June 24, 2003

Environmental Watch: Aberdeen area cleanup may start soon

ABERDEEN -- The Washington Department of Ecology is seeking public comments on a proposal to clean up petroleum- and metals-contaminated groundwater, soil, surface water and ditch sediment at the 295-acre former Roderick Timber site, near Aberdeen.

Ecology also issued a determination of nonsignificance for the proposal.

Ecology will issue a $1.2 to $1.6 million grant to the city of Aberdeen, which will advertise for bids on the work, said Ecology site manager Dom Reale. He said cleanup could begin this summer and end by September 2004.

Located in Junction City near Aberdeen, the site is a former truck maintenance shop and log sorting yard in the Chehalis River floodplain. Much of the property, which originally was a wetland, was used as a landfill for dredge spoils, wood waste and garbage from 1958 to 1968 before it became a timber operation from the mid-1970s until 1988.

Under the cleanup proposal, the city of Aberdeen and Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority will excavate ditch surface sediment and soil; cover the fenced area with gravel; build a bioswale and install an interception trench to route contaminated groundwater away from neighborhood ditches; cap garbage with soil and vegetation; plant vegetation around the landfill perimeter to draw up metals from soil; monitor groundwater and bioswale surface water; and place deed restrictions to ensure future owners maintain elements of the cleanup.

Submit comments and requests for updates are due by June 27 to Dom Reale, site manager, Ecology Southwest Regional Office, Toxics Cleanup Program, 300 Desmond Drive S.E., P.O. Box 47775, Olympia, WA 98504-7775. For more information, call Reale at (360) 407-6266.

Washington wins $1.2M brownfields grants

SEATTLE -- King County and seven other Washington jurisdictions won more than $1.2 million in competitive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brownfields assessment and cleanup grants.

The EPA awards are part of $73.1 million in federal brownfields funds allocated under the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Of 700 applicants nationwide, 176 jurisdictions in 37 states won awards, said Tim Brincefield of the EPA Region 10 Brownfields Team.

EPA also selected the Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development for a $3 million revolving loan grant fund for assessment and cleanup of contaminated sites across the state. Washington has nearly 5,400 suspected or confirmed contaminated sites and almost 5,000 leaking underground storage tanks, according to EPA.

The King County Brownfields Program will use the funds to pay for environmental assessments of properties targeted for redevelopment in Auburn and near North Bend. The grant will also help fund King County's Environmental Extension Service Program, which provides free technical assistance to manufacturing and industrial businesses in assessing, cleaning up and redeveloping brownfield properties, said Lucy Auster, of the county's Solid Waste Division.

EPA assessment and cleanup grants totaling more than $1.2 million went to King County, Bellingham, Buckley, Kitsap County, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and Skokomish Indian Tribe.

Herrera Environmental adds staff

SEATTLE -- Herrera Environmental Consultants added geologists George Iftner and Brady Hanson to its hazardous materials group.

Iftner is a licensed geologist and environmental scientist with experience in site investigation and remediation, underground storage tank removal, groundwater quality, and landfill gas and construction monitoring. Hanson is a staff geologist with experience in RCRA facility closure, complex hydrogeologic interpretation, mass balance calculations, remedial effectiveness evaluations, ground water sampling programs and regulatory compliance for hazardous waste projects.

Iftner and Hanson joined Herrera under an on-call U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contract for conducting hazardous waste site assessments, mitigation analysis, and pre-remedial design and construction oversight for cleanup sites throughout the Pacific Northwest.

AWB gives 13 environmental awards

SEATTLE -- The Association of Washington Business recognized seven Washington companies with Environmental Excellence awards and six with certificates of Continuous Improvement.

The AWB awards went to Cispus Learning Center of Randle, MountainStar Resort of Roslyn, Port Blakely Tree Farms of Tumwater, Pacific NW National Laboratory of Richland, Georgia Pacific Co. of Bellingham, GP Gypsum of Tacoma and Quadrant Corp. of Bellevue.

The certificates went to Echo Bay Minerals of Republic, Weyerhaeuser Building Materials of Tacoma, Cablecraft of Tacoma, Stevens Pass (New Stevens LLC) of Skykomish, Nuprecon of Snoqualmie and Westmark Products of Tacoma.

Habitat projects win $130,000 from county

SEATTLE -- The King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks awarded more than $130,000 in habitat restoration and conservation education grants to five fish and wildlife habitat projects.

Recipients included the Adopt a Stream Foundation, Heron Habitat Helpers, Homewaters Project/North Seattle Community College, Mid-Puget Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group and Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District.

King County awards grants for watershed protection, habitat restoration, reforestation, salmon conservation, natural resources stewardship and other education related projects. Proposals for grants up to $5,000 are accepted anytime, but the deadline for grants of $5,000 to $50,000 is Aug. 1. For more information, call Ken Pritchard at (206) 296-8265 or visit the Grant Exchange at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/pi/grants.htm.

Neighborhood groups can get free trees

SEATTLE -- The Department of Neighborhoods is delivering free trees to qualified neighborhood groups that want to spruce up residential planting strips. Groups of at least five households can request trees, which the city will deliver this fall.

Those interested in the trees should apply by Aug. 22 and designate two people to attend an October training session on tree planting and maintenance. Download application forms online at seattle.gov/neighborhoods.

The Department of Neighborhoods has contributed more than 20,000 trees to Seattle neighborhoods under Seattle's Neighborhood Matching Fund program in the past three years.

For more information, contact Shireen Deboo at 206-684-0547 or shireen.deboo@seattle.gov.

NEBC to hold rooftop mixer July 17

SEATTLE -- The Northwest Environmental Business Council is holding its 10th Annual Olympic Chapter Rooftop Mixer on the rooftop of HartCrowser July 17.

NEBC members, board members, colleagues and guests are invited to chat with new members and potential partners over drinks and hors d'oeuvres at 1910 Fairview Ave. E. from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Registration is $30 each for NEBC members and guests, and $45 for non-members. Space is limited, and cancellations will be accepted until noon July 15, after which no-shows will be charged.

To sponsor the mixer, call NEBC staff at (503) 227-6361. For more information, contact NEBC at (888) 609-NEBC (6322) or visit www.nebc.org.