Flood control work needs federal support

The Olympian • Published April 20, 2008

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Comprehensive flood control work in the Chehalis River basin took a significant step forward last week.

That’s when county commissioners in Lewis, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties voted uananimously to work as a coordinated team of local governments on a flood relief plan for the basin.

The next step will be creation of a Chehalis River Basin Flood Control Authority that would be eligible to receive $2.5 million in state money to work on flood control planning, flood hazard mitigation and boundaries for a flood control district.

Also represented on the authority are the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and the cities of Chehalis, Centralia, Pe Ell, Montesano and Aberdeen.

Those same local and tribal governments are expected to go to the voters in November to seek approval of a flood control district, which would administer the remaining $47.5 million in state money allocated by the 2008 state Legislature for flood work in the Chehalis River Valley.

The flood control district could have authority to go to the voters in the future to request approval of a levy or levies for operation and maintenance of flood control projects.

The first challenge local governments face is convincing the voters the flood control district won’t be just another layer of bureaucracy with unfettered taxing authority.

The residents of the basin deserve assurance that the flood control district will be accountable to the people, spend money wisely and avoid using its taxing authority unless it’s absolutely necessary.

It’s encouraging to see the state, county, tribal and city governments working as a team. But an important partner — the federal government — is conspicuous in its absence.

The Chehalis flood control project was left out of next year’s budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed by President Bush, even though Congress has authorized the project. The federal share of the project is expected to be about $74 million.

The worst case scenario would be for the federal government to ignore its responsibility, leaving taxpayers in the flood control district to pick up the federal portion of project costs. If that funding option starts to look likely to voters come November, the district will be a tough sell.

The federal government has an obligation to remain a full financial partner in the project.

And the project needs to be more than a series of levees to protect Interstate 5 and other public and private investments in the river valley.

The tough decisions on land use in the flood plain can no longer be ignored, not in the aftermath of the December 2007 flooding that shut down Interstate 5 for four days, damaged 1,700 homes, killed 1,800 farm animals and caused $14 million in road and bridge damage.

Past attempts to bring meaningful flood control projects to the Chehalis River basin lacked creativity, consensus and funding. A new, multi-county effort to control flooding can’t let that happen again.