In 2012, our elected city councilmembers enacted legislation to ban plastic bags in Issaquah. Local businesses and citizens quickly adapted and, overall, it was a success.

Unfortunately, a group from West Seattle has decided that we cannot be trusted to run our own government. After two years of harassing citizens in front of supermarkets, knocking on doors at dinner time and leaving trash on our cars at park-and-rides they finally squeezed out the 2,600 signatures necessary to force a $50,000 election.

This group from Seattle must not know that this law has prevented 10 million plastic bags from entering our landfills each year.

Plastic bags, unlike paper bags or, say, coffee cups, do not biodegrade. Instead, they break into smaller and smaller particles, slowly poisoning any living thing that happens to ingest them.

This group from Seattle must not know that the British study that they persistently cite is a perfect example of a poorly designed life-cycle analysis. The data they cherry pick focuses only on the carbon emitted during the manufacturing process. This same study actually concludes that when you take into account the sourcing of materials, the probability of recycling (0.6 percent for plastic bags), and the “end of life” scenario, plastic bags are the least environmentally conscious choice.

This fringe group from Seattle must not know that the plastic bag ban has improved the health of our lake, our streams, our salmon and our citizens. Vote “no” on Proposition No. 1.

Amanda Senft, Issasquah