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March
28, 2007
Seattle,
WA
PUGET
SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE TO HOST FIFTH ANNUAL LAKE
UNION SWEEP ON SATURDAY, MAY 12TH FROM 9:00
AM TO NOON.
On
May 12th PSA will team up with Seattle Public Utilities,
Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Center for Wooden
Boats and 20 other organizations. Volunteers
will take to the water in kayaks and other boats to
scoop trash from this urban lake in the center of
Seattle. With volunteers measured by the hundreds,
boats measured by the dozens and trash measured by
the ton, the "Sweep" is quite an event.
To sign up for the Sweep, contact Chris Wilke at the
PSA office: 206-297-7002.
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April
19 , 2006
Seattle,
WA
CONSERVATION
GROUPS CHARGE EPA WITH VIOLATING ENDANGERED SPECIES
ACT, CALL FOR FISHERIES BIOLOGISTS TO EVALUATE POLLUTION
DISCHARGED INTO CRITICAL HABITAT
In an effort to protect threatened Puget Sound Chinook
salmon from toxic pollution, a group of local and
national organizations
announced plans today to sue the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) for violating the Endangered Species
Act. The
group, lead by National
Wildlife Federation and including Public Employees
for Environmental
Responsibility, People For Puget Sound , Puget Soundkeeper
Alliance , and Washington Trout, contends that EPA
has failed to consider the harmful
effects of discharged pollutants and stormwater on
Chinook salmon. Such
pollution harms salmon and the groups believe EPA
has failed to provide the
safety net to ensure that pollution discharges are
controlled to keep Washington
waters healthy and safe for wild salmon.
"We
have a major crisis with the health of the Puget Sound
, and the government
is allowing polluters to further degrade waters that
are essential
to the continued survival of Puget Sound Chinook salmon,"
says James
Schroeder, Senior Environmental Policy Specialist
for National Wildlife
Federation. "We are suing the government to force
it to impose science-based
pollution discharge standards that will give Puget
Sound , and Chinook
salmon in particular, a chance to survive and recover.
As the overseer
of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permit
program, EPA has an obligation to ensure that this
pollution permit program
is not harming what remains of this protected species."
In
Washington , pollution discharge permits for stormwater
are generally ineffective
in ensuring that stormwater discharges do not contribute
to violations
of water quality standards, even though the largest
source of pollution
harming Puget Sound is stormwater runoff. Untreated
stormwater is unsafe
because it includes toxic organics, heavy metals,
bacteria, viruses,
nutrients,
oil and grease, pesticides and herbicides, and suspended
solids - all
of which are harmful to salmon. Stormwater runoff
from urbanized areas has
severe effects on stream hydrology, making rivers
and creeks less suitable
for salmon spawning and rearing. Industrial and municipal
sewage
plant
discharges often contain elevated levels of toxic
pollutants and are of
concern as well.
"An
essential feature of Chinook salmon habitat is cool,
clean water," says Kurt
Beardslee, Executive Director of Washington Trout.
"If we want to continue
to have Chinook in Puget Sound , we need to ensure
that we have clean
water. However, because EPA has turned a blind eye
to the pollution problem,
we do not know to what extent stormwater runoff is
harming Chinook
salmon
or degrading its habitat in the basin."
"Getting
EPA to step up is only the first step," says
Kathy Fletcher, Executive
Director of People For Puget Sound . "The next
is developing solutions
to improve the quality of Puget Sound for both people
and wildlife.
Through the Puget Sound Partnership, we will work
to get more resources
to help clean up the Sound."
Recent
technical reports commissioned to analyze the impacts
of stormwater and
toxics on Puget Sound Chinook salmon and its habitat
conclude that continued
degradation of water quality by discharged pollutants
and runoff will
impair regional efforts to recover imperiled Chinook
salmon. "Our report
documents that there is an encyclopedia worth of toxics
dumped daily into
Puget Sound with the blessings of the Department of
Ecology" said Sue Gunn,
the Washington state director of Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility
(view report at
http://www.peer.org/docs/wa/06_19_6_report.pdf
) "Clearly dilution is the not
answer to the contamination problem in the Sound."
The
groups are asking that EPA immediately initiate formal
consultation with the
National Marine Fisheries Service on the effects of
permitted pollutant discharges
on Puget Sound Chinook salmon. "It is essential
that scientists with
expertise in the impact of toxic pollutants evaluate
the impact of EPA
approved
pollution on endangered salmon and orca whales,"
says Sue Joerger, Executive
Director of the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, "it
is appalling that regulators
have not consulted with scientists prior to allowing
toxics to be discharged
in critical salmon habitat."
The
groups are represented by Richard A. Smith of Smith
& Lowney, PLLC, and John
Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation.
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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 25, 2004
AFTER
20 YEARS OF BEHIND-THE-SCENES SUCCESS PROTECTING PUGET
SOUND, IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE!
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Puget
Soundkeeper Alliance celebrates its 20th anniversary
with a “Salute
To The Sound” fundraiser on November 16th, 2004
SEATTLE,
WA - Puget Soundkeeper Alliance is an environmental
organization that gets things done . Starting
with its unique on-the-water presence (Soundkeeper
Sue Joerger and volunteers patrol Puget Sound up to
6 times per month for water quality violators), Puget
Soundkeeper Alliance uses a hands-on approach
to directly effect the water quality of Puget Sound.
“ Over the past 5 years, we've filed 40 citizen
suits under the Clean Water Act to protect Puget Sound
water quality ” says Joerger. “ In addition
to directly effecting change through compliance, these
suits have also generated over $300,000 in mitigation
funds directly benefiting 19 different organizations
on a wide range of great Puget Sound initiatives .
We've also been a leader in this region to address
stormwater pollution, and our efforts have helped
successfully reduce this key source of water quality
degradation from over 2,000 industrial facilities
and construction sites. Add to this our annual consumer
efforts like the Boater's Guide and the Lake Union
Cleanup and it's easy to see we are making an important
difference for Puget Sound .”
Hear
Brad Ack's assessment of the state of Puget Sound
. Keynote speaker Brad Ack is the Chair of the Puget
Sound Action team and was formerly with the World
Wildlife Fund and the Grand Canyon Trust.
The
event will be hosted by KIRO TV's Penny LeGate, with
Mayor Greg Nickels (a Puget Soundkeeper Alliance
board member) as special guest.
Puget
Soundkeeper Alliance is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Donations are deductible to the extent allowed by
law.
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| SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER
June 12, 2003 |
Storm-water
rules fall short, board says
Environmentalists
elated by panel's decision
By ROBERT MCCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Environmentalists have won a significant victory
in their fight to force the state Department of
Ecology to rein in pollution washing off about 1,300
properties owned by businesses and local governments.
Up to one-seventh of those facilities likely are
causing pollution of Puget Sound and other waterways
by allowing oil, grease, heavy metals and industrial
chemicals to gurgle off their property in rainwater
runoff, Ecology has estimated.
Yet only half could even locate a state-required
plan to control the pollution. Many of those were
out of date, and even those that did exist were
not always followed. No more than one-quarter of
businesses and governments comply with the rule,
Ecology inspectors estimated after a 2001 study.
To remedy the situation, Ecology earlier this year
adopted new rules, but the recent ruling by the
state Pollution Control Hearings Board blasted the
regulations as wishy-washy.
"In the face of this admitted non-compliance,
Ecology proposes to compound the problem by allowing
the regulated community to essentially determine
whether or not it is in compliance with the rigorous
requirements of the state's water quality standards,"
the board said in a ruling Friday.
"This lack of regulatory oversight is ... improper."
The board said Ecology failed on three major counts:
1) The agency set up a system in which there is
no deadline to control the pollution.
If pollution continues after the business or government
goes through six steps over nine years, the polluter
simply starts the process over again with no penalty.
2) The agency allowed polluters to determine whether
they are entitled to a so-called "mixing zone"
where pollution is allowed in the water.
Environmentalists object to the concept in general.
But these rules went further by allowing the polluter
-- rather than Ecology -- to decide whether one
should be granted.
"Ecology takes the applicant's word for it,
without any specific investigation whatsoever,"
the board wrote.
3)
The
rules are riddled with references to requirements
that must be met "unless otherwise authorized"
by Ecology.
That leaves members of the public with no way to
know whether pollution levels at a local facility
are greater than those allowed by the rules. "It
deprives the public of any notice to comment upon
fundamental changes," the board wrote.
"Victory! It's absolutely great," said
Sue Joerger of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, one of
six environmental groups challenging the rules.
"Basically, they supported all of our arguments
and if the Department of Ecology would go back and
redo this, it's a big step for water quality."
What will happen next isn't clear.
Ecology is considering appealing the ruling, either
to Superior Court or the state Court of Appeals.
Also considering appeals are The Boeing Co., Snohomish
County and the Association of Washington Business,
which also are involved in the case.
"The indications I've gotten are that the business
folks are pretty determined to appeal," said
Richard Smith, the Seattle attorney who represented
the environmentalists.
In writing the rules, Ecology kept in mind that
its own budget for dealing with these facilities
is limited, and their potential impact is not as
large as some other facilities, said Bill Moore,
who oversaw development of the storm-water policy.
Many different kinds of outfits are covered. In
south Seattle, for example, the list includes North
Boeing Field, recyclers, shipping companies, trucking
companies and garbage companies.
"These are not 1,300 pulp mills," Moore
said. "We're continually trying to do a balancing
act amongst a bunch of different competing factors.
... The reality is we've got a limited set of resources.
We had to come up with ways to live within those
resources."
Now Ecology is trying to get all the parties to
negotiate a settlement in which they would agree
on revising the rules.
That's looking less likely as a June 23 date looms
for the case to be heard again by the pollution-control
board. Friday's ruling covered only three of 11
issues being heard by the board in a case that combined
separate appeals by Boeing, Snohomish and the environmentalists.
"If allowed to stand, (the ruling) would have
significant impacts on almost 1,300 permittees,
which includes businesses and local governments,"
said Grant Nelson, of the Association of Washington
Business.
"It would make Washington an even more expensive
state to do business in. Washington would become
the most restrictive state in the nation with regard
to industrial storm-water-permitting requirements."
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The
City of Seattle Combined Sewer Overflow (#057) discharging
raw sewage and stormwater at high tide into Shilshole
Bay Marina on Puget Sound on November 14, 2001. |
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"PSA
is unique. It works to prevent pollution and actively
patrols, documents and reports to appropriate agencies
on the state of the sound," said Kate Pflaumer,
PSA Board member and former U.S. attorney. "It
is through these ongoing efforts that PSA was able
to gather the key evidence needed to bring these violators
to light."
Created
in 1984, PSA is one of over 70 Keeper organizations
nationwide. Their mission is to protect and preserve
the waters of Puget Sound by enforcing the Clean Water
Act through litigation and on-the-water documentation
of pollution. PSA's goal is simple, to prevent pollution.
PSA is part of the National Waterkeeper Alliance founded
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. These keepers act as stewards
for their rivers, lakes, bays, sounds or coasts. PSA
is represented by the Seattle firm, Smith & Lowney.
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