Developers in Lewis County have a thirst for flooding and an appetite for destruction.
After a smartly implemented moratorium on development around the Newaukum River where it flows under Interstate 5 at Rush Road, it is now for some unknown reason open for development.
Gas stations multiply like rabbits. One has already gone up. Now, out-of-state investors want to build a 14-acre gas station and truck stop at the river’s edge, where it will flood. And now when it does the flood, water will take pollutants out of the mega truck stop out into the water and the environment.
This poorly thought out proposal converts permeable, restorable land into impermeable, easily flooded surfaces. This adds more impermeable surfaces so we can have one more fast food joint and a handful of low wage jobs, in exchange for some of the few areas left that can absorb some flood water and of course Lewis County’s rural character. Is that a good deal?
Recently the Chehalis Basin Board appointed the Local Action Non-Dam (LAND) steering committee to find non-dam solutions to the flooding. LAND made holistic recommendations on how to reach the same flood damage reduction as the proposed and over-researched publicly rejected dam, which if ever built, will not be in our lifetimes. The LAND proposal considered non-permeable and restoration potential in the riparian corridors of the tributaries of the Chehalis River.
These oblivious development proposals will undermine the basin’s only hope for real economic growth and development so we can have a KFC and one more place for interstate truckers to park and run generators all night.
Not only do these gas stations seem to be a part of a floodplain land grab seem, but they are silly within the context of the catastrophic flooding by adding more water to flood levels. It is also going to destroy a tiny wildlife corridor that moves through the Newaukum where it crosses I-5. Currently, there is no mitigation or consideration for this critical system in this development plan. If allowed, this mega gas station will cut off wildlife, hurt fish, increase floods, and offer more low-wage jobs while sending pollutants out onto the river system every time there is a flood. Why?
Is there some betting being done on a dam? It seems so, by ignoring that these developments that also undermines the findings of the LAND recommendation changing the energy and depth of flood waters. How long will we add bricks to a full bathtub and pretend like it wont cause it to overfill? Why sacrifice a wildlife corridor for a KFC?
Brian Stewart
Onalaska
