Appeal Today! End to Terry & Sons Pumpout Service due to Clean Vessel Act Program
Appeal Today! End to Terry & Sons Pumpout Service due to Clean Vessel Act Program
***UPDATE 1/27***
(Below write-up per member Pete Delaunay)
QCYC members who care about the environment and value the pumpout service should contact Governor Jay Inslee, who prides himself on environmental stewardship, 360-902-4111 and email him @ www.governor.wa.gov/contact.
We are asking the Governor to extend the grant to Terry & Sons Environmental pumpout service and request a more thorough evaluation of its value for clean water in Lake Washington, Portage Bay, Lake Union and Salmon Bay.
What follows are key points that you may include in your letter to Governor Inslee
On February 28, 2020, Washington State Parks’ (WSP) Clean Vessel Act (CVA) Grant Program manager’s decision to end providing free mobile pumpout services to recreational boaters, in Lake Washington, Portage Bay, the Duwamish, Gig Harbor and Liberty Bay is short sighted and misinformed.
There are 144 marinas in the Puget Sound area. 40 of those marinas, mooring 3,900+ boats are located in Lake Washington, Portage Bay, Lake Union and Salmon Bay -- where there are only ten fixed pumpout locations serving all boats on all fresh water areas. These fixed pumpout locations are in narrow waterways with limited or no access for larger vessels
In 2019 Terry & Sons Environmental provided 12,000 holding tank pumpouts. According to Washington State Parks CVA program manager, the mobile pumpout program uses 15% of their overall budget… a small price to pay for nearly one-third of all marinas in the Puget Sound area, and good reason to continue the grant for the mobile pump service.
The Washington State Parks website says 10.8 million gallons of sewage was prevented from contaminating Washington's waters by boaters using Clean Vessel Act-supported pumpout facilities and free mobile pumpout services. Terry & Sons Environmental service crew pumped nearly 1 million gallons of sewage from boats.
Governor Inslee you have has made it clear that clean water for fish and other sea life is essential and a priority. Terry & Sons environmental has provided a valuable service to prevent sewage discharge from boats. The mobile pumpout grant ends on February 28 and should be extended as a more thorough review of this misinformed decision is needed. Suspension of the Clean Vessel grant for Terry & Sons Environmental pumpout service is a huge mistake and will defeat years of clean water efforts.
Governor Inslee we are requesting an appeal of the misinformed decision to suspend the CVA grant for pumpout service on these freshwater lakes. If you grant the appeal we will provide ample support for continuation of the mobile pumpout program in these critical areas, as well as have the opportunity to more thoroughly review the ‘desk audit’ parks conducted to suspend the service.
We were disappointed to learn that there was no public comment period or opportunity for boaters to demonstrate the value of the program, as a good investment for clean water in increasingly crowded fresh waterways. The ten fresh water fixed pump out locations are hard to find, hard to get to, often don’t work properly and generally found in tight waterways. There are many new boaters who don’t have proper training for the inconvenient and hard to access fixed pumpout locations.
We hope they will support further review of this decision. At your meeting the Parks clean vessel team you will hear the key points recited in the attached form letter Parks’ sent in response to our latest inquiries to Governor Inslee. I expect Governor Inslee will get hundreds of emails in the coming weeks questioning the ‘desk audit’, and lack of public input leading up to the valued program’s end. . Suspending the mobile pumpout program in Lake Washington, Portage Bay and Lake Union will by the number of boats – and limited fixed pumpouts -- result in discharge into fresh water.
We are asking Governor Inslee for a review of the decision, and extension of the mobile pumpout program. The naïve suspension of the mobile pumpout service deserves thorough unbiased assessment.
The mobile pump out service is the only direct service being offered by WSP, Clean Vessel program.
- Provide the data on how many boaters used the fixed location pump out facilities?
- Did WSP use an "RFI" (Request for Information) to seek input about the mobile pumpout program? What stakeholders received the ‘RFI’? RBAW? NMTA?
- How does the 15% of the CVA budget for mobile pumpout service compare to the remaining 85% budget?
- What are those other activities on which money was expended, and how specifically do they relate to directly intercepting sewage discharge from vessels?
- How many of the other funded activities involved directly intercepting sewage?
- What percentage of boaters used fixed shore facilities during the same period and what is the cost comparison to % of budget to provide those facilities?
- Where did they get the statistic that 8% of boats with holding tanks used the free pumpout service?
Suspension of the mobile pumpout program is a clean water issue. As you may know there are few fixed pumpouts – hard to find, hard to get larger boats into them and many just don’t work.
Washington Parks form letter states, “We are exploring alternate service models that would provide free mobile pumpout services in areas across Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. We will share information as it becomes available on our website.” In the meantime, the program will end, Terry & Sons Environmental will be out of business while boating program managers fail to recognize the density of boats in fresh water lakes…comparing them to areas of Puget Sound is just naïve.
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Members,
A decision was made with no public notice or understanding about the implications of declining Terry Durfee's grant from the Clean Vessel Act Program. We encourage members to write a letter in support of Terry & Sons Pumpout, which helps our members out during big events like 4th of July at the Outstation.
Contact the State Pumpout Program via:
Rob Sendak
Cell:360-628-1876
Desk:360-902-8836
- Write
Governor Jay Inslee
Office of the Governor
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002 - e-Message
Send Gov. Inslee an e-message - Call
360-902-4111
Below, you will find an example of another member's letter. Your help is appreciated!
TO: Rob Sendak, Washington State Parks, Boat Pumpout Program
With more recreational boats on the water, it was disappointing to learn that the WSP Clean Vessel Act grant program will no longer support Terry and Sons Mobile Marine Pumpout Environmental. Moreover that Terry & Sons will no long be providing pumpouts after February 29.
It is equally disappointing that there was no public comment period or opportunity for boaters to demonstrate the value of the program, as a good investment for clean water in increasingly crowded fresh waterways. Fixed pump out stations are hard to find, hard to get to, often don’t work properly and crowded in tight waterways. In addition there are many new boaters who don’t have proper training for the inconvenient and hard to access fixed pumpout stations. The result will be discharge into the water. Terry & Sons provided a valuable service.
Is there any recourse at this point? Would letters in support of the program be helpful? Is there any way to appeal the decision? I feel certain if recreational boaters were made aware of this decision, that you would have gotten important input about the importance of continuing. In summary, Terry and Sons was able to provide pumpouts in the lakes thanks to grant money from the Clean Vessel Act.
Thank you for responding and letting me know if an appeal to recreational boaters to write letters, contact Legislators or WSP Commissioners would reintroduce the very good rationale for this service.
Pete DeLaunay