September 25, 2001

Environmental Watch: Adolfson Associates adds two

SEATTLE -- Environmental consulting firm Adolfson Associates has added personnel to its wetlands program and its fish and wildlife program.

Alexander Ottley has joined the fish and wildlife program as a staff biologist. Ottley has six years of experience in endangered and threatened species, salmon monitoring and stream inventories.

In the wetlands program, Andrea Gates has been named staff ecologist. Gates has four years of experience in the field.

Adolfson, founded in 1987, has offices in Seattle and Portland.

Renewable diesel workshop Thursday

SEATTLE -- A workshop examining clean, renewable alternatives to diesel fuel will be held this week at the DoubleTree Hotel at Sea-Tac International Airport.

The gathering, entitled "Greening Ahead of the Curve: Meeting the Challenge with Renewable Diesel Fuels," is sponsored by state energy and air quality agencies from Washington and Oregon and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Topics to be covered include availability, pricing and performance of renewable diesel fuels, including biodiesel.

The workshop will be held Thursday, Sept. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Registration is $25. For more information contact Linda Graham of the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition at (206) 684-0935.

Seminar on mold claims defense

SEATTLE -- With legal claims from toxic mold on the upswing, law firm Bullivant Houser Bailey PC is holding a seminar on how to protect businesses from legal exposure.

Bullivant litigators Tamara Boeck, Gregory Clark, James Fick and Pennock Gheen will discuss "Strategies for taking the 'Gold' out of Mold Claims."

The seminar will be held Thursday, Nov. 8, from 8 to 10:30 a.m. at the Columbia Tower Club, 701 Fifth Ave., in Seattle.

Registration is $35. The registration deadline is Nov. 1. Contact Jennifer Macqueen Iverson for more information or to register at (800) 654-8972.

Wind project gets Oregon OK

SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council has approved a site certificate for the Stateline Wind Project. FPL Energy, Inc., will begin construction of the wind generating facility. The location of the facility is in Umatilla County along the Oregon-Washington border.

The facility will consist of 127 wind turbines with about 83 megawatts of capacity.

The turbines will be mounted on tubular towers, about 165 feet high at the turbine hub. Each turbine will have a nominal electric generating capacity of 660 kilowatts. Due to concerns about impacts on the Washington ground squirrel, which is listed as an endangered species in Oregon, two strings of turbines had to be eliminated from the Oregon side of the border.

FPL Energy is already constructing the project on the Washington state side.

Solar for sale at Home Depot

Under an agreement with Delaware-based AstroPower, Inc., The Home Depot will begin selling residential solar electric power systems, beginning in the greater San Diego area. The Home Depot agreement is part of a broader AstroPower initiative aimed at moving solar electric power technology into the mainstream market.

As part of the sales effort, interactive displays are set up to demonstrate the ease of installation and operation of home solar electric power systems. Home Depot is offering financing, installation and service support to residential solar customers.

Conference on habitat law Oct.18-19

SEATTLE -- "Habitat in the Pacific Northwest" is the topic of a two-day conference being presented in October by Law Seminars International.

Issues to be covered include regulatory developments, municipal habitat concerns, the Shoreline Management Act, the Growth Management Act, water resources and rights, critical areas, forestry issues and tribal environmental issues.

The seminar has applied for eligibility in awarding Washington Continuing Legal Education credits.

The conference will be held Oct. 18 and 19 at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center. Call (206) 621-1938 to register. Tuition is $595.

Oct. 11 SoDo lunch on environment

SEATTLE -- The SoDo Business Association's monthly lunch will look at environmental issues facing the area, including the recent Superfund listing of the lower Duwamish Waterway.

Speakers include Phil Scott of Waste Management and Charlie Cunniff of the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle.

The lunch will be held Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Pyramid Ale House, Royal Brougham and First Avenue South, across from Safeco Field. The fee is $10.

Flexcar expanding to D.C.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Metro Board of Directors has voted to award a contract for a car sharing program to Flexcar, a Seattle-based firm.

Twelve Metrorail stations will initially each receive two Honda Civic 4-door sedans, which customers would be able to use for a few hours.

The costs range from $1.50-$3.50 per hour, plus mileage. The rates depend on whether the customer decides to pay an initiation fee ranging from $250-$500. Higher initiation fees mean lower hourly and mileage rates.

Metro hopes to attract city dwellers without cars who need to go into the suburbs, as well as families with one car who occasionally need a second.

Initially, the cars will be placed at four stations in the District and four each in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. In the future, nine more stations will get cars.

Deaths prompt Corps dredging review

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking a new look at how it disposes of dredge spoils after an accident killed two young fishermen last month at the mouth of the Columbia River.

The Corps has convened a four-person review team to evaluate its disposal management practices. The team is made up of two Corps representatives and two Environmental Protection Agency officials.

Following orders from Oregon and Washington congressmen, the reviewers are investigating whether dredge spoils played a role in the Aug. 7 capsizing of the Miss Brittany fishing vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard is performing a similar review.

The spoils, which result from maintenance dredging of the Columbia River shipping channel, have long been blamed for magnifying already dangerous wave heights in the Peacock Spit area near the river's mouth where they are dumped.

In 1997, the Columbia River Crab Fishermen's Association sued the Corps to halt expansion of dredge dumping in the same area. A settlement the following year required the Corps to make "every effort" to avoid dredge spoils that bump wave heights by 10 percent.

The Corps has denied multiple requests to allow fishing representatives to take part in the Portland review meetings this week.

Corps officials have denied a link between the dredge disposal site and the boat's capsizing.

Yet just eight days after the accident, a Corps dredge began moving more than 10,000 dump truck loads of sediment from the site to a deeper off-shore location.

The current review is said to have been planned even before the region's congressional delegation demanded an inquiry.