Tom will be speaking on the subject of “GMA and Water” on a panel with Sharon Haensly, attorney for the Squaxin Island Tribe, at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, November 15, 2019. The 2-day seminar starts on November 14th at the Seattle Hilton Hotel. Tom’s specific topic will include an update on ESSB 6091 remedies to the Hirst and Foster decisions and…
Tag: Whatcom County v. Hirst
Legislature Passes Hirst and Foster Fix, Authorizes $300 Million for Streamflow Restoration
After last year’s legislative deadlock that failed to adopt either a fix to rural water availability or a capital budget, the Washington State Legislature made quick work of a compromise bill, ESSB 6091,[1] which was the first bill signed into law in the 2018 session. The bill has many features, including: It requires updates to several watershed plans and new…
UNDERSTANDING THE HIRST AND FOSTER DECISIONS – WHY DO THEY NEED TO BE FIXED?
The Supreme Court’s Hirst decision, the subject of legislative reform efforts and an impasse over the capital budget, is a very controversial barrier to water availability in rural areas. The Court’s 2015 decision in Foster v. Yelm is another controversial ruling that eliminated water right flexibility for mitigation banking and water availability for growing urban areas. Both of the Court’s…
Bassett Case Appealed to Supreme Court
On January 3, 2017, I filed a notice of appeal in the Bassett v. Ecology case on behalf of plaintiffs Magdalena and Denman Bassett, Judy Stirton, and Olympic Resource Protection Council. This sends their challenge of the Dungeness River Instream Flow Rule to the Washington Supreme Court. The next step is filing a Statement of Grounds for Direct Review by the…