I worte this Op-Ed piece for a Yakima paper....

The Loss of Local Control

“Greetings” my neighbors to the south. I come bearing tidings from Kittitas County that should be of concern to all the people of Yakima County. I know it’s easy to ignore us in our under-populated county north of you, but that is exactly what the State of Washington and her governor hope you will do. There is nothing less than a complete loss of local control at stake and the opening battle is being fought in your backyard. The bad news: the state is winning.

For reasons that are not quite clear, the clumsy and indifferent bureaucracy we call the state of Washington has targeted Kittitas County in an opening assault to seize all land use decisions from local county governments. If they are successful, we will be living in a state where west-side environmentalists will have their boots on the throats of eastern Washington residents. They want our land. They want our water. If we are not careful, they are going to get both.

Kittitas County is currently serving as their proverbial “canary in the coal mine” to see how much they can take before the people push back. My fear is that if Kittitas County capitulates today, the state will be coming for Yakima County tomorrow.

In the last few months, Kittitas County has received a host a World Wrestling Federation slap-downs from our governor and her appointed boards. Our land use laws have been tossed. Our comprehensive plan has been invalidated. Now there is an attempt to shut down our wells. All of these things have been done in direct conflict with our locally elected officials and their democratically arrived at decisions.

In June of this year, the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board (EWGMHB), a group of unelected Gregoire appointees, issued an “order of invalidity” striking down large portions of the Kittitas County Comprehensive Plan. The urban growth nodes were eliminated. Our ability to create three-acre zoning was thrown into question.

Following closely on the heels of that decision, the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), a group of Gregoire appointees, overruled a local decision to reject a wind farm along the Yakima River. Our County Commissioners had earlier approved the largest wind farm in the state, but felt the location of this farm overly burdened local land owners and environmental concerns. Didn’t matter what our elected officials felt. EFSEC and the Governor told us that our local land use ordinances had no effect and the wind farm will be approved regardless of local input and rule of law. Interestingly there are five “interests” represented on the EFSEC board: Department of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources, Community Trade and Economic Development, and Utilities and Transportation. Not a single private representative in the group. No one to speak for land owners, private property, or local control.

Just last week, we got hit again. A new group, Aqua Permanente, which is closely aligned with west-side funded radical and fringe environmental groups such as Futurewise and The Ridge, have petitioned the Department of Ecology to prohibit the drilling of any new exempt wells in Kittitas County. We are all holding our breath up here. If we lose this one, most of our land will become worthless and economic development will halt immediately.

Right now, it is only Kittitas County that is suffering the arrogance of unelected Gregoire appointees. But let’s be clear. Although they are only coming for us today, they will be coming for you tomorrow. We are confronting the very real possibility that an indifferent majority of west-side voters will be colonizing eastern Washington. To many of them, we are nothing more than people who happen to live on resources they want. From their perspective, it is acceptable to build homes, factories, and businesses where they, and their children, live. We, however, are supposed to leave our land undeveloped… just in case they want to come fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, or camping in “their” backyard.