July 8, 2003

Environmental Watch: Workshop to highlight EPA rules

SEATTLE -- An upcoming workshop will provide diverse discussion groups for professionals whose jobs require a clear understanding of federal environmental mandates.

Lion Technology Inc. invites environmental engineers, consultants, executives and those with related duties to "The Complete Environmental Regulations Workshop" July 27 and 28 at Hilton Seattle Airport. Topics include authorities, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, pesticides, hazardous waste, Superfund & EPCRA, toxic substances, environmental management and "systematic compliance versus common sense."

Registration is $795 for first and second guests and $645 for third and fourth guests and is flexible for groups of five or more. The cost includes reference manuals, online materials, certification and a banquet luncheon. For registration information, call (973) 383-0800 Ext. E716 or email register@lion.com. For more information, visit www.lion.com/E716.

Conference on NW water supply issues

BOISE -- National, state and local policy makers and elected officials will discuss Pacific Northwest water supply problems at a July 17 conference hosted by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation.

"Water 2023" topics will include: watersheds with the greatest risk of inadequate water supply in the next 25 years; ways to address supply challenges; and planning approaches and tools with the best chance for success.

The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel, Boise Downtowner, 1800 Fairview, Boise. It is free, but pre-registration is required. For registration details and a list of panelists and speakers, visit www.usbr.gov/pn.

Duwamish sites picked for early cleanup

SEATTLE -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Ecology accepted a report identifying seven areas of the lower Duwamish waterway as candidates for early sediment cleanup.

The lower Duwamish waterway has been Seattle's main industrial corridor since the early 1900s. King County and the city of Seattle, Port of Seattle and Boeing Co. -- or the Lower Duwamish Waterway Group -- prepared the report.

The group considered areas where chemical concentrations at three or more locations were higher than state standards to protect clams, worms and other creatures that live in mud. It also considered areas with the highest levels of polychlorinated biphenyls.

The areas in the report are along five miles of the Duwamish between Harbor Island and Tukwila. Cleanup studies are planned for four early-action sites in the lower Duwamish site. Cleanup will also begin this fall for contaminated sediments near the Duwamish combined sewer overflow and Diagonal Way storm drain, where planning began before the area was included in the site.

For more information on lower Duwamish sites, call B.J. Cummings at the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition at (206) 954-0218, or visit info@duwamishcleanup.org.

EPA says Vancouver plume getting cleaner

VANCOUVER (AP) -- A milelong plume of contaminated groundwater from a Superfund site is slowly becoming cleaner, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.

Lee Marshall, an EPA project manager, said early indications are that the pump-and-treat system is working as expected on the groundwater plume extending 17 blocks to the west of the "Boomsnub site" in Hazel Dell, an unincorporated area north of Vancouver.

The EPA is conducting its first formal progress review since the site was added to the Superfund list in 1994.

That's when the EPA shut down the old Boomsnub Chrome & Grind Inc. electroplating plant, demolished the building and removed more than 6,000 tons of chromium-laced soil at a cost of $5 million.

BOC Gases, formerly Airco Gases, is located across the street from Boomsnub and has spilled volatile organic compounds, among them the suspected carcinogen TCE.

Those compounds mixed with the remaining chromium from Boomsnub's site to create a slow-moving plume of tainted groundwater.

Marshall said monitoring wells have revealed a reduction in trichloroethylene and chromium in the groundwater.

Comments due on Tacoma cleanup

TACOMA -- The U.S. Department of Justice announced a 30-day public comment period on two proposed settlement agreements for hazardous waste cleanup at the Middle Waterway of Commencement Bay.

The agreements are between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and 11 parties who accepted liability for Middle Waterway cleanup. Commencement Bay mouth and Middle Waterway cleanup will be done by the Middle Waterway Action Committee, while the Department of Natural Resources and other parties will handle cleanup for the head of the waterway.

The committee will dredge roughly 94,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments and dispose of it in Blair Slip 1; place three feet of material in areas where it is impossible to remove all contaminated sediments; place a foot of clean material over surface sediments with low contamination; and remove about 800 creosote-treated timber piles and replace them with concrete or steel piles.

The city of Tacoma, DNR and other responsible parties will remove up to 4,000 cubic yards of contaminated subsurface sediments and dispose of the sediments at an off-site facility; and place a thin layer of clean material to reduce contamination in surface sediments with contaminants slightly above cleanup levels.

Submit comments by July 21 to Assistant Attorney General, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, P.O. Box 7611, Wash., D.C. 20044-7611. Comments must include the reference United States v. Foss Maritime Co., et al., No. CO3-5331RJB, DOJ Ref. 90-11-2-729/1.

Seattle arborist earns national title

SEATTLE -- Long-time Seattle arborist Scott Baker earned designation as a registered consulting arborist by the American Society of Consulting Arborists.

Baker is a certified arborist and owner of Tree Solutions, Inc., a Seattle arboriculture firm that provides risk evaluation, diagnostics, tree appraisals, sustainable landscape design and renovation, vegetation inventory and planning. Baker is also a tree preservation advocate with experience in development and construction sites. He joins two other registered consulting arborists in Washington.

Oregon spotlights solar events

JOHN DAY, Ore. -- Those interested in soaking up knowledge about solar power can spend six days visiting solar workshops and exhibits in Oregon this month.

From July 22 to July 24, a mountain cabin near John Day will be the subject of a solar electric installation workshop. The cabin's owners have lived off-grid for more than 20 years and are installing solar panels that will produce both AC and DC power.

From July 25 to July 27, the SolWest Renewable Energy Fair at the Grant County Fairgrounds will offer more than 50 workshops on renewable energy and "independent living." Workshop topics will include solar water pumping, hydroelectric power, biofuels, solar hot water, photovoltaics and passive solar design.

Exhibitors will sell solar, hydro and wind power systems and components. For more information, visit www.solwest.org or call (541) 575-3663.