Partnership News
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Katy Johansson
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katy.johansson@psp.wa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 20, 2007
Feds ramp up funding for Puget Sound restoration effort
OLYMPIA – Momentum for the Puget Sound Partnership’s effort to clean up Puget Sound continues to build with a $20 million appropriation approved yesterday by Congress. The President is expected to sign the bill.
Gov. Chris Gregoire applauded the funding.
“I'm pleased that the federal government is helping us reach our goal, which is to have a swim-able, fish-able, dig-able Puget Sound by 2020. We – all of us – must be part of the solution,” said Gov. Gregoire.
At Gov. Gregoire’s request, the 2007 Legislature created the Puget Sound Partnership, whose primary mission is to oversee and restore the environmental health of Puget Sound. The Partnership is preparing an Action Agenda – a roadmap for that restoration – to be completed by Sept. 1, 2008.
The bill, already passed by the House, directs $20 million in the current fiscal year to the Environmental Protection Agency’s research and remedial program, which addresses the overall health of the Puget Sound ecosystem.
“I applaud our entire state delegation and in particular, Congressman Norm Dicks, for their hard work and commitment to this cause,” said Bill Ruckelshaus, chair of the Leadership Council, the Partnership’s governing body. “Puget Sound is a national treasure. It’s great to see it catching up with other major environmental efforts, such as the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay.”
As chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., played an instrumental role in securing the funding. The funding is a twenty-fold increase over the $1 million contained in the original budget proposal to Congress.
“The stars are aligning around Puget Sound,” said Bill Wilkerson, a member of the Leadership Council. “If we all work together, we can have both a thriving Puget Sound economy and a clean and healthy Puget Sound ecosystem.”
Gov. Gregoire’s 2008 supplemental budget, unveiled Tuesday, includes $2.2 million for the development of the Partnership’s Action Agenda.
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