Politics from the Palouse to Puget Sound

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Hypocrisy of the Day


“The city’s interest really still is the water resources. I know there’s folks that doubt that.”
- Moscow Public Works Director Les McDonald at last Monday's Whitman County Board of County Commissioners meeting in Colfax, as quoted in today's Whitman County Gazette.

How could McDonald say that with a straight face? In other news today, Moscow's Planning and Zoning Commission approved rezoning and preliminary plats for two large subdivisions at its Wednesday meeting, putting a total of 132 new lots on the path toward the market.

The Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee figures the average household with the average number of residents (2.35) uses approximately 111,500 gallons of water a year. The new Moscow housing approved today will use 14.65 million gallons of water a year.

Based on project descriptions, the PBAC estimates the Hawkins development will use approximately 39 million gallons of water a year when fully built out.

With just TWO subdivisions, Moscow has just approved the withdrawal of more than 1/3 of the proposed Hawkins water usage from the aquifer in one fell swoop. And how many more Moscow subdivisions are in the works? Does anyone else see the madness in all this?

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