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Protecting Puget Sound Salmon Spawning Habitat
The Problem
Just like people, fish need oxygen to live. Puget Sound Chinook salmon health depends on clean, cold, oxygen-filled water for eggs and juveniles to hatch and grow. Despite the urging of federal agencies and tribes, the Washington Department of Ecology has long resisted setting water quality standards at protective levels and taking actions to regulate pollution sources that smother salmon spawning areas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to step in and strengthen rules that are needed to protect salmon, steelhead, and bull trout in the Puget Sound area.
How NWEA is Making a Difference
• NWEA sued the EPA over its approval of Washington’s weak salmon protections. The 2018 settlement requires the Washington Department of Ecology to adopt new rules to protect salmon spawning areas from being smothered by fine sediment released by logging and farming.
• NWEA sued EPA because it has failed to ensure Washington has logging and farming practices that protect salmon and other endangered species in Puget Sound. A 2021 settlement requires Washington to adopt and use farming practices to protect salmon.
• NWEA has written extensive comments urging EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to find that Washington is failing to protect salmon spawning in coastal watersheds including Puget Sound.
What You Can Do
• Sign up for NWEA Action Alerts
• Sign up for Ecology emails
• Connect your friends and family to the issue via social media
• Become a member of NWEA—with or without a financial contribution
Washington and federal agencies will propose significant actions over the coming year—actions that are guaranteed to fall well short of protecting Puget Sound. These agencies invite public comment, creating an opportunity for you to add your voice to the demand for change. Too often, agency actions are shaped to benefit special interests, not the public interest. That needs to stop. A growing population and climate change bring even more urgency to the longstanding need for strong regulatory actions to protect Puget Sound, its marine life, and its beaches. Here are some key opportunities to be heard:
Action Needed Now!
Washington Ecology: Mandate Modern Sewage Treatment for Puget Sound
After 20 years plus of foot–dragging, Ecology plans to allow 58 sewage treatment plants to keep discharging at current levels instead of making them reduce the amount of pollution they dump in Puget Sound.
In other words, Washington is not following the law and not protecting Puget Sound. Join with us to stop Washington’s business-as-usual approach to Puget Sound and help save the Chinook salmon and Puget Sound’s resident orcas.
Victory for Puget Sound
EPA Must Act on Toxics, Court Orders
