EDMONDS — It was a beautiful day with the sun glimmering on the surface of Puget Sound.
Looks can be deceiving, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday.
“It looks drop-dead gorgeous,” Gregoire told a crowd of about 40 supporters gathered behind the South County Senior Center in Edmonds. “The problem is that beneath the beautiful surface is a very troubled Puget Sound.”
Edmonds was the fourth stop of the day for Gregoire on her campaign boat tour to promote her record on Puget Sound and the environment. Gregoire, a Democrat, is facing a challenge from former state Sen. Dino Rossi, a Republican.
Gregoire started the tour in Tacoma and rode a 35-foot pleasure craft to Des Moines, to Shilshole Marina in Seattle and then to Edmonds, giving short speeches in each location.
The need to clean up the Sound is urgent, said Kathy Fletcher, director of People for Puget Sound, an advocacy group. Fletcher made the boat trip up the Sound with Gregoire and a handful of staff and members of the media.
The listing of chinook salmon as threatened and Puget Sound resident orcas as endangered under the Endangered Species Act is a warning signal, Fletcher said. Now is the time to act, she said.
“It’s the last and best chance to save Puget Sound,” she said.
Fletcher said she supports Gregoire because she believes she’s increased the commitment to helping the Sound.
Gregoire said she was “shocked” when she took office at how little had been done to clean up the Sound and Hood Canal. She said she’s increased spending on Puget Sound projects by $240 million since taking office, for cleaning up 300 sites, including a portion of the Port of Everett; replacing septic tanks, protection of habitat and removing creosote logs from the water, in addition to runoff.
Gregoire’s claims about Puget Sound are more talk than action, said Jill Strait, a spokeswoman for Rossi’s campaign.
To clean up the Sound, she said, has been estimated to cost $20 billion, 100 times more than Gregoire has spent.
“I haven’t heard plans on how she’s going to fund it,” Strait said. “Big promises and a lot of talk, but not much else.”
Regarding Rossi’s plan, Strait said, “Dino Rossi’s not going to make a lot of promises on funding right now,” with what Republicans are claiming will be a $2.7 billion budget deficit. “But he does support the mission of a cleaner Puget Sound.”
Asked about specifics, Strait said, “That’s one thing he’ll look at as governor, coming up with a reasonable plan to clean up Puget Sound.”
Gregoire said Puget Sound and the Hood Canal don’t flush out to the ocean nearly as well as once was thought.
“It’s like a bathtub. What we put out there, we put in our bathtub,” she told a small crowd assembled at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle.
Dire consequences of pollution in Hood Canal are showing up in the form of dead fish, she said, and Puget Sound could wind up that way if nothing is done, she said.
On Hood Canal between the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas, much of the pollution is caused by septic tanks, she said. In urban areas, in the past it was thought industrial dumping was the largest source of pollution in Puget Sound. However, it’s lately been determined that contaminated water runoff from storm drains is the primary culprit.
Gregoire told the crowd in Edmonds that while an estimated 40 percent of pollution in the Sound is coming from runoff, only about 10 percent of the funds spent to address the contamination is targeted for that purpose.
Gregoire was asked if she planned to shift the priority.
“We have no choice,” she said.
About $30 million of the total went to runoff-reducing projects such as holding ponds and porous concrete, Fletcher said.
Runoff has to be addressed before development occurs as well as after, Gregoire said. She plans to push for requiring builders to incorporate more environmentally friendly designs into construction. She said that hasn’t made her popular with the construction community.
“We’re looking at that and asking them to be a part of the solution,” she said.
Gregoire signed legislation last year to form the Puget Sound Partnership, a study group charged with coming up with a plan to restore Puget Sound by 2020.
Gregoire said U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, recently helped get two separate federal grants of $1 million and $20 million for Puget Sound cleanup. The money comes along with a recognition of the Sound by the federal government as an estuary in need of restoration, and will establish an Environmental Protection Agency office in Tacoma specifically for that purpose.
Gregoire was greeted by Democratic politicians in Edmonds, including Snohomish County Councilman Mike Cooper, a former state legislator. He praised Gregoire for funding a full-time boat stationed in Neah Bay at the ready to clean up oil spills.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
