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Spokane County extends aquifer protection fee authority amid PFAS concerns from West Plains residents
Summary
County staff won unanimous approval to amend Spokane County code to permit another 20-year period of aquifer-protection fee collection for the Spokane Valley–Rathburn Prairie Aquifer. West Plains residents pressed commissioners to declare a PFAS public-health emergency and to press the airport for remediation funding.
Ben Bridal, a county public-works representative, told the Spokane County Board of Commissioners that code changes to chapters 11.16 and 11.17 are administrative and would allow the county to collect the Aquifer Protection Area (APA) fee for an additional 20 years—the third such period and extending the fee-authority to 60 years in total. Bridal said there were no changes to the fee structure and framed the amendment as ensuring the county’s code matches voter-approved APA boundaries.
The board held public testimony during the hearing. Julia McHugh, a West Plains resident who said she lives on a contaminated well, criticized the decision to exclude much of the West Plains from the APA renewal…
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