January 15, 2008

Happy New Year, everyone!  I’ve just returned from a couple of weeks away, relieved to find that there was no disastrous holiday oil spill in Puget Sound, and thankful to all of you who made generous year-end contributions to support People For Puget Sound’s work.

The legislature is about to start its 2008 session, and we’re poised and ready.  We need (once again!) to secure year-round funding for the oil spill prevention tugboat stationed at Neah Bay.  We are also supporting the environmental community’s four legislative priorities for 2008, including a bill to protect and restore urban trees and forests.  This “Evergreen Cities” bill will not only make our cities more livable for people, but also will help retain rainwater where it belongs—in soils and vegetation.  This is key to stopping the pollution, flooding and erosion caused by too much pavement and too little green around the Sound.  Other priority legislation deals with curtailing greenhouse gases, factoring climate issues into local planning, and promoting the use of local foods in schools.  We’ll also be supporting legislation to strengthen “aquatic reserves”—specially protected areas in the Sound—and to address lackluster and inconsistent enforcement of our water quality laws.

The legislative session isn’t just for politicians and professional lobbyists—it’s your chance to be heard!  Come join us at Lobby Day in Olympia on January 23, and even if you can’t come to Olympia, be sure that you are on our activist list to receive email updates and action alerts during session.

Meanwhile, our eye is on the ball of the new Puget Sound Partnership.  During 2008 they must produce the Action Agenda and funding plan that will restore Puget Sound’s health by 2020.  The Partnership had a slow start over the summer and fall, but to meet their deadline of a final Action Agenda by September 2008, the pace is sure to pick up now.

What do you think most needs to be done to protect and restore the Sound?  We’re collecting ideas and recommendations to present to the Partnership—tell us what you think.

Overall, 2008 is going to be a very political year, what with the Presidential campaign already seriously in gear, and a governor’s race on tap in our state this year too.  It’s a great time to think about what we need and want from our leaders.  It’s also a time for each of us to get more involved in the issues that matter—like saving Puget Sound.  No matter what you can and want to do for the Sound, People For Puget Sound has a way for you to plug in--volunteer projects, learning opportunities, activism, New Year’s Resolutions to get greener in our own lives—you name it.

Puget Sound’s critters thank you!

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