County to meet on new plan for environment

County officials want to hear from landowners and environmental groups on whether Whitman County should sign on to a new state environmental regulation program.

Under a new state law, the county must protect its environmentally sensitive areas from farming activities. Whether it does that through a panel of interested parties or through zoning laws is the decision commissioners must make by Jan. 22, 2012.

“The county commissioners have to make a decision. So we have to get all the affected parties together in order to inform their decision,” said Whitman County Planner Alan Thomson.

Agricultur...