Sewage project an abuse of government power

Re: “Mr. Floatie is gone for good,” editorial, May 9. Taxpayers need investigative journalism to help expose the many ways that government handling of the sewage issue has been an abrogation of the responsibilities of public office, if not an abuse of the powers of such office.

We don’t need trite comments such as the “train left the station” and “treatment opponents,” the latter an uninformed, insulting reference to experts on the issue. I challenge anyone to disprove my claim that no one has ever expressed opposition to treatment of our wastewater.

Given that the design of our existing system, which treats essentially to secondary standards, is based on U.S. research, it’s ironic that criticisms of it emanate from Washington state. Several treatment systems like it operate in the U.S. under the Environmental Protection Agency’s wastewater regulations.

The effectiveness of our system and lack of a sewage problem are evidenced by Victoria repeatedly receiving recognition as one of the best places in the world to live.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee accepts Washington University climatologists’ warning that global warming will escalate the forest-fire problem, but shuns that university’s marine scientists’ conclusion that Victoria’s effluent has a negligible impact on the strait. Victoria’s new sewage infrastructure will contribute to escalating global warming and, consequently, to loss of forests and increasing ocean acidification. Brian Burchill, president Association for Responsible and Environmentally Sustainable Sewage Treatment