BILL REQ. #: H-3744.1

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HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4031
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State of Washington

59th Legislature

2006 Regular Session

By Representatives Appleton, B. Sullivan, Green, Takko, McCoy, Hunt, Darneille, Flannigan, Kessler, Chase, Eickmeyer, Morris, McIntire, Murray, Woods, O'Brien, Ericks, Pettigrew, Moeller, Dunshee, Lantz, Schual-Berke, Lovick, Morrell, Kenney, Clibborn, Sommers, Walsh, Strow, Haler, Talcott, Jarrett, Wallace, Dickerson, Conway, P. Sullivan, Hasegawa, Upthegrove, Rodne, Hankins, Williams, Springer, Cody, McDermott, Sells, Miloscia, Kagi, Campbell, Simpson, Roberts and Kilmer

Read first time 01/11/2006. Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Ecology & Parks.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Puget Sound provides significant economic and natural resource benefits to the citizens of Washington and the United States; and
     WHEREAS, The state of Washington has adopted an oil spill prevention program with a zero spills strategy to protect the natural beauty of and economic benefits provided by Puget Sound; and
     WHEREAS, The national marine fisheries service has listed the orca whale, Puget Sound chinook salmon, and Hood Canal summer chum under the federal endangered species act, bringing the total number of species listed as threatened, endangered, or candidate species on state and federal lists to forty; and
     WHEREAS, In 1977, Senator Warren Magnuson declared that: "The waters of Puget Sound, and the attendant resources, are indeed a major national environmental treasure. Puget Sound ought to be strictly protected; its resources ought not to be threatened. Since tanker accidents are directly related to the amount of tanker traffic, there should not be an expansion of traffic over what now presently exists."; and
     WHEREAS, The Magnuson Amendment has protected Puget Sound waters from oil spill risks for twenty-eight years by limiting the amount of oil delivered to Washington refineries by tanker to the quantity used by Washington consumers; and
     WHEREAS, The Washington State Department of Ecology reported in 2004 that approximately six hundred tankers a year enter Washington waters, and additional tanker traffic would significantly increase the likelihood of oil spills in Puget Sound; and
     WHEREAS, The Magnuson Amendment has effectively limited tankers headed for refineries at Anacortes and Cherry Point near Ferndale by prohibiting federal agencies from issuing permits for the construction or expansion of dock or related facilities unless that expansion was necessary to meet increased Washington state demand;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that section 5 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (33 U.S.C. Sec. 476) be preserved to continue protecting Puget Sound for current and future citizens of Washington and the United States to enjoy.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

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