Our mission is to protect the habitat of Puget Sound tidelands from the underregulated expansion of new and intensive shellfish aquaculture methods. These methods were never anticipated when the Shoreline Management Act was passed. They are transforming the natural tideland ecosystems in Puget Sound and are resulting in a fractured shoreline habitat. In South Puget Sound much of this has been done with few if any meaningful shoreline permits and with limited public input. It is exactly what the Shoreline Management Act was intended to prevent.

Get involved and contact your elected officials to let them you do not support aquaculture's industrial transformation of Puget Sound's tidelands.

Governor Inslee:

Monday, May 21, 2012

Update on Agency Responsibility for Penn Cove Oil Spill

Adding to the question of what agency should have known over 3,500 gallons of diesel fuel were on board the derelict vessel Deep Sea which sank in Penn Cove May 13, KUOW has reported the Coast Guard inspected the ship in January. At that time the Coast Guard reported to the owner only 50 to 100 gallons of diesel fuel was on board. (see KUOW article here) (hear environmental reporter Ashley Ahern interviewed here).   

As of last weekend an estimated 5,200 gallons have been recovered - 3,200 directly and 2,000 skimmed from the surface.

Would the current owner have been more diligent had the Port of Seattle (who sold it in December of 2011), DNR (who oversees the derelict vessel program), or the Coast Guard (who inspected it in January), accurately reported how much fuel was on board?  Does responsibility track further back to the owner prior to the Port of Seattle taking possession?

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