We have been talking about this for months and can't stress it enough. The Proposed Human Health Criteria Water Quality Standards fail to protect the health of consumers of locally caught fish and shellfish. Washington proposed increasing the estimated amount of fish that we eat dramatically. Raising that amount requires reducing the amount of toxins in those fish (and thereby the environment). However, instead of proposing to reduce toxins, the Washington State Department of Ecology proposed increasing the acceptable cancer rate based on those toxins. So in sum, no changes in water quality or fish toxicity would occur! This shell game with toxins, fish consumption level, and cancer rate does nothing to protect fish consumers or our environment. In a letter to Ecology, a number of local businesses and nonprofits, such as your Spokane Riverkeeper argue that the proposed criteria are inadequate. Check it out here: 2015.3.23 NGO and Business Letter re WQS