People For Puget Sound: Progress Made on Puget Sound-Related Issues

Bruce Wishart is the policy director at People For Puget Sound.

People For Puget Sound and a coalition of tribes, fishermen, local governments and recreational groups succeeded in passing state legislation to make the oil spill response tug at Neah Bay permanent. The legislation (promoted by Senator Kevin Ranker and Representative Kevin Van de Wege) requires oil companies and the shipping industry to pay for a permanent, year-round tug. This legislation came after a 10-year battle in which taxpayer dollars were used to pay for the tug.

On March 24, the 20th anniversary of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, Governor Chris Gregoire signed the bill SB 5344 into law. The rescue tug, which is dispatched to intercept oil tankers and other vessels in distress, has proven to be one of the most effective tools at the state’s disposal to prevent a major oil spill. After nine years of active service, the tug is responsible for 42 rescues or assists of vessels. Had it not been for the tug, it is likely that we may have faced several significant spills.

Selected by the environmental community as top priority issue for the 2009 session, HB 1614 (Ormsby) placed a fee on petroleum products at the refinery level to address oil and grease and other petroleum-based pollution from cars that comprise the majority of the pollutants in stormwater runoff. The fee would generate approximately $100 million per year to correct stormwater problems around the state, with an emphasis on funding for “low impact development” stormwater projects.

Despite stiff opposition from oil company and business lobbyists, the bill was approved by the House 51-45 in the final days of session. It was received by the Senate on the last day of session and approved that day by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Unfortunately the clock ran out before the bill could be brought up for a vote on the Senate floor. We feel as though we are well-positioned to run this bill again next year.

While the $9 billion state budget deficit forces many deep cuts to natural resource agency budgets, People For Puget Sound lobbied successfully to preserve core functions in Puget Sound related programs.

• Water Quality Funding: People For Puget Sound had legislation introduced HB 1413 (McCoy) that increases permit fees on industrial dischargers and waste water plants. It will generate millions of dollars in new funding and help fill the gap in Ecology’s water quality program.

• Nearshore Habitat Funding: People For Puget Sound helped secure $3.5 million in new funding for local Shoreline Master Programs to meet habitat standards developed by the Department of Ecology in 2005. The updates will limit the type of development that occurs along Puget Sound shorelines and help protect critical habitat.

• Budget Setbacks: Despite progress in the above areas, there were several notable setbacks, including complete loss of funding for the Oil Spill Advisory Council. The council, which People for Puget Sound helped to create with legislation in 2005, had just released a report which details how poorly prepared the state is for a major oil spill. While council funding is lost, we did manage to prevent the passage of several bills which would have eliminated authority to recreate the council when funding permits.

Habitat programs at the Department of Fish and Wildlife experienced deep cuts as well, jeopardizing their ability to respond to evaluate and regulate impacts of development along Puget Sound.

The Department of Ecology Oil Spill and Water Quality programs will be forced to reduce critical enforcement functions under the new budget.

All in all, it was as difficult a session in the state budget for Puget Sound as it was for health, education and social services. People For Puget Sound will be assessing our strategy for maximizing the use of limited state dollars for Puget Sound going forward into the next two years.

For example, the Puget Sound Partnership is required to develop a financing strategy for implementing the action agenda in order to achieve recovery of the sound by 2020. They are also required to make recommendations to the Legislature on how to strengthen current laws that are not protective enough of Puget Sound. We will be focusing our work with the partnership in these two important areas in the 2009–11 biennium. §