| On 22 October, the Sierra Club released a special report,
Locke's Legacy: Water Crisis, in which the environmental
group vigorously criticized the environmental record
of outgoing Governor Gary Locke. The report focuses on decisions
by Gov. Locke that are damaging the State's waters, fisheries, & public health.
The report is being released as Gov. Locke prepares for
his final legislative session, & as candidates in the
2004 election are developing positions on water issues, & as
concerns grow about fresh-water supplies in the U.S. and
around the world. High in the group's list of the
Governor's errors was his active support for the "dirty fill bill",
special legislation passed in the last regular session
to allow the Port of Seattle to continue bringing arsenic-contaminated
fill materials to the Sea-Tac third-runway embankment.
That legislation is under a constitutional challenge in
the Supreme Court.
Former Director of the Department
of Ecology Tom Fitzsimmons draws severe criticism as
well. Mr Fitzsimmons left Ecology
on 1 October to become the Governor's chief of staff. The new
interim director of the Department of Ecology is former
Deputy Director Linda Hoffman.
|
