H-3401.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2668
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2026 Regular Session
By House Agriculture & Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Representatives Orcutt and Abbarno)
READ FIRST TIME 02/04/26.
AN ACT Relating to protecting the quality of public water supplies by directing the relocation of the Bob Oke game farm; adding a new chapter to Title 77 RCW; and providing an expiration date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that protecting public health and the safety of municipal and private drinking water supplies is a fundamental responsibility of the state. In 2024 and 2025, groundwater monitoring conducted by Lewis county, the city of Centralia, and the department of fish and wildlife identified nitrate concentrations in multiple private drinking water wells in the Fords Prairie area that exceeded the federal maximum contaminant level for nitrates. Subsequent investigation, including the Bob Oke game farm groundwater investigation completed in November 2025, confirmed that manure generated by pheasants at the Bob Oke game farm contributes to nitrate loading in the underlying aquifer serving residential and municipal water users.
(2) The legislature further finds that the Bob Oke game farm is located over a highly productive and hydrologically sensitive aquifer system that flows toward residential and municipal water supply areas. While the department of fish and wildlife has taken steps to reduce nutrient loading and has committed to voluntary participation in the department of ecology's concentrated animal feeding operation permitting program, the legislature finds that continued operation at the current site presents an ongoing risk of future impacts to drinking water supplies that cannot be fully mitigated through best management practices alone.