February 26th Toxics Workshop- Setting the Stage

On Friday, February 26th the Puget Sound Partnership will host their second Toxics Workshop focused on identifying red flags and influencing change for improving the health of Puget Sound. The workshop will run from 9 AM - 1 PM, with a Red Flag overview and breakout session starting around 12:15 PM. Red flags previously identified include contamination in the Duwamish, microplastics, PBDEs in juvenile Chinook, marine and freshwater contaminants, PFAS in rivers and lakes, and contaminants of emerging concern, such as tires and air quality impacts from wildfires and transportation.

The keynote speaker is attorney Rob Bilott of Taft Law, who is scheduled to speak at 9:05 AM. Bilott is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in the film Dark Waters which tells the story of his fight against the DuPont chemical company in West Virginia. Bilott won a $671 million settlement on behalf of over 3,500 plaintiffs over the pollution of the small town's drinking water with PFOA (a manmade chemical which is used in products like stain-resistant carpet, water-repellent clothes, and firefighting foam - it is a type of PFAS) which DuPont allegedly knew was contaminating the water. You can read more about the film and watch the trailer at Dark Waters and the True Story of Lawyer Rob Bilott | Time.

Other speakers include:

• Heidi Siegelbaum, Washington State University/Washington Stormwater Center
• Derek Day, Washington State Department of Ecology
• Robin Gregory, Decision Science and the University of British Columbia
• Laurie Valeriano, Toxic Free Future
• Paulina Lopez, Duwamish Clean Up Coalition
• Sophorn Sim, Refugee Federation Service Center
• Marie Splaine, Washington State Department of Commerce

This workshop is designed for those involved in areas such as policy, regulatory, consumer campaign, product redesign, pollution prevention, and communications. The workshop will not cover the underlying science, but appears to be focused on influencing behavioral change through problem solving and collaboration tools to positively impact Puget Sound. Part of the discussion will also focus on setting priorities for future workshops.

If you are interested in attending, you can register at: 

https://buildingsolutionstoxics.brownpapertickets.com

Original Post:

February 26th Toxics Workshop- Setting the Stage:

Please join the Stormwater Initiative Lead Team and its speakers and collaborators on February 26th to kick-off our first solutions-oriented workshop to address Toxics in Puget Sound. This will be the first of successive workshops designed to address toxics in Puget Sound. Our first workshop—February 5th—highlighted a series of toxics challenges, that we called ‘red […]

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