Originally posted by grandpa:
What you describe only illustrates that he who has the gold makes the rules. Quadrant has enough money itself but also had a financial partner out of Germany (Roche) who silently helped raised millions for many developments like the huge ones along the ship canal in Fremont...
I say if something is planned that will harm the environment and the harm can clearly be shown with science then regulations should step in to prevent the damage. What is not OK is saying you want to preserve most of rural King County and at the same time allow things like Snoqualmie Ridge.
GP: We are not so far apart on this. I agree that he who has the gold makes the rules. Salmon have no gold and until recently not many strong advocates. Those with the Gold have clear-cut, paved, damed, polluted and netted our salmon to, or near, extinction in many areas.
The CAO might not have been contemplated if we didn't have so many runs that are endangered. There was no BALANCE for the past 120 years. Now many with good intentions are trying to rebalance scales that are very badly out of balance. The CAO is not likely, in my opinion to pass court challenges, but its existence is merely proof that we have done an awful job our managing our salmon and continue to do so whenever the pot of gold is big enough.