December 16, 2003

Environmental Watch: Two firms combine remediation services

LONGVIEW -- Longview-based Thermal Remediation Services and Idaho Falls, Idaho-based North Wind Inc. are teaming up to restore chlorinated solvent source areas.

Thermal Remediation Services uses electrical resistance heating for thermal soil and groundwater remediation. North Wind provides bioremediation of chlorinated solvent source areas and petroleum hydrocarbons in lithologic settings. The companies are combining the technologies.

ESA conference in Seattle in January

SEATTLE -- Representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Stoel Rives and the University of Washington Law School will speak at the 11th Annual Endangered Species Act conference at the Red Lion Hotel on Fifth Avenue Jan. 22-23, 2004.

Patrick Parenteau of Vermont Law School, Melanie Rowland of NOAA, James Lynch of Stoel Rives and others will discuss ESA listing decisions, critical habitat designations and salmon recovery plans.

For details visit www.theseminargroup.net/htmls/seminars/04esawa/index.htm or call (800) 574-4852.

Built Green design competition/workshop

SEATTLE -- Green materials, natural landscapes, certified wood and construction waste will be discussed from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 8 in the Built Green Seattle Design Competition & Workshop in the Mountaineers Building at 300 Third Ave. W.

But the hottest topic will be next year's Built Green design competition, which will reward developers, designers and contractors for innovative residential projects.

Presenters will discuss strategies and resources to win the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties Built Green certification for single-family, multi-family, remodel or community projects -- as well as tips on the design competition.

For details about the city of Seattle/Built Green workshop, call Lynne Barker at (206) 684-0806.

PSE to seek energy-efficiency proposals

BELLEVUE -- Puget Sound Energy filed a draft request for proposals for services to help the utility reach its energy-conservation goals.

The utility subsidiary of Puget Energy will accept proposals from companies specializing in energy efficiency to help PSE's energy-efficiency program in 2006-07.

PSE's currently offers grants, rebates and technical help for energy-efficiency measures. The draft RFP seeks energy-saving pilot projects and technologies.

It comes as the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission recently endorsed PSE's plan to help customers save nearly 40 megawatts of electricity and more than 5 million therms of natural gas in 2004-05, according to PSE.

University of Oregon sustainability workshops

EUGENE, Ore. -- The University of Oregon will hold professional development workshops on sustainability practices at UO's Baker Downtown Center Jan. 8-9.

The workshops, from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Jan. 8 and 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Jan. 9., are part of a series on helping businesses and organizations produce sustainable economic, social and environmental results.

The first will focus on governance and the second on designing, testing and implementing new practices. The series started in September and ends in May 2004.

Bob Doppelt, who directs the Program on Watershed and Community Health in UO's Institute for a Sustainable Environment, will lead the workshops. For details visit center.uoregon.edu/sustainability or call (800) 824-2714.

National biodiesel conference Feb. 1-4

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- The National Biodiesel Board will hold its first annual Biodiesel Conference & Expo at the Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel Feb. 1-4.

Representatives of the Jefferson City, Mo.-based trade association will discuss technical, marketing and regulatory aspects of biodiesel fuel, a clean-burning derivative of fat or vegetable oil that powers diesel engines with few or no modifications.

More than 350 commercial fleets use biodiesel, and more than 200 retail filling stations carry it, according to the association. Fleets use pure biodiesel and biodiesel/petroleum diesel blends. Topics will include quality assurance, farm use, new markets and legislation. For details visit www.biodiesel.org.

Pollution credit proposal draws protest

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) -- Medford residents are mad at a government air quality agency that proposed to let industries buy "clean-air credits," allowing the industries to pollute more.

The Department of Environmental Quality proposed letting industries that install new pollution equipment sell clean-air credits to factories that have not.

The proposal could double the number of fine particles produced by new or expanding industry.

By 2015, dust produced by rising vehicle traffic could help boost Jackson County pollution by a third, according to agency projections.

Jackson County residents advocate a long-term solution to lessen smog, and want the agency to also address road dust, diesel emissions, wood stove smoke, open burning and other pollution sources.

Poplar trees help clean up hog waste

WHITAKERS, N.C. (AP) -- Researchers are testing poplar trees as a way to dispose of sludge from hog waste lagoons.

N.C. State University researchers are using hybrid poplars to suck up waste. Studies show the trees can metabolize nearly 3,000 gallons of waste per acre per day.

North Carolina has 1,700 inactive hog waste lagoons and 4,500 in use. In current state-approved cleanups, liquid is drained from lagoons, and farmers pays to have it scooped out, trucked away and spread on fields.

Studies show one hog produces 8,000 to 64,000 pounds of waste a year. Cleaning out a lagoon now costs up to $40,000 an acre, before land costs. A two-to-three acre cleanup using the poplars could cost $15,000 to $20,000. State officials will debate approving the poplar procedure.

California washer rule now in limbo

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A freeze on regulations Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared on his first day in office may delay or alter a law requiring greater water efficiency for California clothes washers, which could keep the state from saving billions of gallons in water use.

The California Energy Commission must adopt the regulations putting the first-in-the-nation law into place by the end of the year. It has applied to the governor's office for an exemption to Schwarzenegger's order, which requires agencies to assess potential regulatory impacts on the state's businesses.

But commissioners don't know if they'll get the exemption, said Valerie Hall, one of the agency's directors. "We are not certain of the effects at this time."

While the administration says the regulations aren't in jeopardy, officials haven't provided any specifics about what will happen. That has water conservation experts concerned the state may blow a chance to both save enough water to supply 100,000 homes for a year and provide a national model for water conservation involving an appliance that consumes 20 percent of a household's annual water use.