Re: “Derelict vessels damage state’s budget and environment” (Viewpoint, 2-26).

Ah, the irony. The fact is that at least two of the large vessels (the Kalakala and Olympic) not in the state budget to abate were sold by the state “as is” to private parties with big dreams that never materialized.

Maybe there should be a lemon law where obsolete ferries are concerned. Or maybe the “real” cost of providing replacement ferries should include disposal of the old prior to the “fiscal and ecological cost becoming too high,” as Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark put it.

Other industries …

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Peter Goldmark, Washington’s public lands commissioner since 2009, deserves the vote of every Washingtonian who cares about the health of our environment and agriculture.

Goldmark previously served as state director of agriculture and on many councils on agriculture and the environment. In 1999 he was a founding board member of a unique coalition of farmers, ranchers and conservationists. His long and remarkable record of public service includes serving for over 30 years as a wildland firefighter in Okanogan County, as a member and as president of the Washington State University board of regents and as a member of the WSU-William …

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