The Pacific Northwest’s Puget Sound is not a great place to be a marine animal, according to a report released this week by the group People for Puget Sound. The report assessed dozens of scientific studies on toxic chemicals in the sound and concluded that although the water is considerably cleaner than it was a few decades ago, marine animals from orcas to herring continue to be contaminated by PCBs, DDT, dioxins, mercury, lead, and other toxins. Every level of the marine food chain in the sound is affected. People for Puget Sound hopes the report will help persuade the Washington state legislature and Gov. Gary Locke (D) to fund a state effort to phase out the worst chemicals and eliminate discharges into state waterways.
