Connelly: 'Which effort?' new EPA boss asks of Puget Sound cleanup
Puget Sound generates thousands of jobs that depend on clean water, and it is folly for the Trump administration to propose a budget that "zeroes out" cleanup money, a Washington congressman told U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyboss Scott Pruitt on Thursday.
Rep. Derek Kilmer, who represents the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, took out after Pruitt at a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
The proposed Trump budget "zeroes out" not only the $24 million currently spent on Puget Sound, but also cleanup money for the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, San Francisco Bay and Lake Champlain.
Pruitt talked in broad terms about cooperation, pledging that the EPA intends to "carry out" its obligations in "partnership with the states."
"We can learn, but we shouldn't have to abdicate responsibility, to your point: And we won't abdicate responsibility," Pruitt told Kilmer.
"But the budget you've produced zeroes out funding to support that effort," Kilmer shot back.
Pruitt asked: "More specifically, which effort?"
"Puget Sound recovery," replied Kilmer.
Pruitt delivered a conciliatory, if non-specific response. He seemed to acknowledge that Congress will restore some of the money eliminated in the Trump proposal.
"Those are important partnerships that have existed for a number of years," he said. "As we go through the process together, I want to work together to achieve good outcomes on each of these areas."
Kilmer countered that federal support is vital, from Puget Sound in this Washington to Chesapeake Bay just downriver from Washington, D.C.
"I just want to emphasize that the federal government not leave states holding the bag," Kilmer said. "You look at state agencies: Between a quarter and a third of state environmental agency budgets depend on federal support, and I don't know how we can expect states to take on more of your agency's obligations with less money."
The Trump budget proposes a cut of 31 percent in EPA funding from current levels. Pruitt is a former Oklahoma attorney general who specialized in suing the agency he now heads, usually in alliance with the petroleum industry.
But Kilmer sought to convince Pruitt, who comes from a landlocked state, that clean water is a boon to jobs and economic growth as well as good environmental policy.
"We can't afford the EPA to check out of Puget Sound recovery," said Kilmer. "Our region has 3,200 people whose livelihoods are tied to shellfish growing. Those are jobs that generate over $180 million in revenue to our state. They depend on clean water, they depend on Puget Sound.
"Our marine industry supports the fishing fleets, and our seafood processors -- billions of dollars of revenue -- over 57,000 jobs in our region. Tourism and recreation dollars, people come to our area to fish, they come to see orca whales. They depend on clean water and a healthy Puget Sound."
The House Appropriations Committee is in a vital position to rescue the Puget Sound recovery, as well as money for the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay.
Kilmer, a Democrat, is on the committee. So are two Republican House members from the state, Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse. Herrera Buetler represents southwest Washington, including Willapa Bay, a major center of the shellfish industry.
By: Joel Connelly
Source: Seattle PI