February 26, 2002

Environmental Watch: Hermanson joins Parametrix board

PORTLAND -- Brad Hermanson, P.E., has been appointed to the Parametrix board of directors by way of a company-wide nomination process.

As a member of the board, Hermanson will be one of several executives responsible for stock value, company growth opportunities, ESOP trustee appointment and hiring of company leadership.

Hermanson is the employee representative on the board and joins Parametrix founders, Waite Dalrymple and George Capestany; outside business leaders, Ted Reeves and Frank Buehler; and the firm’s executive committee -- Gerry Jones, CEO; Jeff Peacock, vice president/director of environmental and infrastructure services; Mel Sears, vice president /operations; and Darlene Brown, controller.

Hermanson, a two-year Parametrix employee, is waste division manager in Parametrix’s Portland office. He provides project and program management, regulatory compliance and business management support services to public and private clients. His current assignments include administrative project management for the Columbia River Channel Improvement Biological Assessment Reconsultation project.

Parametrix is providing technical support to six lower Columbia River ports, including the Port of Portland, in the reconsultation.

Parametrix is a 350-person Northwest-based company. The Portland office, with 40 employees, provides services in all of the company’s business lines: transportation, environmental sciences, water and wastewater engineering, waste management and architecture.

Dow returns to Robinson & Noble

TACOMA -- Doug Dow is returning Robinson & Noble, Inc. 20 years after leaving the firm.

Dow began his career as a consulting hydrogeologist in 1976 with Robinson & Noble. He left in 1981 to work for Carr & Associates and remained with Carr until this year, surviving company buy-outs by AGI Technologies and Camp Dresser McKee. CDM recently closed its Water Resource Office in Gig Harbor, prompting Dow's return.

At CDM Dow was a hydrogeologist and senior project manager. At Robinson & Noble he will have an equivalent position, responsible for managing projects and performing hydrogeologic services for former CDM clients who wish to continue their professional relationship with Dow.

HazMat academy meeting March 5

The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Academy of Hazardous Materials Management will hold its next quarterly meeting on Tuesday, March 5, at the Rock Salt Steakhouse in Seattle.

The speaker will be Grace Giorgio of the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Giorgio will discuss L&I’s Innovations Project, which is working to make the state’s health and safety rules easier to use and understand.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 and Giorgio’s presentation at 8. For a reservation, contact Diana Cull, chapter vice president, at (425) 489-4872 or diana.cull@ci.bothell.wa.us. The meeting is not restricted to members.

Clean Harbors buys Safety-Kleen unit

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Dow Jones News) -- Environmental services provider Clean Harbors Inc. said Monday it agreed to acquire Safety-Kleen Corp.'s chemical services business for $46.3 million cash plus assumed debt.

The agreement includes environmental liabilities valued at $265 million, the company said.

Safety-Kleen said the deal is subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court overseeing its Chapter 11 case and will likely take several months to complete.

Clean Harbors would acquire 2,800 employees and 50 primary facilities, but not Safety-Kleen's Pinewood landfill in South Carolina.

Safety-Kleen, which filed for bankruptcy in June 2000, plans to focus on a core business providing parts washer and waste management services. The company is 44 percent owned by Laidlaw Inc., the Ontario transportation company that filed for bankruptcy in June 2001.

Clean Harbors, Braintree, Mass., earned $5.5 million, or 40 cents a share, for 2001. Year revenue was $251.6 million.

Maple Valley leachate spill investigated

MAPLE VALLEY (AP) -- As much as 200,000 gallons of landfill runoff was released within 200 feet of the Cedar River after a pipeline broke northwest of this Seattle suburb, officials said.

State and King County officials were assessing the environmental damage after a pipe fitting failed Saturday night in the line carrying liquid from the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill to a sewage treatment plant in Renton.

County spokesman Logan Harris said the foul water in the pipe sprayed 20 feet into the air and covered about 20,000 square feet of land before the line was closed about 8 p.m.

The liquid, technically called leachate, is collected at the base of the dump from rain and other drainage that seeps through garbage and soil at the site and is pumped eight miles to the sewage plant.

The spill occurred at an intersection on Washington 169 in the Cedar River flood plain southeast of Seattle. Brad Bell, operations manager of the county's Solid Waste Division, said the nearest homes are several hundred feet away.

As much as 200,000 gallons may have been released, but the total probably was much less, Bell said.

A berm appeared to have contained most of the spill, but Bell said some of the polluted dump runoff may have leached into the river through the soil.

Should Marine base become park or airport?

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- One of the nation's costliest land-use battles could end next week when voters decide whether a former Marine base should become a park instead of a commercial airport.

The March 5 election will mark the fourth time voters have cast a ballot on the fate of the 4,700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Several people on both sides said this decision is likely to be the last.

The base, built during World War II in the bean fields of Orange County, closed in 1999. A plan to transform it into the county's second commercial airport has been in the making for eight years.

Supporters say an airport would ensure the county's economic future by generating jobs and business.

Opponents say turning El Toro into a commercial airport would create noise, pollution and traffic that would damage property values and their suburban quality of life.

Airport opponents have waged a nonstop election campaign with newspaper and television ads touting "The Great Park."

The two sides have spent more than $60 million since 1993, but proponents of the airport lost a key financial backer this year when real estate magnate George Argyros was named ambassador to Spain.

A majority of the Orange County Board of Supervisors has supported an airport but recently has shown cracks. Supervisor Jim Silva recently said if voters approve the park, he will withdraw his support for the airport