September 4, 2001

Environmental Watch: RL&L merges with Golder Associates

Wolf

RL&L specializes in aquatic science and environmental biology and has offices in Edmonton, Alberta and Prince George and Castlegar, B.C.

"The strength of RL&L's aquatics expertise and capability enhances our position in providing aquatic services and ecological sciences throughout the region," said Keith Wolf, leader of Golder's Pacific Northwest Ecological Sciences Group, based in Redmond.

The group deals substantially with the Endangered Species Act, salmon recovery, habitat assessment and fisheries biology.

It's expected that many of RL&L's Columbia River projects will now be based out of Golder's Tri-Cities office.

Employee-owned Golder Associates, founded in 1960, has more than 2,400 employees in 84 offices worldwide.

Snohomish salmon plan out for comment

EVERETT -- The Snohomish River Basin Salmon Recovery Forum has released its near term action agenda of chinook salmon conservation measures.

The plan covers the basins of the Snohomish, Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers, 1,800 square miles in all.

The action agenda contains proposals for restoration and preservation, identifying 12 areas suitable for habitat acquisition because they support large numbers of chinook.

Public workshops on the plan will be held Tuesday, September 11 at 7 p.m. at the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave. in Everett, and Thursday, September 20 at 7 p.m. at the Tolt Middle School at 3740 Tolt Ave. in Carnation. Call (800) 562-4367 for more information.

HazMat Academy to meet

SEATTLE -- The Pacific Northwest chapiter of the Academy of Hazardous Materials Management will hold its fall dinner meeting tonight, September 4, at the Rock Salt Steak House, 1232 Westlake Ave. North in Seattle.

The speaker will be Debra Oliver of the King County Interagency Regulatory Advisory Committee. IRAC, as its known, works across agencies countywide to make sure that regulations are coordinated and make sense.

Call Diana Cull at (425) 489-4872 to see if space is available. The function, including dinner, will cost $30.

PGE to repeat light bulb offer

PORTLAND -- Portland General Electric (PGE) is once again offering coupons on compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). August residential bills will include three $6-off coupons good toward purchase of CFLs: one for an outdoor bulb or fixture, one for a cool-burning torchiere lamp, and one for any type of CFL bulb.

During July’s coupon offering in conjunction with Home Depot, coupons to purchase 250,000 compact fluorescent were redeemed in just three days.

PGE estimates that those bulbs could save 19 million-kilowatt hours annually.

CFLs typically use a quarter of the electricity of conventional bulbs and can last ten times as long, according to manufacturer’s estimates.

This month's mailing has the added bonus of fire safety. Torchiere lamps often start fires when they accidentally tip over. Replacing the hot-burning bulb with a CFL dramatically reduces fire risk.

6,135 acres designated seasonal wetlands

WENATCHEE --The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated 6,135 acres of seasonal wetlands on state, Federal and private lands in central Washington as critical habitat for the endangered Wenatchee Mountains checker-mallow.

The checker-mallow, a five-foot flowering perennial, is a federally endangered plant native to the Wenatchee Mountains of Chelan County in central Washington.

Critical habitat refers to specific geographic areas that are essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and which may require special management considerations. No preserve is set up, but federal funding or permits for projects would trigger federal natural resource oversight.

There are approximately 3,600 individual checker-mallow plants in existence. Most are found on about 95 acres of seasonal wetlands (wetlands that dry up in late summer and fall) on the Washington Department of Natural Resources' Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve in Chelan County.

The agency expects the designation of critical habitat to have negligible impacts on timber harvesting and other economic activities. Changes in water flow patterns and competition from invasive species are the biggest threats to the checker-mallow.

Stanford study urges wind power

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Two scientists from Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have concluded that the United States should make a large investment, perhaps even a dedicated federal program, in wind farming to help meet the nation's electricity needs and address global warming.

The professors, Mark Jacobson and Gilbert Masters, writing in the August 24 issue of the journal Science, conclude that wind power is an abundant, clean and affordable alternative to coal and other fossil fuels.

Last year, wind-driven turbines produced less than 0.1 percent of America's electricity supply -- compared to 52 percent generated from coal, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. One reason that wind energy has lagged so far behind is the perception is that wind farms are more expensive to build and operate than coal-fired power plants.

Jacobsen and Masters argue that computing the total costs of coal energy, including the environmental and health effects of coal plant emissions, makes wind power actually cheaper than generating electricity from coal.

The article also notes that last year Germany produced nearly three times more wind-generated electricity than the U.S., and Denmark -- a country roughly half the size of Maine -- produced almost as much turbine power as the United States. Denmark and Sweden also have developed wind parks offshore, where winds are faster than over land.

Environmentalists seek more money for Valdez spill

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Exxon Mobil has deposited its last $70 million payment into an Alaska Department of Revenue account, the last payment of its $900 million damage settlement with the state and federal governments from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

But several environmental organizations on have called on the government to reopen the settlement agreement to seek another $100 million from the oil giant for what they say are unanticipated, lingering damages from the spill. Under the terms of the settlement the state and federal government can ask for $100 million more for damages not known a decade ago.

The National Wildlife Federation and the Wilderness Society are among the groups that signed a letter to President Bush and Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, asking them to seek the additional payment.

The Exxon Valdez hit a charted reef in Prince William Sound in March 1989 and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. The spill fouled more than 1,000 miles of shoreline and killed tens of thousands of birds and marine mammals.

Exxon released a statement saying that any discussion of the reopener clause was premature. The company also said the environment in Prince William Sound is "healthy, robust and thriving."

But the environmental groups say much of the wildlife affected by the spill has not yet recovered. They point to research done for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, the group which oversees restoration of Prince William Sound.