County Seeks Respect For Land Policies
Okanogan County commissioners will hear opinions Monday on a much-diluted version of a proposal for the county to assert control over state and federal land decisions.
The commissioners will conduct a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. at Okanogan High School on a 43-page resolution that asks state and federal agencies to consider the county’s “custom, culture, economic stability and environmental harmony.”
The resolution was drafted after commissioners set aside a proposed ordinance that would have called for the county sheriff to arrest state or federal workers who ignore county policies for public land.
Commissioner Ed Thiele of Omak said the proposed ordinance would have been “less confrontive” than its model in Catron County, New Mexico. He said the controversial ordinance is on a “back burner,” but may be reconsidered in a couple of years.
The ordinance, which the county paid $25,000 to develop, was too bulky and cumbersome. Also, Thiele said the ordinance needed to be coordinated with revisions to the county’s comprehensive land-use plan, “and we’re not ready to do that now.”
He said it is also possible that the county may pursue cooperative agreements with state and federal agencies, similar to those pioneered in Stevens County and subsequently adopted in Catron County.
Thiele said the ordinance’s goal was the same as the resolution’s: to get state and federal agencies to consult county officials early in decisions affecting land use.
“That’s all we’re asking, that we are in on the planning,” he said.
But Thiele said that already is changing. County officials have been consulted recently about a number of proposals, including one - now abandoned - to transfer control of the Okanogan National Forest from the Forest Service regional office in Portland to the one in Boise.
The proposed resolution is composed almost entirely of a recitation of the history and importance of resource industries in Okanogan County. It ends with the suggestion that federal and state agencies should consider the information when making land-use decisions.
Thiele said he thinks the county should sue agencies that ignore the resolution. Already, the county has filed a $363,000 administrative claim against the state Ecology Department for delays in an environmental impact statement for Battle Mountain Gold Co.’s proposal to open a gold mine in the county.
The claim represents potential taxes the county says it has not been able to collect because of unnecessary delays.
Thiele said he favors suing agencies rather than trying to slap criminal penalties on employees who are just following orders.
Even the watered-down resolution is controversial.
“It’s my read that, here in the county, the resource people want more and the environmental people want less,” Thiele said.
He said 2,300 people petitioned for an ordinance in 1993, and 280 people signed a petition in opposition.
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Hearing A public hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday at Okanogan High School.