Puget Sound Boaters, Officials and Environmentalists Reach Deal

Seattle-area boat owners, officials and environmentalists have reached an agreement to explore new tactics for reducing toxic runoff in Puget Sound.

Water tainted with copper--a key component in boats' protective bottom paint--and other heavy metals rinses off boatyards, increasing the toxicity level.

Washington state's Department of Ecology issued a storm water permit affecting more than 70 boatyards, but boatyard operators challenged new standards set in 2005, calling the requirements unattainable. The environmental strict enough.

The Soundkeeper Alliance, state ecology department and the Northwest Marine Trade Association (NMTA), representing the boatyards, broke some 15 months of impasse in litigation Monday when they reached a settlement.

Under the new agreement, the organizations will set up a pilot program to test the effectiveness of new toxic runoff-reducing technologies in state boatyards.

"The answer is not to shut down boatyards," said NMTA president Michael Campbell. "We want clean water as much or more than anyone."

Puget Soundkeeper Alliance executive director Sue Joerger called the settlement historic, adding that dollars that might have been spent on lawyers will now go toward controlling pollution. And a workable pollution-reduction solution for boatyards, she said, may also prove applicable within other industries.

Source: Seattle Times