakes are vital to the economy and environmental welfare of Washington State. Lakes are essential to the residents of Washington for critical water resources such as habitat for fish and wildlife, hydropower, aquifer recharge, drinking water, irrigation supply, and flood control. They also serve highly important functions for transportation, recreation, and as tourist attractions.
Phosphorus is one of the key elements necessary for growth of plants and animals; however phosphorus can cause harmful environmental impacts if increased amounts enter waterways. Negative impacts of excess phosphorus include, increased algae blooms, changing the lake ecosystem balance by decreasing the availability of dissolved oxygen for fish, changing predator-prey relationships and decreasing in water clarity. Although not all phosphorus stored in watersheds will reach lakes, only a small amount is needed to maintain or "tip" a lake into a nutrient rich (eutrophic) state.
Several Washington State lakes are experiencing rapid eutrophication due to excess phosphorus entering lakes through several pathways, the most common being the fertilization of lawn and turf. Adding phosphorus lawn fertilizer to soil that already has sufficient phosphorus to maintain a healthy lawn contributes to chronic nutrient loading problems. This sensitivity of lakes and rivers to phosphorus means even small sources of phosphorus in runoff—that by themselves may seem inconsequential—can result in water quality problems as phosphorus from lawns, streets, farm fields, and other sources in the watershed wash into lakes.
Changing land use patterns throughout a watershed can also increase the volume and rate of flow of runoff into lakes. In an undisturbed watershed, vegetation slows down runoff and water soaks into the soil. Development pressure frequently replaces lands that were once wooded or open space with lawns and hard surfaces (such as roads, buildings, and compacted soils). Water cannot penetrate these hard surfaces and runs off rather than soaking into the ground. Studies have indicated that lawns also significantly reduce infiltration of water, and increase both the amount of runoff and nutrients making its way to a lake.
WALPA has recognized the need to protect lakes, surface and groundwater and has adopted recommendations for that purpose. In an effort to reduce pollutants that contribute to algae blooms and water quality deterioration, WALPA is discouraging the use of lawn fertilizers that contain the element Phosphorus within the state.
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Download the Proposed ACT Limiting the Phosphorus Content in Lawn Fertilizer for more information.
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Download the bill information here: SB 6228 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6228)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WALPA AND THE ABOVE DESCRIBED LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITIES CONTACT: info@walpa.org or the president by phone at (206) 263-6242 (Beth Cullen - King County Natural Resources and Parks)