Gov. Gregoire to Lead Tour of Puget Sound

Press Release

Gov. Chris Gregoire on Friday will lead a five-stop, three county tour of the Puget Sound, highlighting key projects to protect and restore Washington's waters.

"Our goal is a clean, healthy Sound by 2020," Gregoire said. "It's a huge task, but working together it's not only doable, but necessary. Our families and our economy rely on it. I look forward to visiting these projects, and continued work with our partners to develop new strategies to restore and protect our most treasured resource."

Puget Sound helps drive $20 billion of economic activity in Washington state, including tourism, fishing and international trade. The Puget Sound produces the largest amount of farmed shellfish in the United States, attracts millions of visitors which help support 88,000 tourism-related jobs and is a critical transportation corridor for $28 billion in state-originated exports.

Joining Gregoire on the tour will be U.S. Congressman Norm Dicks, Ecology Director Ted Sturdevant and Puget Sound Partnership Director David Dicks.

"It's very important that Governor Gregoire see first hand the wide range of issues, successes and challenges facing Puget Sound on her tour," said David Dicks, executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership. "She will see how funding has been prioritized on habitat restoration, progress on reducing pollution from stormwater, and the positive effect our concerted effort is having on restoring Puget Sound to health. As the Governor recently said, "we can't put the Puget Sound effort on hold'. Her tour will help all of us as we focus on the challenges ahead."

"Since 2005, the Governor and Legislature have made it a priority to recover the health of Puget Sound," said Sturdevant. "State and local governments, with the support of Tribes, EPA and Congress, have made important progress. But there's much more to do, especially around preventing polluted stormwater from continuing to harm the Sound."

Gregoire will start her tour at Belfair's Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is helping to phase out the use of leaky septic tanks that have contributed to excessive nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the water. The project is critical to new development in Mason County, as the county has placed a moratorium on new building until the facility is complete.

Following her stop in Belfair, Gregoire will receive an update on several projects in the Oakland Bay area from local government, business, community and Tribal leaders.

In Shelton, Gregoire will tour Taylor Shellfish's new 15,000 square foot processing facility and cold storage unit. Taylor Shellfish is the largest shellfish producer on the West coast, and relies on a clean Puget Sound to maintain and grow their business.

In the afternoon, Gregoire will take a walking tour of the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge north of Lacey. This project is the largest and one of the most successful habitat restoration projects in the world. The project increased the amount of estuary habitat in South Puget Sound by 55 percent.

Gregoire's last stop will be a boat tour of Commencement Bay, which will highlight numerous projects underway to restore Puget Sound, including the Thea Foss redevelopment projects, the Asarco Superfund site and the Twin 96 outfall project, which has significantly reduced surface water pollution in the last 15 years.

"It's important to point out that the projects underway aren't completed by government alone," Gregoire said. "We have collaborated closely with local jurisdictions, Tribes, businesses and advocacy groups to ensure we have a healthy Puget Sound for generations to come. I applaud the partnership underway, and remain confident that working together, we'll meet our 2020 goal."

Since 2008, more than $460 million has been invested in clean-up and restoration work on the Puget Sound, resulting in more than 600 projects that have created more than 15,000 jobs.

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