Magnuson Park in Seattle – Part 4 of 4
Toward the end of the three hour Open House, Representative Pollet insisted that another Q and A session be held. The Navy representative reluctantly agreed and said that he was not an expert on all aspects of the situation but that he would call experts over from the display stations to answer some questions. There were between thirty and forty people gathered around to participate. It was difficult to hear all the questions and answers because there was no sound system and there was noise coming from other parts of the room.
A number of people expressed concern over the fact that the public notice came so late. The question was raised about why the Navy felt it was handling the situation and there was no public danger for four years but suddenly it was so dangerous that it was “time critical” and the normal processes of study, reporting and public input could not be used. I will give the Navy and Ecology representatives credit for keeping their cool and constantly telling people that they were glad to have public input. However, I was amazed at the number of times that someone would ask a simple question and the Navy rep would say what he thought the question was and miss the questioner’s point entirely.
The official time line that we were given says that there will be a period for public comment that will end on June 27. We were constantly reassured that the agencies involved would carefully consider all the comments and then make changes to their process that they felt were necessary. The only problem with that scenario is that work is slated to begin on July 14. It does not seem to me that there will be sufficient time for public input to be reviewed and incorporated into the cleanup plan in two weeks. Some of the people present questioned whether their comments and concerns would be taken seriously or just discarded. I asked the Ecology rep if the State Department of Ecology as the senior agency involved in the clean up could cancel the Naval “time critical” designation, prevent the start of work on July 14 and allow one of the normal processes to begin. His only answer was “I don’t know.”
At the end of the Q and A session, the general consensus seemed to be that the people present wanted the Department of Ecology which is the senior agency in the cleanup to overrule the Navy and cancel the “time critical” designation so that the normal process of public notification, analysis, environmental reports, alternative cleanup options and public input could proceed. Representative Pollet promised to work with his non-profit organization, Hearts of America, and with the state departments involved to try to move the process in that direction. There are a couple of websites that contain information about the situation and plans at Magnusson Park. Check NavFac website for the posters that were on display for the Open House.
