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Washington Water Watch
May 2019
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Help ensure clean and flowing waters in Washington State by making a gift to CELP!
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You Can Also Give to CELP Through Planned Gifts!
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You can make a donation to the Center for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP) through your will or living trust.
You can also name Center for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP) as the beneficiary of your IRA, SEP-IRA, 401(k), 403(b) or other retirement plan assets, which can have significant estate tax advantages.
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CELP Summer CLE
June 20th, 2019
Ivar's Salmon House
Join CELP for summer CLE the day of our Celebrate Waters Celebration. This year's speaker is Amanda Cronin with AMP Insights.
Celebrate Waters
June 20th, 2019
Ivar's Salmon House
Join us for our annual water celebration - Celebrate Waters.
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Gov. Inslee Expands Drought Emergency to Nearly Half the State
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| Photo by Department of Ecology |
Dear friends of CELP,
As you may have heard, Governor Inslee declared an emergency drought declaration back in early April. Since then, he has expanded that declaration to nearly half of the state. Poor water supply conditions and warmer and drier weather predictions through the summer have us extremely worried.
Snow pack conditions are less than 50% of the average for this time of year, and the Washington State Department of Ecology is expecting a warmer and drier summer than in year than years prior. All this makes CELP's work more critical than ever, but our work would not be possible without supporters like you. We rely on generous donations from our members and supporters to hold our lawmakers and agencies accountable for protecting Washington's rivers and streams.
Renew your membership today on our secure website.
In this issue you will find information about this year's Summer CLE, Celebrate Water, CELP's involvement in your community, and a legislative wrap up highlighting some wins for water laws in the most recent legislative session.
Sincerely,
Trish
Trish Rolfe
Executive Director
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Celebrate Waters 2019
Join the Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CELP) for our annual fundraising event,
Celebrate Water, on Thursday, June 20th!
Help us commemorate another successful year of CELP's work advocating for Washington's rivers and streams! This year, we will be presenting
Larry Wasserman with the Ralph W. Johnson Water Hero Award. As the Environmental Policy Director for the Swinomish Tribal Community, Larry has an extraordinary and distinguished record of activism for the state's waters and salmon, and has contributed to important legal protections for these resources. We will also be hosting a silent auction featuring great items and gift certificates from Patagonia, Fishpond, the Mariners, and more!
When: Thurs. June 20th, 2019
Where: Ivar's Salmon House
Time: 5:30pm - 8pm
Join CELP for a one-hour CLE just before our Celebrate Water event from
4 to 5 pm.
CLE Speaker: Amanda Cronin with AMP Insights.
CLE Topic: "Incentives for voluntary groundwater mitigation in Arizona - What's in it for water users?"
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Ralph W. Johnson Water Hero Award Recipient: Larry Wasserman
From 1991-2007 Larry Wasserman was employed as Environmental Services Director by the Skagit River System Cooperative ("SRSC"), which represents the fisheries interest of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. This work entailed advocating for the protection of natural resources and specifically for the protection and restoration of habitat essential for anadromous fish. From 1982-1991 he was employed in a similar capacity by the Yakama Indian Nation. In 2007, Larry began work exclusively for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, however his duties still encompass similar work as part of daily SRSC operations.
A significant portion of Larry's work over the last 25 years has entailed advocacy for the protection of Tribal water rights and the protection of instream flows which benefit all citizens in the State of Washington. He served on the Water Resources Forum established by Governor Booth Gardner in 1993. Larry has been quite active at the local level in the development of the 2001 Skagit Instream Flow rule and the negotiated agreement that led to its formation. Larry is currently involved as part of the Swinomish Tribe's increased efforts to protect instream flows in the Skagit River that have been due to the Department of Ecology's 2006 amendments to that rule that provided for additional out-of-stream uses. Larry also is actively involved in the review and development of rules and regulations adopted at the State and local levels with regard to all aspects of fisheries habitat protection.
In addition to Larry's current employment at Swinomish, he is Vice-President of the Skagit Climate Science Consortium, a non-profit organization comprised of researchers from a variety of technical disciplines that works to inform the public about the science and implications of climate change within the Skagit River Watershed. Most of the time he spends on the water is in the weekly pursuit of anadromous fish using hooks embellished with fur and feathers.
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Summer CLE Speaker: Amanda Cronin
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oin CELP for a one-hour CLE just before our Celebrate Water reception from
4 to 5 pm.
CLE Speaker: Amanda Cronin with AMP Insights.
CLE Topic: "Incentives for voluntary groundwater mitigation in Arizona - What's in it for water users?"
Amanda Cronin, MS is a Manager at AMP. She is a Washington State native with over fifteen years of professional experience in water rights, water transactions, stream restoration and conservation program design and implementation. At AMP Insights, Amanda works on water banking in the Snoqualmie Valley, groundwater mitigation bank design and implementation in Arizona and the Dungeness watershed in Washington, as well as other water transaction programs in Arizona and Wyoming. Before joining AMP, Amanda was a Project Manager at the Washington Water Trust for more than a decade. At the Water Trust, Amanda led the development of both the Walla Walla Water Exchange and the Dungeness Water Exchange, water banks that develop mitigation for new water rights to meet development needs while improving environmental flows. Amanda holds a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from Whitman College and an MS in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University. Amanda is based in Seattle, WA.
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A BIG Thank You:
GiveBIG 2019
Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's GiveBIG on May 8th! GiveBIG is Seattle's biggest philanthropic day of the year and we appreciate your participation in this amazing event.
With your help, we raised over $3,300 during this year's GiveBIG, which will help fund CELP's continued advocacy, legislative, and public interest litigation work that is vital to healthy stream flows and salmon recovery in this region.
Your support makes a huge different for small organizations like us! Gifts like yours allow us to advocate for sustainable water policy and management in court and state legislature, to host legal education seminars and workshops on water law current events and pressing issues, and to conduct outreach to citizen activists, tribes, and other stakeholders throughout the state so we can work together to protect our streams and rivers and work towards salmon recovery.
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CELP in the Community!
Come find us at farmers' markets around Seattle! CELP will have a table at three local
farmers' markets in the coming weeks, and we would love to see you there. Stop by to say hi, experience great local food and crafts, learn about what we are currently focusing on, and play some fun interactive river games. We can be found at the following neighborhood markets:
Saturday, June 1st - Magnolia Farmers' Market
Thursdays, June 6th - Lake City Farmers' Market
Thursday, June 13th - Lake City Farmers' Market
We hope to see you there! For questions or volunteer opportunities, please reach out to
Nick
Manning at
[email protected]
to learn how you can get involved with protecting our rivers and streams.
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Legislative Round Up
May 2019
Crucial Orca Recovery Bills - Passed by Legislature & Signed by Gov. Inslee
On behalf of the conservation community, CELP would like to thank the WA state legislature and Gov. Inslee for passing and signing several crucial Orca recovery bills. Protecting habitat (HB 1579), Preventing oil spills (HB 1578), Reducing vessel noise and disturbance (2SSB 5577), and Reducing sources of toxic pollution (SSB 5135) were all signed by Governor Inslee with the intention of minimizing pressures on the Pacific Northwest's
endangered
population of Southern Resident Orcas. These efforts focus on protecting Southern Resident Orca by minimizing vessel noise and traffic, improving the safety of oil transportation through the Salish Sea, and increasing fish habitat and Chinook salmon - the Southern Resident Orca's primary food source. Thank you to the legislature, Governor Inslee, and to everyone else involved in the passage of these critical bills.
Appliance Efficiency Standards Bill Passes Legislature & is Signed by Gov. Inslee
Another big thank you to the legislature and Gov. Inslee for passing the Appliance Efficiency Standards bill or HB 1444. HB 1444 has the potential to significantly reduce energy and water usage while saving citizens of Washington money on electricity and water bills. The bill sets electric and water efficiency standards for common household appliances such as
refrigerators
, washing machines, computers, lighting, toilets,
shower-heads
, and so on.
These new appliance efficiency standards will have an immediate positive impact on the environment, and will only continue to benefit the environment and the wallets homeowners in the years to come.
Streamflow Enforcement &
Adjudication Budget Items
We would like to thank Governor Inslee for prioritizing money for streamflow enforcement and the pre-adjudications process. As our drought status starts to rival that of 2015, there has never been a more important time to advocate for and enforce meaningful streamflows. The pre-adjudication process is also critical as it gives the state a head start on better understanding of how our water resources are being utilized. Thanks Gov. Inslee!
Money For Culvert Removal
One final thank you to Gov. Inslee for prioritizing culvert funding in the budget. Culvert removal and replacement is part of larger co
urt-mandated salmon habitat restoration effort put in place to
improve salmon access to spawning and rearing habitat. The additional $175 million dollars he chose to put forward for culvert removal was absolutely necessary to get started on restoring critical salmon habitat.
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| Thanks for taking the time to read Washington Water Watch! Thanks to your help, CELP has accomplished much but, as you can see, more needs to be done. You can support our work by making a donation online here, or mailing a check to: 85 S Washington St #301, Seattle, WA 98104 |
The Center for Environmental Law & Policy is a statewide organization whose mission is to protect, preserve and restore Washington's waters through education, policy reform, agency advocacy, and public interest litigation.
If you care about a future with water, please become a
CELP member
today!
You can reach us at (
206) 829-8299 or
email us
.
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