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Joe Mallahan, Obama Delegate: My Policy Positions
Save the Puget Sound! |
Political leaders in Washington State in past decades simply did too little to protect the Puget Sound. The first state agency dedicated to environmental protection of the Sound wasn’t formed until1985. It was called the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority. But by the late 1990s, under a Republican-controlled state legislature, the agency’s powers were stripped away and it was renamed the Puget Sound Action Team, which was really just an advisory group with no power to impact anything.
After the Democrats regained control of the Washington House and Senate, they partnered with Governor Chris Greqoire to create the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP), a new agency tasked with defining what steps we need to take to save the Sound. Under law, PSP must present to the legislature and the Governor a proposal for comprehensive action by September 2008. While the federal government and all of the municipalities surrounding the Sound must play a role, truly comprehensive action can only be lead by the State of Washington itself.
Storm water and treated sewage water are the biggest impacts to the Sound today. There are 4 million people living in the Sound’s watershed, and over one million more are expected to arrive within the next decade. We must radically improve waste water management, from installing storm water treatment in dense areas like Seattle and Tacoma, to changing building development requirements all over Western Washington to ensure natural filtering systems and minimization of runoff. Yes, sacrifices must be made. The State of Washington has to have the moral fortitude to tell land owners whose properties fall within the Puget Sound watershed that they cannot conduct activities that negatively impact the condition of the Puget Sound! Non-land-owning citizens will have to carry some of the burden as well. For example, the State should impose a requirement for metered water usage for most homes in the watershed, and impose volume usage fees to reduce potable water consumption, which would reduce the amount of chlorine discharged into the Sound.
The Puget Sound is a vital economic resource and is a harbinger of global oceanic health. The people of Washington own this precious resource, and it is up to us to determine its fate. My goal as a Washington State Democrat is to encourage Washington State political leaders to take bold stands to save the Sound.
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