Environmental Lobby Day
Environmental Lobby Days in Olympia are long but rewarding. We drove south from Seattle at 6AM and didn’t see the sunrise until just entering the capitol. The excitement about the day ahead kept us going in the dark.
We were joined by 500 fellow activists, ready to insert ourselves in legislative offices and hearing rooms in support of legislation that addresses important environmental issues in Washington state. In partnership with the Environmental Priorities Coalition, we advocated for solutions in four key areas: 100% Clean Energy, Orca Emergency Response Measures, Oil Spill Prevention, and Reducing Plastic Pollution.
After fueling up on coffee and the excited energy of our company, we walked to the capitol steps for the rally and customary photo. Multiple legislators joined us at the rally including, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, Senator’s Reuven Carlyle and Mona Das, and Governor Jay Inslee. Their representation bolstered us, and it also illustrated the comradery needed to pass laws to major environmental problems in our region
We were excited to hear so many of our legislators supporting environmental priorities this session. Like so many of us, our elected leaders are extremely concerned about the future of southern resident orcas. The heartbreaking deaths we witnessed over the summer moved Governor Inslee to put forward an ambitious legislative package to help save these whales. Now, it’s up to the legislature to pass these bills.
There are three main bills that the legislature is working on this session, each one addressing the three main threats to orcas: lack of salmon, interference from noise, and pollution. These bills would increase protections for shoreline habitat from development. Limiting shoreline armoring (hardened structures along the shoreline), will help to prevent nutrients from being naturally carried to the ocean, which in turn helps to build up sea grass beds and healthy estuaries. Hardened shorelines degrade habitat both for salmon and for forage fish, which salmon eat. Protecting sensitive shorelines and removing armoring will help rebuild salmon runs throughout Puget Sound, providing more food for orcas.
Rebuilding these salmon runs will take some time, though. In the meantime, we need to make it easier for orcas to find the few salmon out there. One of the best ways to do that is by reducing noise from vessels, which disrupts orcas’ ability to communicate and find salmon. The bill before the legislature would increase the distance that boats have to keep away from orcas, requires a slow speed limit within half a mile of orcas, suspends whale watching of the southern residents for three years, and establishes a permit system for commercial whale watching. These efforts will help reduce underwater noise, allowing orcas to find more salmon immediately.
And of course, we want to make sure that all the salmon these orcas eat (both tomorrow and into the future) are healthy and free of pollution. Right now, Puget Sound’s chinook salmon are the most polluted on the West Coast. All of that pollution gets into orcas, making them sick. Calves are especially impacted because many of these toxics concentrate in their mothers’ milk. Pollution comes from various sources, but with new legislation, the state can take action on reducing and/or banning some of the worst chemicals out there, many of which are found in everyday consumer products!
In addition to debating these three bills, legislators will be voting on Governor Inslee’s $1.1 billion budget request to increase the state’s investment in protecting these whales. The Governor’s budget includes other important actions, such as $51 million to reduce stormwater runoff and $659 million to restore salmon habitat and remove fish barriers. The budget also includes important actions to restore salmon in the Columbia Basin, which supports critical salmon runs the orcas rely on in the winter and early spring. These actions include increasing water spilled over the dams, taking juvenile salmon to the ocean faster and safer.
It also includes a stakeholder forum to discuss the future of the four Lower Snake River Dams. This would be a community-based, solutions-oriented discussion to identify the services currently provided by these four dams and how those services could be replaced if the dams were removed. Ultimately, dam removal will be decided at the federal level (and Defenders is advocating for their removal!). In the meantime, the state should be preparing a transition plan that ensures community needs are still met after the dams are removed.
Ultimately, though, all of these actions have to be passed by elected officials. That’s why Environmental Lobby Day is so important! Elected leaders need to hear from their constituents so they know what the communities’ priorities and concerns are. These representatives are here to work for us and to find solutions to our problems. On Environmental Lobby Day, we made it clear that the environment, our wildlife, and the southern resident orcas are a big priority.
- Vanessa and Robb
Get involved and stay up to date with what’s going on in Olympia and D.C. by following the Defenders Northwest Program on Facebook.
