A federal judge has sided with Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s COVID-19 public health restrictions.
The lawsuit was filed by water park company Slidewaters LLC in June. It claimed Inslee and the Department of Labor and Industries abused their powers and inflicted undue harm on them by keeping them from doing business during the summer season.
At the time the complaint was filed, the park’s home county of Chelan was in phase one of the governor’s four-phase plan.
Under Inslee’s public health order, each Washington county must demonstrate that they meet sufficient criteria to move into a new phase. Chelan is currently in a modified Phase 1.5, prohibiting the park from reopening.
U.S. Judge Thomas Rice wrote that the governor’s emergency power “clearly encompasses an outbreak of a pandemic disease,” according to the ruling.
The Department of Labor and Industries, Rice ruled, lawfully exercised its powers in enforcing the governor’s order.
“That Plaintiff and a representative of the local health district believe that Plaintiff can operate its business in a way that minimizes the spread of COVID-19 does not establish that the Governor’s emergency proclamation is unreasonable, overly broad, or unequally applied,” Rice wrote. “It is not the Court’s role to second-guess the reasoned public health decisions of other branches of government.”
Slidewaters previously requested a restraining order allowing it to open, which was rejected by Rice. The park is still open today despite facing potential state fines of $10,000 or more.
According to their website, Slidewaters plans on closing for the year on September 7 per its yearly schedule.
