Dock of the bay

Photo courtesy WA State Dept. of Ecology

​With apologies to Otis Redding, it seems unlikely anyone will be sittin’ on this dock of the bay anytime soon. It’s way out in a remote section of Olympic National Park, and the specific site is currently closed to public entry. This particular dock actually comes from Japan: It’s a big hunk of debris from the March 2011 tsunami in Japan, and it floated across the Pacific and washed ashore late last year.

State and federal officials are on the case. They agreed in a conference call Jan. 7 that the derelict dock should be removed to protect both the park and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

The dock was spotted on the beach on Dec. 18 by a Coast Guard helicopter crew. After repeated attempts in the rugged terrain, a ground crew reached the dock Dec. 21, affixed a tracking beacon and collected samples of marine organisms attached to the structure. Later analysis determined that 30 to 50 of the plant and animal species sampled, including seaweed, mussels and barnacles, are native to Japan but not found in the wild in the United States.

Gov. Gregoire and legislators took steps last summer to prepare for tsunami debris washing ashore. In July, the governor released $500,000 in emergency funds to deal with the issue. The federal government announced it would grant up to $50,000 to each of the five Pacific coastal states to help out.

Rep. Kelley: Jet lag for JAG

During the interim, like a lot of legislators, Rep. Troy Kelley is traveling out of district – in his case, far out of district.

He’s spending two weeks in Korea performing reserve military service. A major and judge advocate general who is transferring from the Army Reserve to the National Guard, Kelley is focusing on administrative law issues on this trip, his fifth to Korea in 18 years. On previous trips to Korea, he has worked on international law and provided legal assistance to soldiers, helping them with tax and family law issues and other legal matters.

Kelley, whose 28^th District in Pierce County includes part of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, is stationed at Army Garrison Yongsan in Seoul while in Korea. He flew to the Far East Oct. 23 on a military plane, stopping en route on northern Honshu Island in Japan – where, he said, signs of the March tsunami were still evident.  He’s due to return Nov. 5.

Made in Japan

Photo credit:  NOAA

It may be an exaggeration to say that a tidal wave of debris from last year’s tsunami in Japan is headed our way (as well as too glib), but a heck of a lot of Japanese junk is expected to wash up on the West Coast of the United States over the next two years – and some bits of the flotsam and jetsam have reached Washington state beaches already. It’s enough of a concern that Gov. Chris Gregoire is marshaling state forces to cope with the unwanted invasion.

The governor met June 18 with state agency officials and Rep. Steve Tharinger in Ocean Shores to discuss the situation and announce an initial response plan. On June 25, the state Department of Ecology deployed three six-person crews at spots along the state’s coast where debris has reportedly washed up to assess the need for a cleanup.

If you find debris on the shore that could be hazardous or contain oil, call 1-800-OILS-911.

Read about the governor’s June 18 announcement by clicking here. Learn more about what the Department of Ecology is doing, and find links to lots more information, by clicking here.

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Billions from state government bolstering families and businesses across Washington

The House Commerce and Labor Committee got an update this week from the state Employment Security Department. As you can expect, the unemployment rate is too high, but there are some important details to point out about our state’s system. Namely, its health and the boost to families and businesses the UI system provides us.

ESD reports they paid out a record $3.967 billion in unemployment benefits in our state last year.

Even with the lowest tax rates in 40 years (an average of 1.55%), the number receiving unemployment benefits is about 264,000 a week currently.

Due to our well-managed system, Washington will not trigger solvency surcharge, even at lowest forecasted balance: 10.2 months of benefits in 2011. Our UI system is still solvent and, at $2.6 billion, it has the ability to pay out 13.2 months of benefits.

This system is arguably the envy of the nation – the Washington Post reports: “According to federal projections, 40 state programs will go broke within two years and need $90 billion in loans to keep issuing the benefit checks.”

“Currently, 26 states have run out of unemployment money and have borrowed $24 billion from the federal government to cover the gaps. By 2011, according to Department of Labor estimates, 40 state funds will have been emptied by the jobless tsunami.”

We wish all those states the sincerest best of luck in getting out of that mess, and consider ourselves fortunate to live in Washington, the first and only state in the nation to reduce unemployment insurance rates for employers during this economic downturn.

It’s important to note here that the ability to provide this economic security not only benefits families, it benefits the businesses that rely on those families to stay open. Even conservative analysts agree, the quickest, most effective subsidized shot in the arm to the economy comes from putting money directly into the pockets of consumers through programs like unemployment insurance.

As our own Rep. Steve Conway wrote in a News Tribune op-ed last year:

“Let’s remember that the greatest stimulus to our economy is one that puts money directly into the pockets of our consumers. A business can’t survive and keep employees without customers, who seem absent from your formula for economic stability. In reality, the direct assistance to families on the brink … will provide a much-needed shot in the arm to our economy.”

That said, up to 277,210 will reach the maximum allowable amount of benefits by December 1 here in Washington. Those folks, and their families, will thus rely on other state services to provide for them. And, unless something is done, the businesses that relied on them will struggle even more.