Soundkeeper’s Clean Water Act enforcement program takes legal action against serious violators of federal water quality laws who have a record of egregious pollution to public waterways. Lawsuits are brought on behalf of Soundkeeper’s members, each of whom have a legal right to fishable, swimmable, and drinkable waterways. Soundkeeper’s goal is to achieve negotiated settlements that bring polluters into compliance with the law, and the settlement funds are then donated to local environmental groups to help restore water quality damage.
The Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund was created by a record legal settlement between Puget Soundkeeper and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway, and has since been supplemented by other pollution mitigation payments. More recently the Rose Foundation received two large mitigation payments from Total Terminals International LLC and Port of Olympia.
The Fund’s goal is to mitigate past pollution by supporting community-based efforts to protect or improve the water quality of Puget Sound. Since inception in 2012, over $5.7 million in grants have been awarded for projects in Puget Sound related to conservation, restoration, citizen science, shoreline access, and environmental justice & education.
