March 4, 2003

Environmental Watch: Herrera grows planning, permit services

SEATTLE -- Herrera Environmental Consultants Inc. is expanding its environmental planning and permitting services.

Gordon Thomson and Mary Yoder-Williams will provide planning and regulatory review support for numerous projects, including the Seattle Monorail project and Herrera's prime On-Call Permitting Services contract with Sound Transit.

Thompson joined Herrera this year as a senior planner specializing in urban/environmental planning. He has 20 years of senior-level land-use and environmental regulation experience with the city of Bothell and King County.

Yoder-Williams joined Herrera last year as a senior ecologist and environmental planner with more than 16 years of experience in biological assessment and environmental management, including 10 years with the city of Seattle.

Port OKs $5M for Sea-Tac soil work

SEATAC -- The Port of Seattle Commission last week appropriated $5 million to hire an environmental agent to work on soils issues in connection with construction at Sea-Tac Airport.

The agent will deal with contaminated soils and unanticipated field conditions as well as facilitate regulatory compliance.

Currently, the role of the agents is filled by a contract with Parsons Transportation Group. The Commission has approved a competitive procurement for a stand-alone, open order contract to support various projects. Port staff estimate this would amount to a savings of $400,000 over a five-year period.

GLY joins Construction Works

SEATTLE -- GLY Construction of Bellevue has been selected to join King County's Construction Works, a program that provides free assistance and recognition to builders who not only recycle but also use recycled-content materials.

GLY is recognized for its general contracting work on the Microsoft Building 36 project, a 300,000-square-foot high-tech office with 450,000-square-feet of below-grade parking.

To qualify for the county program, GLY pledged to fulfill waste-reduction criteria. For example, the company projects a 75-percent recycling rate of job site waste, including wood, plastic films, metals, cardboard, drywall and ceiling tiles.

GLY is also reusing existing asphalt for backfill and temporary roads, it's minimizing the removal of trees and it plans to prefabricate drywall to minimize on-site cutting and waste while saving on disposal costs.

Berryman & Henigar helps on sewer LID

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND -- The city has selected Berryman & Henigar to help form a local improvement district for new municipal sewers. Company Senior Vice President Gary Bourne adds that should the project proceed, the firm will design the $4-million sewer system.

Three of the affected neighborhoods are beachfront properties, so conventional sewer collection methods are not cost effective, and those areas will be served by grinder pumps. The pumps will be built on private property and maintained by the city so unique construction and LID procedures will be developed.

Berryman & Henigar also will help develop grinder pump standards and assist in public information and community relations.

State Senate mulls Web-permit bill

OLYMPIA -- Legislation that would fund a pilot project to test a Web-based method of coordinating environmental review and permitting is winding its way through the state Senate, with a hearing yesterday afternoon.

The Economic Development Committee passed SB 5694 to the Ways and Means Committee, which will debate the proposal's financial implication. Proponents are recommending $250,000 to fund the pilot project.

Carl Kassebaum, president of CRK Environmental Management of Seattle, came up with the proposal that would start environmental review, design and permitting at the same time and document the process with a single file on the Web.

He said the Governor's Office, the departments of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife, the Association of Washington Business and People for Puget Sound have submitted testimony in favor of the bill. It's outlined in a story "Can the Web help untangle permitting?" in the Feb. 10 DJC.

Show will feature green wood products

SEATTLE -- Furniture makers in the Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Partnership will display their wares at the three-day Northwest Home Furnishings Show that starts Saturday at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.

Nearly 100 companies are signed up for the show that is open only to retailers, interior and graphic designers, architects, manufacturer's representatives, importers/exporters and related trades. More information is available at the Web site of the show host, Western Exhibitors LLC & Universal Shows Inc. The address is http://www.weshows.com/index.html.

The Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Partnership is made up of 30 family-owned wood-products manufacturers from Northern California to Idaho. With about five employees each, the companies work with 15 supporting state agencies and nonprofits that help market products in urban areas. Sustainable Northwest in Portland and Watershed Research and Training Center in Hayfork, Calif., are the group's managing partners.

$1.7M Oregon grants go to river habitats

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- Oregon's $1.7 million share of grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore habitat will go toward replanting native vegetation and removing invasive plants along rivers near Portland and in eastern Oregon.

Projects are targeted for restoring private lands along the Sandy River and other waterways outside Portland and the Silvies River in Harney County in Eastern Oregon.

Key goals include eradicating Japanese and giant knotweed and replanting native species along the Sandy, planting 11,000 trees and shrubs on other streams near Portland and restoring floodplains, wetlands and uplands in the Silvies River watershed.

Oregon will add to the grants with $163,000 in state funds and $3.1 million will come from local supporters.

The grants are part of a $34.8 million national effort, the Landowner Incentive Program, which will allow the state to provide technical and financial help to private landowners.

De-icer saves time, money, environment

EVERETT -- Snohomish County crews have started applying to roads a new anti-icing solution that officials say is better for the environment.

Calcium magnesium acetate, a non-corrosive and non-toxic product, is derived from lime and acetic acid, also known as vinegar. Unlike sand, CMA does produce sediments that wash into streams, according to Roy Scalf Sr., operations coordinator of the county's Public Works Road Maintenance Division.

He expects the use of CMA to save the county money by reducing the labor and material costs of applying and sweeping up sand.

The one drawback of CMA is that it leaves dark streaks parallel to driving lanes. This can leave the appearance of wet or icy pavement, which in turn can lead drivers to believe the pavement hasn't been treated.

B.C., U.S. team up on ecosystem event

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- For the first time, the Puget Sound Action Team and the Georgia Basin Ecosystem Initiative will cosponsor the four-day Georgia Basin-Puget Sound Research Conference that starts March 31 in Vancouver.

The conference will build upon five previous Puget Sound-based events, and a significant objective will be to bring increased focus on the shared nature of the ecosystems.

Hundreds of leading scientists and natural resource managers will discuss an array of scientific and political challenges at the Westin Bayshore Hotel. More information is at http://www.wa.gov/puget_sound/Publications/2003research/RC2003.htm.

Waste workshops set for Seattle, Portland

SEATTLE -- The Hazardous/Toxic Waste Management 2003 Certification Workshops will be in the Seattle and Portland areas later this month.

The Portland dates are March 24-25 at the Holiday Inn at the Convention Center, and the Seattle workshop will be March 27-28 at the SeaTac Holiday Inn.

For further details or to register: see www.lion.com/W693; write register@lion.com; or phone (973) 383-0800, extension W693.