August 2018 Meeting
The Area Council will hold its next regular monthly meeting on Monday, August 6, from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM at the KCFD #43 Maple Valley Fire & Life Safety Station public conference room (22225 SE 231st Street, Maple Valley, WA 98038 — SE corner of intersection of SE 231st St & SR-169 (Renton-Maple Valley-Black Diamond Road SE)).
We plan to have several guest speakers to present and discuss the renewal of coal mining operations at the John Henry #1 Mine near Black Diamond. Thus far we will have presentations and discussions led by representatives of Pacific Coast Coal Company (David J. Morris, P.E., President; Barry C. Kombol, Attorney at Law, Officer/Director); Puget Soundkeeper Alliance (Alyssa Barton); King County DPER (Jim Chan, P.E., Interim Director), and the State Department of Ecology (Monika Kannadaguli, Facility Manager for PCCC; Gerald Shervey, Water Quality – Industrial Unit Supervisor; Rachel McCrea, Water Quality – Section Manager). Although no representative from the State Department of Natural Resources is able to attend and participate in our meeting, by email dated August 3, 2018, we received from Dave Norman, LG, LEG, LHG, State Geologist/Division Manager, Washington Geological Survey, DNR, the following important agency position information regarding the possibility of future State regulatory primacy pursuant to the discretionary authority legislatively granted DNR pursuant to RCW 78.44.055:
“[I]t is still possible for the Washington DNR to assume primacy for coal mine reclamation. However, with just 1 proposed or no coal mines in the state it is not economically feasible at this time. I have investigated this is [sic] in the past and it would take both significant money and time for training of staff before we could assume primacy. It was estimated to be about a 5 year process and with little to no coal mining in the state it did not seem practicable. OSM no longer has the staff or funds in place for the [sic] training the states to acquire primacy so Washington would need to pay. However, if there was a renewal of increased coal mining in Washington we would be interested in taking primacy, but each situation would have to be evaluated so that we could pay for the program.”
The GMVUAC will hear from citizens in attendance and conduct business regarding and relating to current and future issues of concern to area residents. Keep watch on this space for any special guest speakers and/or new issues to be presented and discussed at this meeting. All members of the public are invited to attend. During the Public Comment period at the start of each meeting, members of the public can address the Area Council on any local issue.
You are invited to visit our various Committee webpages and read about other topics of interest to you via the dropdown menus along the top of our Home webpage, in the Current Issues box, and in the important notices and information posted directly on our Home webpage. Get to know the Council by reading a short biography of each current Council member: GMVUAC Member Bios_07 11 2018 .
Future Council Meetings and Planned Topics/Guest Speakers:
September 10 — Hirst Decision and Dept of Ecology schedule and program to address Laws of 2018, Ch 1 (ESSB 6091), Section 203 — Stacy J. Vynne McKinstry (Unit Supervisor, Streamflow Restoration Program) —> http://gmvuac.org/environment/
October 1 — King County 2019/20 Biennial Budget — Dwight Dively (Director, KC Office of Management and Budget) —> https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/executive/performance-strategy-budget/budget/2019-2020.aspx
November 5 — WSDOT I-90/Front Street Interchange Justification Report/Study and the Issquah-Hobart Road Corridor Study — Adam Emerson (WSDOT Project Manager), KCDOT, City of Issaquah, JTI/UACs —> http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/studies/i-90-front-street-interchange-justification-study —> Issaquah-Hobart Road Corridor Study Website —> http://gmvuac.org/transportation/
December 3 — Tahoma School District — New Superintendent (Tony Giurado) —> http://www.tahomasd.us/pages/Tahoma_School_District_409/About_Us/Superintendent/Superintendent
Fire District 43/MV Fire and Life Safety — Aaron Tyerman (Chief) —> https://pugetsoundfire.org/psfra/contract-between-departments-approved/