Fight Against Big Oil Interests Continues
Disaster after disaster has brought national attention to the problem of Big Oil and their impact on our waters, our land, and our livelihoods. Their disregard for worker safety and the environment is evident in events from the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, the explosion that killed five workers at an Anacortes refinery, and the slowly unfolding environmental devastation in Puget Sound.
Every year, at least 14 million pounds of toxic pollution drains into Puget Sound, poisoning the waters. More than half of that pollution comes from petroleum products. Most of the oil and other toxic materials comes via contaminated stormwater – water that runs off the streets, through a storm drain, and into our waterways. Polluted stormwater is the biggest water pollution problem in our state. Puget Sound is one striking example, but waterways from the Spokane River to the Columbia are impacted by this stream of pollution.
For the past two years, Washington Environmental Council, along with our partners at Washington Conservation Voters, People for Puget Sound, and the Nature Conservancy, has been working on legislation to address contaminated stormwater runoff. Our efforts are founded on the simple principle that polluters should pay their fair share of clean up costs.
The Working for Clean Water bill (also known as the Clean Water Act of 2010) was one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation in the past decade. Had it passed, this proposal would have taxed hazardous substances to provide over $100 million a year for stormwater clean-up projects. This would have been a major step forward to returning the Sound to health. And because the stormwater projects are labor-intensive by nature, it would have created good, family-wage jobs statewide.
However, the oil industry, reluctant to dip in their profits to shoulder some of the clean up costs, pulled out all the stops against the bill. They flew in oil executives from Texas, funded a sophisticated and well-financed opposition campaign, bused in workers who were paid to lobby against the bill, and employed some of the most highly paid lobbyists.
Despite a hard-fought campaign, which brought out an incredible amount of support from people around Washington, the Legislature did not pass the Clean Water Act. The Legislature did make a one-time $50 million allocation for stormwater cleanup in
2010. These funds are a meaningful down payment for stormwater infrastructure in the short term, but also highlight the need for a sustained funding source.
WEC and our partners are committed to finding a way to prevent the flow of contaminated stormwater into our waterways and making sure that Big Oil’s voice doesn’t outweigh those of Washingtonians. Your help will be essential in making this happen.
