The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will announce nearly $13 million in federal funding for state and federal agencies and non-profit groups to support scientific research in Puget Sound. The announcement is scheduled for Sept. 8 at 11 a.m. at the Pierce County Environmental Services Building.

Congressman Norm Dicks will join EPA Regional Administrator Dennis McLerran; Gregg Grunenfelder, Assistant Secretary of the Division of Environmental Health at the Washington State Department of Health; James Slape Jr., Nisqually Tribe Councilmember; and Dr. Joel Baker from the University of Washington, Tacoma to announce the grants.

The event will highlight a grant the Washington State Department of Health is receiving for studies in Comorant Passage in South Puget Sound. This grant will fund a shellfish resource survey, pollution source evaluation, a human health assessment, and circulation/dilution modeling, with the goal of identifying what portions of the study area could be potentially opened for shellfish harvest.

Plans will also be unveiled for a University of Washington Puget Sound research institute in Tacoma.