Last year at Des Moines Beach Park, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed legislation creating the Puget Sound Partnership tasked with the job of cleaning up Puget Sound.

On July 24, Gregoire returned to the park, as part of a two-day, seven-stop tour to reiterate the importance of a clean Puget Sound to Washington's economy and culture. The visit was sponsored by Gregoire's re-election committee.

The goal of the partnership is to clean Puget Sound by 2020, Gregoire said. The coordinating committee is scheduled to present a plan of action for meeting the 2020 goal on Dec 1.

"In the Puget Sound Partnership we know that it is not something we can do alone, so we have decided we are going to locate it at the Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, with an oceanography school from the University of Washington," Gregoire said. "But we also want the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency,) NOOA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife co-located there."

A bill has been introduced that would permanently move the EPA to the office building.

Over the past four years, $240 million has been spent on cleanup, Gregoire said. Nearly 60 sites have been cleaned up so far.

"I believe Washington State can be a model to the rest of the country where other estuaries have failed, to show them the way in which we get the job done, literally from the bottom up," Gregoire said.

Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D-Des Moines), who spoke along with Gregoire in Tacoma and Des Moines, said, "The biggest challenge is storm water, the stuff that just runs off, not out of pipes but when it rains and hits the pavement and just runs into the water,

"An example of that is down in Tacoma, in Commencement Bay. We spent hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the gunk out of the pipes. Now we are finding the sediments are being re-contaminated just from the storm water runoff."

Puget Sound is the economic engine to the state, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars each year from fishing, tourism and recreational boating, Upthegrove noted.

However, Upthegrove added, it is also a part of the culture. The salmon and orca are state symbols, and both are on the state's endangered species list.