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CapitalPress.com
May 22, 2015
Washington
Governor candidate has agriculture background
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Seattle Port Commission-
er Bill Bryant is the first can-
didate in Washington’s 2016
race for governor and hopes to
gain strong support from agri-
culture because of his links to
the industry.
Bryant, 54, of Seattle, was
vice president of the North-
west Horticultural Council
in Yakima from 1985 to 1992
and helped gain market ac-
cess for apples in Mexico and
India, cut apple tariffs in Tai-
wan and eliminate barriers in
Scandinavia.
In 1992, he started the trade
consulting firm Bryant Christie
in Seattle that has worked on
trade issues for tree fruit, fresh
and processed potatoes, hops,
wine and berries. The com-
pany grew from his basement
to offices in Seattle and Sac-
ramento with 32 employees,
‘Agriculture will never have a governor
who understands it and cares about it
as much as I will.’
— Bill Bryant
Candidate for Washington Governor
specializing in market access,
international marketing and re-
searching and maintaining an
online data base of internation-
al commodity standards.
“Agriculture will never have
a governor who understands it
and cares about it as much as I
will,” Bryant told Capital Press.
“Figuring out a long-term
sustainable water plan for Cen-
tral Washington is critical to
keeping jobs in Washington
state,” he said, mentioning the
Yakima Basin, Tri-Cities and
Moses Lake areas. More reser-
voir water retention is needed,
he said.
Bryant said he’s inspired
to run by a Catholic priest,
the late Roy Davis, who told
him at the end of life “the only
things that matter are lives
you’ve touched and communi-
ty you’ve built.”
“The other person inspir-
ing me to run is the incumbent
(Gov. Jay Inslee) who is not
building community but has
a divisive and hyper-partisan
style,” Bryant said.
“I can pull people together
and get things done,” he said.
A Republican, Bryant
downplayed party politics in a
May 14 video announcing his
candidacy. He said his agenda
is not partisan or ideological
Photo provided
Bill Bryant, 2016 candidate for
Washington governor.
but focused on helping build
“solid, family-wage jobs,” im-
proving education and avoid-
ing more taxes on middle-class
families.
Bryant was encouraged to
run by more than two dozen
state House Republicans.
He spoke May 16 at the
annual meeting of Mainstream
Republicans of Washington
in Leavenworth. Other po-
tential Republican contenders
for governor also spoke: Con-
gressman Dave Reichert and
state Sens. Andy Hill, Red-
mond, and Steve Litzow, Mer-
cer Island.
The same day Bryant an-
nounced for governor, a Shell
Oil Co. ship arrived at the Port
of Seattle to store equipment
needed to drill for oil in Alas-
ka. Bryant was criticized by
environmental protesters op-
posed to drilling for his role
as a port commissioner in
leasing space to Shell.
“If I thought the Shell rig
would in any way damage
Puget Sound, I would be out
there in a kayak (with the pro-
testers), but it is not,” he said.
“Rejecting the lease won’t af-
fect Arctic drilling. President
Obama is moving full steam
ahead on Arctic drilling.
Prohibiting Shell at our port
would cost us 200 to 400 mid-
dle-class jobs. It’s a choice
between middle-class jobs
and a symbolic statement. I
chose jobs.”
Shell would go to other
ports in Washington, British
Columbia or Alaska if Seattle
rescinds its two-year lease, he
said.
Bryant was born in Mor-
ton, grew up in Hoodsport and
near Olympia and received a
bachelor’s degree in trade and
diplomacy from Georgetown
University in 1983. He worked
for Gov. John Spellman on
trade issues.
He has been a Seattle port
commissioner since 2008 but
is not seeking a third term. His
term expires in December. He
has worked on statewide trans-
portation and tourism issues
and consolidation of the sea-
ports of Tacoma and Seattle.
His wife, Barbara, has been
executive director of the Yaki-
ma River Greenway, vice pres-
ident of the Fred Hutchison
Cancer Research Center and
vice president of Woodland
Park Zoo, both in Seattle.
Wolf legislation stalls in GOP-led Senate Washington’s late
Northeast Washington
lawmakers disagree
about bill’s worth
reaction to drought
revives legislation
By DON JENKINS
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — A bill in-
tended to bring relief to wolf-
plagued ranchers in northeast
Washington is running into
criticism for being toothless
and a tactical mistake.
The skepticism may prove
fatal to House Bill 2107, which
passed the Democratic-con-
trolled House unanimously,
but stalled in the GOP-led
Senate.
The bill’s prime sponsor,
Republican Rep. Joel Kretz,
whose 7th District has three-
fourths of the state’s wolf
packs, said Friday he hopes
the bill will regain momentum,
especially among ranchers.
“It comes down to the
grassroots. Do they want it or
not?” he said.
HB 2107 would direct the
Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife to re-eval-
uate by mid-2017 the state’s
recovery goals and policies on
lethal control.
The 7th District’s senator,
Republican Brian Dansel, said
ranchers can’t wait two years
for WDFW to rethink wolf re-
covery.
“That bill wouldn’t be pro-
ductive for ranchers,” he said.
“I don’t think it can just be a
study bill.”
The bill falls short of pro-
posals by Kretz to de-list
wolves in the eastern one-third
of the state or transfer some to
Western Washington to hasten
recovery.
But Kretz said he hopes the
review will speed up the day
Capital Press
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife file photo shows a member of the Teanaway pack. A bill
to revise the state’s wolf plan has stalled in the Senate.
wolves are no longer a protect-
ed species in Eastern Wash-
ington, leading to wolf man-
agement similar to Idaho. “I
guess we can accept the status
quo, or we can move forward.
I think this moves us forward.”
Washington’s wolf popu-
lation grew by 30 percent in
2014, but the state measures
success by distribution and
the increase in breeding pairs.
By those measurements, the
state’s progress toward recov-
ery has been slow.
The animals remain con-
centrated in Kretz’s and Dan-
sel’s district, and WDFW
hasn’t documented an increase
in breeding pairs since 2012.
Meanwhile, ranchers report
more livestock-wolf conflicts.
The bill had support from
the Washington Cattlemen’s
Association and the Washing-
ton Farm Bureau. Environ-
mental groups were cool to-
ward reopening the wolf plan,
but Democrats green-lighted
the legislation after provisions
were added to subject WD-
FW’s revisions to more out-
side review.
Kretz said he thought the bill
would cruise through the Sen-
ate, which had passed a similar
bill. “Everybody thought it was
on auto pilot,” he said. “No-
body worked it, including me.”
As the end of the regular
session drew near in late April,
the Farm Bureau sent out an
“action alert,” asking its mem-
bers to urge senators to pass the
bill. For now, the bill sits in the
Senate Natural Resources and
Parks Committee.
Dansel cited the House vote
as evidence the bill falls short
of addressing wolf predation.
Rather than wait until 2017 and
the possibility of change, Dan-
sel suggested holding out and
trying again next year to de-list
wolves in Eastern Washington.
“I think we have to go for
something now to leverage our
majority in the Senate,” Dansel
said.
Said Kretz: “I’d love to
see regional delisting. If you
think you can get it through the
House, have at it.”
Stevens County rancher
Scott Nielsen, former presi-
dent of the Stevens County
Cattlemen’s Association, said
he worries that reopening the
wolf plan will defuse the push
to de-list wolves in his corner
of the state.
“If we get that (HB 2107),
I have an idea our lawmakers
won’t do anything else,” he
said.
OLYMPIA — A dormant
bill introduced last winter to
encourage policymakers to plan
earlier for a drought may resur-
face as late-starting agencies
and lawmakers hurry to catch
up with a worsening water pic-
ture, particularly in the agricul-
ture-rich Yakima Basin.
House Bill 1836 wouldn’t
help this year, but it might
prepare officials for future
droughts, the bill’s prime spon-
sor, Bothell Rep. Derek Stan-
ford, said Wednesday.
“I think this is a good oppor-
tunity to learn from the problems
we’re currently dealing with,”
he said. “I think it’s a pretty clear
lesson we can take from it. We
need to be more proactive.”
HB 1836 would authorize
the Washington Department of
Ecology to shop for irrigation
water and calls for lawmakers
to convene an oversight com-
mittee before the governor de-
clares an emergency.
Gov. Jay Inslee declared a
drought in about one-fifth of
the state March 13. The decla-
ration was expanded April 17
to include almost half the state.
The drought declaration now
includes the entire state.
With the severity of the
drought becoming clear, DOE
is struggling to find Yakima
Basin farmers with senior
rights willing to lease water to
junior-right holders. More wa-
ter would have been available if
DOE had started the search in
January or February, when low
snowpacks were worrisome
but a drought was uncertain, an
agency water resources manag-
er, Dave Christensen, said.
DOE could have lined
up tentative agreements and
watched the weather before
finalizing them, he said. “This
year, we were too late before
we started. (Farmers) had al-
ready made decisions,” Chris-
tensen said.
Meanwhile,
lawmakers
have yet to act on DOE’s re-
quest for $9.6 million in drought
relief funds. The request came
in late March, weeks after leg-
islators began putting together
spending plans.
To increase water sup-
plies for farms and fish, state
agencies are rearranging staff
assignments and borrowing
money from other programs in
anticipation legislators even-
tually will allocate the money.
A program to help cities with
drought-stressed water systems
is on hold.
“I think (the drought re-
sponse) has been hampered by
the fact so many things couldn’t
happen until the drought decla-
ration was made,” Stanford said.
HB 1836 passed the House
in early March, but stalled in
the Senate. Lawmakers have a
chance to revive the bill during
the current special session. “If
we want to be prepared for next
year, we have to do it now,”
Stanford said.
The Legislature’s drought
committee chairman, Yakima
Valley Sen. Jim Honeyford, re-
mains cool to the bill. “I don’t
think it’s a high priority because
I don’t think it accomplishes a
whole lot,” he said.
Ecology department seeks public comment on updated pollution plan
Capital Press
SPOKANE
VALLEY,
Wash. — The Washington De-
partment of Ecology is seek-
ing comment about its plan to
update the process it uses to
address nonpoint source pol-
lution, including pollutants
&
HWY 730 • IRRIGON, OR
f
f
u
t
S
from agriculture and forestry.
The public comment period
runs through June 5.
Ecology representatives Kel-
ly Susewind and Ben Rau said
during a public meeting May 12
the plan does not call for increas-
ing enforcement. The state is
working with the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency to find
gaps in addressing pollution.
“We’ve been told by EPA we
need better defined management
practices of what works and what
doesn’t,” Susewind said. “This
plan identifies the process to de-
velop those. If I were a rancher,
I’d be paying attention to that
process.”
The department will submit
its plan to EPA by the end of
June.
Rau said the department will
emphasize education and out-
reach through local conservation
districts and producer groups.
Medical Lake, Wash., ranch-
er Craig Grub asked whether the
department would use DNA test-
ing to determine whether a site is
polluted by livestock or wildlife.
Susewind said DNA testing
is expensive and requires a large
number of samples over time.
The department occasionally
uses it, but there is not a lab-ap-
proved, certified technology to
use it in a regulatory manner, he
said.
“It’s not the absolute finger-
print everybody hopes it is,” he
said.
Susewind said he disagrees
with producers’ assumption that
there isn’t science without sam-
pling.
“Science is broader than
chemistry, but we do use chem-
istry as well,” he said. “We agree,
we need a broad scale of sam-
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will be playing the third Sunday
of each month at the museum.
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By MATTHEW WEAVER
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Washington Department of Ecology water quality
representative Ben Rau talks about the department’s nonpoint
source pollution plan update, currently up for public comment
through June 5, during a meeting May 12 in Spokane Valley, Wash.
pling to understand where the
pollution’s coming from, when
it’s there, when it’s not.”
Ecology’s agriculture and
water quality advisory commit-
tee is reviewing a draft guidance
document, Susewind said.
“That’s based on a huge
body of science that shows you
can with visual indicators deter-
mine whether there is a source of
pollution or not,” he said. “That
is science. The visuals will say
this is a source of pollution — it
doesn’t tell you how much of a
source it is, what other sources
are in the watershed. It’s not the
end of the work.”
Grub said his concerns
weren’t eased by the meeting.
“If it takes five years to get
valid scientific data, they should
take the five years,” he said. “It’s
not observation.”
Colfax, Wash., rancher Tom
Kammerzell was pleased Ecol-
ogy was communicating with
ranchers.