Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Who regulates farmland in Washington State - Surface Water Management

This is one of the departments that I didn't even know existed in Snohomish county.  They have a staff of over 100 people who are busily regulating all sorts of things. 

Most recently (10-6-2009) they did a presentation for the Agriculture Advisory Board (AG board) of the Snohomish County Planning and Development service. 

In this presentation they outlined their plan to inspect every commercial animal holding facility in the county for compliance with their rules.  They're going to have 5 full-time inspectors doing this work. 
 I have no idea what the other 100 people do in that department.  That's a big department!

What's a commercial animal holding facility?  I quote:  "If there's a guy with a sign up front that offers to board a horse, if they've got a business license, or if they have more than 5 cows, we're going to inspect them, cite them and get them to comply". 

Do we really need yet-another regulatory agency that is empowered to levy fines out there on agricultural land?  Really? 

Surface Water Managements website

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