County must study fault line for Brightwater plant

By Emily Heffter
Times Snohomish County bureau

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King County faced eight appeals to the environmental study it conducted when deciding to put the $1.3 billion plant in South Snohomish County, near the intersection of highways 9 and 522 just north of Woodinville. Yesterday's ruling resolved the last one, filed by a neighborhood group, the Sno-King Environmental Alliance (SKEA).

The ruling was a partial win for SKEA. The group believes King County's federally required environmental-impact statement was inadequate, and yesterday's ruling forces King County to do more work.

But SKEA wanted the county to repeat the entire site-selection process, and that won't happen. The Highway 9 site "is on very solid ground" and not in danger of changing, said Christie True, project manager for Brightwater.

"If all was glorious, we would have liked to have seen Highway 9 just walk away from all of it," said SKEA board member Corinne Hensley.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported in April that the Southern Whidbey Island Fault might extend onto the Brightwater site. If it does and poses a significant risk, King County might have to add to its environmental-impact statement, repeating much of the process the county has been through in the past four years, including public hearings.

True said that would be a setback for the project but said it's "pretty unlikely" that the study results would be significant enough to require that.

King County will dig a trench through its property to check for fault lines. Work will start soon and will cost about $100,000, but True said it could be difficult because part of the trench may have to be dug through a wetland.

If there is a fault line, True anticipates having to change the design of Brightwater, but she doesn't think it would rule out the site altogether.

"Right now all we can do is hope that the fault line is there and that there's been recent movement," Hensley said.

Emily Heffter: 425-783-0624

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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