State overestimated oil-pollution levels in Sound
The amount of petroleum that reaches Puget Sound in runoff and stormwater — once compared with the size of an Exxon Valdez spill every two years — appears to be dozens of times lower than initially thought, new studies show.
By Craig Welch
Seattle Times environment reporter
In September 2008, the head of the state Department of Ecology told a PBS Frontline team that so much oil washes into Puget Sound that it equals an Exxon Valdez spill every two years.
A few months later, the agency attempting to restore Puget Sound made a slightly different case. It declared that an Exxon Valdez-size spill of “toxic chemicals” poured into Puget Sound every two years.
Neither is correct, according to new calculations of polluted runoff and stormwater the state published Tuesday. In fact, the amount of petroleum that reaches the Sound appears to be dozens of times lower than former Ecology Director Jay Manning told Frontline.
The confusion over precisely how much toxic stuff gets into the Sound underscores the complexity of tracking pollution rushing across the disparate landscapes that feed this vast water body. The data underlying the state’s grasp of so-called toxic loading grew more sophisticated between 2008 and 2011.
But the inaccurate claims also reflect an eagerness within Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration to seize on easy-to-grasp anecdotes that highlight Puget Sound’s ecological troubles.
“These studies did exactly what they should have: They refined over time our understanding of the problem,” said Manning, who’s now Gregoire’s chief of staff. “As a result, we now know that the relative contribution of petroleum to pollution in Puget Sound is lower than anticipated — by a significant margin. Do I regret my previous statement? I do. But we have to follow the science.”
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