One Year in Congress: Is Congressman Heck Giving 'Em Heck?

By Janine Unsoeld

This article has been adapted for publication in the South Sound Green Pages and was originally published January 8 at Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

United States Representative Denny Heck (D-WA10) went back to the other Washington in early January, but during his two week Christmas break, he was home in Olympia.

Congressman Heck visited Quixote Village, Thurston County's new permanent community for the homeless, made several speaking engagements, toured local businesses and non-profits, and relaxed with someone he calls his best friend, his wife, Paula.

The timing seemed to be right to check in with Heck after the completion of his first session of the 113th Congress as a freshman from the newly created 10th district. Little Hollywood requested an interview and appreciated Congressman Heck making time for this opportunity.

The 10th district, created after the 2010 census, encompasses parts or all of Thurston, Pierce and Mason Counties, with Joint Base Lewis-McChord thrown into the middle.

According to the website OpenCongress, Heck voted with fellow Democrats 93.1 percent of the time.

Accommodating a range of political and philosophical viewpoints, Heck ranked among the highest 15 percent among all representatives in joining bipartisan bills, and of the 115 bills that Heck cosponsored, 39 percent were introduced by someone other than a Democrat, according to the website GovTrack.us.

As Heck stated at a recent swearing-in ceremony of local officials in Thurston County, "Never stop looking for common ground and always be civil - you have so little control over all the rest."

Is Heck really giving 'em heck, as his campaign slogan promised?

Local Environmental Issues

Heck was asked a variety of environmental questions that he seemed to answer in terms of being an opportunity to discuss the issues.

Asked about China's recent ban on geoducks, Heck responded, "I spoke with Ambassador (Gary) Locke a couple times...and our repeated tests were showing something different...Given the data I've been presented with, I'd be comfortable consuming that product...."

About the increased privatization of South Sound shores to the shellfish aquaculture industry, Heck said he prefers to think of it in terms of what the industry is doing to help global warming and ocean acidification.

"I tend to have a different view of shellfish farming - there is no stronger proponent of doing something about global warming than shellfish farmers and the reason for that is ocean acidification and what it does to the shellfish. In fact, I think shellfish is the water quality 'canary in the mineshaft.' But if you believe, as I do, that global warming is one of the greatest threats to civilization, then that helps us spread the word...."

When pressed that what activists are talking about is the intensity and method that the shellfish aquaculture industry uses to scour the shoreline of native species, Heck said he knows people have strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

Asked for his opinion on the coal export terminals being proposed in Washington State, Heck said, "We are proceeding exactly as we should be, with the state Department of Ecology and the Corps of Engineering determining the outcome. I always use the question about coal as an opportunity to talk about global warming. Whether or not hauling that much coal traffic through our communities is environmentally damaging will hopefully be indicated by the results to these efforts that are currently underway."

Little Hollywood: "It doesn't sound like you're coming out against them..."

Heck: "What should be inarguable to everybody is that global warming is real and coal is a significant contributor and if we do not recognize that, we will pay a price beyond our imagination...."

LH: "But we're aiding and abetting China to continue what they're doing and it's going to come back to us in the form of ocean acidification."

Heck did not respond.

Bringing more global issues local, I asked Heck how we can move to a healthier economy if our own Port of Olympia stays complicit in the degradation of our environment by accepting contracts to move raw logs to China and accept ceramic proppants from China, destined to be used in fracking. Heck was unfamiliar with this issue and/or the port's role, so I provided him with several past issues of the South Sound Green Pages.

A little frustrated, perhaps, Heck added, "I don't want to substitute my judgment all the time, ahead of time, for people whose job it is to evaluate this stuff - I mean, before their work product comes out, the state Department of Ecology and the Corps - yea or nay...."

Lastly, Heck was questioned about the slow cleanup efforts of Puget Sound, the Puget Sound Partnership, and his role with Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA06) as co-founders in June 2013 of the Congressional Puget Sound Recovery Caucus.

Heck said, "Not too much is happening yet, and that's fair...In part, we see ourselves as defenders and advocates of appropriations designed to help with habitat restoration and the like, but we can also play a soft power role of being the ones who can prod improved coordination between these agencies...."

Heck described a Tacoma town hall meeting devoted to the topic of Puget Sound clean-up efforts, and a Washington D.C. based meeting between the state Partnership and the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 10, at which many of the parties had not met before.

"In terms of how I spend my time, it was a whole lot more than approving a press release - we are actually poking and prodding, trying to figure out how it is we can make a difference."

While many of the issues we discussed are far away from the minds of many South Sounders, Heck will be there, and giving 'em heck, or at least, some pokin' and proddin'.

Janine Unsoeld is a SPEECH Board Member.