Office of Reps. Derek Kilmer and Marilyn Strickland announcement.
On Monday, January 23, U.S. Representatives Derek Kilmer (WA-06) and Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Co-Chairs of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus, celebrated their new law, the PUGET SOS Act, which passed the House and Senate as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2023.
The new law, signed by President Biden on December 23, aims to enhance the federal government’s role and investment in Puget Sound, the nation’s largest estuary by volume and the heart of Washington State’s identity and economic engine.
At a press conference in Tacoma, Laura Blackmore, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership, joined Reps. Kilmer and Strickland to celebrate this milestone for Puget Sound recovery.
“When President Biden signed our PUGET SOS Act into law, that moment marked progress that was years in the making – and it demonstrates the federal government stepping up and treating Puget Sound the same way other bodies of water of national significance are treated,” said Rep. Kilmer. “And it’s a recognition that it’s not just about environmental protection, but about our region’s economy as well.”
Kilmer continued, “it’s also about ensuring we can continue to use the Sound for recreation, that we can continue to dig for clams, and that we continue to see Southern Resident Killer Whales in Puget Sound not just today but for generations to come.”
“As Co-Chair of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus, protecting and restoring the Sound is a top priority,” said Rep. Strickland. “Puget Sound is a key natural resource for the South Sound and the entire state, accounting for hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in economic impact. And now it is getting the federal recognition it deserves as one of our nation’s great marine ecosystems.”
“Our governor, state legislature, local elected officials, tribal elected officials, and our network of organizations around Puget Sound have proven their commitment to restoring it,” said Laura Blackmore, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership. “We needed commensurate investment at the federal level, and today, I’m very pleased to say that the newly enacted PUGET SOS bill demonstrates that federal commitment.”
Blackmore continued, “the PUGET SOS Act aligns federal brainpower and resources to focus on Puget Sound, and makes sure that our federal partners are coordinated, that they’re setting goals, and that they’re holding each other accountable – and this alignment and accountability will increase our effectiveness and provide yet another boost to Puget Sound recovery.”
Now law, the PUGET SOS Act will help build a stronger partner in the federal government for critical Puget Sound recovery and restoration efforts by establishing a Puget Sound Recovery National Program Office in the Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate protection and restoration efforts related to Puget Sound and codify the Puget Sound Federal Leadership Task Force, created through a 2016 Memorandum of Understanding by executive action.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, the fiscal year 2023 government funding legislation signed into law by President Biden on December 29, includes $54 million for the implementation of these provisions – a nearly $20 million increase from last year’s funding level.
A crook, “I believe in term limits”, and a communist, smiling standing next to Chinese dictator Xi promoting dangerous gas plant, bragging about a victory that was a forgone solution that squanders more tax payer dollars. Why not provide acknowledgment of private efforts more worthwhile than wasting wealth on failed programs.
Hey Mac, how about providing a list of those “private efforts” and their benefits to the public for those of us clearly much less informed?
Do a Google search and find many volunteer and corporate, plus native efforts to clean and preserve the sound. Government agencies staffed by nepotism are not the answer.
Puget Sound Recovery. We heard all that before, from Norm Dicks, declared most corrupt congress person at that time. He hired his sons and squandered tax money intended for healing the Sound. His handpicked successor, Kilmer, however lauded Dicks as “may be the best Congressman in the history of Washington State” – sure, if corruption is your thing?! We keep doing the same over and over, hoping for better outcomes this time? Watch where the money goes. The environment is only used as sound bite and will never be a priority with these two fossil fuel shills at the helm.
https://crosscut.com/2010/09/fixing-group-thats-supposed-fix-puget-sound
We could finally get that pesky environmental problem solved if we just had a little more money.
All well and good, but who will actually oversee the local government approvals of actions that will continue contaminating the Sound and Commencement Bay? Or of those who approve the continuing destruction of all fresh water resources that used to flow into the Budd Inlet that the Sound so desperately needs? No one. We have heard good intentions to death – the continuing death of our beloved Orcas from disease and starvation. No actual, factual science will be used, no actual factual scientists will be in charge of decision making because local govts have no actual factual scientists on staff, and the ridiculous practice of allowing local govt staff to approve anything and everything no matter what will be forever lost will still rule the day. It just goes on and on, even the USACE is approving highly illegal actions that will stir up all the contaminated sediments in both the Budd and the Sound. Who will oversee and enforce that? No one! Been there, seen that, heard that ad nauseum, but still our Orcas continue to die.