February 29, 2016 Wendy Harris
Time to start calling people and organizations out for sustaining the status quo while pretending to do just the opposite. And we can feel the fall-out locally. Notice what is not being discussed in our comp. plan and CAO? How is it possible that the county staff tells us the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area is working well and does not need any change.. while we have some of the worst ground water nitrate contamination and 30 years of studies that establish the source is manure.
There is barely a mention about AG being connected to any environmental problems, yet it is connected to almost all of our environmental problems. Anyone ready to cough up some courage and stand up to the AG bullies by calling this out and asking the county to address these problems?
This does not mean opposing agriculture, it means addressing the problem and advocating for adequate regulations to protect water, land, air and wildlife. It means favoring small organic farms that limit the use of chemicals and herbicides and grow food for people, not cattle. It means using incentives to support the type of agricultural we want and need, not all agriculture indiscriminately.
This is not radical. What is radical is to continue to ignore the problem while our water quality and quantity declines, and other natural resources are lost permanently. What do you say, Whatcom County?
noisy waters northwest 