Gov. Gregoire applauds Puget Sound Partnership

For Immediate Release: December 1, 2008

OLYMPIA � Gov. Chris Gregoire issued the following statement today congratulating the Puget Sound Partnership for releasing an action agenda to restore Puget Sound waters:

�When I created the Puget Sound Partnership, I charged the agency to develop, in just 18 months, a science-based plan to restore the Puget Sound. I congratulate the Partnership for completing, on a very tight schedule, such an ambitious task.

�This action agenda will guide us as we make strategic decisions about the cleanup of Puget Sound as well as result in the creation of hundreds, if not thousands, of green collar jobs.

�With more than 40 Puget Sound species at risk, shellfish beds shut down, and beaches closed off to swimmers, we know inaction is not an option. I look forward to continuing work with the Partnership as we begin to carry out this action agenda to protect our waters, as well as prove to the rest of the nation that we can have both a robust economy and a thriving, beautiful natural resource for generations to come.�