County Council urges passage of statewide Clean Water Jobs Act

March 21, 2011

Summary

Environmental Priorities Coalition hails action to cleanup waterways

Story

The Metropolitan King County Council today passed a motion urging support of the Clean Water Jobs Act (SB 5604 / HB 1735) as a means to fund needed projects to address toxic stormwater pollution and create jobs in King County and across the state. The bills are currently before the Washington State Legislature.

“With the health of the Puget Sound ecosystem at serious risk, polluted runoff has an enormous cost to the people of King County and the entire state,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “The Clean Water Jobs Act ensures that those who do the polluting pay the costs of projects to reduce the amount of polluted stormwater entering our waterways. It also creates jobs, putting people to work building infrastructure that will serve our communities.”

“We commend the King County Council for its support of this bill which will create jobs, rebuild our local economies, and clean up polluted waterways like Puget Sound,” said Shannon Murphy of Washington Conservation Voters.

Toxic stormwater runoff is the number one source of pollution in Puget Sound and our state’s waterways. Every time it rains, toxic runoff washes into Puget Sound and lakes and rivers, spreading poisons that threaten the region’s health, environment and economy. King County government is mandated to, and places a priority on, cleaning up stormwater pollution.

The bill would levy a small fee on toxic runoff pollutants like oil, pesticides and other hazardous substances, and would directly fund local projects and good-paying new jobs in communities to retrofit urban streets and build storm drains. This legislation is one of the four environmental community priorities for the 2011 legislative session.

“As a Northwest native, I know the Puget Sound is critical to the identity of our region and to our quality of life,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson. “Because I want my two young children and future generations to enjoy a healthy Puget Sound, I am in favor of expanding our efforts to keep the Sound clean.”

“In the last round of funding, King County created 110 new construction jobs,” said Rein Attemann of People For Puget Sound. “The Clean Water Jobs Act will bring more new jobs to King County – and clean up our waterways. A win-win if there ever was one.”

The current proposed legislation would generate approximately $100 million annually to pay for local projects through a similar competitive grants process. In the last round of competitive grants, cities in King County received over $11 million of the $54 million awarded, funding 13 major projects.