|
|
|
Washington Water Watch
June 2020
|
|
|
|
Help ensure clean and flowing waters in Washington State by making a gift to CELP!
|
Honoring Professor Bob Anderson and celebrating CELP's 25th anniversary
Sept. 17th
|
|
Follow us on social media to stay updated on our work!
|
|
Letter from the Executive Director
|
|
Photo by Rohit D Silva, Reflection Lake
|
Dear friends of CELP,
We hope you are all staying safe and healthy. As CELP staff continues into its fourth month of working from home, we continue to stay focused on our mission, but our work continues to change as this crisis continues. Our outreach has changed considerably as we say goodbye to our Outreach Coordinator of three years, Nick Manning, who just graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy at the University of Washington and has moved on to fight climate change with another organization. Congratulation Nick, and good luck in your new job. We have also had to change our outreach plans as all the events and programs that we had on our calendar for the summer were canceled because of COVID-19. Going forward we will be transitioning to virtual outreach events and reaching out by phone and email to continue to do this important work, please feel free to reach out to us if you want to join us in protecting Washington's water resources. Our legal and policy work continue with virtual hearings and meetings.
CELP continues this important work to protect, preserve, and restore Washington's waters now for future generations because our water resources face tremendous challenges. The impacts from Climate Change and increased development have impaired our rivers and streams, and the fish and wildlife that depend on them. But we can't do it alone. We rely heavily on support from individuals like you, so if you are able please support CELP's important work by donating on our website, www.celp.org.
In this issue you will find
an update on the Spokane River Instream Flow Rule case, a BIG thank you, our Chehalis River dam proposal comments, an introduction to our 2020 interns, our 2019 annual report, and information on our upcoming Celebrate Water event.
Sincerely,
Trish
Trish Rolfe
Executive Director
|
|
|
Spokane Instream Flow Rule Update
|
|
 |
|
Spokane River by Grove Ayers
|
|
CELP, along with the Sierra Club and American Whitewater, has been fighting to protect summer flows in the Spokane River. On May 14th, Dan Von Seggern, CELP's Staff Attorney, argued our case before the Washington State Supreme Court.
The proceedings are still available to view
here. Now we wait for the Court to issue an opinion.
|
|
GiveBIG Thank you!
Thank you for supporting Washington's waters. The CELP team appreciates your generosity and is inspired by your continued commitment to our mission of protecting waters in Washington State. Your GiveBIG donations mean a lot to us during these challenging times.
With everyone's support we raised over
$5,500
to continue our work protecting, preserving, and restoring Washington's waters through education, policy reform, agency advocacy, and public interest litigation.
|
|
Chehalis River Dam Proposal Comments
CELP provided comments on the Chehalis River Basin Flood Damage Reduction Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in opposition to the proposed dam.
|
|
|
Site of the proposed dam on the Chehalis River. Photo by Shane Anderson |
CELP believes that building any dam would make no practical, environmental, or economic sense, and would violate Washington's legal obligations under treaties with Indian nations, which have the status of federal law, and the Endangered Species Act. Instead, the state should foster wetland restoration and other resilient designs to make the floodplain safer for people.
Read our full comments
here.
Find information on the proposed dam
here.
Check out the work being done by the Chehalis River Alliance to protect the basin
here.
|
|
Our 2020 Interns
We would like to introduce you to our 2020 Legal Interns and welcome them to the CELP team.
Jennifer Seely : Spring Student Extern 2020
Jennifer is a rising 3L at the University of Washington Law School. She received her Bachelor's in Anthropology with a concentration in environmental studies from Kenyon College in Ohio.Two of her most formative experiences growing up were volunteering on two backcountry trail crews in high school, at Mt. Rainier National Park and Olympic National Forest. Since then she has been marinating in environmental issues; specifically how people conceive of and relate to the natural world as filtered through their cultures. Today, she is grateful to CELP and to her fellow law students for showing her how to use legal knowledge to serve environmental justice.
Jennifer served as a student extern with CELP during spring 2020. She synthesized law and science to draft a comment opposing a proposed flood control dam in the Chehalis basin, advocating instead for a resilient landscape design approach that would better serve all upstream and downstream Chehalis River communities.
Thank you Jennifer for all of your work!
Sara Gaylon: Summer Legal Intern 2020
Sara is a rising 3L at Vermont Law School. She received her Bachelor's in Economics & History from the University of Oregon. Prior to beginning law school, she worked for the California State Water Resources Control Board. Sara's interest in water law comes from being raised in an environmentally-focused family and she has always had a passion for protecting our natural resources. Sara grew up in the outdoors, camping and hiking in the Sierra Nevadas. Now, she's enjoying the Green Mountains in Vermont.
Sara recently started her internship with CELP and will be with us for the summer.
Welcome to the team!
|
|
CELP's 2019 Annual Report
Our 2019 Annual Report is now available. Thank you to all of our donors and supporters who make our work possible.
View the full report
here.
|
|
On September 17th we will host our annual Celebrate Water event to celebrate victories for our waters, gather our community, raise funds to continue our work, and honor a local water hero. This year we also commemorate our 25th anniversary as a nonprofit!
We will honor Professor Bob Anderson with the Ralph W. Johnson Water Hero Award for
his career as Director of the Native American Law Center, his work with Tribes throughout Washington and the United States consulting on water and natural resource issues, his dedication as an educator, and his advocacy for Native American law students. Bob's work embodies the connection between water and Indian Law and the vision of our founder Ralph W. Johnson.
We are hoping we will be able to gather together in person to celebrate, but there is a chance we will need to move to a virtual event. As county regulations and public health recommendations change we will keep everyone updated. Our community's safety is our priority.
Celebrate Water is made possible by our sponsors and supporters.
We'd like to extend a special thank you to Smith & Lowney for sponsoring the event.
If you are interested in sponsorship contact our Communications & Development Coordinator Kayla Magers at [email protected].
|
|
| 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
.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
