Steve Corker
Spokane City Council
District 3 Position 1

1.      Form a City Environmental Policy Committee to update and advise the Mayor and City Council on current water contamination and air quality issues. This Committee would include environmental groups, business interests, governmental agencies, and citizens.

2.      Work with the regional task force and with local governments from both Washington and Idaho, working together on bi-state water contamination issues.

3.      Work with the Governor's, Senator's, and Representative's offices to help increase the amount of funding for the reduction of regional water contamination.

4.      Allocate funding from the City to the Department of Ecology for the clean-up of PCBs and heavy metals on Spokane beaches.

5.      Take steps to remove the waste behind Upriver Dam and upgrade the dam to prevent any further ruptures.

6.      Work with local commuinity colleges to develop clean-up training programs.

7.      Allocate part of the City's new technology center to heavy metal and PCB research.

8.      Start a Spokane River contaminants education campaign which would include television, radio and print ads that inform the public of where the waste comes from, what the waste is, and how it can and does harm people in the greater Spokane area. The Environmental Policy Committee would help develop these messages.

I will be working on a water conservation program in order to meet the present and future environmental and economic needs of this region. The elements of this plan will include: goals and planning; education; new proposed rate structure and their incentives; and a public properties water conservation program. These activities will be designed to promote and showcase conservation methods and to set examples for private businesses and individual water users to help preserve our most important resource, our water. I also want to thank our Lands Council for their assistance in developing this program.