Of Paramount Importance Is On Temporary Hiatus

Apologies to our faithful followers.

Thornton Creek at TC Park #2

Due to technical difficulties, OPI is taking a break waiting for a technology repair. We will resume our coverage of local environmental, political and preservation news soon.


Thank you for your patience and please check back with us in a few days.


Sincerely,


Janet

Update - Working for Clean Water Bill

Update - The Working for Clean Water Bill

As our State Legislators and Senators are winding down their 2010 session, they are grappling with many important issues for the Budget, but one issue stands out as the central environmental effort this year. That is the Clean Water Bill SHB 3181.

It has thus far gone through several iterations. Supporters of the Clean Water Bill have now proposed a new version, because the House Finance Committee has unfortunately, altered the original in such a way to make it ineffective in raising enough funding to make a difference.

Puget Sound and our other important waterways MUST be cleaned up to support our way of life here in the Northwest AND provide the water quality necessary to sustain life for wildlife and people. The new version would provide a .85% increase in the Hazardous Substance Tax for clean water. This Bill will make a difference by addressing our stormwater runoff problems and provide the funding needed by our local cities and towns to fix these problems.

The Bill is supported by the 2010 Environmental Priorities Coalition which includes, People for Puget Sound, Seattle Audabon, Washington Conservation Voters, Sierra Club- Cascade Chapter, Washington Toxic Coaltion, labor groups, Association of Washington Cities (AWC) and many others.

Key Points about the New Proposal:

· Generates $100 million a year (.85% increase in the Hazardous Substance Tax) for stormwater and other essential clean water programs.

· This bill is a significant job creator – building new clean water infrastructure and putting Washingtonians to work.

· The new proposal has broad support from the continuing coalition of environmental organizations, labor, cities, and counties. It is also strongly supported by commercial fisherman and shellfish growers.

Can you please call you legislators and senators and tell them it is vitally important to your community to address these problems and this Working for Clean Water Bill will make that possible? It's quite easy to call the legislative hotline and leave a message. Your representatives really WANT to hear from you, their constituents.

Just call the legislative hotline at 1-800-562-6000.

Sample Message: "My name is ______ and I live in (name of your town) and I urge you to support a .85% increase in the Hazardous Substance Tax to generate $100 million for stormwater pollution cleanup."

Thanks! It makes a difference!

Janet

Photo Credit - Janet Way

2010 Washington Environmental Priorities Coalition

Today, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop for the 2010 Legislative Environmental Priorities.
This is an effort put on every year by a coalition of statewide organizations, who advocate for the top issues needing attention by legislators.

The room was full at this event, held at the Gwinn Hall on Seattle Pacific University. We listened to a panel discussion by four of the most active environmental advocates in the legislature including - Rep Hans Dunshee, Rep Sharon Nelson, Rep Skip Priest, and Rep Rolfes.

We also heard from newly elected King County Executive, Dow Constantine. He impressed on us, the importance of the work this coalition does. He gave the example of fighting against the gravel mine on Maury Island. That group fought this battle for about 10 yrs and recently won a decisive victory in court. He said it teaches the lesson that even with seemingly hopeless situations to "Never,never give up!"

The 2010 Environmental Legislative Priorities Coalition will be advocating for 3 major efforts this session. They are the following:

• Safe Baby Bottle Act -
This act would phase out BPA in baby bottles, food and beverage cans, and other consumer products.

• Working for Clean Water -
The Working for Clean Water bill is about creating jobs, rebuilding local economies, and cleaning up polluted waterways.

• Sustain Environmental Protections in the Budget
We aim to ensure Washington's budget sustains core environmental protections that safeguard the health of our families, communities and economy.


There area also many other issues that are important coming up during this challenging session of importance, such as Aquatic Lands Act and Revenue issues.

Environmental Lobby Day is coming up on January 26th. It is a very rewarding excercize to participate in, and the efforts of citizens during this event makes a tremendous difference to passing good legislation. Citizens visit their legisl

ators, and it means a great deal to them to hear directly from constituents who are well informed about the bills. And it's lots of fun too!

Check their website at the following address www.environmentalpriorities.org for more details on the bills and what you can do to help. It's your government!


Contact the Coalition at:
Kerri Cechovic, Washington Environmental Council
(206) 631-2607 kerri@wecprotects.org
or
Media Center
Press Contact:
Nicole Fallat
Communications Director
nicole@environmentalpriorities.org
(206) 631-2625

1402 Third Avenue, Suite 1400, Seattle, WA 98101
info@environmentalpriorities.org