Environmental Watch

Work of recycling task force is complete
OLYMPIA -- The Future of Recycling Task Force has completed its final report. The task force presented its report and recommendations to Gov. Mike Lowry and the state Legislature for action earlier this month.

The task force is calling for the state to develop a long-term recycling strategy that focuses on resource conservation and places more emphasis on waste reduction.

Other recommendations include:

• increase the amounts of materials collected in municipal solid waste programs;

• increase availability of recycling services for apartment buildings and condominiums and for small- to medium-sized businesses;

• expand recycling services for construction, demolition and land-clearing industries;

• increase organics recycling;

• increase industrial waste recycling;

• expand markets for recycled materials; and

• develop infrastructure to recycle new types of packaging.

Task force members also agreed that additional funding mechanisms were needed to provide long-term, public funding for recycling. They made these two recommendations: local planning jurisdictions should have the authority to impose a fee to fund solid waste programs; and a state solid waste collection surcharge should be reinstated and structured so as to qualify as a fee under Initiative 601 rules.

To receive a copy of the final report, call the Clean Washington Center report hotline at (206) 587-5520.

Geraghty & Miller releases remediation book
DENVER -- The book Remediation Engineering: Design Concepts by Suthan Suthersan is now available. It is the latest volume in the Geraghty & Miller Environmental Science and Engineering Series.

Suthersan wrote the book for remediation design engineers, scientists, regulatory specialists and project managers responsible for site cleanups. Suthersan is vice president and director of remediation engineering at Geraghty & Miller.

The 384-page book discusses the evolution of remediation technologies, contains figures to help readers visualize technologies, includes theories and actual design of systems, offers rules-of-thumb for dealing with emerging remediation technologies and provides cost-benefit analyses within the changing regulatory framework.

The book is published by CRC Press/Lewis Publishers and costs $69.95 plus $7.50 for postage and handling. It also is distributed by Water Information Center Inc., 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Suite E4-910, Boulder, CO 80302. For more information, call Water Information Center at (800) 425-6127 or Judi Schoeck at Geraghty & Miller at (303) 294-1200.

Public participation grants to be awarded
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology is offering public participation grants to 21 non-profit organizations to help pay for a variety of cleanup and pollution prevention activities.

A public participation grant program was established as part of the Model Toxics Control Act, which went into effect in 1989. MTCA provides that 1 percent of revenues from a tax on hazardous substances be set aside for the grants. In 1997, these revenues will fund nearly $500,000 in grants.

Non-profit organizations are eligible for grants of up to $50,000 each. In some instances, the organizations may use their grant money to hire environmental consultants.

The following organizations will receive grant money:

• Heart of America Northwest, Seattle, for promoting public input on Hanford Nuclear Reservation issues.

• Skykomish Environmental Coalition, Skykomish, for promoting public involvement regarding cleanup of a petroleum-contaminated site.

• Northwest Marine Trade Association, Seattle, to distribute kits to encourage good environmental practices by new boat owners.

• Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, Seattle, for demonstrating cost savings and inviting hospitals to switch from disposable to durable materials.

• Keyport/Liberty Bay Restoration Board, Indianola, for leading citizen oversight of hazardous waste cleanup at Naval facilities.

• Association of Bainbridge Communities, Bainbridge, for helping residents participate in decisions affecting a landfill cleanup.

• Citizens for a Healthy Bay, Tacoma, for working to keep the Commencement Bay watershed clean.

• Northeast Everett Community Organization, Everett, for sharing information on the Everett smelter site area and its human health effects.

• Brackett's Landing Foundation, Edmonds, for public involvement in the Unocal-Edmonds Bulk Fuel Terminal cleanup site.

• Envirostars Partnership/Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Everett, for recognizing Snohomish County businesses that prevent and reduce hazardous waste.

• Energy Outreach Center, Olympia, for establishing an on-line clearinghouse of reusable building materials.

• Laughing Crow Productions/Sound Decisions, Olympia, for using performance arts to promote environmental awareness and dispute resolution skills.

• Inland Empire Public Lands Council, Spokane, for developing a middle school curriculum with information about mining wastes in the Spokane River.

• The Green Zone Committee, Spokane, for exhibiting a display on sustainable living.

• Re Sources, Bellingham, for reducing non-point pollution by promoting sound gardening methods and products.

• Whatcom Paper Reuse Coalition, Bellingham, for showing businesses how to increase profits by preventing pollution and reusing and recycling materials.

• CCIIW Citizen Task Force, Vancouver, for bringing waste-source reduction methods to apartment and condominium residents.

• Columbia River United, Bingen, for basin-wide strategies to assure protection of the river's quality.

• Lighthouse Environmental Programs, Greenbank, for programs on waste-free traveling and on-site composting.

• Curlew Lake Association, Republic, for encouraging responsible change in environmental behaviors.

• Economic Development Association, Mount Vernon, for creating a unified waste reduction and recycling plan for the Northern State industrial campus.

For more information on Ecology's public participation grant program, call Dolores Mitchell at (360) 407-6057.

Conference on geophysics set
RENO, Nev. -- The Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Environmental and Engineering Problems (SAGEEP) will take place March 23-26 in Reno, Nev.

Shallow geophysical surveys are being used more and more to find cost-effective ways to define water contaminant pathways, identify old landfill sites, evaluate existing structures and locate development hazards such as sinkholes and archaeological sites.

SAGEEP '97 will feature three days of technical sessions and poster presentations in hydrology, environmental site assessments, radioactive waste management, mining, cavity and void geophysics, borehole geophysics and 3-D/tomography.

SAGEEP is the national meeting of the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society. The meeting will take place at John Ascuaga's Nugget Hotel. For registration or other information, contact Jayne Sturges, SAGEEP, 7632 E. Costilla Ave., Englewood, CO 80112, (303) 771-2000, e-mail: 103443.720@compuserve.com.

Environmental Watch

ECOSS wins extension service contract
SEATTLE -- The Environmental Coalition of South Seattle has won an $86,000 contract to start up an environmental extension service for Duwamish-area businesses.

The extension service will be much like a local cooperative extension office where people have their agriculture- and horticulture-related questions answered free of charge. In this case, business owners will be able to have their questions about pollution prevention, waste reduction, site assessments and remediation answered free of charge for the extension service's first 15 months.

The non-profit organization ECOSS is the lead contractor for the project. Subcontractors include: Global Environmental Marketplace and Environmental Sales & Marketing; EnviroIssues; Cascadia Consulting; and the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Research Center.

The money for the 15-month contract is coming from both King County and the city of Seattle. The Washington Environmental Industry Association and the Professional Environmental Marketing Association have offered to donate more than 30 hours a month to the extension service during its first 15 months. Such in-kind services are valued at $45,000.

Owners of contaminated sites in the Duwamish area will be able to view the environmental extension service as a haven of resources, referrals and helpful information. They will be shown how to get the cleanup process started, how to pick a consultant, what resources exist for them at various government agencies and what pollution prevention measures they can use at their sites.

The extension service's office will be located at the present location of ECOSS, 8201 10th Ave. S. in Seattle's South Park neighborhood. The office will provide a library, training seminars and a computer work station with access to the Internet and a soon-to-be-established soil and groundwater database. By typing in their addresses, property owners will be able to get printouts of hydrogeologic maps for their properties and for neighboring properties.

Extension service staff members will answer questions at the office or will visit people's business sites.

For more information on the environmental extension service, call ECOSS Director Charles Cunniff at (206) 767-0432.

Shar-on Gas must take action after release
GOLDENDALE -- Department of Ecology officials are requiring the owner of Shar-on Gas in Goldendale to prevent potential hazards to neighboring homes and businesses caused by a petroleum release from an underground storage tank.

Gasoline vapors at potentially-flammable levels were present in sewer lines, homes and businesses when a release was discovered Nov. 29. The exact source and the extent of the release are not yet known. Ecology inspectors did a follow-up investigation Dec. 12 and found gasoline vapors still present in soil being excavated at the facility.

Ecology is giving Shar-on Gas until Dec. 19 to confirm the source of the release, determine the extent of the contamination, restrict public access to stockpiled soil and take measures to control runoff from the soil.

Of the more than 6,500 contaminated sites in Washington, nearly 5,000 involve a release from an underground storage tank.

ISO 14000 on-line conference planned
A conference called "Understanding and Implementing ISO 14000 Environmental Management Systems" will take place on-line via the Internet Feb. 10-14.

For more information or to register for the conference, visit the following Web site: http://infopalconference.com/events_1.htm.

Addition, promotion at Kennedy/Jenks
FEDERAL WAY -- Kennedy/Jenks Consultants recently announced a new addition and a promotion at its Federal Way office.

Mark L. Spaur has joined Kennedy/Jenks as a senior associate engineer in the Industrial Services Group. MaryBeth Gilbrough has been registered as a professional engineer in Washington and promoted to the position of senior staff engineer.

Spaur will provide engineering support for industrial and municipal projects, including process engineering, facility design and construction support services. He has more than 13 years experience in the design and operation of industrial process and pollution control equipment, with specific experience in metal finishing, detergent production and inorganic chemical manufacturing.

Gilbrough joined the Pacific Northwest office of Kennedy/Jenks in June 1995. Since that time, she has been responsible for design of water transmission and sewer collection systems, as well as computerized water modeling studies. She also has experience in the design of hazardous waste remediation technologies and has worked in the areas of groundwater air-sparging, soil vapor extraction and soil thin-spreading.

Kennedy/Jenks Consultants is a full-service environmental consulting firm with 11 offices throughout the western United States. The company was founded in San Francisco in 1919. The firm specializes in water quality, water and wastewater treatment systems, water reclamation, solid and hazardous waste investigation and remediation, industrial process treatment, flood control and storm drainage, utility systems and airport engineering.

Ecology solicits grant, loan applications
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology will soon be accepting grant and loan applications for fiscal year 1998 water quality improvement and protection projects.

Ecology will accept applications for the Centennial Clean Water Fund, the Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Fund and the Federal Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source programs. The funding cycle opens on Jan. 2 and closes Feb. 28.

Cities, counties, special purpose districts, Indian tribes and state agencies may apply for the grants and loans. Up to $35 million in Centennial Clean Water Fund grants, $40 million in revolving loans and $1.7 million in Section 319 funding should be available.

Application workshops are scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 7 at the Ecology auditorium, 300 Desmond Drive, Lacey, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Everett Parks & Recreation Department, 802 Mukilteo Blvd., Everett.

For information on Centennial grants, call Kim McKee at Ecology at (360) 407-6566. For information on the revolving loan fund, call Brian Howard at (360) 407-6510. For information on Section 319 funding, call Dan Filip at (360) 407-6509.

Shellfish protected from septic pollution
OLYMPIA -- The Department of Ecology recently issued $1 million in grants to five local governments to help protect shellfish from pollution caused by failing septic systems.

The Special On-Site/Shellfish Grant Program is funding grants to help home owners correct problems with septic systems to protect water quality in shellfish-growing areas. The program uses money from the state's Water Quality Account, which was created in 1986 and is financed primarily through taxes on tobacco products.

Five of the 10 local governments that applied received grant funding. The local governments will work with residents who have failing on-site sewage systems in areas draining to threatened shellfish areas.

The following local governments received funding: Bremerton/Kitsap Health District, $121,682; Skagit County, $199,500; Thurston County, $330,000; Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department, $136,775; and Whatcom County Health Department, $189,000.

For more information on the shellfish grant program, call Tim Hilliard at Ecology at (360) 407-6429.

Environmental Watch

Report on MTCA reforms finalized today
OLYMPIA -- The legislative recommendations of the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) Policy Advisory Committee will be finalized today at the committee's last meeting from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tacoma Wastewater Treatment Facility, 2201 Portland Ave.

The public is encouraged to attend and offer comments at any point throughout the day. The policy advisory committee's final report will be submitted to the governor on Monday, Dec. 16. Copies of the draft report will be available at the meeting.

Dan Ballbach, presiding officer of the committee and chief operating officer of Landau Associates, said the final report will address a number of issues that could make the implementation of the state's cleanup law more effective. These include: expanding the use of site-specific risk assessments; developing cleanup levels for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH); and adopting an area-wide approach to cleaning up sites in broad geographic areas that suffer from the same overall kinds of contamination.

The report also will address the selection of cleanup remedies, liability protection for people who purchase formerly contaminated properties and the consideration of ecological risk when cleaning up sites in environmentally-sensitive areas.

For information on how to receive copies of the final report, call Maxine Willis at the Department of Ecology at (360) 407-7172 or send e-mail to: mawi461@ecy.wa.gov.

Philip Environmental to acquire two firms
HAMILTON, Ontario -- Philip Environmental Inc. said Monday it agreed to acquire RMF Global Inc. and Intsel Southwest L.P. for an undisclosed sum.

RMF, of Toledo, Ohio, provides industrial maintenance and cleanup services. It has annual revenue of about $62 million.

Intsel Southwest is a distributor of heavy carbon steel products and generates annual revenue of about $130 million. Instel's primary distribution and processing facility is located in Houston.

The acquisitions are expeted to be completed by Jan. 15.

Philip, of Hamilton, Ontario, is a resource recovery and industrial services company.

NW Environmental Leadership Initiative
BELLEVUE -- A new project called the Northwest Environmental Leadership Initiative will be announced Friday morning at the International Standards Initiative meeting in Bellevue. The meeting will take place from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at AirTouch Cellular, 15800 S.E. Eastgate Way.

The NELI project is an effort to get leaders from industry, regulatory agencies, government facilities and environmental groups to come together and address regional environmental concerns in a cooperative way. Selected "NELI Fellows" will participate in a year-long program in leadership development and awareness activities.

"It's become clear that these groups really are not connected," said K.C. Ayers, executive director of ISI, the private, non-profit organization that is sponsoring the NELI project. "The idea is that the fellowship program will be a vehicle by which we identify who these emerging leaders are and then we get them involved in projects together, give them leadership training."

NELI Fellows will be trained to lead, manage and support environmental initiatives which aim to align economic prosperity with environmental protection and social responsibility. A major goal of the project is to forge relationships between people from different sectors.

"This way if a problem comes up in the future, they could call each other and say, 'What is going on here?"' Ayers said. "They could work collectively together rather than distrust each other."

For more information on the NELI project or Friday's meeting, call ISI at (206) 392-7610.

Geologist joins Associated Earth Sciences
KIRKLAND -- William "Chip" Goodhue Jr. has joined Kirkland-based Associated Earth Sciences Inc. (AESI) as a senior project hydrogeologist.

Goodhue is a registered professional geologist with 12 years industry experience in geology, hydrogeology and geophysics. His background includes management of hydrogeologic investigations, remedial design, turnkey underground storage tank program management, litigation support, regulatory negotiation and resource development.

At AESI, Goodhue will manage environmental investigation, soil and groundwater remediation and groundwater resource assessment projects.

Established in 1981, AESI has offices in Kirkland and Bainbridge Island. The company specializes in environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrogeology, geologic consultation and geologic hazards. AESI has a professional staff of 35 people.

Urban environmental grants awarded today
SEATTLE -- Three local government agencies and 10 community groups will receive a total of $96,000 in grants at an awards ceremony at 2 p.m. today at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture, NHS Hall.

The grants are being awarded by the King Conservation District and the Puget Sound Urban Resources Partnership. The public is invited to attend the ceremony, view displays on previously funded projects and tour the "Homeless Youth Gardening and Wetland Restoration Project" site, which received grant money in 1996.

The grant program is designed to support partnerships and environmental restoration projects in the urban areas of King County. More grants should be given out in the spring of 1997. Some of the projects that will receive funding at today's ceremony include:

• Citywide Sports 1A Advisory Council -- TREC: Teen Recreation and Environmental Challenges, $10,000. The project will get at-risk youths involved in planting trees as memorials to local youths who have died through violence.

• Friends of the Black River and City of Renton -- Black River buffer planting, $2,499. The project will restore and enhance the wildlife habitat in a wetland area along the former Black River.

• The Institute for Washington's Future -- Southpark Organic Cooperatiave Farm, $10,000. The project will establish a 4.5-acre income-generating cooperative farm in south Seattle where low-income immigrant community members are trained and employed in organic farming.

• TREEmendous Seattle -- Tree Steward Field Guide, $2,300. The grant money will be used to revise and publish the field guide used in the Seattle Engineering Department's Tree Steward program to train volunteers to plant and maintain trees in the city.

Ecology awards grants, loans to communities
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology has awarded grants and loans to local communities to help fund the following waste management, sewage and wastewater treatment projects:

• Grants totaling $1.12 million to Pierce County and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department for a coordinated program of waste management projects, including educational programs on recycling and household hazardous waste. For information, call Patricia Dice at Ecology at (360) 407-6053.

• $118,781 in grant money to Lincoln County for a comprehensive program of waste management projects. Call Maggie Bell McKinnon, (360) 407-6058.

• A $300,000 loan to Mason County to help fund the repair of failing sewage systems. Call Cam Meriwether, (360) 407-6554.

• A $36,750 loan for the Diamond Lake Water and Sewer District in Pen Oreille County to prepare a wellhead protection plan. Call Nancy Weller, (509) 625-5194.

• A $13,900 grant to Enumclaw to help with waste prevention and recycling programs for businesses and homes. Call Diane Christel, (360) 407-6062.

Environmental Watch

Shapiro acquires A.G. Crook Co.
SEATTLE -- Shapiro and Associates, a Seattle-based environmental consulting firm, has acquired the Oregon firm A.G. Crook Co. (AGCO) and has renamed its Portland office SRI/Shapiro/AGCO Inc.

The acquisition increases the natural resources services offered by Shapiro and Associates. The 10 people at AGCO have specialized in hydrology, watershed analysis, forestry, range management and natural resources training. SRI/Shapiro/AGCO also offers wetlands, wildlife, permitting, regulatory compliance and land use planning services.

Shapiro and Associates purchased the firm SRI three years ago and changed the name of its Portland office to SRI/Shapiro. This new acquisition will make the number of employees in the Portland office jump from 15 to 25. Shapiro's Seattle office has 50 full-time employees.

George Berscheid, former president of one of the founders of AGCO, has become a principal of SRI/Shapiro/AGCO. Robert Gill, former AGCO vice president, has assumed the role of general manager in the Portland office. Berscheid and Gill both have experience working with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Other staff joining SRI/Shapiro/AGCO include Aaron English, Phillip Lee, William Lind, Kent Mays, Rita Mroczek, Robert Rallison and Wendell Styner.

EPA holds off on 'sole source' designation
SPOKANE -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that it will not designate the Eastern Columbia Plateau aquifer system a "sole source aquifer" under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

EPA officials say the decision was made because county governments and local organizations in eastern Washington are capable of taking the lead in protecting underground water supplies.

In 1994 the EPA proposed that the Eastern Columbia Plateau aquifer system should be declared the sole source of drinking water for the 260,000 people living in a 14,000-square-mile area stretching from the Columbia River into Idaho. The area included all of Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, Adams, Franklin and Whitman counties in Washington, along with a few areas along the western edges of Benewah, Latah and Nez Perce counties in Idaho.

A sole source designation would have allowed EPA to review projects funded by federal money to make sure those projects would not cause drinking water to become contaminated. The EPA proposal met with stiff opposition from local governments and residents.

Now local Ground Water Management Areas (GWMAs) are being formed in eastern Washington to provide a framework so community-based advisory groups can tackle a number of issues, including nitrate contamination in certain irrigated areas of the region.

EPA will work with the state departments of Health, Agriculture and Ecology, the Conservation Commission and Washington State University to help the GWMA process by providing technical and other support and evaluating the success of the GWMAs.

EPA's responses to public comments and to criticisms made by a scientific peer review panel on the sole-source issue will be available soon. To request copies, contact Scott Downey, Ground Water Protection Unit, EPA, 1200 Sixth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101, (206) 553-0682 or (800) 424-4372.

Gorton, Murray to speak at PUD meeting
SEATTLE -- The annual meeting of the Washington Public Utility Districts Association will take place Thursday at the Red Lion Hotel/Seattle Airport, 18740 Pacific Highway S.

Both U.S. senators from Washington state will address the group. Sen. Slade Gorton will give the luncheon address, and Sen. Patty Murray will speak from 3:15 to 3:40 p.m. Other speakers will include Bonneville Power Administration Administrator Randy Hardy and National Public Radio White House correspondent Mara Liasson.

The meeting will focus on changes in the soon-to-be-deregulated electric utility industry, analysis of the recent elections and future directions in state water policy. Association members also will ratify resolutions, elect officers for 1997 and present awards.

For more information on the meeting, contact Sarah Driggs at (206) 467-1327 or sdriggs@wpuda.org.

Imco to buy EnviroSource subsidiary
HORSHAM, Pa. (Dow Jones News) -- EnviroSource Inc. said last weeek it agreed to sell its Imsamet subsidiary to Imco Recycling Inc. for $58 million.

Imsamet owns aluminum recycling plants in Post Falls, Idaho, and Wendover, Utah, and has a 70 percent stake in a recycling plant in Goodyear, Ariz. It also operates and has a 50 percent stake in a plant in Wendover that reclaims materials from a salt cake, a by-product of the recycling process.

Imco, of Irving, Texas, is an aluminum recycler and also processes zinc and magnesium.

EnviroSource, of Stamford, Conn., said it is selling Imsamet to focus efforts on its steel-related businesses, International Mill Service and EnviroSource Treatment & Disposal Services. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce debt.

The sale is expected to be completed in late December or early January.

Greenhouse gases jump in B.C.
VICTORIA, British Columbia (AP) -- Greenhouse gases are climbing in British Columbia at almost twice the national average.

Figures from Environment Canada's pollution data branch show the emissions, mostly carbon dioxide from energy use and deforestation, jumped 15 percent to 125 billion pounds from 1990 to 1995.

At the current growth rate, the B.C. emissions will increase 32 percent by 2000, said Chris Rolfe of the West Coast Environmental Law Association.

Greenhouse gases increased by 9 percent across Canada as a whole.

The B.C. government announced a greenhouse gas action plan in November 1995 that promised to slow the growth to 4 percent by 2000.

Scientists blame greenhouses gases for causing climate change. The gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides, are largely the result of burning oil, gas and coals.

Such change in British Columbia could have dramatic consequences on forestry, agriculture and fisheries, and could produce more forest fires and greater pressure on limited water supplies.

The environmental association, which obtained the latest figures, said Monday they show the B.C. government has taken little effective action.

"The province has to start moving to energy efficiency and start reducing dependency on the automobile," Rolfe said.

Vehicle use is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases in the Vancouver and Victoria areas.

But federal government standards for fuel efficiency have not changed since 1984, Rolfe said.

In addition, the province has emphasized highway construction at the expense of public transit, he said.

Environmental Watch

First-ever Duwamish Coalition summit
The Duwamish Coalition will have its first annual summit Dec. 3 to review its past accomplishments and identify a new list of projects to complete.

Called "Freight and Fish: Building a Vital Duwamish," the summit will meet from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Aerospace Machinists District Lodge 751, Halls A&B, 9135 15th Place S., Seattle.

The Duwamish Coalition was started in April 1994 with the goal of spurring job growth and reclaiming contaminated land in the Duwamish industrial corridor, a narrow plain stretching from Pioneer Square to the intersection of Interstate 405 and the Duwamish River.

During the summit, coalition members are expected to discuss and reach consensus on a habitat restoration plan for the lower Duwamish River and Elliott Bay. Adoption of the habitat plan by local governments is expected in 1997. A priority list of projects to improve freight mobility through the corridor also will be considered at the summit.

Nearly a century of intense industrial uses have left hundreds of sites in the Duwamish corridor polluted with hazardous materials. More than 200 contaminated industrial sites are located in the area between the Kingdome and Boeing Field. To help solve this problem, the Duwamish Coalition has started work on the Brownfields Redevelopment/Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) Project. That project also will be discussed at the summit.

Coalition members include representatives from business, labor, environmental groups, King County, the cities of Seattle and Tukwila, the state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A wide range of people are interested in the future of the Duwamish industrial corridor because it provides one out of every 10 jobs in King County and generates more than $2.5 billion in payroll annually.

To receive more information on the Dec. 3 summit or Duwamish Coalition activities, leave a message at (206) 727-4008.

NVL Laboratories wins county contract
Seattle-based NVL Laboratories Inc. has been awarded a King County contract to analyze asbestos- and lead-containing building materials. The contract has been awarded for one year with the option to be extended for another two years.

Benjamin Cook, NVL's hazardous materials manager, said the contract is worth $15,000 a year.

NVL Laboratories specializes in hazardous materials services, including materials analysis, consulting for building renovation and demolition projects and laboratory training. NVL focuses on issues involving asbestos, lead and PCBs in building materials.

Spill raises questions about river safety
PORTLAND (AP) -- A recent fuel spill caused by a railroad accident along the Deschutes River has drawn attention to Oregon's ability to protect one of the region's most cherished waterways.

The picturesque Deschutes is home to runs of both salmon and steelhead and is a favorite of whitewater enthusiasts. More than 15,000 anglers and 20,000 boaters use the river each year.

On Nov. 13, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe locomotive struck a rock that had tumbled onto the track, rupturing its fuel tank. Up to 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled out, said Mike Renz of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The next morning, cleanup crews discovered fuel leaking into the river at the rate of a gallon a minute, Renz said. An emergency crew strung a boom across the river to capture the fuel.

Biologists surveyed the area, but found no dead fish. They took samples to test water quality and see if the spill had disrupted the food chain.

But Steve Pribyl, a biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said it's too early to tell if there will be long-term effects.

"It remains to be seen how significant an event this is in terms of its impact," Pribyl said. "We got lucky because it was not as bad as it could be. Our hope is this does raise a red flag."

Bill Bakke of the Native Fish Society visited the site last week, and said the state must bolster planning to better cope with a major spill.

State officials, too, are advocating emergency plans to deal with toxic spills on the Deschutes and other inland waterways.

In 1991, the Legislature passed a law requiring the Department of Environmental Quality to develop plans to respond to spills on the Oregon Coast and along the Columbia River.

These plans identify environmentally sensitive areas, pinpointing the best spots for containment booms and working out the complex logistics inherent in containing a spill.

"We feel these plans are very effective," said Laurie McCulloch of DEQ. "You do all your thinking ahead of time."

But Pribyl said the absence of a full-blown geographic response plan poses a risk to the Deschutes.

GM gets creative in marketing electric car
TROY, Mich. (AP) -- With the help of waddling toasters, flying fans and an army of other appliances come to life, General Motors Corp. launches a media blitz next week to introduce its electric car to California and Arizona.

GM isn't saying how much it plans to spend on the campaign for the EV1, but officials said Monday the ads will saturate the four urban markets where the two-seater becomes available for lease Dec. 5.

"If you're alive in these markets over the next few months, you'll see one of these ads," said Joe Kennedy, vice president of sales, service and marketing for GM's Saturn Corp. subsidiary, which will market the EV1.

On the night of Dec. 5, television viewers in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., will see the introductory, 90-second EV1 commercial put together by Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects studio started by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas.

It features dozens of electric appliances that come alive, squeaking and gurgling in anticipation as they hurriedly hop, roll and fly out of their suburban homes and onto the curb to witness the arrival of the EV1.

In the background is a score that sounds like a cut from the "ET" soundtrack. The only voice-over comes as the car stops and the appliances crowd around it on the street: "The electric car is here."

The attention-grabbing commercial is something of a departure for the normally conservative GM and even for its more creative Saturn unit, whose down-home ads featuring Saturn workers and owners have become its trademark.

"We presented some very scary stuff for EV advertising, and our partners at Saturn ... went with some of these bizarre recommendations," said Steven Morrissey, senior vice president at Hal Riney & Partners Inc., the San Francisco firm that has the Saturn ad account.

The campaign focuses on the uniqueness of the first electric car intended for mass production by a Big Three automaker.

In one highly stylized magazine ad, the EV1 is a silvery blur racing down a desolate road. "You will never again use the words, 'Fill 'er up.' Or 'check the oil,"' the ad reads. "Never utter the need for a tune-up. Or a smog check. Nope. You will simply say, 'Unplug the car and let's go."'

In addition to TV, the campaign will use newspapers, magazines, billboards, theaters and the Internet.

"Teaser ads" began appearing Monday on 27 billboards in Southern California. "You can't hear it coming, but it is," they read. On Dec. 4, they'll be changed to state, "The electric car is here."

Target buyers for the car are 35-54 years old, college graduates with family incomes of more than $125,000 and a strong interest in the environment and new technology. Much of the magazine advertising will appear in upscale publications, such as Architectural Digest, The New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly.

The car is being targeted in the Southwest in part because California has mandated that electric vehicles comprise 10 percent of cars sold in that state by 2003. The region's warm climate and commuter lifestyle also are well-suited to the EV1's lead-acid batteries, which have a range of 70-90 miles per charge.

Environmental Watch

Final `Building with Value' workshop set
SEATTLE -- People interested in learning about environmentally-friendly building techniques will have a chance to do so Thursday in West Seattle.

The final workshop in the "Building with Value Workshop Series '96" is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at Camp Long. The workshop will focus on new residential construction with an emphasis on multi-family projects.

Experienced industry representatives will offer tips on how to prevent or recycle construction waste, how to use cost-effective, sustainable building materials and techniques, and how to reduce toxicity in buildings. Building and design professionals are encouraged to attend.

Speakers will include: Tom Paladino, an architect and engineer and the developer of the "Sustainable Building Specifier," a database of environmentally-friendly materials; architect Jan Gleason, who will explain how to "design in" waste prevention to avoid waste before it even happens; and Anne Schuessler, a project manager from Rafn Construction, who will discuss Rafn's experience with waste management and other resource-efficient techniques.

The Northwest EcoBuilding Guild and Seattle Solid Waste are sponsoring the workshop. Cost is $30 for pre-registration and $35 at the door. For more information, call O'Brien & Co. at (206) 842-8995 or send e-mail to: obrien@halcyon.com.

Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction
PORTLAND -- A meeting on the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) project is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Airport Shilo Inn, 11707 N.E. Airport Way, Portland. The meeting is open to the public and comments are encouraged.

The HEDR project is a scientific study to estimate radiation doses the public may have received from releases of radioactive materials from the Hanford site between 1944 and 1972.

A technical steering panel made up of independent scientists, state and tribal representatives and a public representative was formed in 1988 to oversee the project. By April 1994, the panel issued reports on radiation releases into the air and the Columbia River. The panel also outlined additional work to be done so radiation dose estimates can be calculated for individuals by mid-1997.

The panel disbanded in December 1995, and the HEDR Task Completion Working Group was formed to oversee the remaining technical work for the project. The working group consists of representatives from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and the Intertribal Council on Hanford Health Projects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides funding for the working group.

The working group's meeting on Wednesday will focus on a survey of farmers who produced milk in seven affected counties, a study of migrant farm workers, public involvement activities, an update on Native American tribes and a CDC technical workshop.

The next working group meeting is scheduled for Feb. 25 and 26 in Seattle. For more information on the meetings or the HEDR project, call (800) 545-5581.

Judge throws attorney off Hanford case
SPOKANE (AP) -- A federal judge has thrown a Spokane attorney off the massive Hanford "downwinders" lawsuit, saying the public must be protected from "an unqualified or unscrupulous practitioner."

U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald of Yakima also ordered federal marshals to seize the files of attorney Nancy Oreskovich's 1,500 clients in the class-action lawsuit.

The files contain records of medical problems allegedly suffered by the downwinders as a result of radiation releases during nuclear weapons production at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

Oreskovich said last week that the order violates the rights of her clients to choose their own attorney and their due-process rights, since the documents ordered seized belong to the clients. She plans to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

McDonald wrote that Oreskovich violated rules of conduct for Washington state attorneys. He gave her clients 90 days to find another lawyer. If they don't, they may be dropped from the case.

Oreskovich ran a substandard solo practice, violated court orders, missed deadlines and overcharged her clients for work on the case, McDonald said.

A federal judge can remove a lawyer when the attorney's conduct threatens "the very integrity of the adversarial process," he wrote.

ONRC appoints new director
PORTLAND (AP) -- The Oregon Natural Resources Council named a new executive director last week to replace Andy Kerr, who had been the lightning rod for Northwest environmentalists in stormy battles over the spotted owl.

Marc Smiley runs a consulting firm for nonprofit organizations and is president of REACH Community Development, a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost housing, neighborhood revitalization and economic development in Portland's inner city.

"He brings with him years of nonprofit experience and a dedication to protecting Oregon's ancient forests, salmon streams and drinking water supplies," said Scott Lewis, president of ONRC Action's board of directors.

ONRC has been a leader in the Northwest environmental movement. It was a plaintiff in lawsuits that sharply reduced logging in northern spotted owl habitat on national forests and pressed the government to protect salmon and steelhead from extinction.

Smiley grew up in Bend and graduated from the University of Oregon in 1984 with a degree in journalism. He is 37, married, and has a 3-year-old son. His environmental background includes working for the Land Trust Alliance, River Network, and the Yakima Greenway Foundation.

"Smiley's the kind of guy who's going to get the job done," said Kerr, who retired last October after 20 years with ONRC to start his own environmental consulting firm. "He's got great organizational skills and a passion for protecting the environment."

Smiley said he wants to keep the organization a household word for environmental advocacy, but without the reputation for controversy.

"I think the conflict of the past has been important, but it doesn't have to be part of the future," he said.

Smiley said he hopes to build ONRC's membership from 6,000 to more than 10,000. To do that he must temper the organization's reputation and broaden its appeal.

New leader named for Pacific Rivers Council
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Longtime conservationist Tryg Sletteland has been named the new head of the Pacific Rivers Council, a Northwest group dedicated to restoring dwindling salmon runs.

Sletteland replaces longtime director Bob Doppelt, who will head the council's newly formed Center for Watershed and Community Health.

Sletteland was a founder of the Sacramento River Council and managed the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund's Pacific salmonid project.

"His experience in salmon recovery and public lands issues, along with his solid scientific and legal background and fund-raising experience, made it clear that he is the right person for the job," said Arthur Johnson, president of the council's board of directors.

Johnson said the council was establishing the Center for Watershed and Community Health because it believed a separate organization was needed to focus on linking business and economic development with sound environmental management.

The Pacific Rivers Council will maintain its offices and programs in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, and Washington, D.C., Sletteland said.

Environmental Watch

Conference on water resource issues at SAM
SEATTLE -- "The Water 'Crisis': Myth, Reality and Opportunities" is the theme of a conference scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Seattle Art Museum.

Sponsored by the Washington section of the American Water Resources Association, the conference will examine whether or not there is a water crisis in western Washington. Various areas of water resource management will be addressed, including legal issues, cost issues, growth projections, demand forecasts, water rights, hydraulic continuity, water reuse, groundwater storage and supply alternatives.

Dr. Jim Riley, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Washington, plans to discuss the classic works of Leonardo Da Vinci as applied to water engineering and water issues of today. Other speakers will include representatives from local governments, water districts, the Department of Ecology, CH2M Hill, RH2 Engineering, AGI Technologies, GeoEngineers, ECONorthwest and Bogle & Gates.

The registration fee of $95 includes a box lunch and 1997 AWRA membership. Checks should be made payable to AWRA Washington Section and should be sent to Teresa J. Platin, CH2M Hill, P.O. Box 91500, Bellevue, WA 98009-2050. For information, call (206) 453-5005, Ext. 5235.

Ecology offers IRAP workshops
SEATTLE -- The state Department of Ecology will have two independent remedial action program (IRAP) workshops Wednesday at the Mountaineers Club at 300 Third Ave. W. in Seattle.

People may attend the workshop from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. or from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. The workshops will focus on Ecology's IRAP policies in King, Kitsap, Snohomish, Island, San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom counties. IRAP case studies will be presented by Ecology staff and consultants. Brownfields, total petroleum hydrocarbon cleanup levels and the work of the Model Toxics Control Act Policy Advisory Committee also will be discussed.

The workshops are open to the public, and walk-in registrations will be accepted. For more information, call Susan Lee at (206) 649-7138 or Elaine Atkinson at (206) 649-7042.

Meeting on draft Puget Sound work plan
SEATAC -- The Puget Sound Council will meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to consider changes to the draft 1997-99 Puget Sound Water Quality Work Plan. The meeting will take place in the O'Hare Room of the Holiday Inn Sea-Tac at 17338 International Blvd.

Recommended changes will be based on public comments received in October and on suggestions from the support staff of the Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team. The Puget Sound Council is helping develop the two-year strategy by advising the Action Team on steps that could be taken to protect water quality by businesses, cities, counties, the agriculture and shellfish industries, environmental organizations and tribes.

The Action Team will consider the Council's recommendations and adopt the final work plan at its Nov. 19 meeting in Olympia. The final work plan will be submitted to the Legislature by Dec. 20.

The Puget Sound Council is made up of seven members who represent business, the environmental community, agriculture, the shellfish industry, counties, cities and tribes, along with two non-voting legislators. For more information about the Action Team, the Council or the Nov. 19 meeting in Olympia, call (800) 54-SOUND or visit the following web site: http://www.wa.gov/puget_sound.

Duwamish River sediment cleanup proposed
SEATTLE -- Public comments are being sought for a project that will clean up sediment at the Norfolk combined sewer overflow located south of the Duwamish River Turning Basin.

A meeting on the project is planned for 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Federal Center South north auditorium, 4735 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle. The meeting will focus on a cleanup study report that assesses the site and evaluates alternatives, an environmental checklist and a Department of Ecology cleanup decision.

The Elliott Bay/Duwamish Restoration Program proposed the Norfolk CSO cleanup project. Wednesday's meeting will provide an update on other Elliott Bay/Duwamish Restoration Program activities, including source control, habitat restoration and a Seattle waterfront cleanup study.

A program of NOAA Restoration Center Northwest, the Elliott Bay/Duwamish Restoration Program was established in 1991 by a consent decree to spend up to $24 million on sediment remediation, habitat development and source control in Elliott Bay and the lower Duwamish River.

The Norfolk CSO project will be managed by Pat Romberg of the King County Water Pollution Control Division. Work is expected to occur in 1997 and 1998.

Copies of the Norfolk CSO Sediment Cleanup Study and the environmental checklist are now available for review at the Seattle Public Library and several other King County locations. The public comment period on the study and the checklist will end Nov. 21. The comment period for the Ecology cleanup decision will begin Wednesday and continue through Dec. 6.

For information on the cleanup project, call Pat Romberg at (206) 684-1220. For information on Ecology's cleanup decision, call Teresa Michelsen at (206) 649-7257. To learn more about the Elliott Bay/Duwamish Restoration Program, call Robert C. Clark Jr. at (206) 526-4338.

RCIE wins Hanford remedial action contract
RICHLAND -- Sumner-based RCI Environmental Inc. won a $4.64 million subcontract from Bechtel Hanford Inc. last month to oversee the 100-DR-1 Remedial Action Project, part of the environmental cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Work will include the excavation and containerization of approximately 220,000 bank cubic yards of low-level radioactive soil located on the Hanford site. The contract also calls for removal and containerization of approximately 2 miles of 60-inch-diameter reactor cooling water pipe and underground structures.

RCIE is currently providing low-level radioactive waste transportation services for Bechtel Hanford under a separate $7 million subcontract. RCIE transports waste from several remedial action sites at Hanford to the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF). The ERDF is a low-level radioactive waste landfill managed by Bechtel Hanford in the West Area of the Hanford site.

RCI Environmental is a division of the RCI Construction Group.

Department of Ecology awards grants, loans
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology has awarded the following grants and loans to local communities for projects to improve water quality, wastewater treatment systems and solid waste facilities.:

• a $903,000 State Revolving Fund low-interest loan to Chewelah to design improvements to the city's wastewater collection and treatment facilities;

• a $460,370 Centennial Clean Water Fund grant to Pe Ell to fix two sewage pump stations that overflowed last winter and entered Snow Creek and the Chehalis River;

• a $218,000 State Revolving Fund low-interest loan to Port Townsend to develop a comprehensive sewage plan;

• and a $44,000 Centennial Clean Water Fund grant and a $54,000 loan to Colton to develop and produce a combined general sewer and facility plan.

For information on the Chewelah loan, call Ken Merrill at (509) 456-6148. For information on the Pe Ell grant, call Gerald Anderson at (360) 407-6276. For information on the Port Townsend loan, call Cam Meriwether at (360) 407-6542. For information on the Colton grant/loan combination, call Richard Koch at (509) 456-6162.

Environmental Watch

FEIS available for habitat conservation plan
OLYMPIA -- Copies of the final environmental impact statement for the state Department of Natural Resources' proposed habitat conservation plan are now available.

Habitat conservation plans look 50 to 100 years into the future and attempt to balance two oft-competing interests: timber harvesting and wildlife protection. The far-reaching plans are viewed as an alternative way of complying with the federal Endangered Species Act.

Without the protection of a habitat conservation plan, it is a federal crime to harm a species that has been listed for protection. The U.S. Supreme Court has maintained that it is illegal to do anything, including timber harvesting, that will kill or injure individual northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets or any other threatened or endangered species.

The DNR plan would focus on 1.6 million acres of state forest lands within the range of the northern spotted owl. To order a copy of the FEIS, call (360) 902-1731.

Underground storage tank seminars planned
The state Department of Ecology and the Washington Oil Marketers Association are sponsoring three-hour seminars for owners and operators of underground storage tanks, petroleum marketers, consultants, service station owners, environmental managers and others involved in managing underground storage tanks.

Topics to be covered at the seminars include: meeting UST deadlines and getting technical assistance; fuel systems options; insuring UST sites; controlling cleanup costs; cleanup procedural options; getting banks to help; cleanup standards; Ecology's petroleum initiative; and transferring property wisely.

Seminar dates and locations are as follows:

• Nov. 12, 1:30 p.m., Red Lion Inn at the Quay, 100 Columbia St., Vancouver;
  
• Nov. 13, 9 a.m., Tacoma Sheraton, 1320 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma;
  
• Nov. 14, 9 a.m., Best Western Lakeway Inn, 714 Lakeway Drive, Bellingham;
  
• Nov. 19, 9 a.m., Best Western Hallmark Resort & Conference Center, 3000 W. Marine Drive, Moses Lake;
  
• Nov. 20, 9 a.m., Red Lion, 2525 N. 20th St., Pasco;
  
• Nov. 21, 9 a.m., Red Lion Spokane Valley, N. 1100 Sullivan, Spokane;
  
• Nov. 22, 9 a.m., Howard Johnson, 3105 Pine St., Everett.

The seminars are free to the public. Reservations are recommended because space may be limited. To make reservations, call (360) 407-7200.

Conference on hazardous waste management
SEATTLE -- The 13th annual Hazardous Waste Law and Management Conference is scheduled for Dec. 3 and 4 at the Washington Athletic Club in downtown Seattle.

The conference is being sponsored by the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College. The law school will have another hazardous waste conference Dec. 5 and 6 at the Governor Hotel in Portland.

Speakers at the conferences will include: Chuck Clarke, regional administrator for Region 10 of the Environmental Protection Agency; senior program managers from the EPA, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality; principals of regulated industries; and representatives from the environmental industry. They will discuss the latest information on state and federal regulatory programs and business initiatives.

Plenary sessions will give an overview of the most recent developments on Superfund reauthorization, 1996 case law, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the integration of environmental values with hazardous waste management. Afternoon sessions will focus on state hazardous waste issues, brownfields, citizen lawsuits and risk assessments.

Tuition cost is $350 before Nov. 20 and $375 after $375. People who cannot attend may order course materials or audio tapes for $85. To register, call (503) 768-6672.

New quality assurance officer at NVL
SEATTLE -- Barbara Gloyd is the new quality assurance officer and materials analyst at NVL Laboratories Inc., a Seattle-based firm specializing in hazardous materials services.

NVL's services include analyzing materials, providing laboratory training and consulting for building renovation and demolition projects. NVL focuses on issues involving asbestos, lead and PCBs in building materials.

WDFW to review status of 13 wildlife species
OLYMPIA -- The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will review the status of 13 wildlife species in coming months to determine whether special protections are needed to ensure their survival.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission ultimately will decide which species should be placed on the state's endangered, threatened or sensitive species list. There are 33 species on the list at this time.

Six species currently on the list may be downlisted or delisted, and seven other species may be placed on the list. Species considered for listing include sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, common loon, fisher, Oregon spotted frog, common murre and Olive Ridley sea turtle.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife defines an endangered species as one that is seriously threatened with extinction throughout all or a portion of its range. A threatened species is one likely to become endangered unless steps are taken to reverse its decline. A sensitive species is one that is especially vulnerable or is declining and needs special management consideration.

A species listed by the state does not receive protection under the federal Endangered Species Act unless it also appears on the federal government's list.

Biologists' draft status reviews and recommendations on at least eight of the species should be available for public review by next spring. The department will then have public meetings to discuss and explain the recommendations and receive public comments and suggestions.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission could render decisions on some species by August 1997. The status of all 13 species should be decided by 1998.

Meeting on mining and the environment
SPOKANE -- "Mining and the Environment: New Directions" is the theme of the Northwest Mining Association's 102nd annual meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 2-6 at the Spokane Convention Center & Agricultural Trade Center in Spokane.

People who attend the meeting will be able to learn about the environmental, governmental, exploration, geological and operational aspects of the mining industry. The event will feature core displays, technical sessions, short courses and more than 340 exhibits. All phases of mine planning, permitting and equipment usage will be discussed.

To receive a meeting schedule or to register, call the Northwest Mining Association at (509) 624-1158 or send a fax to (509) 623-1241.

Environmental Watch

Fluor Daniel plans a coming out party
PASCO -- Fluor Daniel Hanford Inc. is inviting suppliers of environmental services and products to visit the Tri-Cities area and meet members of the Project Hanford Management Contractor team.

A day of speeches, technical workshops and hobnobbing is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 6 at the TRAC exhibition facility, 6600 Burden Blvd., Pasco.

The event will inform owners and managers of environmental firms about opportunities to do business with the Project Hanford team. Technical representatives and buyers who represent the team will be on hand throughout the day.

Featured speakers will include retired Lt. Gen. Henry "Hank" Hatch, president and CEO of Fluor Daniel Hanford, and John Wagoner, manager of Richland operations for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Energy Department awarded a five-year, $4.88 billion contract to the Fluor Daniel Hanford team to manage the Hanford nuclear reservation in August. Fluor Daniel took over cleanup operations from Westinghouse Hanford Co. on Oct. 1.

Major subcontractors on the Project Hanford team include Babcock & Wilcox Hanford, Duke Engineering & Services Inc., DynCorp Tri-Cities Services Inc., Lockheed Martin Hanford Corp., Numatec Hanford Corp. and Rust Federal Services of Hanford Inc. Enterprise subcontractors include Fluor Daniel Northwest, B&W Protec and Lockheed Martin Services Inc.

Admission cost of $25 a person for the Nov. 6 event includes Continental breakfast and lunch. People may register in advance or at the door between 8 and 8:45 a.m. For information or to pre-register, call Gwen Jones at (509) 376-9419 or Carrie Crain at (509) 376-2995.

Smith speaks today at WIN awards ceremony
SEATTLE -- Gary Smith, executive director of the Independent Business Association, will be the keynote speaker today at the Waste Information Network (WIN) Environmental Achievement Awards ceremony.

Smith will speak from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Northwest Waste Information Expo at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. An advocate for small businesses, Smith is a founding member of WIN, a group of business owners, regulators and environmentalists who are working together to reduce hazardous wastes.

The following businesses will be given environmental awards today: Alpine Windows, window manufacturer, Bothell; In Harmony, organic lawn and garden care, Redmond; Phil's Finishing Touch, auto body repair, Seattle; Sound Ford Body Shop, auto body repair, Renton; Southtowne Auto Rebuild, auto body repair, Tukwila; Wilson Marine, boat repair, Seattle; High Road Automotive, auto repair, Seattle; Howard Lewis, owner of L&B Auto, Snohomish; Scott Mafune, operations manager of Silence Inc., Lynnwood; Hazardous Materials Committee, Washington State Ferries, Seattle.

Honorable mentions will go to: Alpha One Corp., printer, Redmond; and Busch Collision, auto body repair, Issaquah.

For a free ticket to the awards ceremony or for more information about the Expo, call (206) 767-3271.

Proposals sought for clean coal project
FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The University of Alaska Fairbanks is seeking proposals from consulting firms for the development of contract documents for the UAF Clean Coal Demonstration Project on the Fairbanks campus.

The project involves: installing a 6.0-megawatt diesel engine complete with emissions control systems; constructing a coal-water fuel processing facility; and retrofitting an oil-fired boiler to use coal-water fuel.

Information on the project is available on the Internet at http://pps.gi.alaska.edu/aerfp/ccdrfp.htm. To receive information on submittal requirements and selection criteria, send a fax to Pamela at Planning and Project Services at (907) 474-7554 or send e-mail to: FNPJM@endeavour.gi.alaska.edu.

Proposals must be submitted by Nov. 19 to: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Planning and Project Services, P.O. Box 758160, Fairbanks, AK 99775-8160.

Learn about ISO 14000 on Halloween
SPOKANE -- Associated Industries of the Inland Northwest will have a teleconference on ISO 14000 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday at Gonzaga University in Spokane.

Teleconference speakers will include: Joe Cascio, chairman of the Technical Advisory Group that developed the new series of environmental management standards; James Thomas, president of the American Society for Testing and Materials; Sergio Mazza, president of American National Standards Institute; and Mary McKiel, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Voluntary Standards Network.

The registration fee of $45 includes a Continental breakfast, snacks and a comprehensive reference manual prepared by the speakers. To register or receive more information, call Lucy Gurnea at (509) 323-2641 or (509) 326-6885.

Flap over salmon farming in B.C.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The farmed salmon industry is jeopardizing British Columbia's wild fish stocks and putting human health at risk, an environmental group contends.

The David Suzuki Foundation attributes the problems to unregulated drug use, imported Atlantic salmon eggs and net cages built directly in the ocean.

"These open net cages create and allow a flow of drug residues from the inside of the cages out into the marine environment," said Jim Fulton, a former New Democratic Party member of Parliament and now executive director of the foundation.

The foundation released a report on salmon farming in British Columbia, which has been the subject of controversy since it began in 1984.

The $165 million industry -- the province's largest agricultural exporter -- employs about 2,400 people at 90 sites in ocean water along the coast and on Vancouver Island. Last year it shipped 28,000 metric tons of salmon.

In the United States, farming of Atlantic salmon is carried out in Washington and Maine. Internationally, the industry is big in New Brunswick, Norway, Scotland and Chile.

Among the report's key recommendations are that the open, ocean-based cages be replaced with either containment systems that prohibit contact with the ocean, or closed systems built inland.

Ballast water regulations adopted in Calif.
EUREKA, Calif. (AP) -- Ships heading for Humboldt Bay with ballast from foreign ports must empty their tanks and refill them at sea under new rules to protect bay waters from animal and plant invaders.

Humboldt Bay is the first on the West Coast to adopt such regulations, officials said.

The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District this month established the new rules on ballast exchange.

Exotic species, such as zebra mussels and European green crabs, have devastated many U.S. bays and estuaries, as well as the Great Lakes, reproducing rapidly and pushing out native species.

Green crabs prey voraciously on other crabs, clams and oysters. A few have already been found in Humboldt Bay, raising fears for native species.

"San Francisco Bay has become a disaster area," said Chad Roberts, a biologist with Oscar Larson Associates. "It's lost most of its native species. ... A single ship may be discharging 7,000 cubic yards of water from a Korean harbor into Humboldt Bay. That can contain a lot of organisms."

Andy Westfall, president of Westfall Stevedore Co., said shipping companies didn't object.

The deep-water ballast exchange requirement has worked well on the East Coast, in Great Lakes ports and in Australia, but West Coast ports have been slow to follow suit.

Environmental Watch

Workshops on Asarco smelter site
EVERETT -- The state Department of Ecology and Asarco are working toward starting the cleanup of the Everett Smelter Site.

Before the cleanup can begin, several activities must be completed, including:

• demolition of the vacant homes on the former smelter property;

• surface water characterization and controls;

• additional remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) work for the lowland area;

• soil sampling on residential properties;

• and community protection measures.

A workshop on how Ecology and Asarco are working together to clean up the site and how people can get involved in the initial activities will meet at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Jackson Center of Everett Community College, 801 Wetmore Ave., Everett.

A workshop on exposure to metals, arsenic and lead by people who live near the site will meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 21. This workshop will explain medical tests to be made available for local residents. The workshop location will be announced at a later date.

For more information, contact the following people at the Department of Ecology: site manager Dave Nazy, (206) 649-7258, e-mail: dnaz461@ecy.wa.gov; or Susan Lee, (206) 649-7138, e-mail: slee461@ecy.wa.gov.

Expert in urban village planning to speak
SEATTLE -- Peter Calthorpe, a national expert in transit-oriented development and urban village planning, will speak at noon Thursday in downtown Seattle.

The brown-bag lunch will meet at Plymouth Congregational Church -- Hildebrand Hall at Sixth Avenue and University Street. The event is free to the public.

Since 1972, Calthorpe has been combining his experience in both planning and architecture to develop an environmental approach to community development and urban design. He wrote the Sierra Club book Sustainable Communities with Sim Van der Ryn. His most recent work is The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream.

The event is being sponsored by 1000 Friends of Washington, the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Planning Association. For more information, call (206) 343-0681.

Vancouver area meets air quality standard
VANCOUVER -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has removed southern Clark County from its list of air pollution "non-attainment areas" for carbon monoxide.

The EPA's action follows years of efforts by the Southwest Air Pollution Control Authority (SWAPCA), the Department of Ecology and the region's businesses and residents.

The EPA has approved a 10-year plan adopted by SWAPCA earlier this year. The plan would prevent future carbon monoxide violations through the turnover and maintenance of motor vehicles. The wintertime oxygenated gasoline program will be discontinued, but it could be reinstated if the area fails to stay within the carbon monoxide standard.

EPA is considering applications to discontinue other non-attainment areas in the Portland-Vancouver region. Agencies on both sides of the state line have been preparing separate, coordinated applications to remove the Portland-Vancouver area from the list of non-attainment areas for ozone, the chief ingredient in smog.

Forum on threats to San Juan waterways
FRIDAY HARBOR -- A forum with the theme "Whales, Tankers & Jet Skis -- Ways to Protect Our Marine Waters" is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in Friday Harbor.

The forum will focus on current controversies affecting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the San Juan Islands, such as the ban on jet skis, whale-watching tourism, habitat loss, pollution and the growing number of oil tankers entering the Strait.

The keynote address will be given by Scott Cathey of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Cathey will explain how Monterey Bay achieved restrictions on personal watercraft. Representatives from the San Juan County Marine Resources Commission, the National Marine Sanctuary Program and People for Puget Sound also will speak at the forum.

The forum will meet at the Friday Harbor Grange Hall, which is located near the Whale Museum across from the county courthouse. For more information, call Mike Sato at People for Puget Sound at (206) 382-7007 or Nancy De Vaux at Friends of the San Juans at (360) 378-5790.

Environmental Watch

Funding aids tribal environmental effort
OLYMPIA -- Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are teaming up with Indian tribes to address environmental concerns on reservations across the country.

Congress recently appropriated $28 million for grants that will allow tribes to develop environmental programs. Grant money can be used for a variety of activities, from conducting environmental assessments to monitoring air quality.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will distribute between $9 million and $9.5 million to the more than 250 tribes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. The goal is to give a minimum of $75,000 to each tribe, said Fran Wilshusen, water resources coordinator for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

"What's really exciting about all of this is that the tribes are bucking 25 years of not having any environmental infrastructure in their governments," Wilshusen said. "The tribes are just starting to build those programs now."

Tribes in western Washington plan to use the funding for cooperative environmental protection efforts. The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe is working with state and local governments to implement a watershed protection program for the Dungeness River. The Swinomish Tribe near La Conner will use the money to develop a set of environmental codes, Wilshusen said.

Congress also appropriated $500,000 in base-level funding for Washington's Coordinated Tribal Water Quality Program, a program that allows tribes to participate as co-managers of water quality. The program began in 1990 when the 26 federally-recognized tribes and tribal organizations in the state came together and devised an intergovernmental strategy for achieving national water quality standards.

Proposals sought for PET, wood waste ideas
SEATTLE -- The Clean Washington Center is seeking proposals from consultants who can develop manuals and workshops that highlight uses for wood waste and polyethylene terepthalate (PET, the plastic used in soda bottles).

The "best practices manuals" would contain information about the best ways to use the recycled materials in manufacturing and production processes.

After conducting research about successful uses for the materials and documenting those uses in the manuals, the consultant would coordinate a series of educational workshops based on the information in the manuals.

Up to $50,000 is available for work related to each material.

A pre-bidders' conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 30 at the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, 2001 Sixth Ave., Suite 2700, Seattle. Proposals are due by noon Tuesday, Nov. 12. To receive a copy of the request for proposals, call (206) 464-6282.

Free workshop on new ISO 14000 project
BELLEVUE -- John Kinsella, vice president of Bellevue-based SCS Engineers, will give an overview of the new ISO 14000 Leadership Project Friday morning in Bellevue.

The project's goal is to identify regulatory flexibility that may be available for companies that get certified to the ISO 14001 environmental management standard.

Three businesses have volunteered to participate in the pilot project: Elf Atochem North America Inc. in Tacoma; Matsushita Semiconductor in Puyallup; and Murray Pacific Corp. in Tacoma. Over the next six months, the businesses will undergo an analysis of their environmental management systems in order to determine whether or not it would be beneficial to register for ISO 14001.

The ISO 14000 Leadership Project is being administered by International Standards Initiative in Issaquah and sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Ecology.

The free workshop is scheduled for 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Friday at AirTouch Cellular, 15800 S.E. Eastgate Way, Bellevue. For information on the event, call (206) 392-7610.

Adolfson's director of environmental services

SEATTLE -- Adolfson Associates Inc. has announced the addition of Lloyd Skinner as director of environmental services.

Skinner has 18 years experience in land use planning, environmental impact analysis and natural resource management. He is joining Adolfson Associates after 10 years with CH2M Hill's Seattle office, where he was director of the Planning Practice Group.

State wetlands delineation manual
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology is entering into the final round of public review on a proposed wetlands delineation manual rule.

Delineation manuals are used to determine the "edge" of a wetland based on hydrology, vegetation and soils. For years, there has been a great deal of confusion because different editions of federal delineation manuals have been used.

To help reduce the confusion, the 1995 state Legislature ordered Ecology adopt as a state rule a wetlands delineation manual that is consistent with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1987 manual.

Ecology will have workshops and public hearings on the issue from 6 to 10 p.m. at the following days and locations: Oct. 23, Port of Tacoma, 3600 Port of Tacoma Road, Room 104, Tacoma; Oct. 28, Public Health Building, 1101 W. College, Room 140, Spokane.

Written comments on the draft manual rule must be submitted by Nov. 7. To receive a copy of the draft rule, call Ecology's Publications Office at (360) 407-7472 or send e-mail to MA HREF="mailto:ecypub@461.ecy.wa.gov">ecypub@461.ecy.wa.gov and request Publication Number 96-118. To receive a copy of the entire state manual, order Publication Number 96-93.

For more information, call Andy McMillan at (360) 407-7272 or send e-mail to: anmc@ecy.wa.gov.

New vactor decant facility
SNOHOMISH -- Snohomish County Public Works recently opened a new vactor decant facility at the Cathcart Landfill south of Snohomish off Highway 9.

Each year, the county collects more than 1,200 tons of "vactor grit." Vactor grit is made up of dirt, grit, oils and fuels. The concoction is often formed when cars zoom down streets and highways.

When it rains, the vactor grit on roadways washes into catch basins. Eventually the material must be removed from the catch basins.

In order to process vactor waste, the vactor grit's liquids and solids must be separated at a vactor decant facility. The liquids get treated, and the solids get dried and disposed of or recycled.

The new vactor decant facility's services are available for a fee to public agencies and private operators. The Washington State Department of Transportation will be bringing the grit it collects to the new facility for treatment. For more information, call Jim Wilson at (206) 388-6491.

Proposed rules for dairy farms, plants
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Agriculture will have a public hearing at 9 a.m. Oct. 24 to discuss proposed rules that establish penalty criteria for dairy farms and plants with a history of non-compliance with dairy laws.

The rules would affect the revoking of dairy licenses and the lowering of the grade of a dairy operation from Grade A to Grade C.

Department of Agriculture officials say they are trying to develop a fair, equitable method for dealing with these issues. Under the proposed rules, farmers and processors would be able to appeal degrade actions before the degrades go into effect.

The hearing will take place at the Natural Resources Building, Room 259, 1111 Washington St. S.E., Olympia. For more information, call Mike Donovan at the Department of Agriculture at (360) 902-1883.