Washington Department of Ecology

The Washington Department of Ecology, or simply, Ecology, is an environmental regulatory agency for the State of Washington. The department administers laws and regulations pertaining to the areas of water quality, water rights and water resources, shoreline management, toxics clean-up, nuclear waste, hazardous waste and air quality. It also conducts monitoring and scientific assessments.

Duties

The agency has an operating budget of approximately $388 million, a capital budget of approximately $395 million and close to 1500 employees [ [http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0501055.pdf Department of Ecology Budget and Program Overview 2005-2007] ] The Department's authorizing statute is RCW 43.21A [ [http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=43.21A RCW 43.21A: Department of Ecology] Washington State Legislature.] . It is responsible for administering the Shoreline Management Act (RCW 90.58), the Water Code (RCW 90.03), the state Water Pollution Control Act (RCW 90.48) and the Model Toxics Control Act.

Appeals of Ecology's decisions are made to the Environmental Hearings office, which includes the Pollution Control Hearings Board and the Shoreline Hearings Board, as well as several boards that address appeals of decisions by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources.

Location

Ecology has its headquarters office in Lacey, Washington, near Olympia and abutting the campus of St. Martin's University. It has four region offices located in Lacey (Southwest Region), Yakima (Central Region), Bellevue (Northwest Region) and Spokane (Eastern Region).

In addition, it has smaller field offices in Bellingham, Twisp, Walla Walla and Vancouver, Washington.

Leadership

The Department Director is appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the state Senate. The current director is Jay Manning, whose previous experience includes working with the Ecology division of the state Office of Attorney General and also as an attorney in private practice specializing in environmental issues. During his tenure as an assistant attorney general, Mr. Manning was the attorney of record in a case decided by the US Supreme Court known as the "Elkhorn Decision" or [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=511&invol=700 PUD of Jefferson County and City of Tacoma vs. Department of Ecology] . This case held that it was permissible under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act to include instream flow conditions on a water quality certification issued for a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Dosewallips River. The dam, known as the Elkhorn project, was never constructed. The case was argued by Christine Gregoire, who then was Washington's Attorney General and now is the Governor of Washington State.

History

The Department of Ecology was created in 1971.

References

External links

* [http://ecy.wa.gov Department of Ecology official web site]
* [http://eho.wa.gov Environmental Hearings office]