WA DOE Contemplating $3000 Aquatic Plant Management Permit Fee

FYI, we just heard from the Washington Department of Ecology (Mike Herold, mher461@ecy.wa.gov), that a fee increase is proposed for Ecology permits, including permits for using herbicide to control invasive weeds in lakes. Controlling noxious weeds will be going up to $1000 and controlling nuisance native weeds will jump to
$3000.  This is a huge jump.  There’s a short comment period before this goes through a formal rule making process.

This has the potential to bankrupt many lake programs in Washington State.  Ecology permits already force costs of compliance on lake residents in excess of $2,000.00 per year.  With the addition of this fee it could cost lake groups and individuals over $5,000 just to comply with Ecology before any actual work is performed.

Please consider contacting Mike and providing comments regarding this.  Thank you.

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