Gregoire: 'Work to do' on Puget Sound pollution | Seattle P-I

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Gregoire: 'Work to do' on Puget Sound pollution

By DAVID AMMONS
AP POLITICAL WRITER

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Puget Sound is ailing, and government and regular citizens need to step up efforts to protect and clean up one of the state's premier waterways, Gov. Christine Gregoire said Tuesday.

Gregoire released the State of the Sound 2004 report compiled by the Puget Sound Action Team, a government consortium that focuses on preserving the inland waterway that is home for a large share of the state's population, fisheries, tourism, shipping, industry and wildlife habitat.

The report notes significant decreases in the numbers of salmon, orca, marine birds and rockfish, as well as pollution that requires closure of some shellfish beds, and a growing "Dead Zone" in Hood Canal.

"We have work to do," Gregoire said, using a line she repeatedly used in her Inaugural Address last week. "This report shows the need to recommit ourselves to the important tasks of cleaning up Puget Sound and other pollution problems in the state like Lake Roosevelt and the Spokane River."

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