The Center for Biological Diversity and Western Environmental Law Center recently sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming the agency failed to protect fish and whale species from toxic cyanide in Washington’s waters.
The suit challenged that the EPA has approved water quality standards for cyanide pollution for more than 30 years, allowing “sources, including metal-mining processes, the chemical industry, iron and steel facilities and publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities, to release dangerous levels of cyanide into Washington’s waters.”
The Center said the pollutant harms Chinook and coho salmon, killer whales, steelhead trout and bull trout.
“The best available science indicates Washington’s cyanide pollution limits are harmful to imperiled salmon and, in turn, the orcas that depend on the fish as their primary food,” the Center said.
