Cowlitz-fishermen

Both Tacoma and WDOE are now trying their best to screw the fishermen and our fishery in the name of cheap power for Tacoma!

WDOE has already accepted Tacoma's proposal for the next 35+ years in the August 11, 2000 Settlement Agreement.

Now, after the fact, WDOE is, under the mandate of state law, to ask for pubic comment. You only have 20 days from WDOE date of issuance to make your comments, which was December 6, 2001. That only leaves you (the general fishermen) until December 25th to make your comments.

If you do not have the time to read the 1 inch thick Final Environmental Impact Statement, PLEASE, if nothing else, help support our joint December 3 written comments (62 pages)that were sent to WDOE by both the Friends of the Cowlitz (FOC) and the Cowlitz Plan for Restoration (CPR-Fish).

We, as fishermen, need your help at this time of crisis. Please, at the very least, send your letter of support by email to: Helen Pressley, Southwest Regional Office PO Box 47775 Olympia WA 98504-7775. Her email address is pre461@ecy.wa.gov

Please tell her that you support our comments!

Both groups have spent endless amounts of hours, time and effort to make the Cowlitz a better place for you to fish. Please send your email letter of support to WDOE stating that you fully support the December 3, 2001 comments that were sent by both FOC and CPR-Fish.

We,as fishermen, can and will make the difference! Support our future sport fishing and PLEASE send your email of support to the above email address ASAP. We can, and will make a difference! Please post and let us know if you have sent a letter of support or email to WDOE

Supper thanks to all of you who can support this last minute effort!

Cowlitzfisherman

Is the taste of the hook worth the sting of the bait????

how much would you be willing to pay to heat your house next winter??

KSR, I dont really understand exactly WHAT that last comment was supposed to mean, so I'm going to give you the benifit of the doubt and assume that you're NOT trying to imply that you'd side with the big power brokers over your fellow sportsmen, because it would be a real sh*tty thing if you were saying that the future of the Cowlitz river system is less important than your heating bill.

no, i didnt mean that at all...i really wish our environment could be preserved but i dont see that happening. its not a matter of Tacoma and the WDOE trying to screw the fishermen, its all about providing power for a population that is growing larger all the time. that is a need that has to be filled one way or another. the sad thing is that most people dont think about where the power is supplied from as long as its not from their backyard...the tacoma area has a population of around 200,000...thats alot to consider when balancing the wants and needs of everyone in this state. remember what happened this past summer with the energy crisis in California, i dont think salmon and steelhead would have any chance at all if things got that bad up here...but i hope it never comes to that.

Where the power comes from? How about where it goes? Do you guys ever wonder why your power bills haven't dropped, now that the drought is over, and the reservoirs are full again? Long term contracts to supply "excess" electricity (at incredibily high rates) to someone who doesn't need it anymore (California).
Greg

Cowlitz,

I'd be happy to consider adding my support, if I could read the comments first. Is there a place where we can see what we would be agreeing with?

KSR

Maybe you should know that Tacoma City light has some of the cheapest power rates in the Northwest. The City of Tacoma has never had to pay the same rates that other have been paying all along.

That's because they have failed to live up to there fishery mitigation agreements with WDFW. Tacoma Power has banked millions of dollars that should have been spent on the fish mitigation (1967 fish mitigation agreement with WDF).

My heart doesn't bleed too much for Tacoma City Light! Think about it this way KRS, Tacoma robs a resource from another county for there own cheap power needs, and in return leaves almost nothing in exchange to the resource in which they have robed and ruined. Tacoma make's well over 19 million dollars a year profit, and that's after selling them self's all the cheap power that they can use. Their power rates are some of the cheapest power rates in the Northwest (I wonder why?).

The new settlement agreement that WDOE has already signed and agreed to concerning the river flows is pretty much the same as Tacoma has been doing for the last 30 years. It's time for Tacoma to pay their fair share for power and help support the true recovery of the Cowlitz River fish runs. Our suggested flows to help restore our Cowlitz runs would only allow Tacoma to make 13 million annually instead of the 19 million that they are now making.

KRS, I suggest that you read the FOC/CPR-Fish comments, the November 2001 FEIS and the August 11, 2000 settlement Agreement, (the FEIS and the Settlement Agreement can be viewed on the FERC RIMS site) and then tell me how sorry you feel for the poor rate payers of Tacoma when it comes to heating their homes, at half the price that everyone else had been paying!

Very few issues get me really worked up on this BB, but when someone indicates that Tacoma and their rate payers are paying too much to heat their homes and ours fish runs are just about down to nothing because of Tacoma's "cheap power rates", expect to hear from me, and hear it loud and CLEAR.

Tacoma Power doesn't give a damn about restoring our fish runs on the Cowlitz! All Tacoma cares about is how cheap they can produce power for themselves.

KSR, I am not mad at you, but you do need to do some homework concerning the Tacoma power rates, and what they did with the hundreds of millions of dollars that should have been put into restoring the Cowlitz fish losses. Moreover, think why Tacoma spent over 8 million dollars on getting their new license!

Help support both the FOC and CPR-Fish in their efforts to restore the Cowlitz River fishery and send your email letter of support to WDOE (hpre461@ecy.wa.gov) supporting our December 3, 2001 comments to WDOE. It's the last chance to help to improve the Cowlitz River fishery!

Cowlitzfisherman

Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

[ 12-10-2001: Message edited by: cowlitzfisherman ]