299 

 BOB 0. BOWER 

 Hicks, Congressman, former Superior Court Judge, made a 

 survey of our beds at the time they were in the worst 

 condition, in company with me and several pulp mill 

 personnel. He said at that time, "It is obvious, even 

 to a layman, that there is something wrong with these beds." 

 I would like to challenge Mr. Benson to get Mr. Hicks and 

 come back and look at our beds now and see if Mr. Hicks 

 won't say that there has been an improvement. 



I must apologize for the condition of some 

 of these oysters. They were alive when I put them on there. 

 Some of them are starting to gape. I think you recognize 

 the fact that yesterday afternoon they were subjected to 

 a great deal of hot air. (Laughter) 



They also have had three trips through the 

 Tacoma atmosphere. (Laughter) 



Some of the items in this report have been 

 presented before, but we believe a restatement at this 

 time will prove informative. We sort of feel that we 

 should present about three parts per million of background 

 color . 



According to Pollution Commission records, 

 the 1945 Pollution Control Act was passed mainly because 

 of the damage to marine resources by pulp mill discharges. Twenty- 

 two years later pulp mills are still the major polluters 



