Wahkiakum County News
Protecting Infrastructure
and Quality of Life:
Puget Island Sand
Pit:
For years, the Wahkiakum County sand pit has been used for fill material
to protect roads, homes and neighborhoods from chronic flooding and
severe weather. Unfortunately, for a period of time the pit was not
replenished with sand. Fearing they might soon face a situation where
more sand was needed, the Wahkiakum County Commissioners requested
assistance from Congressman Baird to obtain replenishment material
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Congressman Baird worked with
the Columbia River Channel Coalition to find equipment capable of
placing sand in the Wahkiakum County sand pit and the sand pit was
successfully replenished.
Puget Island Erosion:
To find a long term solution to the erosion problems that persist
on Puget Island, Congressman Baird brought Wahkiakum County and the
relevant permitting agencies together for several meetings. As a
result of these meetings, the County is working to design a bank
stabilization plan, the residents of Puget Island are forming flood
and erosion control districts, and the County is working to obtain
permits and secure funding for the implementation of the bank stabilization
plan. Congressman Baird will continue to support efforts to stabilize
the shoreline of Puget Island by encouraging the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to provide dredge material at the appropriate time.
Additionally, Baird has also been helping individual homeowners obtain
permits to complete temporary stabilization measures until the long
term strategy is implemented. In 2004, Congressman Baird helped place
sand bags on the beach in front of one of the threatened homes. In the years since, the Congressman has led several conversations between the community and the Corps. As a result, the Corps has delievered dredge material from a nearby channel maintenance project and placed
on the bank to help reduce erosion.
Grays River Flood Control Project:
Flooding resulting from upriver forestry and especially heavy rains
washed out a dike along the upper Grays River destroying a great
deal of chum salmon spawning habitat. The sediment and gravel washed
down river and created large gravel bars in the Grays River, forcing
the river to shift its course and erode farm pasture land. The erosion
also threatened the Western Wahkiakum Water System and State Route
4. In response to this threat, Congressman Baird secured authorization
for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin studying a solution
to chronic flooding in the Grays River valley. In addition, Congressman
Baird brought the permitting agencies together to discuss appropriate
measures for flood and erosion control. As a result, the Grays River
Habitat Enhancement District was able to excavate a very large gravel
bar from the Grays River. This project helped secure the water system
and stop the erosion that had threatened the highway and farmland.
Western Wahkiakum Water System:
In order to expand the water system capability in Western Wahkiakum
County, Congressman Baird secured an earmarked grant through the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) State and Tribal Assistance
Grant (STAG) program. The improvements will provide potable water
to additional residents in Western Wahkiakum County.
When the EPA and the Wahkiakum Public Utility District
(PUD) were unable to resolve differences of opinion over
the amount of matching funding required by the PUD, Congressman
Baird and Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray intervened
and were able to resolve the situation in the PUD's
favor. As a result, the PUD was able to begin construction
of the project.
Puget Island Water System:
Puget Island's 60 year old water system contains 17,000 feet
of asbestos water lines. Without replacement pipes, decay will allow
asbestos residue to flow through the system along with drinking water,
posing a significant health risk to the community. In order to prevent
this, Congressman Baird secured $225,000 in an earmarked grant to
upgrade the Puget Island Water System. When the system upgrade is
completed, it will ensure that the residents of Puget Island receive
clean drinking water.
Making Government more Effective and Efficient:
Streamlining the environmental
permitting process:
Protecting the environment is always a priority, but regulatory processing
and permitting have become unnecessarily costly and time consuming.
In recent years, Congressman Baird has organized a series of meetings
throughout Southwest Washington to bring local business leaders,
farmers, builders, ports and others together with federal, state
and local officials to improve the permitting process. As a direct
result, several federal and state agencies have made significant
progress in streamlining permits, reducing application backlogs and
complexity, and improving coordination to expedite the process. There
is still work to be done, and much room for improvement, but Congressman
Baird will continue to work with the consumers of permits and agency
representatives to push for further improvements in efficiency and
savings in time and money.
Increasing Public
Safety and Combating Crime:
Methamphetamine:
As a founding member of the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control
Methamphetamine, Congressman Baird has diligently worked to provide
Washington communities with funding to fight this menace. Baird's
efforts have helped to bring in more than $11 million to combat methamphetamine
use and clean meth contaminated sites in Washington state.
Enhancing Education Opportunities:
Lower Columbia College Satellite
Campus:
Making education accessible is a major priority for Congressman Baird,
who helped secure a grant to establish a satellite campus of Lower
Columbia College in Cathlamet. The satellite campus is enhancing
educational opportunities while making classes more convenient for
Wahkiakum County residents.
Ensuring Equal Access to Mental Health Services
As a mental health professional, and one of only two clinical
psychologists serving in Congress, Congressman Baird has firsthand
knowledge of the impact and importance of mental health treatment and
the inequities that often exist in funding and consideration for mental
health treatments. In order to correct this imbalance Congressman Baird
was a leading advocate of the bipartisan Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act which became law on October 3, 2008. The law prohibits health plans from imposing time limits and
similar restrictions on the treatment of mental health disorders, if
similar restrictions are not imposed on medical and surgical benefits.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that this will lead to
less than a two percent increase in premiums, and it will remove one
of the barriers that keep millions of Americans from receiving the
mental health care they need.
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