EPA office sought for Puget Sound cleanup

WASHINGTON – Sen. Maria Cantwell and Congressman Norm Dicks have proposed legislation to create an office in the Environmental Protection Agency to focus on Puget Sound pollution.

The Puget Sound Recovery Act would develop a comprehensive cleanup plan for the sound – the nation’s second-largest estuary, after Chesapeake Bay in the Lower 48.

The legislation would coordinate federal cleanup activities and funnel federal matching funds to sewer and stormwater projects in the Puget Sound basin.

The bill earmarks $20 million to launch the office. It would support the work of the Puget Sound Partnership, the state agency charged with restoring the health of Puget Sound by 2020.