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Read the latest edition of the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance Newsletter:  

The Sounder

Recent Boatyard Permit Enforcement Actions

January 29, 2010
Puget Soundkeeper Alliance recently filed letters for 60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue with five Seattle-area boatyards due to the violation of their stormwater general permits under the federal Clean Water Act. The monitoring data from these boatyards show documented discharges of copper, lead, zinc and other heavy metals that are much higher than the benchmarks and/or limits in the permits and are at levels proven to kill salmon and other marine life. Puget Soundkeeper Alliance is in settlement negotiations with these facilities to bring them into compliance with the law.
Puget Soundkeeper Alliance has a long and productive record of working with boaters, marinas and boatyards to protect salmon and all marine life in our waters. Protecting water quality and compliance with the law by all parties is our goal. For more information please see PSA’s latest email Report to our Members and our recent newsletter article, Enforcing the Boatyard Stormwater General Permit.
Bob Beckman, Puget Soundkeeper & Executive Director can be reached at 206-297-7002 or bob@pugetsoundkeeper.org

Stormwater Runoff Revolution

Puget Soundkeeper Alliance announces deal to cut stormwater pollution in Washington State. State officials and conservation advocates agreed to a plan expected to reduce stormwater pollution threatening Puget Sound and the rivers, streams, estuaries, and bays in western Washington.  The agreement settles a legal suit brought by Puget Soundkeeper Alliance against the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Washington Department of Ecology, challenging the state’s highway stormwater permit. See the story on King 5 news and read the press release.

Petroleum, Copper and Pesticides are only 3 of the Potentially Deadly Contaminants in Our Stormwater

Runoff from streets and highways is the number one source for toxic chemicals that wash into Puget Sound.  Sightline’s investigative environmental journalists, Lisa Stiffler and Eric de Place's article, Curbing Stormwater Pollution, looks at the challenges we face and the opportunities we have in cleaning up our waterways. Previously, Stiffler worked as an environmental reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer where her work included award-winning investigations into the health of Puget Sound.

How Clean is Your Water?  New Water Quality Mapping Tool Unveiled by Puget Soundkeeper Alliance

See how oil spills, toxic cleanup sites, salmon runs, shellfish areas, and other environmental measures relate to locations around Puget Sound important to you.  How clean is my water?

Jim Lehrer Features Municipal Stormwater Permit Ruling

A Washington state appeals board ruled that the requirements governing our cities' and counties' stormwater runoff fail to protect sockeye, king and coho salmon, all protected under the Endangered Species Act.  Puget Soundkeeper Alliance was the lead appellant.  Watch the Jim Lehrer report. 

VIDEO: Saving Puget Sound

A seven-minute video about the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. See what's at stake in Puget Sound and what we are doing about it!

Watch the video

VIDEO: The Hood Canal Dead zone

Join us and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for an underwater tour of the Hood Canal dead zone during a low dissolved oxygen event at Sund Rocks on September 19th, 2006. Watch the video.