Threats

A new report from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office on salmon and water quality in Puget Sound says the Washington State Department of Ecology has routinely missed deadlines to develop an “impaired waters list,” as required every two years by the Clean Water Act. The report also reiterates existing research that high temperatures, low levels of dissolved oxygen, sediment and toxic contaminants like a chemical linked to tires can hurt the survival of the threatened Puget Sound Chinook, Hood Canal chum salmon and Puget Sound steelhead. According to the report, Ecology is “behind most other states” and missed deadlines for the lists that were due in 2020 and 2022 and in the prior assessment cycles, submitted in 2021 a “combined list” covering the 2014, 2016 and 2018 assessment cycles, three years after the deadline. In response, Ecology and Gov. Jay Inslee’s office defended thei...