DOE responds to Port water application after 20 years

A couple of weeks ago, the Port of Whitman County received a surprise: a long overdue letter.

“We were kind of shocked when we got the letter,” said Port Properties and Development Manager Debbie Snell.

The letter was from the Department of Ecology, and it was a response to an application the Port sent the department 20 years ago.

That application was sent by then Port Director Randy Bostrum in 1996 for a water right at what was then the Colfax Industrial Park and is now the Port of Whitman Business Air Center (POWBAC). The letter received Jan. 8 was sent with the intent “to give you the oppor...