Washington State Environmental Policy

A community round table on the way forward on Washington State Environment Policy Implementation must now be convened in light of the current realities of the state budget. We will need to revisit our priorities on clean water and air goals. Our ultimate goals will remain constant however, the time line to achieve these goals may need to be elongated. From the look of things and debates on the senate floor, the final draft of the state budget is going to involve some deductions and or eliminations that will impact the environment and environmental policy implementation. Yes, may be not as large as was contemplated when the bill was on the house floor, but the reality is some cuttings or elimination is eminent and as responsible environmentalists, we may not be getting all we desire this year. The Nine billion dollars anticipated budget short fall is going to impact all aspect of the State economy; sadly so, the environmental initiatives. We are told, without new tax obligations, the spending on environment protection is probably going to be about half the level we are today. Debates will continue to rave, but we must be prepared to accomplish more with less; and I believe as determined people on issues impacting our environment, we can and we will! We must not show any trepidation, we must move to refashion and repackage our message to get support from the private sector to achieve our clean air and water goals.