By Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, Hamilton
What a great experience! Last night I attended the public meeting and hearing with the Montana Department of Environmental Equality (DEQ) on the proposed wastewater permit for a proposed large retail construction just south of Hamilton, at the junction of Highway 93 and Blood Lane. Thanks to the response of concerned citizens who learned about the proposal rather late in the process, the DEQ called the public meeting and hearing and extended the period for public comment. Two observations:
1) The DEQ really cares what the public thinks. Its job is to review applications for such permits as submitted to them, and since our votes have denied them the resources to always verify that information on the ground, they are dependent on us to tell them whether we think that information is faulty or incomplete. It might be nice if they had said resources, but since they don’t, we get to participate actively in holding each other accountable with regard to how our community develops. Sounds like democracy!
2) There are a lot of really caring, informed, far-sighted people here in the Valley. The issuance of such wastewater and other construction permits is fraught, I think, because, on the one hand, there are many here who just need a job and depend on those who can afford such construction and development to provide them in the traditional (?) way. On the other hand, such construction and development is proving around the country and even around the world to be detrimental to everyone’s general quality of life because it degrades the environment that we all depend on for life itself, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that we have to find a new, win-win way of life.
Since Lee Foss applied for the permit without disclosing exactly what facility it is for, I wish he had been at the meeting. His is the only application listed on the DEQ site only by parcel number rather than by the company concerned. Apparently it states that the wastewater would be residential in nature, but if the intended construction is both large and retail, it certainly would not be residential in quantity. I am grateful to have heard the thoughts and feelings of so many neighbors to the site, especially the downstream neighbors, and to hear the general concern for the Bitterroot River, which is necessarily the recipient of any effluent in the Valley and is already in a degraded state.
So kudos to the DEQ for being open and for caring, and kudos to those citizens who came to the meeting so well informed and prepared to speak out! And we can still send comments electronically to David Dunbar or Barb Sharpe at WPBPublicNotices@mt.gov, or to DEQ, Metcalf Bldg, 1520 E 6th Ave, PO Box 200901, Helena MT 59620-0901, until October 2nd.