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  • ESA listing could undercut Washington's economy

    Don Brunell|Sep 25, 2012

    A small critter is causing big problems in the South Puget Sound. It’s called the Mazama pocket gopher. Some 100,000 pocket gophers inhabit prairie lands throughout northern California, Oregon and Washington. Our state is the northernmost part of its range, where separate populations are scattered in pockets throughout the area, including Thurston and Pierce counties. Last December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed to list several subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher in W... Full story

  • Are we getting railroaded?

    Don Brunell|Sep 12, 2012

    Recently, Matthew Rose, CEO of BNSF Railway, visited editorial boards in Vancouver, Spokane, Seattle and Bellingham to talk about a variety of issues related to increased train traffic. However, the 800 pound gorilla in the room was not train traffic, but the commodity those trains would carry: coal. In Washington, coal has been shipped by train for decades. Currently, about three to four coal trains a day pass through Clark County. Rose said it’s hard to predict specifics at this point, but i... Full story

  • Safe roads important to quality of life

    Don Brunell|Jul 4, 2012

    Any realtor will tell you people looking to buy a home want good schools and safe neighborhoods. They also look for decent roads for when they head to the mountains or the beach during holiday weekends, such as Memorial Day or July 4. They want to know that if they are in an accident, someone will respond quickly to help them. While Washington needs more money to build new highways and repair existing roads, streets and interstates, one area in which our state excels is emergency response. In... Full story

  • Will the Northwest Economy Be a Casualty of the War on Coal?

    Don Brunell|May 30, 2012

    Activists waging a national war on coal have turned their sights on the Pacific Northwest, targeting proposed shipping terminals in Washington and Oregon that would export coal to China. They’re aggressively lobbying federal officials to change how these projects are evaluated. If they succeed, our economy could become a casualty of the war on coal. Currently, such projects undergo a rigorous environmental review known as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) involving months or even years o... Full story

  • Roll on Columbia

    Don Brunell|May 16, 2012

    In 1942, the completion of Grand Coulee Dam was hailed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Seventy years later, most of us aren’t aware of what that dam or the others on the Columbia River continue to do for us. To commemorate Grand Coulee’s completion, the Bonneville Power Administration commissioned legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie to write songs praising the dam that harnessed the mighty Columbia River. Guthrie toured the region from the Bonneville Dam to Grand Coulee, and within a month... Full story

  • When it comes to taxes, keep it simple

    Don Brunell|Feb 8, 2012

    “Keep it simple.” This old saying is more than a bumper sticker slogan, it’s a principle that is especially important when it comes to taxes and regulations. Washington employers have been working for decades to simplify our state’s tax and regulatory policies. Currently, employers must work their way through a maze of complex, overlapping and often contradictory regulations and tax rules that differ from one city to the next, one county to the next. It’s like playing a game that has 50 differ... Full story

  • What a relief: power’s back on

    Don Brunell|Feb 1, 2012

    An old TV commercial for an antacid once asked heartburn sufferers, “How do you spell relief?” For thousands of western Washington people left in the dark by winter storms, the word is “p-o-w-e-r.” And it took more than a couple of Rolaids to deal with it all. Normally, we flip a switch and the lights come on. We think nothing of it until a storm knocks out our power. Then we realize how important electricity is to our everyday lives. The Pacific Northwest periodically experiences heavy snow, i... Full story