The body would represent the first time the county has paid formal attention to the PFAS contamination crisis between Airway Heights and Spokane since the chemicals were found in West Plains groundwater more than 7 years ago.
County Commissioner French said the county had hired an attorney to “draft agreements” to pipe water to residents with forever chemical contamination. Prosecutor Haskell told Commissioner Chris Jordan the county was planning no agreements.
Washington’s current cap-and-trade program isn’t perfect, but if Initiative 2117 passes, not only would the current program die, the state would be prohibited from trying anything similar in the future.
Voters will decide in November whether Washington governments will be able to move away from fossil gas, a potent contributor to climate change, when they vote on Initiative 2066.
Officials have raised questions about the origins of ‘forever chemicals’ on the grounds of Spokane International Airport. An investigation released last week said the contamination probably resulted from SIA firefighting training.
We want you to stay cool, stay safe and care for your community in the heat. Volunteers are needed, plus donations of bottled water, hydration packs and fans.
After years of silence on West Plains ‘forever chemicals’ — and with an election looming — County Commissioner Al French has promised to pipe water to ‘everybody’ with a contaminated well, but his plan is thin on detail. Meanwhile, he’s known about the contamination since 2017.
For years, the air force base relied on a now-outdated standard for ‘forever chemicals’ to assure West Plains well owners they were out of harm’s way. The EPA has established a much lower, legally-binding drinking water limit for PFAS, and Fairchild’s water provision program will likely expand.
As the blaze devastated Medical Lake last year, it also lit a pile of demolition debris on the campus of a state psychiatric hospital. DSHS officials say it occasionally flares but is not a threat to public safety or health.
