Take action to support local government

“Government is best which is closest to the people.”

---President Lyndon B. Johnson

House Bill 1188 needs support from rural residents who believe the governor should not have sole say over issuing permits for industrial energy development anywhere in the state. As the current law stands, any industrial energy developer can leap over local zoning and community development plans and apply for permits through the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC).

EFSEC and its expert staff have taken the responsibility seriously, and demonstrated their ability to work with local community and tribal concerns in the Horse Heaven Hills project. Tri City Cares, the group opposed to the project was willing to live with the EFSEC proposal. So was the Yakama Tribe. It was a hard discussion, trade-offs were made, and local input was heard.

And then it went to former Gov. Jay Inslee, who had sole final say on issuing the permit. He rejected the work of EFSEC and local citizens, sent it back for revisions, and triggered lawsuits by Benton County, the Yakama Tribe, and Tri-City Cares.

HB 1188 puts counties and tribes affected by a project permitted by EFSEC back into the loop, BEFORE a project goes to the governor. HB 1188 gives local communities more leverage in discussing tradeoffs and seeking benefits for their communities. HB 1188 restores land use decisions to the county, avoiding wasteful spending on lawsuits when an out-of-touch governor ignores local government.

HB 1188 needs help to make it out of committee before the legislative cutoff deadline. Tell the legislature you want to see a vote on HB 1188 by joining the petition at https://www.hb-1188.com/

“When you are in local government, you are on the ground, and you are looking into the eyes and hearts of the people you are there to serve. It teaches you to listen; it teaches you to be expansive in the people with whom you talk to, and I think that that engagement gives you political judgment.”

---Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama