Whitman CD will host DOE staffers Feb. 13

Whitman Conservation District will host staff from the state Department of Ecology for a second meeting Feb. 13 in Colfax.

The meeting will be at 3 p.m. in the county’s Public Service Building, following the conservation district’s meeting at 1 p.m. DOE staff will address questions brought up at the last meeting held in December.

Landowners jammed the Public Service Building auditorium Dec. 12 to listen and respond to DOE assessments. Four DOE officials attended the meeting because so many landowners were upset by DOE letters they received last fall about the “potential to pollute.”

The agency sent 30 letters within the conservation district addressing ongoing pollution sources.

Frustrated conservation board members said that even though DOE meant to collaborate with the board, DOE did not.