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This article appears in print in the December 2018 issue, as part of the Year in Review feature. Click here to subscribe.

Zero

The amount of treated or untreated gallons of vessel sewage now allowed in Puget Sound; the waters were designated a “no dump zone” by the Washington State Department of Ecology in May.

1,429

The number of wildfires in Washington that the state’s Department of Natural Resources had responded to as of press time. Wildfires in Washington and British Columbia contributed to making 2018 the worst year ever for air quality in the state’s history.

$90,000

The amount a landowner was fined for draining, clearing and filling 1.5 acres of protected forested wetlands in Pierce County—lands that will take decades to restore. Altogether, the homeowners cleared 153 trees on more than an acre.

74

The number of critically endangered southern resident orcas that remain in Puget Sound, the lowest number since 1984.

82.8˚

The average high temperature in July, the new record high for the month.

77.9˚

The average high temperature logged at Sea-Tac airport this summer, making it the second-hottest summer on record. 

80,000

Gallons of sewage spilled into Sinclair Inlet (a Kitsap County arm of Puget Sound) in August, thanks to a blocked sewer line at Naval Base Kitsap.

One

Major U.S. city—Seattle—to enact a ban on plastic straws. The ban went into effect in July. 

$360,000

The amount nine West Seattle homeowners were fined for illegally chopping down greenbelt trees between late 2015 and 2016 to improve their views; two other couples were previously fined as part of this.