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Committee advances bill to relocate Bob Oak Game Farm after nitrate detections threaten Centralia water
Summary
After testimony from local officials, tribal members and public-health experts about nitrate contamination of private wells and a sole-source aquifer, the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee reported a substitute to House Bill 2668 out of committee with a due-pass recommendation.
The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 4 advanced a substitute to House Bill 2668 directing the Department of Fish and Wildlife to identify and pursue relocation options for the Bob Oak Game Farm after officials described elevated nitrate concentrations in wells near the facility that threaten Centralia’s drinking water.
Representative Ed Orcutt, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee the bill is intended to relocate the state-run pheasant rearing and release facility rather than close it. "This is very much a public health issue," Orcutt said, citing downstream wells that measured multiple times the federal drinking-water standard.
Why it matters: County and city officials described a nitrate plume in the Centralia Outwash Gravel Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to about 20,000 residents. Centralia water operations manager Chris Stone warned that without action the city could be forced to…
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