NCJ Number
97346
Date Published
1981
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Three case studies identify issues and parties involved in environmental disputes and discuss dispute resolution efforts.
Abstract
Attention focuses on conflicts involving Portage Island, Interstate 90, and the Port Townsend Ferry Terminal in Washington State. The Whatcom County Park Board in Washington State had purchased Portage Island and planned to create a park there; however, the Lummi Tribe, which controlled road access (a sandbar at low tide) to the island, would not allow anyone on it. Tests of the feasibility of mediating the dispute are explored, and the use of two mediators in resolving the dispute is discussed. The discussion of the conflict's resolution focuses on an agreement giving the Lummis until December 1980 to buy the island for $1.2 million and then use it for a public park. The debate on Interstate 90, which had been proposed as a 10-lane freeway and bridge cutting across Seattle, is chronicled. Issues of neighborhood impact and highway design are discussed, selection of the Office of Environmental Mediation to mediate the debate is analyzed, and the ratification of a draft agreement in the relevant city councils is noted. However, evidence indicating that I-90 cannot be constructed in the form agreed to is presented. Residents' failure to agree on where the State of Washington should construct a new ferry landing in Port Townsend is described, and the use of a panel to mediate the dispute is noted. Further, the panel's decision to construct a new landing is detailed. Finally, similarities and differences in the case studies are identified.