I noticed that the lead article of the March 18 Journal confirmed what the proponents of the Beaverton Valley Road transfer station site have been saying all along — that the Department of Ecology is NOT in favor of the Sutton Road site, as the runoff from that site is toxic for sea life and the site is contaminated.

George Post and the Solid Waste Advisory Committee and Public Works have done an outstanding job of evaluating the various alternative sites for an appropriate transfer station. They have been completely impartial and very thorough.

Please note that a minority report was written opposing the conclusions of the SWAC report. Sources on the SWAC tell me that these people were appointed by the County Council to satisfy NIMBY (not in my backyard) groups and therefore their counsel has to be discounted accordingly.

This revelation from the DOE is the coup de grace. There is no way now the council can, with any seriousness, move ahead on the Sutton Road site. DOE will oppose them at every turn.

Finally, the council will painfully have to inch forward in the teeth of opposition from NIMBY groups and be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century and give San Juan Island a real transfer site — on Beaverton Valley Road.

Jeff Webster
Friday Harbor