Missing salmon money causes tense moments for a time
May 22nd, 2009 by cdunaganNews on the environmental beat has come rapidly this week, and I hope you’ll bear with me as I catch up with numerous Water Ways items I have not had time to discuss the past couple of days.
Let’s start with a call I received last night from U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks. Remember that brouhaha about the Obama administration wiping out the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund? That’s the fund supporting a whole bunch of work on salmon-recovery projects throughout the Northwest. (See my story from May 8 and Water Ways entry from May 10.)
Officials at all levels jumped on the problem right after the president’s budget came out — including 10 U.S. senators and 20 U.S. representatives from throughout the Northwest, who fired off a joint letter to the White House.
It appeared to be just an oversight, but it caused some tense moments — from salmon organizations counting on the money right up to officials in the Department of Commerce, including our former governor, Gary Locke, who now heads that massive department.
Norm Dicks called to inform me that, yes, it was just a mistake, and the administration will put the money back — $50 million, which is $15 million more than offered by the Bush administration before Bush folks tried to dismantle the fund in favor of a national program.
But nobody underestimates the importance of this fund to the ongoing salmon-recovery effort, least of all Norm.
“I am very happy that we got this reversed,” he told me at the end of a long day in Washington, D.C. “I am going to sleep better tonight.”
For a little more detail, see my story in today’s Kitsap Sun, and check out the news release issued last night by Sen. Patty Murray’s office.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Recent Comments