Senate Bill would remove Ballard Locks

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Apr 20, 2010
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Tri Cities, WA
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A senator from WA has introduced a bill that would breach the Hiram Chittenden locks and all the Seattle City Light dams that generate power for the city of Seattle.

https://komonews.com/news/local/sen...cks-remove-seattle-city-light-dams-01-18-2020

A quote from the article:
-"“Lake Washington property owners might be inconvenienced when the water starts rising. Others might not like it when electricity bills skyrocket. But as they say in Seattle, no sacrifice is too great for somebody else to make.”

(for those that don't know it, Puget Sound is 20.6' higher than Lake Washington. If that one lock was breached it would cause massive flooding in Lake Washington and the loss of hundreds or thousands of residences and a few cities that line the lake.)
 
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A senator from WA has introduced a bill that would breach the Hiram Chittenden locks and all the Seattle City Light dams that generate power for the city of Seattle.

https://komonews.com/news/local/sen...cks-remove-seattle-city-light-dams-01-18-2020

A quote from the article:
-"“Lake Washington property owners might be inconvenienced when the water starts rising. Others might not like it when electricity bills skyrocket. But as they say in Seattle, no sacrifice is too great for somebody else to make.”

(for those that don't know it, Puget Sound is 20.6' higher than Lake Washington. If that one lock was breached it would cause massive flooding in Lake Washington and the loss of hundreds or thousands of residences and a few cities that line the lake.)

Who votes for these clowns?
 
"“I’m sure we could design an impartial study to reach the conclusions we want,” Ericksen said"
"But as they say in Seattle, no sacrifice is too great for somebody else to make.”

I think the reason he introduced the bill was to give the issue the exposure and not that it would pass. It seems to be a way to show his view of the absurdity of proposing the practice somewhere else. In other words, if Seattle thinks it's ok to do it over in this region, it must be ok to do it to them. Have law makers proposed this action somewhere else that doesn't impact them?
 
I just love when others say the economy will re-orient to tourism.
Translation - many will lose their high paying manufacturing and transportation jobs. After many years of local government “investment” (taxes) in the newly depressed commercial districts, tourism based, generally lower paying, seasonal, service paying jobs will come into the area. There will be pretty hotels, restaurants, and maybe a casino or two after 15 years. The local goofball politicians claim a win.

Ask me how I know this. I was raised in Baton Rouge. Look along the Mississippi River. Three casinos came in to revitalize a depressed downtown area after the industrial base moved out. Downtown BR was terrible. Louisiana passed casino boat gambling. Finally after lots of downtown government projects financed with taxpayer dollars, locals claim a win!
 
"“I’m sure we could design an impartial study to reach the conclusions we want,” Ericksen said"
"But as they say in Seattle, no sacrifice is too great for somebody else to make.”

I think the reason he introduced the bill was to give the issue the exposure and not that it would pass. It seems to be a way to show his view of the absurdity of proposing the practice somewhere else. In other words, if Seattle thinks it's ok to do it over in this region, it must be ok to do it to them. Have law makers proposed this action somewhere else that doesn't impact them?

Okay I read up on this. I wouldn't vote for this guy because he doesn't seem like a guy with a lot of ethics (re Cambodia consulting contract and not being registered as a foreign agent). In his last race....he only won by 43 votes so something is off.

In regards to the bill he sponsored to "study" the locks.....it appears to be a red herring that he sponsored to show people how absurd it would be to do away with electricity and flood Seattle. Apparently the liberal crazies want to remove 168 years of engineering to return Washington to a "pristine" State.

It won't pass so this entire thread is about nothing and apparently......Trump had nothing to do with it.;)
 
I didn't read the article, but I have an idea why he did this.
The Governor and some other groups are trying their best to breach the Snake River damns in the eastern part of the state.
That would cause so much negative economic impact on this side of the state, yet they don't give a crap.
So, how about starting with the damns in their neighborhoods.
 
Okay I read up on this. I wouldn't vote for this guy because he doesn't seem like a guy with a lot of ethics (re Cambodia consulting contract and not being registered as a foreign agent). ....
It won't pass so this entire thread is about nothing and apparently......Trump had nothing to do with it.;)

Look, I don't know the guy. And, clearly he triggered a lot of people here who want to simply make false claims (Trump haters) and didn't look into it enough to see it is simply a teaching moment.

But, this whole making everyone a criminal about having outside the country consulting contracts is not logical to me. It is simply another way to catch someone up and call him a criminal and a "foreign agent". I agree that if you have outside interest, you should disclose them. But, it's not a moderated thought to label someone a "foreign agent" or criminal if you don't fill out some form. Many people have outside interest and simply because you consult doesn't mean your an enemy of the state. We have continued to create laws that could basically make anyone a criminal, and to me, that's dangerous. It just adds to the confirmation biases and triggering we have today.

In response to whether I would vote for him or not, I don't know...But anyone who makes these types of statements gets my attention for being logical and having a modicum of common sense....

"I’m sure we could design an impartial study to reach the conclusions we want,” Ericksen said"
"But as they say in Seattle, no sacrifice is too great for somebody else to make.”

He's clever...and the statements should have been clues that he was calling something out.
 
Agreed. I'm from the DC area and the rules are super clear if you are an elected official anywhere in the US you must register as an agent if you are working for a foreign government (even a $500k consulting gig). He can plead ignorance but he appears to be smarter than that.
 
(for those that don't know it, Puget Sound is 20.6' higher than Lake Washington. If that one lock was breached it would cause massive flooding in Lake Washington and the loss of hundreds or thousands of residences and a few cities that line the lake.)
It's actually the opposite of this, the lake level is higher than Puget Sound. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballard_Locks

When you go through the locks outbound to Puget Sound, you get lowered. If the locks were to be breached, the lake would lower by ~20 feet, not flood.

Either way, it's definitely a "you go first" thing proposed by the senator in response to the petition to breach the Snake River dam. Neither one will likely happen.
 
When you go through the locks outbound to Puget Sound, you get lowered. If the locks were to be breached, the lake would lower by ~20 feet, not flood.

Either way, it's definitely a "you go first" thing proposed by the senator in response to the petition to breach the Snake River dam. Neither one will likely happen.
General, thanks for correcting me. I've been through all the locks on the Snake and Columbia Rivers many times and the Ballard Lock once. It was in the small lock (we were the only boat) and it was fun to see the difference in how it operated.
 
Actually there is a huge amount of traffic through the locks both recreational and commercial. The entire Seattle Fishing fleet (most of whom fish in Alaska) are docked on the ship canal just east of the locks. Lake union has a lot of marinas, some for Mega Yachts, and several shipyards. The Coast Guard ship I was on used to go to one of the yards on Lake Union. Lake Washington is much higher than the Sound, and until the ship canal and locks were built was even higher. The lake lost it's main outlet (a river at the southern end that isn't there anymore) and the ship canal became the only outlet to the sound.

Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale is a state senator, not a US Senator. And from what I have read about him he is a nut. Any bill introduced in the State legislature would have no bearing whatsoever. The locks are owned and operated by the Federal Government. It would take an act of Congress to eliminate them and they would get a huge fight from all the Washington state representatives and Senators, especially Cantwell and Murray. It would go nowhere.
 
The locks are owned and operated by the Federal Government. It would take an act of Congress to eliminate them and they would get a huge fight from all the Washington state representatives and Senators, especially Cantwell and Murray. It would go nowhere.

I have also heard that the level of lake Washington is mandated by Congress, and they require it to be between 20 feet (in the winter) and 22 feet (in the summer) above sea level. There's a big rise of the lake level that occurs in May, they raise the level to it's summer height over a period of a few weeks. Then over the course of the summer, it slowly lowers back to the winter height. The Corp of engineers issue warnings before they start the raise, to give boat owners the heads up to adjust lines since few of the docks on the lake are floating, they are fixed height.

I go through the locks all the time to get out to the sound (I keep my boat on South lake Washington), it's always an experience. Busy summer weekends like memorial and labor day I've had 2 hour waits to get into the locks, and have seen the large locks completely full. It's also a real tourist attraction, there's nothing like having hundreds of people watching when you are getting yourself situated and tied up to the wall!

Kevin
 
I also go through the locks frequently, and while part of me likes the idea of them not existing (we are on waiting lists for slips in the Sound), I agree this would go nowhere. For starters, the locks are under Federal jurisdiction, not state.

Last year my wife & I attended a presentation by the author of this book about the locks - http://geologywriter.com/books/ballard-locks-100-years/ - and we learned that it took many many years to get the whole project approved and funded. The author walked through all of the politics of it, and that was over 100 years ago.
 
Being on the salt side of the locks I try to avoid them at all costs... They are a major PIA to go through and then once on the fresh side you are dealing with some lake boaters that are totally clueless about rules of the road let alone common courtesy... Now you lake guys >>> I said "some". Last time back out they put us on the wall in the big lock so I'm running lines as the fenders skid up the cement wall and the idiot they put on our inside tied off with twine so when the locks opened and the water swirled his twine line snapped and he swung around pushing our bow rail into the cement wall scratching my SS railing (not happy) and the other time coming out we turned south to Tacoma and the rest went north so guess who the USCG decided to do an inspection on. No faults, no suggestions, no issues, and the coastie says geez Mr. this is the nicest boat we've been on...
 
Sounds like a nightmare Mark. Locking through is not my favorite thing to do, and being on the wall in the large locks is to be avoided at all costs. I've had plenty of tales of irresponsible (to put it nicely) boaters in the locks. My favorite was when a 60+ foot yacht came through, I think it was either a broker on a delivery, or the new owners were bringing it back. They had a total of 4 tiny fenders on board, and they put all 4 on the wall side. Of course, I was tied to them. I normally deploy all 6 of my own fenders, 3 per side. This guy was totally clueless, and acted so offended when I asked him to put some fenders on the other side of his boat, he said that he didn't have any. I spent the entire time holding my boat off of his, my bow rail would have smashed in to the hull windows on his boat if I hadn't. After locking through, he followed me through the cut, with his fenders still hanging, he never did clean up after locking - totally amateur.
 

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