2022-2026 ACTION AGENDA EXPLORER
Toxic Chemical Pollution
This strategy will alleviate the levels and effects of toxic contaminants in Puget Sound aquatic life and people and promote the development and use of safer alternatives. This strategy centers on creating incentives, programs, and regulations for the removal of the primary legacy sources of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
(for example, old building materials), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) (for example, creosote pilings), and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) (for example, flame retardants), and would promote the use of safer alternatives. The incentives for removal focus on locations where these efforts are likely to have the greatest reduction of toxic impacts to marine species and protect disproportionately impacted vulnerable populations and underserved communities. Implementing the Toxics in Fish, Shellfish and other Implementation Strategies supports the success of this strategy.
Reduce presence of CECs in goods Remediate toxics in building materials Reduce pollutants in surface waters
Actions
Promote the development and use of safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. (ID #42)
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 include:
- Educate decision-makers, suppliers, and consumers on gaps and limitations of existing state and federal regulations;
- Increase the identification, use, and demand for safer alternatives;
- Incorporate material health in building construction and renovations (LEED-type design);
- Pass state, regional, or federal legislative reform to prevent toxics and protect vulnerable populations and underserved communities.
Prioritize, prevent, and manage (regulations, permits, and incentives) chemicals of emerging concern. (ID #43)
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 include:
- Identify, prioritize, and monitor chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) (including integration of human health risk and thresholds);
- Expand agency capacity to accelerate planning and regulatory actions;
- Increase capacity for technical assistance to the regulated community;
- Develop voluntary programs to prevent, remove or treat CECs (including 6PPD-Q, pharmaceuticals, micro- plastics, and other emerging toxic contaminants) and avoid regrettable substitutions;
- Improve our understanding of the potential co-benefits of wastewater treatment approaches to remove toxic contaminants, including pharmaceuticals personal care products, and other CECs.
Increase product testing for compliance with consumer and environmental safety rules. (ID #44)
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 include:
- Increase capacity and funding for product testing;
- Identify human health risks and exposures, including cumulative impacts
- Expand capacity through collaborative partnerships;
- Increase efficiency of screening tools to identify priority areas for toxic clean-up.
Develop and implement programs that incentivize, remove, or replace toxic laden products with safer alternatives, and ensure proper disposal of toxic products. (ID #45)
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 include:
- Expand partnerships with businesses and explore market-based programs;
- Identify funding for and initiate product replacement programs;
- Support green chemistry programs;
- Initiate product stewardship and producer responsibility programs.
Implementation Considerations
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 to integrate human wellbeing considerations and climate change responses into efforts include:
Human Wellbeing
- Build support for a precautionary approach to toxic chemical regulation, socialize protective regulatory approaches, and improve residents’ understanding of connections between toxic chemicals and impacts.
- Engage communities, specifically tribal nations, vulnerable, and underserved, to identify and address disproportionate chemical exposures through consumption of local foods (for example, fish, shellfish, and game) and other pathways.
- Develop pollution prevention outreach campaigns in multiple languages with existing groups and residents to promote safer products and reduce the use of products with toxic chemicals.
- Fund and promote the use of community-based processes that meaningfully engage tribal nations, Indigenous communities, and vulnerable populations and underserved communities to identify priorities for place-based pollution prevention and ecosystem recovery.
- Ensure engagement with tribal nations and vulnerable populations and underserved communities during chemical action planning (governance).
- Account for information on vulnerable populations and underserved communities in chemical action planning and toxic chemical regulation.
- Support local municipalities and counties with the implementation of preferred purchasing programs and communicate the benefit and value for regional outcomes.
Climate Change
- Center climate change equity and justice considerations in parallel with pollution prevention efforts. Consider and address disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations and underserved communities.
- Strategies should emphasize goals for equitable outcomes and look to close the racial and social equity gaps regarding the impacts of toxics on vulnerable populations and underserved communities.
- Consider the potential to promote both the toxic chemical reduction and greenhouse gas emissions reductions benefits of reducing vehicle miles traveled in single occupancy vehicles.
- Identify and remediate upland sites that may be a source of contaminants to adjacent water bodies if flooded by extreme high-water events.
Ongoing Programs
Ongoing programs provide regulatory oversight, technical support, implementation resources, funding, or guidance and serve as the critical foundation for Puget Sound recovery. The following is a list of example state and federal ongoing programs that help to implement this strategy. Many more local, tribal nations, and nongovernmental programs exist that support this strategy.
What We're Measuring
We are achieving our recovery goals of healthy human populations, healthy water quality, and thriving species and food webs by reducing the presence of priority toxic chemicals and chemicals of emerging concern in upstream sources, including consumer goods; using source control, management, and remediation tools to remove toxics in infrastructure and building materials; and ensuring that levels and patterns of pollutants in surface waters do not threaten the health of Puget Sound communities or vulnerable populations. Indicators of success include:
Contaminants in adult salmon
Contaminants in caged mussels
Contaminants in English sole
Contaminants in juvenile salmon
Contaminants in Pacific herring
The contaminants in adult Chinook salmon indicator measures levels of two toxic contaminants, PCBs and PBDEs, in edible muscle tissue (fillet) of maturing Chinook salmon that reside in Puget Sound. Levels of PCBs and PBDEs in resident Chinook salmon indicate the amount of these contaminants to which humans and other predators like Southern Resident killer whales may be exposed to when eating these salmon, as well as potential impairments to salmon health that may limit their recovery.
This indicator reports on toxic contaminants in Puget Sound's nearshore, intertidal habitats. Uncontaminated mussels are translocated to nearshore locations for a set time period to measure the uptake of chemicals from nearshore waters. This will enable understanding of contaminants in nearshore habitats and whether our actions to prevent and reduce these contaminants are working.
No reported data available
The contaminants in English sole indicator measures chemical concentrations in fish fillets and disease occurrence in fish to assess impacts of contaminants in the benthic (seafloor) habitat. PCBs and PBDEs in fillets indicate contaminant levels people may be exposed to from eating benthic fish. Liver tumors and the presence of a female-specific protein, vitellogenin, in the blood of male fish indicate health impairments due to PAH and EDC exposure, respectively, in the benthic habitat.
The contaminants in juvenile salmon indicator reports the levels of two toxic contaminants, PCBs and PBDEs, in the whole bodies of juvenile Chinook salmon migrating seaward to Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. Levels of PCBs and PBDEs in juvenile Chinook salmon are a measure of inputs of known contaminants of concern to freshwater, estuarine and nearshore marine habitats (river systems), potentially harmful to salmon and other species in these habitats, likely reducing their survival.
The contaminants in Pacific herring indicator currently tracks the concentration of PCBs and PBDEs in the whole bodies of herring. The levels of these persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in herring signal not only harmful concentrations in this species, but also the extent of contamination in the pelagic food web. POPs threaten the health of herring and other forage fish, the health of the fish, wildlife and humans who consume them, and the overall productivity of the pelagic habitat.
Current Legislative Actions (2 Bills)
Passed
Did not pass