Click the report to read it!
Please read the 2022 annual report on the Hangman Creek Settlement Agreement that the Spokane Riverkeeper holds with the Washington State Department of Ecology. “Ecology” produces these updates to report annual progress on water quality improvement work they are doing in the Hangman Basin.
The agreement was the result of a lawsuit that the Spokane Riverkeeper pursued against the EPA and their clean-up plan for Hangman Creek. The litigation resulted in the agreement with the Washington State Department of Ecology in which they are to aggressively pursue and solve the pollution problems in the creeks of the (Washington side) of the Hangman Creek Basin.
This agreement will be in place until 2028 and leverages the Washington Water Pollution Control Act (RCW.90.48), which says that one cannot pollute the state waters directly, nor “create substantial potential to pollute” the state waters. This means if you are grazing cattle in the water, or tilling fields directly along the bank of the waters you are damaging the riparian zone and creating the substantial potential to pollute Hangman Creek or its tributaries.
The way in which the Washington State Department of Ecology works is to identify pollution problems and then make land-owner contacts in areas that are a problem. Ecology (or sometimes this is passed to the Spokane County Conservation District) then uses a suite of tools in collaboration with the landowner to correct the pollution problems. This can mean providing assistance in putting best practices like livestock fences in place to exclude livestock from waterways. On a larger scale, it might entail producers enrolling in existing loan programs to help them convert from landscape-damaging tillage methods to those more friendly to the soil, water, and ecological values. There are many programs available to help producers protect water and continue high-end agricultural production for the marketplace.
While the TMDL Settlement Agreement does not (and cannot) mandate enforcement of water quality laws and RCW 90.48, it has strengthened Ecology’s position in protecting public values and supports their work in preventing and addressing “non-point source” pollution issues in the watershed.
Although it is common to solve pollution problems with simple incentive programs, there are times when the only recourse to stop pollution is to enforce the Washington State law. Ecology has at times, issued enforcement orders to correct problems created by unwilling and uncooperative landowners. The Settlement Agreement report tracks this use of enforcement “tools” to solve pollution problems on the part of uncooperative and recalcitrant property owners who pollute the public’s waters. Sadly, there is always a small minority of people who will not stop damaging the public’s waterways without the use of regulatory enforcement. For these people enforcing the law is a necessity.
Therefore the Spokane Riverkeeper believes that it is essential for the State of Washington to continue to offer incentives for producers alongside the clear, consistent use of regulatory backstops. To do so is to ensure that the public values of clean water and healthy ecosystems are not degraded and that all members of the public are held accountable to those values. Laws and the enforcement of laws reflect our commitment to public values and Ecology is charged with upholding and protecting those values.
Here at Spokane Riverkeeper, we value clean water, healthy ecosystems, and downstream public values. By the end of 2022, four of the prioritized sites had received formal enforcement actions. Two of the four had been brought into compliance as a result of that enforcement, and the remaining two were in court proceedings with Ecology. Additionally, seventy-six sites have been prioritized to address pollution issues, with over fifty of those being fixed or addressed.
The Hangman Creek Settlement Agreement represents a victory for the rivers of the watershed, for the public, and for the many stakeholders who look forward to a day when the Hangman Basin will again be home to salmon, native trout, and all of those values (including clean water) that go along with a healthy waterway. The recovery will take generations but it is happening here and now. Read the report to see what progress looks like. The journey of a thousand steps, according to the old saying, starts with one step. The Settlement Agreement is certainly a step along that journey.
A small creek that is damaged and polluted by destructive tillage methods. Exposed soil at the edges created by the tillage is “creating substantial potential” to pollute the State’s waters.
Livestock have unrestricted access to surface water causing erosion and degrading riparian vegetation.