3/13/08

Well, almost…  The legislature has finally agreed that we need the oil spill prevention tug at Neah Bay year-round, not just seasonally.  Thanks to the leadership of Senator Karen Fraser and the support of the Governor, the supplemental budget just passed by the state legislature will fund the tug for a full year.  Hooray!

But we need to keep our fingers crossed till then.  Funding ran out for the tug on March 7, and the new money won’t come on line until the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1. 

The remaining challenge is what to do for the long term.  One year of full funding thankfully buys the time for either the US Congress or the state legislature to come up with a lasting solution.  U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell’s proposal for the shippers to provide the tug is pending in Congress.  If her proposal hasn’t passed by he beginning of 2009, we’ll be back knocking on the state legislature’s door, for sure.

The Neah Bay rescue tug has gone to the rescue of disabled vessels 40 times over the last 10 years, 6 times during the season just ended.  And during the spring and summer months when we’ve had no tug coverage, there have been more than enough close calls.  Talk about a no-brainer!

Kudos to the legislature also for significant progress on a number of other important issues, including climate change, toxic toys, and trees in the cities.  Shame on them for failing to address the devastating proposal for a huge gravel export dock on Maury Island—smack dab in one of the orca whales’ most important winter habitats.  That project is certainly a test of whether we are serious about reversing the decline of Puget Sound’s health.  More on that to come, for sure.

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