December 24, 2002

Environmental Watch: NEBC: E-business at risk in state budget

SEATTLE -- The Northwest Environmental Business Council fears that Washington state lawmakers could discontinue at least two state tax breaks that have benefited its members.

The programs in jeopardy are tax incentives for environmental remediation and tax credits for research and development in environmental technology.

These programs have, according to the council, provided millions of dollars in benefits to members but will expire in the next biennium unless legislators extend them.

According to the council's newsletter, the group also worries that lawmakers could increase business and occupation taxes and sales taxes on services.

The council's Olympic Chapter will have a program on the upcoming legislative session at its luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 15 at McCormick & Schmick's Harborside Seafood Restaurant, 1200 Westlake Ave. N., in Seattle. NEBC lobbyists Jerry Smedes, and Linda Dennis will speak. For more information, telephone the council at 1 (888) 609-NEBC.

1000 Friends not in the consulting business

SEATTLE -- There have been minor grumblings in the environmental business community that 1000 Friends of Washington is cutting in on the action of private companies.

But Aaron Ostrom, executive director of the non-profit group dedicated to managing growth and stopping sprawl, says consultants have nothing to worry about.

Yes, the organization submitted a proposal to work on one project, but only one. That was to do some federal Department of Transportation work on transit-oriented developments with King County. "It was to do a review and evaluation of development regulations in different cities and how they support or don't support TODs," Ostrom said, adding he's unsure if the work has been awarded yet.

He noted that in recent years the organization has followed TODs as a means to limit sprawl. The submittal was a continuation of that work.

"To say we are showing up on submittals is not really accurate," Ostrom said. "It's not really like a new business model or anything."

UW study is bad news for reindeer

SEATTLE -- New research at the University of Washington indicates the world's changing climate imperils the food of reindeer and other hoofed animals.

Scientists have long known that rain falling on snow in the far-northern latitudes during winter affect such herds, including caribou and musk ox that feed on lichens and mosses that grow on the soil surface. In one recent instance on the far-north island of Spitsbergen, soil temperatures that normally stay well below freezing rose to near freezing and remained there for about 10 days because rainwater seeped through the snow and water pooled at the soil surface. When temperatures dropped again, the water froze, and the ice coating kept the animals from their food supply.

"You have an ice layer at the surface several centimeters thick that even a person couldn't get through without tools," said Jaakko Putkonen, a research assistant professor of earth and space sciences at the UW.

The ice layer lasts until summer. "During those periods, the herders have to start bringing out hay because the reindeer just can't get food."

It appears that climate change will make things substantially worse. Putkonen developed a model of snow and soil heat generation to gauge the effects of climate change. Putkonen and his UW colleague Gerard Roe studied the results of the global climate model.

Projecting ahead to 2080-89, the model shows a 40 percent increase in the land area affected by rain-on-snow events. Typically those events happen closer to coastal areas, but the model predicts they will move much farther inland.

"This is a consequence of climate change that specifically affects native peoples, said Putkonen.

Putkonen and Roe's findings will be published in an upcoming issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union.

Eco-Tile is newest LinkUp partner

SEATTLE -- Quarry Tile Co., the maker of Eco-Tile, is the newest member of King County's LinkUp recycling program.

Eco-Tile is made of approximately 70 percent recycled materials, including glass, grinding paste from the computer industry, and soil and rock waste from the sand and gravel industry. The tiles also contain reprocessed glaze waste from Quarry Tile's other manufacturing operations.

The county developed LinkUp to encourage businesses to use more recycled materials in manufacturing processes.

One of the reasons the county named Quarry Tile of Spokane a LinkUp partner is because it uses mixed-color glass cullet. The county's Solid Waste Division has designated this as a priority material for increased recycling. TriVitro, another LinkUp participant, is located in Kent and supplies the glass cullet.

TriVitro makes recycled tumbled glass pebbles for home decor and crafts as well as a recycled-glass grit used for blasting abrasive. After crushing glass for its use, TriVitro collects the dust and finely ground particles and sends it to Quarry Tile. Previously, the glass dust was shipped to a landfill.

Biofiltration company ready to take off

TUALATIN, Ore. -- Pollution fighting biofiltration technology has not been widely accepted, but that's changing.

The Portland Tribune reports that Bio-Reaction Industries of Tualatin is honing its patented biofiltering system. Now the company is reading to "take off and run," says company cofounder, President and CEO Randall Thom.

Thom said the 9-year-old company should become profitable for the first time next year when its revenue climbs from $500,000 to a projected $5.5 million.

Thom started Bio-Reaction with Bill Stewart. At the time, Thom headed a Tualatin paint manufacturing company, Strategic Finishing Inc. It had to deal with paint emissions from its processes, and that’s how Bio-Reaction got started.

Bio-Reaction officials say they have found a less expensive, lower-energy method to handle emissions. It takes living organisms -- bacteria and fungi found in yard debris -- and turns them into pollution-munching air cleansers.

The organisms are kept alive in warm, humid environments and provided with enough "food" to keep the system working. Bio-Reaction has patented indestructible balls of bacteria-bearing compost, called Bio-Airspheres, that form the "filter" through which contaminated air passes. The system can reduce pollution by 80 percent to 95 percent, according to the company.