With the promulgation of the Dungeness Water Management Rule growing closer, debate continues on the rule’s merits.

In the July 25 Sequim Gazette, State Reps. Steve Tharinger and Kevin Van De Wege provided their thoughts on the rule. Their comments were accompanied by those by Sen. Jim Hargrove and Larry Carter, who is hoping to unseat Hargrove in the primary. Steve Gale, a Republican, is contesting Tharinger’s seat in the primary. He provided his comments this week, saying, “This proposed new rule from the Department of Ecology must not be implemented.”

Gale said the rule would “take away the freedoms which citizens and businesses now enjoy under a new scheme calling for people and businesses to have to ‘mitigate’ new consumptive uses of water. What that means is that the citizens and businesses alike will have to pay a non-governmental entity for the liberty to drill a well, establish a new garden, install a sprinkler system, build a new home on land they may have owned for years or establish a new business need for water.”

Gale said the rule will hurt the local economy, businesses, job market and property values. “This is completely unacceptable. The people have the right to the peaceful enjoyment of their homes and property without further government constraints. The community deserves better options.”