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Department of Ecology News Release - September 8, 2010
10-231
SEATTLE – Regional efforts to protect and restore Puget Sound will receive a $13 million helping hand, thanks to the latest round of federal science grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is receiving $2.2 million for four scientific and technical studies of the Sound.
U.S. Reps Norm Dicks and Adam Smith joined with EPA Regional Administrator Dennis McLerran today to announce science grants and unveil new plans for Puget Sound Research Institute in Tacoma.
Also speaking at the event at the Pierce County Environmental Services Building in University Place, just south of Tacoma, were Gregg Grunenfelder, assistant secretary of the Division of Environmental Health at the Washington State Department of Health; James Slape Jr., Nisqually Tribe Council member; and Dr. Joel Baker from the University of Washington (Tacoma).
Since 2006, EPA has dedicated $71.4 million as part of its ongoing initiative to protect and restore Puget Sound ecosystem health. EPA’s science grant funding, dedicated to state agencies, local municipalities and environmental groups, are helping expand and deepen scientific knowledge of Puget Sound.
Today’s event showcased a $676,309 grant the Washington State Department of Health will receive to support studies in Cormorant Passage in South Puget Sound. The grant will fund a shellfish resource survey, pollution source evaluation, a human health assessment, and circulation/dilution modeling, with the goal of identifying what portions of the study area could be potentially opened for shellfish harvest.
According to Dennis McLerran, Regional Administrator for the EPA, science must be at the heart of all efforts to restore and protect the Sound. “To solve environmental problems, you need two key ingredients: the best science and tireless teamwork,” said McLerran. “Funding for applied technical studies and related investigations is crucial to helping make Puget Sound healthy again.”
The grant recipients include state and federal governments and non-profit groups, some which will be conducting collaborative studies with tribes and communities. In addition, regional information-sharing and databases play a key role in many of these projects, which will create a more comprehensive understanding of Puget Sound science.
The grants will fund science initiatives to:
The event marked the opening of a new study center at the University of Washington Tacoma. Through a cooperative assistance agreement with the EPA, the University of Washington will establish the Puget Sound Institute (PSI). The core mission of the Institute is to foster vigorous, balanced, relevant, and timely analysis, review, synthesis, and integration of environmental information, thereby insuring that the best possible science informs the restoration and preservation of Puget Sound.
Also receiving Puget Sound grants from EPA were Ecology; King County; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; U.S. Geological Survey; the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Battelle.
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For an interactive map of grants: http://www.epa.gov/region10/map/funding/pugetsound_funding_map.html (See attached file: Puget Sound Science Blurbs for Map FINAL.pdf)
Contacts:
Mark A. MacIntyre Senior Press Officer, U.S. EPA Region 10 1200 Sixth Ave. Suite 900 Seattle, WA 98101-3123; 206.553.7302(desk); 206.369.7999 (cell); macintyre.mark@epa.gov
Curt Hart (for information about EPA grants to Ecology) Media relations Washington Department of Ecology, 360-407-6990 (desk); 360-480-7908 (cell); curt.hart@ecy.wa.gov
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
