The regional office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pushing Washington State to adopt new water quality standards that are “roughly 25 times more stringent than those in place today.” Oregon adopted the same standards in 2011, all other states do not have anywhere near as unreasonable regulations. According to The Daily News,
“Officials in the city of Bellingham have estimated that adopting the Oregon standards would raise the average resident’s monthly sewer bill from $35 to $200, with the “cleaner” water still falling short of requirements. Large expenses and their ripple effects would be transferred to any person or business using public water or municipal sewage in any way.”
Due to the lack of technology needed to produce and maintain this high water quality standard, the new regulations—as in Oregon—would be “more of a mechanism for collecting fines and shutting down targeted operations than reaching a specific water quality goal.”
Unfortunately for Washington State, Jay Inslee is our governor—making the odds of our state escaping these new federal demands less likely.
The Daily News put it best,
“… Inslee, who campaigned on the promise to improve the economic climate in Washington but has instead allied his office with the environmental extremists at almost every opportunity.”
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