*12/17/10 Kitsap Sun -State’s Environmental Agencies Called on to Change to Respond to Budget Concerns
By Christopher Dunagan
OLYMPIA — “Efficiency” will be the name of the game next year among agencies that manage the state’s natural resources.
With difficult cuts looming <http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/dec/15/gov-gregoire-proposes-deep-cuts-to-wa-programs/?partner=popular> in all areas of the state budget, environmental activists are lining up with the governor and key legislators to find ways to protect the environment with less cash.
Everyone seems nervous. How will fish and wildlife, clean water and recreation fare in a budget that could cancel classes for young children and eliminate health care for the poor?
… Bruce Wishart, a lobbyist with People for Puget Sound, says the governor’s budget protects most programs related to Puget Sound but with less money. For example, funding for Ecology’s Spill Response Program could be shifted from the General Fund to a fund dedicated to cleaning up toxic sites — but that would leave less for cleanup.
Meanwhile, water-quality inspectors in the Department of Ecology already are unable to keep up with their workloads, he said.
As part of the new effort, Wishart said, businesses should be expected to pay more for the problems they cause.
“We are supportive of new revenue sources to take the burden off the general taxpayer,” he said. “We will be pushing to see that businesses that create pollution pay fully for the costs of the program. In this era when state agencies have seen dramatic reductions in their programs, it is important to have additional tools to protect the public.”
More at
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/dec/17/states-environmental-agencies-called-on-to-to-to/