At the Living River blog, Spokane Riverkeeper Bart Mihailovich recaps his trip to Olympia and his testimony in support of the crucial "Clean Fertilizers, Healthier Lakes and Rivers," to restrict the sale of phosphate lawn fertilizer. Currently, there are more than 200 lakes and rivers within the state that are listed as impaired for phosphorus under the Clean Water Act. It will also save money since controlling phosphorus discharge costs millions in wastewater treatment upgrades at the expense of local government and business.





















It's critically important legislation in Spokane, since we are trying to reach the lowest phosphorus levels in the countryn not to mention the residents along Long Lake (pictured), where noxious algae blooms every summer.

His next trip to Olympia will be for Environmental Lobby Day on February 15th and I urge you to join the Spokane caravan. For more information and to register, go here.

After the jump is the recap.

Pushing hard for a bill that would efficiently and effectively manage phosphorus in lawn fertilizer took me over to Olympia last Friday where I testified in front of the House Environment Committee.

As you well know already, we are full-on in the midst of a campaign to convince our state representatives that a ban on phosphorus in lawn fertilizer is both a cost effective and practical way to manage its eventual runoff and over abundance in our state’s waterways.  “Clean Fertilizers, Healthier Lakes and Rivers” as our bill is named has now been heard by both Senate and House committees, and voting in said committees is set to happen any day now. Part of the process for us here in Spokane has been consecutive trips to Olympia to testify in front of the House and Senate hearings.  Thanks to the wonderful Washington State Public Affairs TV Network, you can now see this testimony for yourself.

If you have questions about this bit of legislation, or you need to direct some misinformed Facebook friends of yours on what is really going on with this bill, I encourage you to check out or share these two links.

First is the Senate Hearing from January 28th where Spokane Riverkeeper attorney Rick Eichstaedt testified – streaming replay can be found HERE. Discussion of the phosphorus fertilizer ban bill begins right away.

And here is the House Hearing from February 4th where I testified.  Streaming replay can be found HERE.  Fast forward to the 1:33:00 spot on the video where District 3 State Representative Andy Billig introduces the bill and the discussion goes from there.

---

---