Warnick's Hirst Bill Pt 2

I'm Bob Larson. The chair of the Senate's water-policy committee has responded to an anti-rural ruling by the Supreme Court with a bill of her own.

Senator Judy Warnick says the Hirst ruling doesn't prohibit drilling as long as you can prove water is available, something the state was already doing pretty successfully ...

JUDY WARNICK ... "but this will make the home owner, or the land owner, prove water availability, and or the county. And it's very very expensive to do and just because you prove it in one lot doesn't mean it's available a mile down the road. So, it's very expensive for the land owners out in the counties. So, we're trying to come back and look at how we can find water availability, especially for the exempt wells because it's a very small, minute part of the water usage in the state of Washington. It's less than 1%."

Warnick proposes going back to see how the state water resource management system works ...

JUDY WARNICK ... "And try to work with the Department of Ecology and the folks who brought the lawsuit, actually, to proves there is water out there, that proves the amount that's being impacted, or the very small impact, and go back and take a stronger look at it from the legislative viewpoint."

Warnick hopes her bill will provide a collaborative approach and certainty in the wake of the bizarre Hirst decision,