A chemical blamed for destroying salmon populations in the Northwest will be under the Senate’s microscope later this week.
An Environment and Public Works subcommittee will hold a hearing on the potential environmental impacts of 6PPD, used to make tires and rubbers last longer, and its toxic byproduct, 6PPD-quinone.
For more than two decades, scientists couldn’t explain why most — if not all — coho salmon in Washington’s Puget Sound area would suddenly go belly-up during their annual migration upstream from the ocean.
In 2020, researchers traced the deaths to 6PPD-q, which, even in small doses, can kill 40 to 90 percent of coho salmon within hours of exposure. They estimated the chemical made its way from roads or tire-crumb playgrounds to rainwater runoff.
