Vote ‘yes’ for clean water
Sunday’s article on the proposed legislation to boost Washington state’s tax on oil and chemicals was a balanced report [“Lobbying at fever pitch over plan to boost oil tax,” NWSunday, March 21]. I am writing to argue in favor of this bill’s passage.
Stormwater pollution is a clear and present danger. I spend a considerable amount of time in, around and under the surface of Puget Sound. Runoff does immediate damage to our neighborhoods, streams, rivers, shorelines and ecosystem. Imagined disaster scenarios pale by comparison.
I urge the Legislature to vote “yes” for clean water.
— Daniel Sloan, Seattle
Money needed for cleanup
Millions of gallons of petroleum, pesticides and toxic chemicals wash up into Puget Sound every year. It’s like a slow, leaky oil spill with no end in sight.
The Clean Water Act of 2010 will tax the No. 1 source of stormwater pollution in our state and will bring much-needed revenues to clean up toxic stormwater runoff. The estimated $100 million per year will fund shovel-ready projects such as, in my area, regional detention facilities in the Forbes basin in Kirkland.
It is also a significant job creator. Think about how many jobs this will create if 75 jobs were created from $5 million the state recently received to fund three stormwater-related projects.
Even if this tax were passed on to consumers, as opponents are saying, the impact would be just a few cents per gallon, according to the Department of Revenue. I do not mind paying a little more knowing it will be used to clean up Puget Sound and make our waters healthier for our wildlife and ourselves.
I seriously hope our legislators pass this bill during this special session. I urge them to support this bill for job creation, local government relief and clean water.
— Yvonne Wang, Kirkland
Toxins in the water
I love Puget Sound. Among the reasons I moved to Ballard was to be within close proximity of the Sound. It is uplifting just to gaze at it. The Sound might look pristine, but toxins lurk in its waters. Many of these poisons enter the water through storm-drain pollutants.
Yet we have a chance turn this situation around in The Clean Water Act of 2010, now before the Legislature. It would add a relatively small — but vital — extra sum of cash to aid in funding water-related cleanup projects.
The original hazardous substances bill approved by voters back in 1988 has been helping to fund such projects. The tax rate has not been raised since 1988 and needs to be.
I am dismayed that oil bigwigs from out of the area have been flown in to lobby our Legislature against the bill. The bill will create local jobs, and will go a long way to improving the health of Puget Sound and waterways throughout the state.
Right here at Carkeek Park, a project on Venema Creek would improve the quality of water flowing into Pipers Creek, which in turn enters the Sound. Thanks in part to local schoolchildren, after a long absence salmon now return to Pipers Creek each autumn to spawn — a glorious spectacle indeed.
But pollutants from the street, which enter Pipers and Venema creeks through storm drains, threaten to disrupt the salmon cycle and lay waste to this success story of salmon recovery. If the bill fails or is not voted on, local governments — strapped for money — will need to pay for these projects but lengthy delays will occur. For all of us and for Puget Sound, we can no longer afford to delay.
— Mark D. Blitzer, Seattle