Judge Issues Final Order

A Major Victory for Friends of Guemes Island

After a protracted delay in the proceedings, Judge James Allendoerfer has issued a final order in the lawsuit brought by FGI against Skagit County to halt the late weeknight runs of the Guemes Island ferry.

Although the judge restated his unwillingness to issue the requested injunction to halt the late ferry operations immediately, he ruled unequivocally that the county must conduct a comprehensive environmental review before the two year “trial period” for the late night hours can be extended, even by a single day. In his decision, he wrote:

“At the end of the two-year trial period, on June 30th, 2008, the ferry schedule will automatically revert to its former 6:00 p.m. cut-off, and no weekday evening extension will again be considered unless and until there is a new, thorough, and SEPA compliant environmental review, including, among other issues, the probability of induced growth, and the direct and indirect adverse environmental impacts resulting from the same.”

The County has consistently maintained that the ferry operations are totally unrelated to growth issues, including the impact to the island’s sole source aquifer and fragile ecosystem. FGI, and anyone who cares about Guemes Island, knows that this position is absurd. In his decision, Judge Allendoerfer resoundingly rejected the county’s contention, and held the County to the standards of the law as written in the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).

It is remarkable that it has been almost a year and a half since the County extended the weeknight ferry hours, and FGI initiated our legal action against the County. The wheels of justice move slowly, but they do in fact move. Thanks to the generous support of FGI by its hundreds of members, we have been able to raise the funds needed to persist and prevail in this battle, despite the County’s efforts to draw out the proceedings in the hope of bleeding our organization dry.

The battle is, however, not over yet. We will need to remain vigilant to ensure that the County now complies with the court’s order, and that they either produce a meaningful and thorough environmental review or shut down the weeknight operations immediately at the end of June.

We remain committed to seeing this struggle through to its conclusion.

The FGI Board of Directors

Final Court Order, November 5, 2007 [732kb PDF]

In previous episodes

Report prepared for June 7 hearing in Superior Court:

Land Use Impacts of the Guemes Island Ferry Schedule Extension [424kb PDF]

Skagit County's Filings:

DNS [252kb PDF] • DNS Addendum [384kb PDF]

Environmental Checklist [2.4mb PDF] • Environmental Checklist Addendum [3.4mb PDF]