$6 million for Sound cleanup
House panel also approves $12.5 million for Mount Rainier projects
WASHINGTON - A major spending bill approved by a House committee Thursday would boost funding for a Puget Sound cleanup project to $6 million.
The Interior appropriations bill also provides money for Mount Rainier National Park, salmon restoration and accelerated logging on federal lands.
“We didn’t have enough money to do everything,� said Washington Rep. Norm Dicks of Belfair, the top Democrat on the subcommittee. “But it was a good year.�
The subcommittee’s approval marked the first step in the appropriations process.
The Environmental Protection Agency would receive the $6 million in Puget Sound cleanup funds in the next fiscal year, a $4 million increase over current levels.
The project is part of a larger effort launched by the state that also involves county and city governments and Indian tribes. Gov. Chris Gregoire has made the “Puget Sound Partnership� one of the state’s top environmental priorities.
Dicks said he hopes the effort in Puget Sound will be similar to projects to clean the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes.
“We need to ramp up the federal spending,� Dicks said. “We hope the state will ramp it up as well.�
Continue reading this story from the Tacoma News Tribune:
$6 million for Sound cleanup
