July 24, 2001

Environmental Watch: Pilot ESA permit system online

SEATTLE -- Northwest applicants for permits requiring Endangered Species Act consultation can now check the progress of their permits online. The system will allow the tracking of progress as permits move through the process between the Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA Fisheries (the National Marine Fisheries Service).

During a recent visit to the Northwest, Commerce Secretary Don Evans said he learned firsthand of frustrations with the permit consultation backlog.

"This new pilot program is an important step in a department-wide effort to leverage technology to improve customer service and make the permitting process more transparent and accessible," said Evans.

Currently, Endangered Species Act consultation can take well over a year, and the Army Corps has a backlog of over 1,000 permit applications.

Armed with their permit tracking number, applicants can log on to http://nmfs.noaa.gov/pcts/ and check the progress of their application.

Free trees available

SEATTLE -- The city of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods is again soliciting applications from neighborhood and community groups for free trees.

In order to receive the trees a member of the applying group must attend a tree planting and maintenance class. The trees are delivered in October and early November.

Applications are due by Friday, August 17. Requests can be made for 10 to 40 trees.

Over the past five years the Department of Neighborhoods has delivered nearly 9,000 trees to over 300 neighborhood groups.

Applications are available by calling (206) 684-0464 or on the cityofseattle.net Web site.

Thornton Creek drainage meeting set

SEATTLE -- Seattle Public Utilities is beginning the process of studying potential drainage improvements to the Thornton Creek basin.

As part of the study, a meeting will be held to explain the options and gather comment for the formal environmental impact statement (EIS).

Options that will be analyzed in the EIS include on-site flow controls, regional detention ponds, two bypass pipeline proposals with detention components and the purchase of flood prone properties.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, July 25 at the Lake City Elks Club, 14540 Bothell Way Northeast from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information contact project manager Pamela Miller at (206) 684-5179 or by e-mail at pamela.miller@ci.seattle.wa.us.

Grants offered for environmental education

OLYMPIA -- The Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team is seeking proposals for environmental education and improvement grants.

The grants, issued through the agency's Public Involvement and Education Fund, seek to encourage daily activities that improve water quality and habitat in Puget Sound.

Up to $400,000 in grants will be awarded this year with priority going to the following types of projects: contaminated sediment remediation, nearshore habitat restoration, salmon and other fish protection and restoration, shellfish bed protection and prevention of stormwater runoff and septic system failure.

Approaches to these goals can include education, biological assessment and the promotion of smart growth strategies.

The application deadline is Monday, August 27. Additionally, a number of workshops to assist applicants will be held statewide. For more information on the grants and workshops call 1-800-54-SOUND or visit the team's Web site at www.wa.gov/puget_sound/. Any Washington state resident, business, organization, tribal or local government or school is eligible.

Workshop focuses on Columbia water quality

SPOKANE (AP) -- As Western governors prepare to meet in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in two weeks, their staffs are working together to improve water quality on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Officials from Idaho, Oregon, Washington and the Columbia Basin tribes attended a workshop in Spokane Monday to discuss reducing pollution and water temperature in the rivers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is helping to develop standards that will meet the federal Clean Water Act and protect endangered salmon and steelhead runs.

"This process gets some really good science in place that lays out a long-term strategy of what can be done to help these rivers," said Mary Lou Soscia, EPA's Columbia River coordinator.

Pollution levels near hydroelectric dams often exceed water-quality standards, a Washington Department of Ecology report said.

Salmon are often exposed to this pollution while going through or over the dams, the report said.

Efforts to clean up water in Washington by determining the sources of pollution will be based on those already in place in Oregon, said Paul Pickett of the Washington Department of Ecology.

"We're coming in a little late on this," Pickett said. "Oregon's been charging ahead, so we're a little behind."

The Clean Water Act requires states to prepare a list of water bodies that do not meet federal quality standards.

All water bodies on the list must meet the standard within "a reasonable period" -- either through a comprehensive cleanup plan or by mandating pollution control mechanisms.

The Washington Department of Ecology has until 2013 to develop and begin plans to clean up 643 polluted bodies of water. Most of those are effected by more than one pollutant, according to a Department of Ecology report.

The Western Governors' Association will hold its annual meeting on Aug. 12-14 at the Coeur d'Alene Resort in northern Idaho.

More studies for Willamette fish safety

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A federal health official said more studies are necessary to determine if fish caught in the Willamette River have dangerous levels of toxic chemicals in their flesh and are unsafe to eat.

John Crellin, an epidemiologist with the Atlanta-based Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said Thursday he will recommend testing several species of fish from river in a report he plans to write to the Environmental Protection Agency.

With the additional data health officials could determine whether fish are accumulating contaminants at levels that threaten human health and wildlife, Crellin said.

"There's just not the kind of data we need to do a health assessment. We need more fish," he said.

Officials with the EPA and the Lower Willamette Group, a newly formed group of landowners who are potentially liable for the pollution, said they were not surprised by Crellin's conclusion. They said some form of fish testing was expected as part of the investigation into the breadth and sources of pollution in the river.

That testing probably won't start for a year or two.

Crellin said the only source of data he has found were from tests undertaken last year by The Oregonian newspaper, which found elevated levels of banned industrial chemicals in lower Willamette River fish. But that study did not contain enough samples, he said.

The newspaper tested carp, crappie and smallmouth bass from the lower 26 miles of the river. The tests found levels of PCBs at rates 10 times higher than state health screening levels, which could mean they are unsafe to eat.

After these tests, the Oregon Health Division has issued new guidelines on cleaning and cooking fish from the Willamette.

The EPA has said that as many as 69 private and public landowners along the river's course could be liable for cleaning up the pollution.

The EPA placed a dirty, six-mile stretch of the lower Willamette River on the nation's Superfund list of most polluted sites in 2000.