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Puget Sound panel details daunting cleanup endeavor

Restoration likely to exceed $12 billion

By Chester Allen, The Olympian | The Olympian • Published January 12, 2007

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A blue-ribbon panel charged with restoring the health of Puget Sound by 2020 outlined ambitious priorities Thursday, including reducing toxic chemicals and sewage, improving shorelines, reducing stormwater runoff, restoring and preserving habitat and getting people involved.

But Gov. Chris Gregoire's Partnership for Puget Sound was fuzzy on the cost of restoring Puget Sound by 2020 - and how to hold everyone accountable for reaching those goals.

"The partnership talks about accountability as the key issue, and it is," said Kathy Fletcher, partnership member and executive director for People for Puget Sound. "But we have not yet worked out an agreement on a final proposal.

"And accountability is where we will succeed or fail."

Gregoire created the partnership - 22 leaders from business, environmental groups, science, higher education and government - in late 2005 to create recommendations for the huge job of restoring Puget Sound by 2020.

The partnership will give Gregoire a draft report today and hear comments during public meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Oct. 24.

The final report to Gregoire is due in late November. She'll use those recommendations to craft legislation for the 2007 Legislature.

No one is sure yet how much it will cost to restore Puget Sound, said Jim Kramer, partnership co-manager and executive director of Shared Strategy for Puget Sound.

The cost of all of the recommendations in the draft report will likely be more than $12 billion, but it's difficult to estimate until everyone knows what work will be done, Kramer said.

For example, the cost to upgrade sewage treatment plants in Puget Sound could range from $1 billion to $5 billion, said Brad Ack, a Gregoire aide, partnership co-manager and chairman of the Puget Sound Action Team.

"It could be higher than $5 billion," Ack said. "It is going to be a large number because the cost of the technology and the sheer amount of waste water in the basin."

The plan for a governing body - called the Puget Sound Ecosystem Partnership - would have seven to nine respected leaders who have the authority to ensure action and results.

However, the Puget Sound Ecosystem Partnership would not change the existing authority of cities, counties, tribes or state and federal agencies.

So, how would the new leadership group ride herd over - and gain accountability from - hundreds of agencies and groups?

The new leaders could withhold money from governments, agencies or groups that aren't making progress, Ack said. "One of the big motivators for government is money," Kramer said.

Still, accountability and strong leadership is vital, Fletcher said. She was head of the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority when the agency released a 1984 report that said more than 400 jurisdictions and agencies were involved in Puget Sound issues.

Getting everyone on the same page was the key issue then and it's the key issue now, Fletcher said.

"Twenty-two years later, this is not a new discovery," Fletcher said. "But we still have to come up with a system of accountability, or we'll lose Puget Sound."