Franz, Big Timber and the “furniture theory”

Plus it's Housing Day on the bill-signing front

Following the science — something politicians like to talk about a lot — can take you down interesting rabbit holes. 

Take some recent comments from Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, someone who wields a big bullhorn on the environment as boss of the Department of Natural Resources. She raised some eyebrows in the science world when she hit the airwaves hyping a now-failed bid to let DNR cash in on carbon offset credits. She raised some controversial arguments about forest practices some of them largely in line with Big Timber.

Here’s why you should care about this. Gov. Jay Inslee is leaving office next year and Franz is a likely contender to succeed him. If she does, her environmental agenda stands a much better chance of becoming law than it does now and it’s important what interests it ultimately serves.