Correction. More Honor. Environmental Lawsuit Settlement Tactics.

Last Thursday, I went to a forum on water, hosted by Doug Erickson and Vincent Buys. It was an upbeat rollout of a solution for some of the water woes of Whatcom County.

Simply said, constraints on water use from the Nooksack River Basin, driven by environmentally clad activism, legislation, and bureaucratic oversight, have risen to the level that local cities, tribes, industry and farms are being turned into bitter rivals. And, there seems to be no end in sight.

The rotating door of local and state environmentalist activist groups keeps putting fresh, enthusiastic, activists into the fray, attaching to, penetrating and wearing down local business and government leaders. Grant driven, environmentally clad, social reform pays well in Whatcom County.

The forum last Thursday had a sense of fresh air. A very high volume water flow, not hydrologically connected to the Nooksack Basin has been appropriated by the Birch Bay/Blaine water authorities. Excess water from these deep wells, added to the reclamation water from Blaine’s state of the art septic treatment system is being proposed as a solution to supplement the twelve or so “distressed” rural water systems located around and north of Lynden. For now, this water is beyond the reach of the environmentalists.

Time will tell how this plays.

Last Sunday, a friend sent me a link to a Growth Management Hearings Board Case 13-2-0022,  a very recent settlement extension. My friend said this settlement extension was for a citizen lawsuit against Whatcom County over water management, filed with the Growth Management Hearings Board. They said it showed settlement negotiations were ongoing between Whatcom County officials and the appellants, contrary to, and undermining Whatcom County Council’s decision to continue funding the appeal of the GMHB ruling on Whatcom County non-compliance in ground water management in Skagit and/or Thurston County Superior Court regarding this lawsuit.

After being challenged by another friend on a mix up of GMHB case numbers, I found the first information incorrect, and have rewritten this article to reflect these facts. The settlement extension is for Case 13-2-0022, not for Case 12-2-0013. No excuses for my error—please accept my apology and corrections.

The primary question I asked earlier still stands. Can Whatcom County Council members resist the request by the Futurewise supported appellants Jean Melious, David Stalheim, Laura Leigh Brakke and Eric Hirst to negotiate a settlement rather than undergoing the more rigorous scrutiny and final precedents of Superior Court? What if the GMHB was found out of compliance in their non-compliance ruling?

Who on County Council would want to negotiate a settlement with these folks? Carl Wiemer? Rud Browne? Ken Mann? Sam Crawford? Pete Kremen? Barry Buchanan? Barbara Brenner? Did not the County Council vote to continue funding for the appeal of this GMHB ruling to a higher court?

Why would a settlement not be better than a ruling? Why not kiss up and avoid the legal burdens?

“A typical way these policies get implemented is for environmental interest groups to sue a government agency under either the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and for the agency then to settle the lawsuit in the interest group’s favor.”

“Sometimes—as in a 2008 lawsuit filed against the U.S. Forest Service by three environmental groups to prevent oil, gas, and mineral extraction in Pennsylvania—the government not only settles the lawsuit but also pays the interest groups for their complaints (in that case paying out nearly $20,000)…”  - Sagebrush Rebellion Redivivus” by William Perry Pendley, Hillsdale College Imprimus, April 2014

Did not the Lummi Groundwater Management Lawsuit go to settlement several years ago, with the tribes coming out much bigger winners than they would have in a court ruling? Did not Washington State grant property rights not in law to the Lummis by refusing to complete the court adjudication? By going to settlement, did not Washington State leave private non-tribal land owners subject to tribal approval if they want to buy or sell their parcels? Is this not an effort to create a tribal reservation by fiat, contrary to fee title law?

Settlement Tactics 101.

One. Raise environmental concerns through the media / education / smart growth echo chamber. Fully research environmental laws and tort options. Watch for an alignment of sympathetic bureaucrats, judges and elected officials.

Two. Bring an egregious lawsuit that has little chance of standing up in final courts. Request benchmark claims that make all ears ring and eyes bug open.

Three. Wait for lawsuit fatigue to set in.

Four. Offer to drop the lawsuit if a settlement with some teeny, weeny concessions can be made.

Five. Negotiate a settlement behind closed doors, in extended executive sessions, getting as much as possible in the process. Make those giving up things feel guilty for existing. Rely on your media echo chamber to cover your back. It is of utmost important to destroy the morale of your opponents. Resource use changes come after the social fabric is melted and reformed with “social equity”.

Six. Retire into the shadows

Seven. Do it again, in another place, at another time, with another issue. Activist lawsuits and court rulings happen all the time, only usually at a state or federal level, far removed from our local sensibilities.

In American Representative Republican Democracy, elections have consequences. County Council may legally flaunt open public meeting laws with back room executive sessions to deal with lawsuit driven issues. What a gift between environmental comrades. And what is the test for the rest of us?

Honor. Virtue. Should collusive lawsuit tactics draw dirt in reply? In the face of evil, render what?

What was the major foundation of American Democracy until post civil war anti trust legalese was needed, leading to Constitutional Societies drumming up the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the 1930’s?

Rule of honor. A mans word was his guarantee.

Rule of honor. Elected officials were accorded more honor, and generally served with honor.

Rule of honor. Virtue, not religion, not money had the highest respect.

Rule of honor. More honor. Elections have consequences. Elections place officials on stage for service, for praise or shame. In the end, what counts more? Water? Salmon? Shell fish? Crops? Manufactured goods? Drinking water? Children?

Whose children? Who will the next generation honor?

Here’s the rub. Children will honor the adults who deal with honor. Can elected officials rule with honor? Yes. Is this an honorable lawsuit? Doubtful. Was a pressurized settlement always the end game? Likely. ReSources has proven, locally, that small lawsuits do get cash settlements rather than run up larger legal fees. And, ReSources and Futurewise have the hot line to County Council right now, in this big stakes lawsuit. Is this not so?

Honor? More honor? County Council, Whatcom County is watching.

The Washington GMHB enlarges to 150 days the settlement period for a citizen lawsuit against Whatcom County packing house rules.

The  Futurewise et al lawsuit against Whatcom County over groundwater management policies.

How environmental activists sue and settle for maximum gains

Supreme Court ruling protects efforts to designate all childrenas wards of the state and strike down parental oversight rights.

Uncommon Ground

Epistemology. What is it? Webster’s Collegiate Fifth, page 336—

“ the theory or science of the method and grounds of knowledge,

especially with a reference to its limits and validity.”

In other words, how you know what you know.

A couple of nights ago, I viewed a documentary on climate change, the geological speculations of Michael J. Oard . Historical climate change. Warm seas. Wet warm valleys. Cold, glaciated mountains. Millions of dead woolley mammoths, buried beside hippopotamii. Washington State’s Missoula Lake flood. Interesting ice age theories. Interesting stuff. Controversial stuff. How does he know what he says he knows?

Michael J. Oard, has a B.S. and M.S. degree in atmospheric science from the University of Washington. He was a research meteorologist for 6 years at the University of Washington. In 2001, he retired as a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Great Falls, Montana.

As for myself, I grew up in Alberta, Canada. Cold, dry air winters were the norm. Maximum three feet of snow on the ground. Extreme temperature swings of 80 degrees were common, when arctic air was pushed aside by dry chinook winds from the west coast. Sidewalks with a ground temperature of -30 F built up a half inch of frost when air temps moved to +50F in a matter of two hours. Could this be called climate change? Three feet of snow was reduced to a half a foot in one day, and rivers of water flowed down sloping streets.

Then, the bitter cold came back with a vengeance, leaving streets and sidewalks a dangerous aggregation of frozen slush and lakes in various non-navigable patterns. The ground frost remained all winter to a depth of at least four feet. No one dug new foundations until the middle of May. Climate change! Yeah! Of sorts.

Our family moved to the West Coast 23 years ago. I love the mild winters where I can “play” in the dirt all year around. Granted, the gray, watery days keep things in perspective, but I love the ground here.

Uncommon ground. A very wise man once wrote, “Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house”.

What creates commerce? Markets? Need! Some would say, desire.

We live in an age of specialization. The great majority of people do not produce their own food. They have largely forsaken the field, the ground. Silly city people hug trees and finger shells and pretend food independence. For them, growing food is uncommon, something to preach about and regulate for others, but not to do.

Soil is relatively heavy to a man. Opening the soil for seed, whacking weeds, training vines, turning in amendments and fertilizers, digging out the precious fruits—this takes strong arms and backs.

Fossil fuels (and electrical power conversions) have made possible this detachment from the soil. In Washington State, significant water power has been harnessed as well. Wind and solar power is a dream that moves closer, but (grind your teeth if you wish), it is oil that puts food on our plates.

Uncommon ground. In 1994 we purchased five acres as a family playground and homestead. In 1999 we purchased four milking sheep. Our family has grown to nine, that is seven children. This is uncommon ground. I get asked if I am a Mormon or a Catholic. I am neither. We see children as a gift, the seed of the next generation, a legacy of hope, not something to be flushed down the toilet the morning after, like many other “Christians” of our day.

Uncommon ground. Sheep take work. Children helping is a win-win situation. We had to weather several learning curves at once. Fieldwork. Animal husbandry. Farm shelters. Milking skills. Cheese and yogurt making. Ice cream making was not so hard! We did this on the cheap. No bank loans. Seasons of waiting for cash to build up. Seasons of trying to orient to government health rules based on large, quick capital infusions. We wanted our children to see how businesses used to be started when grants and loans were not the norm. We have enjoyed not feeling the bite of the bank.

Uncommon ground. We took the time to relate our heritage to our “farm”. Have you ever read what the Bible says about farming? About sheep? About milk? The Bible is a big thing in our larger family circle. Maybe not yours. Probably not, especially if you are one of the privileged, “educated” class who eats what other people grow. (I do have a college degree). We love to contribute in our local church fellowship. We share our soil’s produce and our Bible insights there.

Uncommon ground. You may notice that I will post to Whatcom Works less frequently in days ahead. I am working on another website which will be called UnCommon Ground. Whatcom Works is supposed to be a local “Drudge” page for news and conservative commentary. Digging up and writing stories and aggregating news has to take a back seat to earning a living. I do not have EPA grants to allow me to watch other people all day as they grow my food.

But, it is the uncommon ground that holds the potential for the future. Political process and public policy spring out of the community of people in their given locale. Neighbors actually have a lot of uncommon ground. How can we come together? A lot of acceptance is needed. Patience. Negotiating. When uncommon worldviews mix without trust or giving, there are wars.

Uncommon ground. He who sits above the circle of the earth walked uncommon ground with men 2000 years ago. Christmas has roots. So does Easter, or Pasqua, or Passover. If you don’t like religion, don’t read our work at Uncommon Ground. But then, don’t brag about being a tolerant liberal.

Thanks for your time. Have a good Whatcom work day!

--- JK

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The Great Ice Age – Awesome Science Media

Michael J. Oard, B.S., M.S., University of Washington