Environmental and commercial fishing groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday calling on Washington state to update the fish consumption rate.
The groups say the state has failed to acknowledge how much fish people eat - and that standard will affect how clean state waters need to be - so they're suing the Environmental Protection Agency to step in.
Washington has been thinking about raising its fish consumption rate for several years now.
Chris Wilke, executive director of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, says things are moving too slowly. His organization is one of the groups that filed the lawsuit.
The Washington Department of Ecology came close to updating the standard last year but after complaints from the Boeing Company and other industry groups, the standard was never finalized.
Boeing executives have said a higher fish consumption rate would cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades at its facilities to lower pollution discharges into Washington waterways.
Right now the state says it is safe to consume 6.5 grams of fish per day. That’s about as much fish as you’ll find on one piece of sushi. It amounts to two full fish servings per month.
Oregon has set its state consumption rate at 175 grams per day. That's the most protective water quality standard in the U.S.
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