Chelatchie Prairie Coalition - CPC

03/31/2026

**FRDU IS DEAD!** 🥂🚂

As of approximately 3:00 PM yesterday, the Governor officially signed **SB 5820**, rescinding the "Freight Rail Dependent Use" (FRDU) exception. This landmark move forces Clark County back into compliance with the Growth Management Act (GMA)—bringing us in line with every other county in Washington.

This was a poorly designed, poorly executed, and poorly used "carve-out" created for just one county and really - one operator. Ultimately, it was the PVJR itself that paved the way for this repeal; their complete disdain for the residents, cities, and towns along this 33-mile corridor proved exactly why these protections are necessary.

There’s an old saying that fits perfectly: **"Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."** By overreaching and ignoring the community, the proponents of FRDU ensured its end.

**BIG SHOUT-OUT TO:** * Friends of Clark County
* Friends of Central Vancouver
* The tireless members of the Chelatchie Prairie Coalition

Hundreds of hours of research, letter-writing, and phone calls made the difference. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard for this win.

Of course, there is still more work ahead. Indications are that we’ve "poked the bear," so don't go anywhere just yet. Take a breath, celebrate, and rejuvenate—we need to be ready for the counter-offensive.

** **

03/09/2026

Headline: 🚂 MAJOR UPDATE: The 10-Year Fight is One Signature Away from Over!
We have incredible news, Clark County! SB 5820 has officially cleared the Legislature and is now sitting on Governor Ferguson’s desk.
For nearly a decade, our community has fought against the "industrial experiment" that threatened our rural lands and our water. By passing this bill as a CLEAN REPEAL, the State has finally agreed: the Growth Management Act (GMA) must be restored to the Chelatchie Prairie corridor.
What this means for our neighborhood:
✅ The "Overlay" is GONE: The legal loophole for heavy industrial expansion in our backyards is closing.
✅ Water Protection: Our critical aquifers are being put back under the protection of science-based land-use laws.
✅ No More Special Exceptions: The rules that apply to everyone else in Washington will finally apply here again.
✅ The Train Still Runs: This doesn't stop the railroad; it stops the destruction of our resource lands for heavy industry.
⚠️ WE NEED YOUR HELP IN THE FINAL MILE!
Because the Legislature adjourns this week, the Governor has 20 days to sign this into law. We cannot let the momentum stop now. The opposition is lobbying hard for a veto—we need to flood his office with a "YES!"
HOW TO HELP (It takes 60 seconds):
Click the Governor’s portal: https://governor.wa.gov/contacting-governor/contacting-governors-office/send-gov-ferguson-e-message
Select "Environment" and tell him: "Please sign SB 5820 to restore the GMA and protect Clark County's water and land."
Let’s cross the finish line together. Please SHARE this post to get the word out!

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

02/11/2026

🚨 ACTION ALERT: SB 5820 Moves to the House! Time is of the essence, please act now or ASAP!!!

We have cleared the first major hurdle: SB 5820 has officially PASSED the Senate. Now, the battle moves to the State House of Representatives, and we need to keep the momentum high.

It is time to dust off your letters, fire up your email, and make your voices heard once again. We are pushing to get this bill across the finish line!

📍 The Roadmap to Victory

We expect the bill to follow the same path as it did in the Senate. We are targeting two key groups:

• Phase 1: Local Government Committee (7 Members) – This is our first stop. We must pass here to stay alive.
• We are focusing upon the 7 Member House “Local Government” Committee.
• These members are: • Chair D-1 Davina Duerr 360-786-7928 [email protected], • Vice Chair D-41 Janice Zahn 360-786-7894 [email protected], • Ranking Minority Member R-16 Mark Klicker 360-786-7836 [email protected], • Assistant Ranking Minority Member R-17 David Stuebe 360-786-7976 [email protected], • Member R-35 Dan Griffey 360-786-7966 [email protected], • Member D-5 Zach Hall 360-786-7852 [email protected], • Member D-22 Lisa Parshley 360-786-7992 [email protected]
• Please Include • [email protected], • [email protected], • [email protected] in your phase 1 email blast.
Once the bills is passed through the “Local Government” committee we will implement Phase 2. So please keep those wonderful letters, that can be used again as we move through the different legislators.

Phase 2: Rules Committee (24 Members) – Once through the first committee, we move to the "gatekeepers" who decide if the bill reaches the House floor for a final vote.

🛠 Your Marching Orders

• Reuse & Refine: Take the letters you sent to the Senate and update the greeting to "Representative [Name]."
• Email the Committee members as shown above.
• The Follow-Up: An email is a great start, but a phone call is harder to ignore. Please call their offices 24–48 hours after emailing.
• Be Persistent: We need to flood their inboxes and phone lines. Let them know this bill is a priority for their constituents.
Pro-Tip: If you live in the district of one of these committee members, be sure to mention: "I am a voting constituent in your district." This carries the most weight!

02/05/2026

It has been a few months since our last update—so here is the latest on the fight to protect the Prairie.

1. Chelatchie Bluff: The Waiting Game

First, on the Chelatchie Bluff front, we don't expect any real movement until October of this year at the earliest. We are officially in "watch mode," but rest assured, we are keeping a close eye on any behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

2. SB 5820: Closing the Loophole

If you aren't on our email list, you might have missed this (another great reason to sign up!). Senate Bill 5820 is designed to realign Clark County with the rest of Washington State.

Back in 2017, a legislative "carve-out" (SB 5517) stripped Clark County of the standard protections afforded by the Growth Management Act (GMA). This loophole created the Freight Rail Dependent Use (FRDU) overlays—a law written specifically to benefit one company.

What does FRDU actually mean?
Heavy Industrial Use. PVJR has suggested overlays extending one mile on each side of the track along the entire 33-mile corridor. That is 66 square miles of Clark County at risk. The operator has even openly discussed using Eminent Domain on YOUR land and threatened the use his authority which he claims is equivalent to the U.S. Marshals to remove those who stand in the way (his letter to Clark County stating these facts are publicly available).

SB 5820 stops this madness. It forces Clark County to play by the same rules as everyone else, conserving our resource lands and protecting your neighborhood from "red carpet" industrialization.

🚨 ACTION NEEDED: PUSH IT TO THE FLOOR!

We’ve made progress! The Senate Committee on Local Government voted to recommend approval.

YES Votes: Senators Salomon (Chair), Lovelett, and Bateman.
NO Votes: Senators Torres and Goehner.

The bill is now in the Rules Committee—the final gatekeeper before it hits the Senate floor for a full vote. We need to flood these Senators with emails and calls to ensure this bill moves forward.

Please contact the Rules Committee members below. Tell them: "Support SB 5820. Give Clark County the same GMA protections as the rest of Washington!"

| Title | Name | Phone | Email |
| Lt. Governor / Chair | Denny Heck | 360-786-7700 | [email protected] |
| Vice Chair (D-29) | Steve Conway | 360-786-7656 | [email protected] |
| Majority Leader (D-43) | Jamie Pedersen | 360-786-7628 | [email protected] |
| Minority Leader (R-20) | John Braun | 360-786-7638 | [email protected] |
| Caucus Chair (D-11) | Bob Hasegawa | 360-786-7616 | [email protected] |
| Majority Floor Leader (D-3) | Marcus Riccelli | 360-786-7604 | [email protected] |
| Senator (D-49) | Annette Cleveland | 360-786-7696 | [email protected] |
| Senator (D-32) | Jesse Salomon | 360-786-7662 | [email protected] |
| Senator (R-13) | Judy Warnick | 360-786-7624 | [email protected] |

Let’s keep the pressure on. We’ve kept the mines off the map (so far)—now let’s close the loophole on the FRDU for good!

Call now to connect with business.

10/23/2025

🚨 FULL CHELATCHIE BLUFF MINE AND RAILROAD EXPANSION EMERGENCY UPDATE: LEGAL VICTORY YET WE HAVE AN ONGOING THREAT TO OUR WATER 🚨
The fight against corporate interests seeking to industrialize our pristine forestlands at Chelatchie Bluff has reached a critical turning point. While we've secured a major legal victory against the mine earlier this year, the railroad operator is still attempting to push forward with environmentally destructive activities.

1. The Chelatchie Bluff Surface Mining Overlay (SMO): A Decisive but Short-Term Legal Victory! ⚖️
In a major victory for the community and for compliance with state law, the Clark County Council gave unanimous directions to repeal the illegal SMO ordinance, finally bringing the county back into compliance with the Growth Management Act (GMA) after years of non-compliance.

In another reprieve, the Council followed with a resolution that extended the suspension of all Annual Reviews (Site Specific Requests for Comprehensive Plan and Zoning amendments) until September 30, 2026. This delay is tied to the County's slow-moving 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update. This action means that while we defeated the current mine application, new Site-Specific Requests for zoning changes will start being accepted on October 1, 2026.

2. The New Land Grab: Property Purchase and Expected Zone Change Application 💰
We have tracked the recent acquisition of properties on Chelatchie Bluff by Rotschy (and Sinergy LLC). These new parcels are directly adjacent to the previously invalidated SMO application area, changing the size and magnitude of this proposed mine to almost 1,000 acres. We believe they will submit for a site-specific SMO zoning change. The reason we believe this is they already submitted for some of these parcels with a letter of intent during the initial 2025 comp plan submission period, leaving us little doubt they will extend that to their newly acquired parcels. (We would love to be wrong!) [Reference Parcels: 283420000, 283422000, 283421000, 281134000, 274346000, 274579000, 274578000, 283419000, 283425000, 283426000, 283423000, 283427000, and 283424000].

Based on the newly extended Site-Specific Request suspension, the earliest the new owners could formally apply for a zone change to facilitate mining would be when the application period opens in late 2026. Any future zone change application for a surface mining overlay on this expanded site is now highly likely to require a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), per the binding precedent set by the Washington Court of Appeals ruling against the County’s previous illegal handling of the SMO application.

3. THE MINING LOBBY'S DESPERATION: Substandard Gravel vs. Sacred Water 🌊
New intelligence confirms the sheer unprofitability of this entire scheme. A report provided to the County by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) delivers a dismal, unexpected reality check: The quality of aggregate at Chelatchie Bluff is substandard. Experts found rock locations are severely limited – confined only to smaller, specific areas – and the massive amount of useless overburden required to reach the material makes conducting a full, legally-required Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) unprofitable for the applicant. In short: It’s not worth the rock.

DNR presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy5IjfPn69o

Yet, we anticipate that, come the next site-specific zone change application window beginning in late 2026, corporate interests will again push the false narrative that the county is "running out of gravel," suggesting we must somehow forgo EIS requirements and sacrifice our drinking water and environment for their minimal, possibly non-existent, profit.

We cannot afford this gamble. The area they seek to destroy includes the headwaters of Chelatchie Creek Tributaries and a large portion of Boody Creek. PVJR and the mine proponents have made the dangerous, incorrect assumption that these are non-fish-bearing, seasonal streams. This classification is designed to justify minimal protection when, in reality, these are the critical lifelines that supply hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water to Cedar Creek and are essential recharge zones for our community's critical aquifer systems. Risking our fundamental water security for substandard, unprofitable rock is unconscionable.


Figure 1 https://apps.wdfw.wa.gov/salmonscape/map.html
I encourage you to fact check me: https://apps.wdfw.wa.gov/salmonscape/map.html

4. The PVJR Yard Expansion: New Planned Activity and Weak Environmental Plans ⚠️
Despite the crushing legal defeat on the mine, and based on recent FOIA received documents, the Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad (PVJR) continues its aggressive push for the Chelatchie yard expansion, prioritizing profit over our ecosystem.
• History of Destruction: PVJR has a history of environmental destruction in the Chelatchie area. They have already engaged in unpermitted road work and grading at the planned rail yard site, causing environmental damage that killed fish and destroyed riparian ecosystems. This resulted in a $31,058 settlement penalty from the Department of Ecology (ECY) with additional fines and restrictions from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for water quality violations.
• STOP WORK ORDER Confirmed: The company is now planning to log 30 acres for the yard expansion. However, through the recent FOIA requests, we have confirmed the Department of Ecology has formally stated that PVJR does not have permit coverage for this site and MUST NOT start work until they have obtained the required Construction Stormwater General Permit (CSWGP).
• The Buffer Loophole and the Threatened Streams: PVJR's internal environmental plan dangerously relies on the assumption that the vital water resources are mere "Type Ns (Non-Fish Seasonal) streams"—ephemeral streams that are non-fish-bearing. This assumption is CRITICALLY FLAWED, as PVJR's own unpermitted activity has already proven the site includes fish-bearing waters, as well as the aforementioned WDFW website.
• PVJR's Inadequate Plan: Relying on the Type Ns classification, the company is only proposing minimal protections:
• A 30-foot no-equipment zone.
• A 50-foot buffer on only 50% of the stream length.
• The company is also attempting to bypass federal oversight, believing the streams are "non-jurisdictional" and that the Army Corps of Engineers has "no permitting role."

This insufficient plan, based on an incorrect classification, will place the tributaries, wetlands, and the fish they support at severe risk of sedimentation, violating the very Clean Water Act they claim to be following.

WHAT YOU MUST DO NOW 📣
While we celebrate the victory against the SMO, the fight against the industrial rail expansion and its environmental damage continues.
• DEMAND COMPLIANCE: Contact the Department of Ecology and Clark County immediately to insist they strictly enforce the "do not start work" order until PVJR demonstrates full compliance with all permits and recognizes that the water resources are fish-bearing streams requiring FULL riparian protection.
• KEEP ALERT: Show up to the Clark County Council meetings when these things come forward for public comment and voice your concern and demand the county stop the insanity.

This is our community, our water, our environment, join us in this fight!

For more information on the Chelatchie Prairie Coalition and how you can join us, please contact: [email protected]

09/17/2025

More to follow but wanted to get this out. Keep in mind this is separate from the EPA fines and penalties.

The company will pay a $31,058 penalty as part of a settlement with Ecology over water quality violations at three Clark County construction sites.

07/29/2025

**Quick Update on the Chelatchie Bluff Mine Situation**

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since our last update, so here’s where things stand:

Right now, we’re in a bit of a holding pattern. The Growth Management Review Board has looked over the County’s repeal of the rezoning of Chelatchie Bluff Mine. We haven’t heard their final decision yet, but I did hear that some grants held up by non-compliance were quickly awarded after their review – a good sign for the County and for us!

On another note, Synergy is still very active in the area, buying up more land and doing what looks like exploratory drilling. So, this issue is far from over—we just don’t know exactly when the next steps will happen. And they are not transparent to the public... leaving us with a less than positive impression.

The good news: we have strong grounds to demand an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) during the rezoning phase. An EIS is critical. For those of you following along, you know why—but for those who are new:
- **Chelatchie and Boody Creeks** feed into Cedar Creek, which supplies hundreds of private wells and supports endangered fish and habitat.
- The area is geologically unstable and sits above homes.
- It’s also near DOE Cleanup sites.

This just isn’t the right place for open-pit mining. A thorough EIS will make that clear. If the corporations think otherwise, they should have nothing to fear from the study. So why are they fighting so hard to avoid it?

Don’t listen to claims that it’s the “wrong time” to ask for an EIS. In reality, if the land is rezoned for Surface Mining Overlay (SMO), much of the oversight goes away, and community voices—ours!—don’t count for nearly as much.

**Your property value is at risk—open-pit mines like this have caused up to a 40% drop in similar cases, and if you rely on a well, your water future could be at stake.

We need your help and voices more than ever. Please consider joining our cause or reaching out for more info. Thanks for caring and staying involved!
Chelatchie Prairie Coalition

05/19/2025

Please consider donating in support of the Friends of Clark County!

What’s on our Radar – Week of May 19th, 2025 May 19, 2025 in General FOCC’s Spring Fundraiser has been EXTENDED! Thank you for your support during the Give Big fundraising campaign. Since we did not meet our fundraising goal, we are extending our spring fundraising drive. Please consider a don...

05/13/2025

Quick update - we have what can be called a Halftime 1 to 4 lead in the Chelatchie Bluff Mine fight. Today, County Council Unanimously voted to repeal the Surface MIning Overlay zoning ordenance for Chelatchie Bluff Mine. We are calling it a halftime win, because we know Granite Construction, (Watsonville CA), and BRP LLC (Texas), will be back at it as soon as some of the dust settles. But at least it feels good that we are here. Back with the area zoned for Forest, our wells, and our land safe for now. THANK YOU EVERYONE who wrote letters, made council meetings, and helped get the word out. It does work. Stay tuned, we will keep you posted as we get into the second half.

04/26/2025

04/22/2025

Sorry folks for my absences, it has been a hectic month in my personal life. Anyway, instead of me reinventing the wheel on what our County has been up to, I am going to point you to a great resource that you should consider bookmarking for future reference: https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/whats-on-our-radar-week-of-april-21st-2025/ Please take the time to read it. I plan to repost their weekly updates moving forward for your review. For many here is the big news: 3,000 acres worth of surface mining overlays (SMO’s) over forest land are now officially out of consideration for the Comp Plan Update. AND The Planning Commission at a public hearing last week voted to repeal the Chelatchie Bluff Mine ordinance, and it was unanimous! It will now go back to the Clark County Council for the final hearing/vote to repeal on May 20th. More to come.

What’s on our Radar – Week of April 21st, 2025 April 21, 2025 in General The GiveBIG campaign season has begun! Please check out our fundraising appeal to learn about everything we do to protect and create a thriving Clark County, as well as why we need your support! https://friendsofclarkcounty...