July 1, 2003

Environmental Watch: Farallon adds engineer, moves office

ISSAQUAH -- Farallon Consulting is relocating its Bellingham office to a larger space in the Cornwall Plaza Building at 1201 Cornwall Ave., Suite 105, this month. The extra space will allow the environmental consulting firm to add staff to join project manager Paul Grabau and geologist Tracy Mulhern.

Farallon also added associate chemical engineer Terry W. Montoya to its Issaquah office. Montoya has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Washington. His 15 years' experience in site remediation systems include projects under CERCLA, MTCA and state ecology programs in Oregon, Alaska and Idaho.

Shockey Brent hires scientist

EVERETT -- Everett-based Shockey Brent hired wetland/environmental scientist Oliver Grah to help the company represent public and private clients in project permitting and development. A professional wetlands scientist with a master's degree in watershed science from Utah State University, Grah has more than 20 years' experience in wetlands science, riparian zone assessments, soils surveys, vegetation mapping, river basin modeling, surface water hydrology and water-quality monitoring studies.

Adolfson Associates adds biologist

SEATTLE -- Environmental consulting firm Adolfson Associates added project biologist Steve Krueger to its Seattle office. The Seattle company specializes in natural resource management, planning, Endangered Species Act compliance and environmental impact analysis.

Krueger has more than 10 years' experience in salmonid and stream research and recovery and environmental monitoring programs, and has done quality control on large-scale remediation and restoration projects.

NEBC revs up for 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, call NEBC staff at (503) 227-6361. For more information, contact NEBC at (888) 609-NEBC (6322) or visit www.nebc.org.

Contractors can recycle mercury thermostats

SEATTLE -- The city of Tacoma and King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks are working with Thermostat Recycling Corp. and heating, ventilation and air conditioning wholesalers to collect and recycle toxic mercury thermostats.

Mercury is a nerve toxin that can damage the central nervous system, kidneys and liver, and is especially harmful to children and pregnant women, causing problems such as birth defects and learning disabilities.

The state legislature recently passed a bill prohibiting installation or reinstallation of mercury thermostats unless the manufacturer participates in a thermostat recycling program.

The King County Solid Waste Division estimates 12,000 to 20,000 mercury thermostats holding 80 to 130 pounds of mercury are removed from buildings each year. Homeowners have been able to bring mercury thermostats to household hazardous waste collection facilities in Pierce and King Counties, but the new program lets contractors safely dispose of thermostats as well.

HVAC contractors can drop off used mercury-switch thermostats at participating wholesalers, which collect the items and send them to TRC's recycling center. There, switches are removed and forwarded to mercury reclaimers. TRC is a private corporation set up by manufacturers Honeywell, White-Rodgers and General Electric to collect and recycle mercury thermostats. Nineteen area HVAC wholesalers are involved in the program.

Free pesticide disposal for businesses

OLYMPIA -- Business owners, public agencies and others who want to dispose of old or unusable pesticides can register in advance for four waste collection events the Washington Department of Agriculture is holding in August.

Leaky containers or improper pesticide disposal may cause health problems, contaminate drinking water supplies or cause environmental damage, according to WSDA. WSDA will accept insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides and most chemicals that kill, repel or prevent unwanted pests. It will not accept empty containers and other waste, such as fertilizers, motor oil and household hazardous waste.

The events are Aug. 19 near Mount Vernon, Aug. 20 in Seattle, Aug. 21 at Centralia and Aug. 22 at Vancouver. Walk-ins will not be served. Those who sign up by July 18, however, will receive directions to the site, hours of operation and needed transportation documents. WSDA will also provide supplies necessary to protect broken or leaky containers to ensure safe transportation to collection sites.

To sign up, call (360) 902-2056 or (877) 301-4555, or e-mail wastepesticide@agr.wa.gov. For information on how to dispose or recycle containers or hazardous household waste, contact a local hazardous household waste or solid waste department. Also, Northwest Ag Plastics operates a free empty plastic pesticide container recycling program. For information, call (509) 952-7146 or visit www.nwagplastics.com.

Explore watershed ecology with SPU

NORTH BEND -- Two upcoming Seattle Public Utilities seminars at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center near North Bend will discuss forest ecology and watershed restoration at King County's primary drinking water source.

From 7 to 8:30 p.m. on July 9, SPU will cover the basics of forest development and ecological processes in "Finding the Pieces of the Forest Ecology Puzzle." The cost is $5. From 7 to 9 p.m. on July 11 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on July 12, "Watershed Restoration: What's it all about?" will explore how watersheds are affected by human activities and environmental conditions. The two-day, $15 event will focus on mountain watersheds and will include an outing to restoration projects.

To register, call SPU's public programs information line at (206) 233-1515 ext. 4, or e-mail celese.brune@seattle.gov. For information about the Cedar River Watershed Education Center, visit www.seattle.gov/util/cedarwatershed/.