Environmentalists push lawmakers for Puget Sound cleanup

OLYMPIA, Wash. – For environmentalists, the health of Puget Sound will take center stage as lawmakers return to Olympia with a clear directive from Gov. Chris Gregoire to invest in the restoration of the state's most important waterway.

Many in the environmental community, which has had much success in recent years in getting green measures into law, laud the governor's involvement and hope it will ensure real action on the sound.

"We need to make sure we're making real progress and not just paying lip service to the issue," said Clifford Traisman, a lobbyist for Washington Conservation Voters and the Washington Environmental Council. "Puget Sound is a crisis. We cannot wait another year to get started."

As part of her budget, Gregoire highlighted an ambitious $220 million spending plan for the next two years as a down payment on restoring and preserving the state's inland marine waters.

A recent report from the Puget Sound Partnership estimates the total cost to clean up and restore Puget Sound at nearly $9 billion between now and the state's goal date of 2020.

Environmental groups, as they have the past two years, are heading into the 105-day session with a list of four priorities, and Puget Sound is No. 1 on their list.

"Puget sound is a critical, vital component of our state economy," Traisman said. "We expect statewide support for saving Puget Sound. It is not a Seattle swimming pool. It's a statewide treasure."

Traisman said the environmental community was happy that the House created a new committee — led by Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines — to focus solely on measures affecting Puget Sound.

"It focuses time, energy and political attention to the issue in an incredible way," Upthegrove said. "We're going to have a committee working full-time on Puget Sound issues. It's more than just symbolic."

Kathy Fletcher, executive director of People for Puget Sound, emphasized that fixing the sound can't be done in one legislative session.

"I think it's important to remember that even if the Legislature passes everything the governor asked for, there's still a lot of work to be done. That's why it's important for the Legislature to set up the process that can be sustained for the next couple of decades."

Part of Gregoire's plan to clean up the sound includes phasing out the use of toxic flame retardants, also known as PBDEs, an issue environmentalists have unsuccessfully tried to pass for two years.

For the second year in a row, the departments of Ecology and Health are asking the Legislature to phase out the use of PBDEs in products in the home once safer flame-retardant materials are available. Supporters of a PBDE ban argue that the fireproofing chemicals are being found in Columbia River fish, seal blubber, grizzly bears and women's breast milk.

Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, chairman of a new House committee on environmental health, said the PBDE measure would be the first one he takes up this session.

"It's affecting our health. It's getting to a crisis proportion," he said. "We're going to take a real close look at it."

Traisman said the environmental lobby is also seeking $100 million for the Wildlife and Recreation Program, which awards grants to protect wildlife habitat and secure public access to parks, trails and shorelines.

To continue on gains from biofuel measures that passed in the last session, Traisman said they also would like to see incentives aimed at getting the state's farmers to produce new biofuel feedstocks, and cutting pollution from diesel school buses.

One of the bills environmentalists are seeking is to have a fleet of state government vehicles using biofuels, and to require that state biofuel stations be open to the public.

"We're trying to have the state lead by example," Traisman said.