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Montage of Wing Point in Bainbridge Island and the Edmonds Ferry.

Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District

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House approves $1 million for Puget Sound restoration

24 May 2006

Late in the evening, the House passed a bill that would fund a wide range of civil-works projects, including $1 million to help restore Puget Sound.

Of the funding, $500,000 is slated for the Puget Sound and Adjacent Waters (PSAW) Restoration Program, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) restoration initiative aimed at improving habitat for at-risk species in the Puget Sound area.

Another $500,000 would fund the Puget Sound Nearshore Marine Habitat Study. It would help identify the most important and cost-effective habitat-restoration projects to pursue in PSAW's 15,000 square mile project area in northwest Washington.

"By enlisting the Corps, we have another powerful tool in our fight for a healthy Puget Sound," said Inslee, the author of the bill that established PSAW back in 2000. "Such federal involvement has been and will remain a key part of long-term restoration efforts."

Since its inception, PSAW has received over $2.75 million from the federal government to undertake regional projects at Hood Canal, Seward Park on Lake Washington, Seahurst Beach in Burien, and Boundary Bay near Bellingham. If approved by the Senate and included in the final bill sent to the president, funding is expected to go to another three local projects: Snohomish River estuary restoration, Nisqually River estuary restoration and Nooksack River fish passage and dam removal.

The broad legislation approved by the House around 11 p.m. EDT on Tuesday allocates federal resources for civil-works projects by the Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Energy, among others. Some major projects funded in the Energy and Water Development Act for the upcoming fiscal year, H.R. 5427, include Hanford Nuclear Reservation clean up, hurricane protection for coastal Louisiana and restoration of the Everglades ecosystem in Florida.