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Residents urge Spokane County to push for PFAS public-health emergency and faster task-force action
Summary
Residents at the county open forum urged commissioners to press for a PFAS public-health emergency and criticized the slow pace of the PFAS task force. Speakers asked the board to encourage the local health officer to act and praised new PFAS funding in the county legislative priorities.
Residents urged Spokane County commissioners on Dec. 9 to press the local health officer to declare a public-health emergency over PFAS contamination and to accelerate work by the county PFAS task force.
John Hancock, who identified himself as from the West Plains, thanked the board for including PFAS funding and filtering projects in its legislative priorities and urged immediate action: "How can a declaration be too soon?" he asked, saying the chemicals have been in the groundwater "since 1975." Hancock asked the board to "separate the facts from the politics" and to "encourage the local health officer to declare a PFAS public health emergency as soon as possible."
A second public commenter, who identified himself as Mr. Pelosi and said he serves on the PFAS task force, told commissioners the process has been "embarrassingly slow." Pelosi said meetings had slipped from monthly to three meetings in five months and that one-hour sessions were insufficient for the matter's complexity.
Becky Dickerhoof, who spoke earlier during the open forum on homelessness and funding, also warned about federal instability in HUD funding and urged local steps to expand housing resources; though her comments focused on homelessness, she framed HUD delays as increasing local risk for people entering homelessness.
The chair closed the public forum after the three speakers and moved into routine business; no formal action on a public-health emergency declaration was recorded in the meeting minutes for Dec. 9. Commissioners did not vote on a declaration during the public portion of this session.
