September 30, 2003

Environmental Watch: CDM picks manager for Superfund work

SEATTLE -- CDM transferred associate Pamela Philip to Seattle from New York to manage CDM's Superfund work as a subconsultant under a major Environmental Protection Agency contract.

CDM is primary subconsultant to Parametrix, which this summer landed a 10-year $103 million contract for architecture, engineering, technical and management services on Superfund sites in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.

Philip was a senior CDM project manager in New York and has more than 15 years' experience in environmental investigations. She will help CDM streamline Superfund cleanups in the Pacific Northwest and plan for early action to reduce risks to human health and the environment.

Corps eyes change for Oregon permits

PORTLAND -- The Army Corps of Engineers is accepting comments on a proposal to issue a Statewide Programmatic General Permit to defer certain permit applications affecting Oregon's federally regulated waters to Oregon's Division of State Lands for initial review and evaluation.

Under the proposal, those seeking some permits regulated by the Corps and DSL could apply just to DSL. The activities would include stream bank protection projects; road construction, repairs and improvements; site preparations for building construction; stream and wetland restoration; minor fills or removals; utility lines; piling installation and removal; and repairs to water control structures or to improve fish passage.

To see the Corps' public notice, visit https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/g/notices/200100283-1.pdf.

Submit comments on the permit by Oct. 27 to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: CENWP-OP-GP (Judy Linton), P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR 97208-2946. For more information call (503) 808-4382.

State DNR picks four aquatic reserves

OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Natural Resources recommended four Puget Sound sites totaling nearly 16,000 acres as the first reserves in Washington's new aquatic reserves program.

The sites are on state-owned aquatic lands next to Maury Island, Fidalgo Bay, Cypress Island and Cherry Point. At the request of Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland, DNR will review the sites under the State Environmental Policy Act.

DNR will develop supplemental environmental impact statements for each site. The department will hold scoping meetings through April 2004.

Sutherland recognized Commencement Bay's Olympic View and Middle Waterway as important restored habitat but did not recommend the sites become state aquatic reserves.

Corps putting public notices online Nov. 1

SEATTLE -- Public notices for proposed projects requiring Army Corps of Engineers permits will be available online and via e-mail starting Nov. 1.

The Corps' Seattle district regulates work in navigable waters and associated wetlands throughout the state. The district's regulatory branch will replace paper copies of public notices with electronic versions, but those with no e-mail or Internet access will still receive paper copies through traditional mail.

To receive public notices by e-mail, send your e-mail address to regulatory.nws@usace.army.mil. To get notices by regular mail, send your name, address and phone number to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, Regulatory Branch, ATTN: Kristine Sanders, P.O. Box 3755, Seattle, WA 98124-3755.

Land deal adds 20 acres to Nisqually refuge

DUPONT -- A Quadrant Corp., Cascade Land Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service land deal will add 20 acres of habitat to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

In lieu of developing homes on 20 acres of a portion of Northwest Landing, a planned community in Dupont, Quadrant will sell the land to the Fish and Wildlife Service for $2 million.

Congressman Norm Dicks secured $2 million in federal funding. The Cascade Land Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust, will buy the property from Quadrant and hold it until Fish and Wildlife can release funds.

Located south of Tacoma on the Nisqually River Delta, the 3,000-acre refuge is home to salt- and freshwater marshes, grasslands and mixed forest, which provide resting and nesting areas for fish, migratory waterfowl, songbirds, raptors and wading birds.

State gets $1M wind power grant

BELLINGHAM -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will give Washington $1 million to help low-income households buy wind power.

The three-year grant comes from the department's Residential Energy Assistance Challenge project, whose goals are to develop 12 megawatts of wind power for low-income households and cut 20 percent of energy costs for 12,000 families eligible for federal assistance.

The grant will be administered by the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development through the Bellingham-based A World Institute for a Sustainable Humanity program.

Washington, B.C. groups host salmon benefit

SEATTLE -- Northwest Chinook Recovery of Washington and the Pacific Salmon Foundation of British Columbia are hosting a charity dinner and auction Oct. 2 in the Westin Seattle hotel.

Proceeds from the 6 p.m. event will benefit community-based, volunteer-driven salmon restoration projects on both sides of the border. Both organizations work with government agencies, tribal groups, nonprofits and the private sector to conserve and restore Pacific salmon and salmon habitats.

The MCs will be Curt Smitch, a NCR board member and former senior policy advisor to Gov. Gary Locke, and Rich Chapple, a member of the Pacific Salmon Commission. Tickets are $100. For more information or to buy tickets, call (360) 588-1917 in the U.S. or (604) 664-7664 in Canada.

Waste gasification system goes global

RICHLAND -- Praxair, Inc., and Integrated Environmental Technologies, a spin-off of the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will work together to market waste gasification systems for on-site treatment of waste from chemical, refinery and electronics plants.

Research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology led to the formation of Richland-based IET, which makes waste gasification systems and sells them to industries concerned with environmental hazards and the remediation and reuse of industrial waste streams.

IET's technology won a R&D 100 award in 1998 and a Federal Laboratory Consortium award in 2000. Praxair, one of the largest industrial gases companies in the world, will manage the IET technology and market and distribute it in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

For more information about IET's waste gasification technology, visit www.inentec.com.