Membership
Levels:
Herring
(individual)
$35
Pod
(family)
$70
Sea
Otter
$100
Bald
Eagle
$250
Orca
$500
Soundkeeper's
Circle $1,000
Other
We
are turning off pollution, one pipe at a time! Your
membership can help Puget Soundkeeper Alliance reduce the
amount of pollution discharged into Puget Sound. Since 1984,
we've stopped tons of pollutants and thousands of gallons
of raw sewage that causes habitat degradation, species deterioration,
and closure of beaches to recreation and harvest.
So
many species, so little time
You
know our salmon are on the endangered species list. The
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was petitioned
to add Pacific herring, critical to salmon diet, to the
endangered species list. And marine biologists and whale
researchers recently petitioned NMFS to protect our resident
orca - the most polluted marine mammals in the world.
These
declines are not part of the short-term drought crisis;
they are part of a legacy of past and continuing water pollution.
Shellfish harvesters lose millions of dollars because
of deteriorating water quality. Incidences of liver lesions
in English sole in Elliott Bay, resulting from contact with
polluted sediments, are increasing at an alarming rate.
And more than half of Puget Sound's rivers violate state
water quality standards for fecal coliform bacteria.
One
pipe at a time
Robert
F. Kennedy, Jr. - founder and president of the National
Waterkeeper Alliance - issued a call for greater action
to stop water pollution and enforce the national Clean Water
Act. The response was impressive, but our local situation
is more urgent than ever.
Businesses
and governments can get a permit to pollute the water.
The national Clean Water Act - passed nearly 30 years ago
- called for the elimination of pollution discharges by
1985. But the Washington State Department of Ecology is
failing to reduce permitted pollution and failing to pursue
violators.
- In
the last permit cycle, Ecology actually increased pollution
discharges in 32% of the permits instead of reducing
discharges to zero as required by the Clean Water Act
- Over
half of Ecology's individual permit holders violated pollution
limits at least once
- Nearly
one-third of Ecology's individual permit holders are chronic
violators
But
your membership dollars get results, keeping Puget Soundkeeper
Alliance on the water, in the courtrooms, and in the faces
of illegal polluters.
