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hard truths 257Puget Sound PartnershipThe state’s chief executive, Christine Gregoire, is countingon the Puget Sound Partnership to help restore Puget Sound.bounces off oily sheens on the water’s surface. They don’t notice thelack of feeder fish. They can’t see most of the contaminants or thediminished forests of eel grass under the water’s surface.”The year 2005 handed Billy a new platform for truth telling. TheNews Tribune dubbed it an sos for Puget Sound, when the elder anda host of regional experts formed a brain trust to rescue Washington’smost famous inlet. Pledging to restore the health of the sound infifteen years, Governor Christine Gregoire formed a new agency. ThePuget Sound Partnership has since identified a series of aggressivecleanup goals like reducing toxins, restoring shellfish beds, and protectingtree-lined shores for salmon.“An unhealthy Puget Sound means no salmon returning to ourrivers; it means the few shellfish able to survive on our beaches willbe too poisoned to eat,” Billy said. He called for a governmentcrackdown on water treatment plants and advocated the institutionof a zero-tolerance policy for pollution discharge by the year 2020.Further, Billy pushed for close examination of permits that allowdevelopment near salmon-bearing waters.Billy has long preached that salmon are an indicator species. Fish