Pro bono attorney needed to protect water quality

At the outset of this writing I make full disclosure that although I did attend law school, I am not licensed to practice law. With that said, I would like to hereby offer a friend-of-the-court presentation of a legal matter which may have escaped its notice in the matter of the city of Whitefish’s Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) for setbacks and buffers to alleviate storm water runoff around water bodies.

My hope is that some attorney(s) reading this will volunteer to take up this cause and provide pro bono counsel and advice to any and all judges as to the legal aspects of the judicial controversies over the real issues involving the CAO, sometimes referred to as the “doughnut” area, on behalf of all citizens of the city of Whitefish and Flathead County.

After all, everyone benefits from high water quality in our lakes and streams. And, your pro bono service to us all will not go unnoticed, as you would be introducing argument and evidence to protect all of our interests, including your own.

Those who are opposed to the CAO use the argument that the city of Whitefish is interfering with certain landowners’ property rights. They obfuscate their own personal business interests (profits) in supporting a small number of certain property owners’ claims of their selfish rights.

No mention is made of the main issue — common drinking water pollution, to be suffered by many people, which will result from the exercise of those few property rights. It is a classic example of the rights of a few individuals over the health and welfare of the entire community. The Montana Constitution does, however, directly address the rights of all citizens by specifically stating that their health and welfare is of paramount importance.

In my writing this article, I am attempting to represent the real issues of the rights of all citizens to the quiet enjoyment of their properties, which necessarily includes the common use of neighboring public waterways for swimming, non-motorized (non-polluting) boating, fishing and, most importantly, potable water for human (and wildlife) consumption.

The CAO attempts to reduce/prevent nitrate and phosphate nutrients from polluting Whitefish Lake and surrounding rivers/streams and wetland areas. These nutrients enhance the growth of various algae on the water’s surface that prevent small water organisms from feeding on surface water flies/bugs. This, subsequently, reduces the population of those organisms that are fed upon by fish, reducing the fish population to smaller numbers that could also be infected by toxins found in polluted water.

Other results include toxicities that can grow in algae-laden water and that can cause harm to children swimming in polluted lake water. How is the general health and welfare being served by that?

Maybe the apathy of most citizens toward the CAO controversy stems from their ignorance of what is really at stake. Maybe they don’t understand that their city drinking water, as well as their country well water, is all connected far underground with the lake water and the water running above ground in streams of various sizes.

Well, it is all connected, so now you know. There are many resources available to you to verify that. Not the capitalistic business interests, who could care less about water quality, but the scientific research community, such as the University of Montana’s Biological Research Station in Yellow Bay, on the east side of Flathead Lake. Jack Stanford is the director. They also study Whitefish Lake, and should be willing to provide scientific data.

To appease those who would still disagree with my premise that water quality is all important, I will add the fact that high land values are determined by high water quality in proximity to the land. (That should impress my detractors among the Republican readership.)

So, I implore the legal community to take up this cause. There must be some Democrats among you that appreciate the environment we must all share together in the here and now, plus leave behind for our posterity. Here is your chance to do community service (pro bono) in order to “give back” for all you have received in life.

Please submit an amicus, friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of us all. Whitefish city attorney John Phelps should be willing to provide background reference information to you on the CAO. The entire state of Montana has its eye on this confrontation between business interests and the will of the people. Thank you.

Bill Baum lives in Coram.