BIAW is one of our state's most powerful lobbies. Comparing it to boat builders and fishing companies is absurd.

Furthermore, none of those others is as rabidly anti-conservation as BIAW is.

Why would CCA associate with an organization that is completely and fundamentally at odds with CCA's mission? :

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"According to an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the BIAW is Washington state's biggest lobby against climate change, open space, and other environmental legislation. According to the same source, the group's newsletter has gone so far to equate environmentalists with terrorists. [33]"

"The BIAW is unlike other business groups in Olympia according to environmental lobbyist Clifford Traisman. "They are to the far right of most business in Washington state," Traisman says. "They believe the free market should rule supreme." [34]"

In 2005, the southern resident orcas were designated an endangered species. In 2006, the BIAW along with the Washington Farm Bureau sued the government to remove orcas from the endangered list. [35]
The legal challenge was thrown out of U.S. District Court. [36]

In 2007, the group challenged the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that protects threatened and endangered salmon across the West. [37]

In 2009, the BIAW has been fighting environmental legislation such as solar water heaters in new homes. [26]

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There's tons more about BIAW out there...

There's plenty of responsible businesses and organizations that CCA can associate with. Instead they choose BIAW; raising a lot more questions about CCA than how many $2 transactions CCA earned at the event.