A few years ago,
scientists in Western Washington
made a really surprising discovery,
and it was more of a hunch at first.
And then they nailed it.
They suspected something among the
thousands of chemicals found in
local streams was proving lethal
to the salmon during the pandemic.
While most of us were thinking
about human health,
A-Team was able to link a single
chemical from tires, yes,
regular car and truck tires,
to the to the decline of coho salmon.
Angelica Hede from our sister
station in Seattle has our story.
This beaker contains little bits of tire.
Now it may not seem like much, after all,
we used tires in everyday life.
But we now know inside contains a
lethal chemical responsible for
killing up to 90% of coho salmon
right here in Longfellow Creek alone.
Right now in America,
almost every tire changed.
Every Rd driven, every playground
built is contributing to decades
worth of coho salmon dying.
It's one of the top five
like most toxic chemicals.
To aquatic organisms that
people have ever reported,
6 PPD quinone is a toxin produced
when the common tire preservative
6 PPD mixes with oxygen.
As tires age, the rubber starts to peel off,
leaving bits and pieces in their path.
When it rains, anything that doesn't soak
into soil becomes storm water pollution,
eventually ending up in local
waterways where every fall coho
salmon returned to spawn.
They're literally soaking up
this chemical that's interfering
with how their brains work,
and then they're dying before they
can get to that next part of the
Creek in order to to lay their eggs.
Sean Dixon is the executive director
of Puget Soundkeeper alliance.
With the help of hundreds of volunteers,
they've been tracking declining
coho salmon populations.
First, bringing their data to the
University of Washington Tacoma,
where scientist Ed Cologie and
his team worked to narrow down
the thousands of chemicals found
in stormwater pollution to one.
I think literally it was December
12th, 2019. Jenny was like,
hey, I think I know what it is.
We're just trying to size sort this Chinook.
The team brought a sample to
Jen McIntyre over at Washington
State University in Puyallup,
where six PPD quinone was put
to the test. The fish would
start to come to the surface of
the water, they'd start swimming
at the surface of the water,
and they'd start to lose equilibrium
and swim on their sides and upside down
and eventually settle to the bottom
of the tank and. And die.
Scientists called the discovery
a career defining moment,
relief and excitement,
pointing to the critical
role coho play in maintaining
healthy freshwater ecosystems.
But the excitement soon
faded with the question.
Now that we know what's killing them,
what do we do about it?
It's 1 to 2% by weight of every tire on
the planet that's been made for 60 years,
the US Tire Manufacturers
Association addresses 6 PPD on
its website, saying in part.
The chemical adds to driver safety
and that more research is needed.
But even if they stopped using the chemical,
advocates say it could be decades before
6 PPD is completely eradicated. We have
to be walking and chewing
gum at the same time.
Data from WSU shows that when
stormwater pollution goes through green
infrastructure like a rain garden,
it filters the chemical out.
Sean and his team are now
fighting for more green treatment
solutions near Urban Creeks.
Pointing to permits that direct
house cities and states,
handle new toxins and stormwater.
The permits today under the law
today say if you've got a problem,
start figuring out how to solve it.
Puget Soundkeeper sent intent
to sue notices to five cities,
including Seattle, Burien,
Mukilteo, Seatac and Normandy Park,
for not complying with permits.
But Sean says the goal is to
work with cities, understanding
that solutions are expensive.
These folks know that this is a
problem, want to help solve it.
But this is 1 issue among many.
For for most of these towns the hope
now is for a stronger
response from the state.
A petition was sent to the Washington
State Department of Ecology asking
for more action near Longfellow Creek
in West Seattle which has seen pre
spawn mortality rates nearing 90%.
A response from the state was filed
saying in part the science is clearly
making a case that six PPD quinone kills.
At this time we do not believe that a
site specific adaptive management effort.
Is the most appropriate or necessary
response so if the Community
hears a little bit about it?
I asked Jeff Killilea,
who works with the Department of Ecology,
for more context.
Is there a reason why,
if we know that there are certain
creeks that are being targeted,
that the state is rejecting
site specific solutions?
This problem,
on the other hand,
is widespread and ubiquitous
throughout the Pacific Northwest.
He says they're figuring out how to
best use funds received from the
legislature to address multiple
sites and researching ways to
ensure solutions put in place today
are effective in the long term.
Certainly agree that actions
are required to address
and install treatment
where it's needed.
We only disagree
on on the timing and the mechanisms
for that treatment. Time, Sean says.
That poses the greatest risk.
That's something that
our salmon can't handle.
That's something that our tribal
communities don't deserve.
That's something that our
communities can't wait for.
We would love to hear your
thoughts on this story.
Please let us know what
you're thinking about it.
Send us an e-mail to the story at
kgw.com or call and leave a voicemail
503-226-5090.
And that brings us to an article that
we think is certainly worth your time.
It comes from a partnership between
OPB and Pro Publica titled Unchecked
Pollution is contaminating the salmon
that Pacific Northwest Tribes eat.
And the sub headline says it all.
For decades, the US government
has failed to test for dangerous
chemicals and metals in fish.
So we did.
And what we found was alarming for tribes.
It was written by Tony Schick at
OPB and Maya Miller with Pro Publica.
They focused on Columbia River basin
and a region that's contaminated by
more than a century of agricultural
and industrial pollution.
There are an estimated 68,000 native
people living in the river basin today.
They are in a tough spot when
it comes to contaminated fish.
They're weighing unknown health
risks against their sacred practices
passed down through the centuries.
So OPB and Pro Publica worked
to reveal some of the unknown
health risks with this story.
They bought 50 salmon from native fishermen
in the region and paid to have them.
Tested at a certified lab for 13 metals
and two classes of chemicals known
to be present in the Columbia and
they found that native tribes face a
disproportionate risk of toxic exposure
through their most important food.
Here's what the testing showed.
You can see the average diet of the
general population there around 3/8
ounce servings of salmon each month.
The average tribal member eats closer
to 16 of those servings a month,
and then a high-end diet of a
tribal member would be closer
to 60 servings a month.
Well,
the lab testing showed concentrations
of two chemicals that federal and state
health agencies deem unsafe when consumed
at that mid level, about 16 * a month.
That's how many times most tribal members,
you'll recall, eat salmon.
The chemicals are mercury,
where there's a risk at just eight
servings a month, and then also PCB's,
which are after prolonged exposure,
can damage the immune and reproductive
systems and a lot more.
Very dangerous.
Certainly some concerning numbers,
but the next question is,
OK, so what's being done?
About it?
Well,
there appeared to be a breakthrough
here in Oregon back in 2011.
That's when the state adopted
new water quality standards to
protect tribal people's health.
The state said it would restrict
the amount of chemicals released by
industry and wastewater plants so that
people could eat more fish with rest,
less risk. Well, OK, that's great.
But what sounded like a good idea
was not exactly followed through on
the state struggled to ensure that
the polluters actually met the new,
lower limits.
The Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality said it just didn't have.
Staff to keep pollution permits updated,
rendering the new standards
pretty much obsolete.
In this OPB story that
we're telling you about,
they asked the state DEQ for
evidence if the new standards
actually improved water quality,
and DEQ basically responded
with we don't really have any
evidence in the story, they say, DEQ wrote.
The agency does not have significant
amounts of data on the concentration
of bioaccumulative pollutants in
the Columbia River and therefore
does not have any trend information.
So basically, there's no telling
if it's done anything to help.
And the journalists for this story say
the contamination of the water and fish
could even be worse than what they found.
And that's because they say things like
pesticides and flame retardants could
also be adding to the contamination.
But those pollutants were not
included in the testing because,
well, it costs too much.
And it doesn't look like they tested
for that six PPD quinone either that
we talked about in the first story.
But something could be done.
The near term, in August,
the EPA received $79 million to
reduce toxic pollution in the Columbia
River as part of President Biden's
bipartisan infrastructure law.
That's the most money ever dedicated to
reducing contamination in the Columbia,
but the tribes and the advocates say that
is just a fraction of what they need.
There's a lot more at the OPB and
Pro Publica article that we didn't
get into here on this show,
so be sure to check it out.
It's well worth your time.
You won't be sorry.