Commentary

Hold cleanup talks in a public meeting

John Webster
For the editorial board

U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt is to be applauded for setting up a meeting where local officials concerned about mining pollution can discuss a cleanup with Christie Whitman, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

After all, the cleanup is important and the people of Washington deserve a bigger voice in it than Idaho officials have been willing to give them. Whitman is in a position to ensure that Washington is heard.

In the spirit of public participation, however, Nethercutt's Aug. 12 meeting ought to occur in public. Concerned about the inflammatory posturing that does too often occur in our region's environmental disputes, Nethercutt felt that the conversation would be more reasonable and productive if no one felt a need to toss the media wolves a few red-meat sound bites. So he set up the meeting as closed.

However, a closed meeting would violate Washington's Open Public Meetings Act if a quorum of the Spokane County Board of Commissioners is present.

A closed meeting also would contradict the very message that Washington officials are trying to send here: Include us. Hear us. Make sure the public we represent is well consulted in the cleanup project.

The best response to the extremist rhetoric that troubles Nethercutt and inhibits problem-solving is not to throttle it, which would be futile anyhow. Rather, the solution is to model and encourage reason, good manners and respect in our dealings with one another and with an important federal official. It's to speak frankly and truthfully so that the public can understand and throw its support behind the merits of an open, participative cleanup process.

John Webster/For the editorial board

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