Lawsuit Challenges Federal Inaction To Evaluate Toxic Effects on Puget Sound Aquatic Species
Federal inaction is putting threatened and endangered Puget Sound aquatic species and those in other Washington waters at greater risk, according to a lawsuit filed in Seattle yesterday.
Northwest Environmental Advocates in its lawsuit is accusing federal agencies of failing to complete formal evaluations of the effects of cyanide and copper on threatened and endangered species that depend upon Puget Sound and Washington’s waters. Some draft documents show the agencies concluded nearly six years ago that allowable cyanide levels were dangerous to salmon and orca whales. Worse, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved allowing even greater cyanide levels in Puget Sound.
“The expert fish and wildlife agencies have already concluded that levels of cyanide that the Environmental Protection Agency deems acceptable are, in fact, not safe for salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and orca whales in Washington’s waters but the agencies failure to complete their work means that nothing will improve,” said Nina Bell, Executive Director of Northwest Environmental Advocates. “Washington’s program of regulating water pollution is built on these flawed standards,” she added.
The suit alleges that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) failed to complete required evaluations as requested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Washington’s water quality standards. The standards were established by the Washington Department of Ecology under the Clean Water Act.
Both federal fish and wildlife agencies are obligated under the Endangered Species Act to issue formal consultation opinions when asked to do so by other federal agencies. For cyanide in fresh and marine waters and copper in marine waters, the EPA first approved Washington’s water quality standards in 1993, 1998, and 2007 and then asked NMFS and FWS to make sure the action was safe for threatened and endangered species in 2001 and 2006. In the case of cyanide, the two agencies completed draft opinions in 2007 that concluded the EPA approvals jeopardized numerous species, an outcome that would require EPA action if finalized.
“Not only are EPA-recommended levels unsafe for salmon and orcas but EPA already approved allowing much higher levels of cyanide inside Puget Sound, despite the fact that toxics are known to build up in that environment,” Bell said. “The oil industry sought the higher levels to avoid having to clean up its cyanide pollution and the agencies just rolled over and gave them what they wanted,” she added.
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