Inslee, Bryant Debate CAFO Permits

During last night's Gubernatorial debate, both incumbent Jay Inslee and challenger Bill Bryant discussed the issue of wastewater for Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFO, and the permitting process.

Governor Inslee said his administration would adopt regulation aimed at reducing the amount of nitrate that got into well water.

"The people of Yakima deserve to have a well where you can give the wellwater to your 3-month-old and not worry about them getting nitrate poisoning. That's pretty simple."

Inslee said the science is clear to implement new CAFO regulations.

Predictably his challenger Bill Bryant felt differently noting that the dairy operators of the Yakima Valley want to be safe, but that they need solutions that are built for their unique circumstances.

"These are regulations that were really written more for over on the coast and what we need are regulations written for here in the Yakima Valley. They're not against the regulations. They just want to make sure that before they make huge investments that it's actually going to yield a result at the end of the day."

Bryant said as governor he would institute a moratorium on new regulations until the agency involved could justify existing regulations.

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