Writers offer differing views on Taylor Shellfish’s Oakland Bay plan, sound off about PUD
Public lands and shellfish farms
It is important to remind waterfront owners that the view you enjoy from your private property is not a private viewscape but is actually public land. These waters are to be made available for a variety of activities, including leasing, tribal fisheries, boating, fishing and many other uses that benefit the public.
Regarding shellfish aquaculture, not all aquatic habitat is conducive to growing shellfish. In addition to the environmental conditions, the state Department of Health, shellfish growers and tribal fisheries maintain very high standards for where shellfish can safely be grown and harvested. Intuitively, it would be bad for business to sell a product that gets people sick.
The Department of Natural Resources also has established measures to minimize environmental impacts from commercial shellfish farms. Shellfish companies, unlike most, will never be able to move their production overseas and will always have to hire local labor. Taylor will be required to pay the state to lease the area of their farm. And like the many uses that do lease aquatic land, the revenue generated from leasing goes to fund public access (see the new launch ramp at Boston Harbor) and seeding public shellfish beaches.
Finally, the DNR Aquatic Reserves Program has established criteria for managing important aquatic habitat for conservation. Setting aside areas for research and conservation would have to meet this criteria.
Waterfront property owners should learn to embrace the idea that their front yards provide an interesting array of activities that can only occur in public waters.
David Palazzi, Olympia
More than just neighbors should be concerned about Oakland Bay
Regarding Ms Sowersby’s Oakland Bay article, I take issue with Taylor rep Mr. Dewey’s remarks. The only place the community has been invited to air our concerns is in a legal setting in front of the Mason County Hearing Examiner and that was more than two years after Taylor started their efforts to privatize Oakland Bay.
Honestly if “Taylor’s best” is what we have experienced, it’s not good enough. We all should have a collective concern over how this process works and shouldn’t have to empty our wallets to protect Washington state waterways from commercialization to benefit Taylor.
The DNR has the primary responsibility to protect our natural resources; Taylor’s proposal doesn’t appear to comply with the DNR’s mission. Blocking the bay to sea life including whales as well as recreational boaters while leaving the rest of us a small margin on the outskirts of their 50-acre installation does not invite “making it fit” for the community — forcing it to fit for their singular enrichment is their goal! The 16 acres Dewey refers to as a trade for the 50 acres of waterway we believe is land they previously donated for Sunset Bluff Park and is only accessible by rope.
The DOH also has a responsibility in this endeavor. If they haven’t tested, it doesn’t mean the pollutants in the water are gone, it just means they don’t want to know what is truly going on in the bay.
Ginny Douglas, Tacoma
Money down the drain? Not exactly
We recently were away from our house for two weeks and while we were gone one of our toilets was running (flapper valve stuck). When I got our $800 water bill, I called Thurston PUD and was told that they noticed the high usage on Sept. 26 (the day after we left) and sent a technician out to check the meter. Apparently, they have an automated system that lets them know when things like this occur. The tech reported that the meter was working correctly. They didn’t leave a notice or bother to email, call or text me. They just let it go and sent me a bill.
I got to wondering how many customers have unexpectedly high usage that the PUD obviously knows about but doesn’t tell the effected customer. Is there a motive behind keeping this very important information from their customers? Maybe.
If you do the math, there’s no incentive to be “committed to providing superior customer service” like they say they do on their website. Instead of $800, my bill might have been $100 had I been notified. The PUD would have lost about $700 in revenue. If they notified every customer with unexpectedly high usage, they would probably lose thousands of dollars each year. It would be interesting to find out just how much money and water is wasted because the PUD doesn’t communicate water usage problems to their customers — problems that they know about.
Dennis Azevedo, Olympia
Israel and Palestine: Support the quest for mutual peace
With everything Israel is experiencing in terms of the bloody carnage caused by Hamas and, possibly, its operatives from Lebanon and Iran, Israel, in the eyes of the world, also holds its share of poor policy towards the Arab people living in both the West Bank and Gaza. Israel, like any country on earth, deserves the right to defend itself from any threat as long as respect for the rule of law and human rights go hand in hand. The same applies to already troubled Palestinian Authority territories where, sadly, women and gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals see their existence constantly violated, and more so than in Israel.
Just as the tragic events are drawing both consternation and solidarity, Israel’s leaders and Palestine’s leaders must come up with an absolute end to the conflict if they wish to coexist on the same land. Mutual peace surely will help end the convoluted geopolitical maelstrom claiming so many Israeli and Palestinian lives.
Erick Dietrich, Olympia
