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Jeanie Orr
From: Jeanie Orr
Sent: Wednesday, June 17,20098:47 AM
To: Michelle McConnell
Cc: AI Scalf; Stacie Hoskins; Jeanie Orr
Subject: FW: Jefferson County Shoreline Master Plan
From: MARILYN HOBAN [mailto:marilynhoban@embarqmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 20098:33 PM
To: #Long-Range Planning
Subject: Jefferson County Shoreline Master Plan
I am writing concerning the latest version of the Jefferson County Shoreline Master Plan, which permits
gravel mining conveyors, piers and barge loading on our conservancy shoreline, including within Hood
Canal.
Three counties share the shoreline of Hood Canal - Jefferson, Kitsap and Mason. Kitsap County
prohibits mining and development activities on conservancy shorelines. In 1976 the Shorelines
Hearings Board decision on the Hama Hama pit-to-pier project in Mason County set a precedent to
avoid such devastation in Hood Canal. I ask that Jefferson County join with Kitsap and Mason
Counties in recognizing that Hood Canal should be protected from mining and other industrial uses on
its shores.
Specifically I ask you to prohibit mining use and development, including conveyors, piers and barge
loading structures on the conservancy shorelines within Jefferson County.
I also ask you to allow shoreline mining-related activities, including crushing, screening, washing,
stockpiling, and loading on ships or barges only within well-defined high-density shoreline zones.
I ask that you prohibit all of the above activities on any Jefferson County shoreline on Hood Canal.
I consider Hood Canal to be a national treasure on par with what was formerly known as Glen
Canyon, now known as the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Senator Barry Goldwater said that
voting for the Glen Canyon Dam project was the one vote in 30 years that he regretted. Congressman
Morris Udall and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall both expressed regret that the Glen Mountain
Dam was allowed to go forward.
The Sierra Club withdrew its objection to the Glen Canyon Dam as a compromise so that a portion of
the Dinosaur National Monument would not be flooded. The executive director of the Sierra Club at
that time, David Brower, later called this decision one of the biggest mistakes of his career. In his
words, "Glen Canyon died, and I was partly responsible for its needless death. Neither you nor I, nor
anyone else, knew it well enough to insist that at all costs it should endure. When we began to find out,
it was too late." (The Place No One Knew, 1963)
Let us not make the same mistake by allowing industrial activity on the shorelines of Hood Canal. Let
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us not be responsible for its needless death because we did not know it well enough to insist that at all
costs it should endure, particularly since we already have well-defined high-intensity shoreline zones
for industrial uses such as mining-related activities. It is not too late to make a wise decision on this
matter that would leave no room for regret.
Theodore Roosevelt referred to future generations as "the number within the womb of time, compared to
which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction." Imagine this pristine waterway as it is
today two hundred years into the future, and how grateful those who now reside "within the womb of
time" will be as they witness the purity and grandeur of the Hood Canal waters resting on the east side
of the majestic Olympic Mountains. The preservation of Hood Canal is our responsibility as well as our
gift to those who will follow us.
Respectfully submitted,
Marilyn Hoban
25853 Canyon Road NW
Poulsbo, W A 98370
360.697.5909
6/17/2009