Environment

DARRINGTON -- Sen. Maria Cantwell says it's high time to get to work on a bill that would save the Green Mountain forest fire lookout from being pulled off the peak. Cantwell, D-Wash., got a commitment from a Senate committee chairman Thursday that he will move ahead on the proposed bill to preserve the lookout, located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee recognized the Washin... Read more

We are fortunate that Washington state's economy has a diverse array of strengths as we work to continue our recovery from the Great Recession.We build the world's best airplanes. We design software that's changed the way we work and socialize. We grow some of the country's best fruits and vegetables, producing, in fact, 92 percent of the nation's red raspberries. But to keep our economy growing, we need to recognize all of our strengths and leverage them to our advantage.One critical asset we h... Read more

A special guest will tour sites in the Skagit River Valley today. Nancy Sutley, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality will be in Mount Vernon to discuss the impacts of climate change on communities in Washington state.Sutley has been touring the country to talk about the climate action plan President Barack Obama unveiled in June.In Mount Vernon, she’ll be hosted by Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who says the emphasis in the Skagit Valley is on increased flooding due to cli... Read more

EVERETT -- Members of Congress are asking the U.S. Forest Service to delay plans to move the Green Mountain forest fire lookout out of the Glacier Peak Wilderness.Rep. Suzan DelBene, Rep. Rick Larsen, both Democrats who represent portions of Snohomish County, and a member of the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter Friday to the chief of the Forest Service describing their intent to pass legislation to protect the lookout where it sits.In July, Darrington Historical Society member Sco... Read more

The letter, to U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell, was signed by U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon. DelBene and Larsen are cosponsoring the Green Mountain Heritage Act, along with Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, D-Wash.The legislation passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, and appears headed for full House approval. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Tuesday, at which the Forest Ser... Read more

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene issued the following statement today following the approval by the House Committee on Natural Resources of H.R. 908, which would protect the historic Green Mountain Lookout in the Glacier Peak Wilderness near Darrington, WA:“I’m extremely pleased by today’s action by the House Committee on Natural Resources to approve the Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection Act. I want to thank the committee members, and Congressman Hastings in particular, for their support of... Read more

We know from Ecclesiastes, there is a time to break down and a time to build up. When it comes to America's wild places, an ambidextrous Congress manages to build up and break down simultaneously.On the prudent-conservation side, the news is promising. Tuesday marked the culmination of a bipartisan push to expand Alpine Lakes Wilderness and designate the Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers as wild and scenic. Thanks to the leadership of Republican Rep. Dave Reichert and Democrat Rep. Suzan D... Read more

Less than an hour’s hop by car from Seattle lies a glacier-cut terrain dotted with 700 lakes, Sitka spruce forests and bull-trout runs.It’s taken much longer — six years and counting — for Congress to approve an expansion of Alpine Lakes Wilderness, the closest federally designated wild lands to the Puget Sound metropolis.It appears the legislation may finally pass on its fourth try.The Alpine Lakes Wilderness bill was among a slew of proposals considered by a subcommittee of the House Natural R... Read more

A long-requested U.S. House hearing on Tuesday saw unusual bipartisan agreement that the closest Cascade mountain valley to Seattle deserves protection, and that 22,100 acres in the mountains of eastern King County should be added to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area.The testimony should boost prospects that the legislation can be sprung from the House Natural Resources Committee. The panel’s anti-wilderness chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., has so far snubbed the bill even though a home stat... Read more

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene testified before the House Committee on Natural Resources today in support of her legislation to save the Green Mountain Lookout and another to expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. DelBene introduced HR 908 and is an original cosponsor of HR 361.HR 908 would protect the historic Green Mountain Lookout in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. HR 361 would expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and designate the Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers as Wild and Scenic. Her text, a... Read more