Monday, January 3, 2011

Washington State Department of Ecology faces cuts

From this story in the Seattle pi: 

"...Earlier this month state lawmakers, faced with declining revenue from taxes and fees, reduced the state Department of Ecology's budget by $5.8 million. They'd already reduced cut $38.9 million from the agency's budget earlier this year and in 2009, as the effects of the Great Recession set in. Next year, even more could be taken out as Gov. Chris Gregoire is proposing more trims..."

Bet they're glad they spent 3 years chasing me around for a bunch of wood chips on my farm.  Couldn't be happier to see their budget cut.  The article talks about oil spills and toxic chemicals, but in my neck of the woods, they were chasing wood chips and farmers. 

So please do focus on the toxic chemicals, ecology.  Focus your remaining resources on the biggest threats and leave the little guys alone. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Focusing on guys like you might give them a better return on their investment. Don't most little guys fold sooner, giving them what they want?

Bruce King said...

The first thing that Paul Anderson said to me was that I could be fined $10,000 a day. Most folks, when faced with that sort of threat, back down pretty quickly.

Maybe you're right. It's unlikely that a small landowner will hire and pay attorneys -- but very likely that a corporation will do so.