Surface Mining Overlays
The Clark County Council recently gave unanimous direction to move forward with repealing the Chelatchie Bluff surface mining overlay (SMO) over environmentally sensitive forest land in response to the Washington Court of Appeals ruling in FOCC’s favor on the matter, which would bring the county back into compliance with state law. To learn more about […]
As always, we are closely following the long and winding story of the PVJR and all of its tendrils. Here are the updates as well as actions our members can take this month on this issue. We appreciate all of you who have already written letters, made calls, and donated! 1) Last month, the Environmental […]
Hello Clark County staff, CAG, and Environmental Justice Coalition (EJC) members, FOCC thanks you for your work thus far to create goals and policies for protecting Clark County residents, especially our children and grandchildren, from the dire impacts of the climate emergency by working together to recommend adaptation and mitigation measures. We recognize all of […]
Hey Friends, Friends of Clark County and allies have learned about a proposed settlement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad (PVJR)/Eric Temple regarding its unlawful destruction of the Curtin Creek and Chelatchie Prairie areas of Clark County. Outrageously, the settlement only proposes a $65,000 penalty on this multimillionaire, which […]
Forum Date and Time: Thursday, January 30th from 5 – 6:30 pm Pacific Time Location: Remote Only via Zoom. Register via Eventbrite here. Description: Join Friends of Clark County for a panel discussion on the importance of preserving and growing our forests, as well as implementing a plan to plant and maintain our tree canopy. […]
(Photo from Friends of the Columbia Gorge) For a brief background on this issue, read the Columbian’s coverage here. Read Friends of the Columbia Gorge’s history of Zimmerly’s egregious and illegal behavior here. Continue reading to review Friends of Clark County’s public comment submitted for the 356th Avenue road dedication decision: Friends of Clark County, […]
Photo from Clark County government Link to Clark County’s 2025 Comprehensive Planning page here: 2025 Update | Clark County (wa.gov) In our last update, the County had adopted the Population and Employment allocation, which determines what future population and job numbers each of the cities and the county need to plan for. The county had […]
What is a Surface Mining Overlay (SMO)? Surface mining refers to the removal of the terrain surface to access minerals underneath. An overlay “is a set of additional or stricter standards and criteria that are applied on top of existing land use designations or zoning districts” (Source). An overlay does not change the zoning that […]
Date: On or before October 22nd at 10am Context: Clark County will hold a hearing to consider a proposal to repeal the Surface Mining Overlay (SMO) ordinance that could allow mining on 330 acres of prime Tier I forestlands at Chelatchie Bluff. This proposed action to repeal the ordinance is in response to the Growth […]
We hate to say we told you so, but FOCC has long echoed the warnings of Clark County staff saying that retaining the illegal Chelatchie SMO would put state grant funding in jeopardy because of non-compliance with state law. Those warnings went unheeded by most of the Council, and now the county is poised to […]