June 25, 2002

Environmental Watch: Construction group holds enviro update

SEATTLE -- "Update on Hot Environmental Issues" is the topic of the next Northwest Consumer Construction Council meeting June 26 at the SeaTac Marriott, with presentations on toxic molds, brownfields, Terminal 18 and, later this fall, a site tour of a new power generation project being built near Chehalis.

Speakers will be Larry Lee of Argus Pacific and Jany Jacobs of Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker on toxic molds. Jany will also give an update on the Endangered Species Act. Kathleen Goodman of URS Corp. in Seattle will speak about brownfields, and Hans Ewoldsen and Bob Gilmore of AMEC Earth & Environmental in Bellevue will present a case study on Terminal 18 about "regulator versus needs' driven compliance programs."

The site tour will be held Sept. 12. The Chehalis Generation Facility is a 520 MW natural-gas-fired combined cycle facility on a 30-acre site south of Chehalis. Tractebel, a global energy and services business, is the owner and is building it along with TIC-The Industrial Co., Tualatin, Ore., and Parsons Engineering of Houston in a joint venture.

For information contact Anne Kirske, executive director of NWCCC at (360) 438-0542 or check the NWCCC Web site at http://www.nwccc.org/home.htm.

July 9 meeting on Centralia-Chehalis levies

SEATTLE -- The Army Corps of Engineers is preparing a draft environmental impact statement for building a setback levy system to reduce flood damages in the Centralia and Chehalis area.

The Army Corps of Engineers is planning a community meeting July 9 to familiarize the public with the plan before the draft EIS is released July 22. The official public meeting is set for August.

The solution involves setback levies as the primary answer to protecting the communities from a 100-year flood. The event will include an overview with discussion of environmental impacts, water issues, cost estimate and areas of concern. Engineering experts will be available to answer questions.

The meeting will be held in the Lewis County Courthouse, 351 N.W. Noah St., Chehalis, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Schools prepare for new pesticide law

SEATTLE -- School districts are preparing this summer to comply with a new law on pesticides that was passed in 2001. The Children's Pesticide Right to Know Act will require districts to provide annual notices describing pest-control policies and methods, post notices when pesticides are used and notify parents, guardians and staff before application.

A number of districts around the state have already adopted policies that notify parents and reduce pesticide use. Vancouver School District passed a policy in March giving parents 48-hour notice before pesticides are used, reduces use in general and ends the use of the most hazardous pesticides. Oak Harbor, Sedro-Woolley, Mercer Island and Chewelah districts have also passed policies since the bill passed.

Concrete producers cut greenhouse gases

PORTLAND -- Three Portland mixed concrete producers have been recognized for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2001: Glacier Northwest, which cut more than 43,000 tons; Knife River Corp., which cut more than 21,000 tons and Ross Island Sand & Gravel, which cut more than 11,000 tons.

The companies did this by using fly ash in concrete products. Fly ash is produced when coal is burned in power plants and can be used to replace a portion of the cement used in concrete. By displacing cement, fly ask reduces the need for cement production, resulting in reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

"More than a ton of carbon dioxide is emitted for each ton of cement that is produced," said Clint Kurtz of ISG Resources, a marketer of fly ash. ISG gave awards to the three firms and plans to make this an annual event.

Illinois farms try E diesel in tractors

URBANA, Ill. (AP) -- Mixing the corn in his fields with the diesel powering his tractors has worked so far for farmer Paul Keiser. Now experts are trying to prove it can work for others, too.

University of Illinois researchers are studying an experimental fuel that combines ethanol -- produced from corn -- with diesel. They hope testing of the so-called E diesel at two Illinois farms and in the lab will show the blend is durable, cost-effective and better for the environment than normal diesel.

The long-term goal is to get the product on the market and expand demand for corn-based ethanol, creating more income for farmers.

Environmentalists prefer phasing out the use of diesel engines altogether in favor of engines that use cleaner energy sources such as natural gas.

3.3M tons of Hanford soil going to landfill

RICHLAND (AP) -- About 3.3 million tons of contaminated soil and debris has been removed from around nine old plutonium-production reactors at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The soil comes from where contaminated water was dumped into the ground after it was used to cool the reactors. That water left behind radioactive and nonradioactive chemicals in the soil.

The amount removed represents about 40 percent of the 7.8 million tons of contaminated soil and debris being moved from the Columbia River shoreline to a huge landfill in the center of the 560-square-mile reservation, the state Department of Ecology said.

"There's an enormous amount of work left to do at Hanford, but occasionally we need to recognize accomplishments along the way," Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons said last week in a news release.

"Cleaning up the contamination left by the cooling waters has been some of the least complicated cleanup work, but it's still great to see it done safely and quickly," he said.

John Price, the Washington Department of Ecology's Hanford environmental restoration project manager, said the river shore cleanup efforts next will concentrate on 45 large burial sites around the reactors. They contain radioactive hardware and other contaminated trash.

The U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state recently negotiated deadlines to finish removing radioactive soil and other buried contamination from the reactor areas by 2012.

Oregon DEQ targets mines for cleanup

BEND, Ore. (AP) -- Since miners pulled the last flask of mercury in 1958 from the Horse Heaven Mine in Jefferson County, the site has seen several owners but little environmental cleanup.

Today the mine is a priority for cleanup by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. And it's not alone.

Piles of mine rubble known as tailings are testimony to the once-active mining that took place as mercury from the mine was sent to separate gold dust from powdered quartz in the state's gold mines that flourished in the 1800s. It was later used in industry.

Unless owners or "responsible parties" can be found, the state bears the burden of cleanup, which could reach into the tens of millions of dollars.

Nonetheless, the state has begun analysis on mine sites throughout Oregon hoping to create a priority list for cleaning them up.