Too often it seems grant money contaminates the public proccess.
With their own budgets depleted, state and local governments are scrabbling for scraps of funding. They may hold public meetings, take in public comments and answer questions, but often strings attached to the money manipulate the project like a puppet.
The Hansville cleanup could have gone that way.
The state Department of Ecology is legally obligated to clean up old fuel contamination from around the Hansville store property, thanks to a contract it signed with the owners years ago. In the time since, the agency’s funding for cleanups dried up. That is until this year when the federal Environmental Protection Agency handed Ecology $3 million in stimulus money. Eight Ecology projects are competing for the money, and a team went to work planning the Hansville cleanup.
Initially, Ecology scheduled the cleanup to start in June to take advantage of the best weather conditions for digging in the dirt. Of course their trucks would also clog Hansville during its busy summer season, the season the general store relies on to stay in business.
This was predictable. Federal money was at stake. Why risk not looking “shovel ready?”
Then something unexpected happened. At an April meeting Ecology staff announced they were backing away from their summer timeline. They’d heard from too many residents and county officials that the work would hurt the town. Instead of starting in June, they’d push the groundbreaking past Labor Day.
The benefit of the cleanup is questionable — though few of us can intelligently debate whether petroleum hydrocarbons, measured in parts per million dispersed through layers of soil and groundwater are a threat to our health and habitat. This much is clear. A government agency, planning a legally mandated project with a fat federal grant to pay for it, listened to the public and dramatically altered its planning.
Sadly, that’s a surprise worth celebrating.
The Hansville cleanup team can be reached at nlui461@ecy.wa.gov or (425) 649-7117.
