But progress here has been virtually nonexistent

Melodie Selby was excited.

A veteran water-quality engineer at the state Department of Ecology, Selby and others had been trying for years to get Yakima County commissioners interested in tackling groundwater contamination in the Lower Yakima Valley.

Then in June, Selby took a phone call from Commissioner Ron Gamache, who indicated an interest in working with the department on a local, grass-roots approach to the problem.

"Boy, it's the first sign of local government willing to do anything about this in a long time that I've seen," Selby said in a voice mail to a colleague in the Yakima office. (The voice mail was forwarded to the Yakima Herald-Republic in what Ecology officials explain as a technological fluke.)

Selby continued: "He did say, 'It's an election year so we probably don't want to be getting too drastic.'"

End of story.

Gamache, a two-term Republican, was soundly defeated in the August primary by Toppenish grower Kevin Bouchey, also a Republican, who enjoyed substantial financial support from dairy producers.

Gamache's willingness to consider a county-initiated Groundwater Management Area wasn't widely publicized, and now that he will be out of office in December, its fate is uncertain.

Gamache said recently that he still wants to start a dialogue among dairies, neighbors, farmers and regulators that would focus on health and water quality, not on the sources of the contamination.

"I'm not talking about going after the dairies," Gamache said. "Without them our economy would be a disaster."

But Gamache said he's aware of gaps in the regulation of dairies that he said need to be addressed.

Commissioner Mike Leita said in a recent interview that he wasn't aware that Gamache had spoken with the Ecology Department, and he wasn't happy about it.

"It would be nice if Commissioner Gamache would have shared that with the other commissioners," Leita said. "If there's something Ecology wants to engage Yakima County on, well, the three commissioners have to be on same wavelength."

Leita said he has already directed the county public works department to find a way to bring all parties with an interest in groundwater together in a "work group" that would be professionally facilitated.

Commissioners would oversee the work group but not be involved on a daily basis.

"We've got to find a way to get people to cooperate and see the wisdom in coming together and discussing their issues openly," Leita said.