SEATTLE (AP) — If the half-dozen people working with the Washington state Department of Natural Resources to clean up creosote pilings from Puget Sound worked non-stop every day, it would take 10 years for them to remove it all.
The toxic pilings, just like the ones removed last year from the waters in the 3 Crabs area near Sequim, are a major challenge to salmon and killer whale recovery. Creosote was used decades ago to preserve wood but now it’s contaminating Puget Sound.
It kills salmon and forage fish and poisons marine mammals.
The DNR doesn’t have enough crew members to clean it all up fast enough, so they’ve put in a budget request asking for $90 million for salmon habitat, and some of that will go toward adding a full-time crew to remove all the contaminated wood.
DNR currently removes five tons of creosote pilings every day.