Gregoire takes first swipe at huge Sound cleanup

Gov. Christine Gregoire is trying to light a fire under efforts to clean Puget Sound. But she's lighting a match rather than starting a bonfire.

Wednesday, in releasing a $220 million, two-year proposal for cleaning up the Sound, Gregoire made a cautious step toward what she has said is a top initiative in her administration. It's a plan calculated to build momentum for a broader cleanup in coming years while also winning over a public that appears lukewarm to ambitious and costly efforts.

The money she wants to spend would be about a 17 percent increase compared to the two previous years, for a wide range of efforts from restoring an estuary of the Snohomish River to hauling creosote-soaked logs off beaches. But it represents a fraction of the estimated $18 billion to $27 billion it could cost to achieve Gregoire's goal of completely restoring the Sound to health by 2020.

Instead, the plan is designed to give her administration a chance to prove it can make a difference with its money, she acknowledged. And it avoids, for the moment, what could be one of the biggest roadblocks — creating a new tax dedicated to the effort.

"We have to show the public that, in fact, Puget Sound is sick," Gregoire told reporters Wednesday at a news conference in a building at Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park overlooking the Sound.

"We have to show them that we're investing in getting things done and that projects are really happening."

The proposal

Gregoire's proposal, which will be part of her overall budget package to the Legislature this winter, includes money to clean up contaminated sites around the Sound, return damaged shorelines to a more natural state, protect valuable habitat, stem pollution from runoff and septic systems, and raise public awareness about the Sound.

The money would come from general tax collections and state bonds issued to pay for construction projects, along with several sources already dedicated to environmental programs, including a cigarette tax and a tax on toxic and hazardous substances such as oil.

In addition to the new spending, Gregoire plans to push several bills that would create a board to plan and oversee cleanup of the Sound, ban a widely used flame retardant thought to be toxic and encourage cleanups in areas where commercial shellfish beds have been closed by pollution.

The proposal wouldn't require new taxes, partly because of a recent increase in tax revenues, said Jim Cahill, a senior budget analyst for the governor.

The Puget Sound Partnership, a panel appointed by the governor, estimates it could cost between $18 billion and $27 billion to have the Sound thriving by 2020. That's two to three times more than current spending levels from state, federal and county governments.

Early disagreement

Environmentalists and tribal, business and political leaders welcomed Gregoire's attention to the Sound and many of the details in the proposals.

"The tribes want to see some daylight," said Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, who is on Gregoire's panel of advisers for Sound cleanup. "They want to see some commitment and some accountability, and it's all there."

But there are already some early signs of chafing at the speed of her proposal.

Naki Stevens, program director for the environmental group People for Puget Sound, said the problem is urgent and people care deeply about the issue, and suggested a new source of money should come sooner.

On the other hand, the Association of Washington Business endorsed Gregoire's pace.

"The governor has wisely recognized that this is a long-term effort, and that restoring the health of Puget Sound isn't going to happen overnight," said Grant Nelson, the group's governmental affairs director.

Plenty of problems

There is little dispute that the Sound has serious problems.

Puget Sound chinook and orcas are now protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The state recently warned people against eating too much Puget Sound chinook because of toxic chemicals in the fish.

While some polluted sites have been cleaned up, toxic chemicals keep flowing into the Sound in stormwater runoff. Hood Canal is plagued by fish kills brought on by algae blooms fueled by nitrogen that may come from leaking septic tanks and fertilizer.

And some fear things could grow worse as an expected 1.4 million people move to the region by 2020.

Does the public care?

Gregoire stressed that recovery will take more than government spending. It will take changes in people's habits, from driving alone in cars to pouring too much fertilizer on their lawns.

"All of us must accept responsibility to be part of the solution," she said.

But in a statewide poll in late November by Seattle-based Elway Research, nearly half the people who responded said they thought Puget Sound was in good or excellent condition. There was also lukewarm support for new taxes to finance the cleanup.

"The public seems ready to listen," wrote pollster Stuart Elway. "Ready to listen, but not yet ready to act."

Some wonder whether that attitude comes because most people see only the glittering surface of the water.

As Gregoire addressed the media Wednesday, a group of scuba divers stood nearby in their baggy dry suits. Fierce winds and waves had ruined plans for a staged visit between the divers and Gregoire on the shore of Elliott Bay.

But one of the divers, Mike Racine of Snoqualmie, offered Gregoire a graphic account of what he sees spilling into the Sound when he dives beneath the water around Seattle after a hard rain: all the debris and pollution washed off nearby streets and homes.

"It's a brown, noxious soup of nastiness," he said.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com