August 13, 2002

Environmental Watch: Lewis joins Jones & Stokes

Lewis

BELLEVUE -- Stephen G. Lewis has been named business group leader for environmental consulting firm Jones & Stokes' transportation and environmental planning practice in the Northwest.

Lewis has 24 years of experience in planning, including economic development and transportation planning. Prior to joining Jones & Stokes, he was executive vice president at Bucher, Willis & Ratliff in Seattle.

Lewis is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the American Planning Association and the Institute of Transportation Engineers among other professional affiliations. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in urban economic geography from Kansas State University.

Jones & Stokes, based in Sacramento, also has offices in Oregon, Arizona and other California locations.

Portland OKs deal with Climate Trust

PORTLAND -- The Portland City Council has approved a contract with Climate Trust to reduce global warming by improving the energy efficiency of apartments and commercial buildings.

Climate Trust will provide almost $1 million for this project because it reduces energy use and related emissions of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas largely responsible for global warming.

Over the next five years the Portland Office of Sustainable Development Energy and Green Building Divisions will use Climate Trust funding to work with the owners of over 12,000 apartment units and about 40 commercial buildings statewide to improve energy efficiency.

This collaboration leverages existing funds to provide technical expertise and facilitate access to financial incentives. Building tenants will benefit from reduced energy bills and increased comfort, while owners will improve property value and unit marketability.

The program is part of Portland’s Local Action Plan on Global Warming, which has a goal of reducing local emissions of greenhouse gases to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2010.

Oregon law requires power plant operators to offset their emissions through payments to Climate Trust. The payments are then used for projects which avoid, displace or sequester carbon dioxide emissions.

Ecology proposes new water storage rules

OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology is seeking public comment on a proposed rule about how the agency will review underground water-storage projects.

Above-ground reservoirs have been authorized to store water for years. In 2000, the legislature expanded its definition of a reservoir to include naturally occurring underground geological formations.

Water would be injected into these formations during wet periods. During dry periods the water would be extracted.

Ecology is planning one meeting in Western Washington to discuss the proposed rule. The meeting will be held Wednesday, Aug. 28, at the Lakehaven Center, 31531 First Ave. S. in Federal Way from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Public comments are being accepted through Sept. 9. For more information, go to the agency's Web site at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/wrhome.html.

KEECO's new Montana lab certified

LYNNWOOD -- Environmental remediation company KEECO has received provisional certification by the state of Montana to perform drinking water analysis for heavy metals, cyanide and mercury at its new lab in Butte.

The provisional certification period is required of all new labs in Montana. The provisional certification is for a period of one year, at which time the certification will become permanent, based on on-going compliance inspections.

KEECO says the new lab is part of its expansion plan. Previously, the company has done remediation on mine wastes, among other contaminants, using silica microencapsulation, which encloses metals in a silica matrix preventing their migration.

Panel: Columbia dredging could backfire

PORTLAND (AP) -- A panel of experts chosen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says a project to deepen the Columbia River channel could backfire on farmers and other local exporters.

The corps says the $156 million project to deepen the channel by 3 feet would create $1.46 of economic benefit for every $1 spent.

But the panel said Friday that shipping lines could pocket the savings and take advantage of the deeper channel by sending fewer ships to call on Portland.

Panelists said that in its study, the corps assumes that every vessel that travels less than fully loaded does so solely because the channel is not deep enough. The experts criticized the agency for counting benefits for "light-loaded" ships that sail at depths of 37 feet or less in the current 40-foot channel.

"We did not believe that allowing benefits for a vessel currently leaving at 36 to 37 feet is reasonable," said Daniel Smith, a consultant with the Tioga Group of Moraga, Calif.

Great Salt Lake lowest since 1980

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Great Salt Lake isn't as great as it used to be.

Lack of precipitation and a hot summer have caused the lake's level to recede sharply. It is now at 4,198 feet above sea level, the lowest since 1980.

Wallace Gwynn, a geologist with the Utah Geological Survey, predicted the lake will bottom out this year about Dec. 1 at 4,197.15 feet. The last time it was that low was in 1972.

Boaters, particularly those on Antelope Island, are now concerned that if trends continue, there soon won't be enough water to launch off the harbor without significant modifications.

Because it's such a shallow lake, even minor drops expose much more land around the lake.

At 4,200 feet, the lake covers 1,700 miles. At its 1963 record low, it covered only 950 square miles, while at its 1986-87 high, it expanded to 3,300 square miles.

Low lake levels, to a point, are a boost to lake industries like brine shrimp harvesters and salt and chemical extractors. Low levels concentrate chemicals and salt while also creating ideal conditions for brine shrimp.

But if the lake keeps dropping, industries might have to deepen canals and brine shrimpers may have trouble launching.

Military base recruits 300,000 worms

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has thousands of new recruits that roll around in the dirt and love to eat.

They're not the human variety. They're soldiers of the soil -- slimy, wriggling earthworms that devour food scraps and produce waste for fertilizer.

For the past three weeks, Wright-Patterson has been using worms to compost fruit and vegetable waste from the commissary. There are currently about 300,000 worms, and base officials expect the population to grow to 500,000.

Wright-Patterson got the worm farm free from Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma, Tenn. Arnold concluded that the base didn't generate enough waste to make it cost-effective there.

Over the past three weeks, the worms have devoured 7 tons of food scraps. Before the worms, it had cost the base $100 a ton to dispose of the scraps.