Toxics in Puget Sound Work Group
Toxics in Puget Sound Work Group
Puget Sound is both a jewel of the Northwest and a toxic soup of chemical pollutants. Toxic chemicals used in consumer products and industrial processes, as well as pollution from oil spills, motor vehicles, and burning fossil fuels have been contaminating the Puget Sound basin for decades.
Toxics in Puget Sound contaminate our food web and impact human health. They threaten the health of wildlife in the Sound and the health of the entire ecosystem.
Like humans, Orcas are at the top of the food web. Endangered Orcas in Puget Sound have high levels of PCBs, PBDEs, and other toxic chemicals in their blood.
Saving the Sound by 2020
Imagine a clean and healthy Puget Sound teeming
with healthy wildlife and sustained by healthy residents who are stewards
of its land and waters.
That's the vision of the Puget Sound Initiative put forth by Governor
Christine Gregoire to be achieved by the year
2020. It's a vision that leaders of the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition strongly
support. It's a
vision that will require all the public and private support we can muster,
much hard work, many dollars, and lots of political leadership and will.
Current Campaigns:
Greening Washington Businesses
Every year we spend millions of dollars cleaning up toxic pollution that is contaminating the land, air, and water in our state. These clean ups are costly, time consuming, and often by the time one chemical is cleaned up another has already contaminated the same area. It's time we get off this toxic treadmill by reducing and eliminating the use of harmful chemicals from manufacturing processes.
Washington State can and should help Washington industry switch to safer alternatives and away from chemicals known to be harmful to human health and the environment. By identifying safer chemicals and materials, providing technical support to help businesses reduce their use of unsafe chemicals, and requiring better industry reporting of the chemicals they use, Washington can help businesses identify greener and healthier business solutions. That's why we are working to improve House Bill 1014
To get involved in this campaign contact Jim Dawson at jdawson@watoxics.org
Invest in Clean Water: A 2009 Environmental Community Priority
Contaminated runoff from our roads and urban areas is the number one water pollution problem in the state. etween 6 and 8 million gallons of oil and grease are washed into the Puget Sound every year. 90% of the surface water pollution flowing into Puget Sound comes from petroleum. We cannot restore Puget Sound to health unless we address this growing threat. We are working with the Priorities For a Healthy Washington Coalition (the largest environmental coalition in the state) to solve this crisis.
Learn more about the campaign here.
See complete recommendations in the
Puget Sound Partnership's Report
Resources:
Toxics in Puget Sound - report from the Puget Sound Action Team
view a short interactive presentation by the Seattle P-I "Puget Sound pollutants come from all directions"
click to view Flash
Work Group Leader(s):
Heather Trim, People for Puget Sound, htrim@pugetsound.org
or contact Jim Dawson, Program Director at jdawson@watoxics.org or (360-292-8540
