Protecting & Preserving Puget Sound
A coalition of environmental organizations reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and two industry trade associations to simplify the job of controlling water pollution for regulators, businesses and citizens.
Why are Soundkeeper’s kayak patrols finding less trash in Lake Union? Our Stewardship Manager has a few theories.
Nationwide, the pollution that has the biggest impact on rivers and streams is agricultural pollution.
Today, a federal judge imposed a tight deadline on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finalize new anti-pollution water quality rules aimed at protecting public health. The rules, often called fish consumption rules, must ensure that fish caught and eaten from Washington waters are safe for the most vulnerable and exposed populations.
The new water quality standards rule caves to industry pressure, leaving some of the most dangerous chemicals inadequately regulated. It trades prompt action for a continuation of the status quo and a continued threat to the health of Washington communities.
Today Puget Soundkeeper settled a landmark Clean Water Act case with multiple Louis Dreyfus corporations that will result in huge changes benefitting Elliott Bay and the Seattle waterfront. The settlement requires structural changes at the site to stop stormwater discharge from the pier and to prevent spillage of grain into Elliott Bay, as well as $699,000 to be awarded to local Puget Sound restoration and water protection efforts.
In a settlement agreement filed today, BP West Coast Products LLC (BP) agreed to comply with its industrial stormwater discharge permit and make improvements to the spill response strategy for its high-volume bulk fuel storage facility on Harbor Island, which distributes 10,000 barrels a day of unleaded gasoline and stores up to 305,000 barrels of gasoline on site.
Faced with the opportunity to protect Washingtonians from industrial agriculture pollution, Ecology instead chose to ignore the recommendations of its own scientists and bowed to “big ag,” writing a convoluted, two-tiered draft permit that fails to protect our most fundamental natural resource–clean water.
Being a standing witness is a powerful way to protect your local waterway. Rivers, streams and estuaries cannot stand up in a courtroom, and neither can the wildlife that depend on them, but we have the power to say something.
Under a binding consent decree filed Monday in federal court, the Port must now undertake better practices to prevent stormwater pollution from their Pier 66 facility, which services 203 cruise ship sailings a year.