December 23, 2003

Environmental Watch: Energy Efficiency Alliance names chair

PORTLAND -- The board of directors of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance elected Mat Northway, long-time manager of energy management services for the Eugene Water & Electric Board, as its new chair.

At a recent annual meeting, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance board elected new officers and approved $8 million in funding for commercial-sector initiatives and $3.5 million for residential initiatives for 2004 and 2005.

The Northwest Efficiency Alliance is a non-profit group representing utility, government, public-interest and industry groups. The board named the Oregon Department of Energy's Mark W. Kendall as treasurer and Puget Sound Energy's Bob Stolarski as secretary. Kendall, Stolarski and Northway will serve for one year.

Oregon tribal lands get FSC certification

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. -- The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs has received Forest Stewardship Council certification for the tribe's commercial forestry operations on 430,000 acres along the eastern slopes of Oregon's Cascade mountains.

Pine and mixed-conifer forest covers nearly two-thirds of the Warm Springs Reservation. FSC specialists in Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood Program reviewed the ecological, economic and social impact of the tribe's forest management methods, according to FSC-accredited conservation organization. For details visit www.smartwood.org.

Ecology revises state shoreline rules

OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology adopted changes to the state's shoreline guidelines, prompting counties and cities to modify shoreline programs.

The guidelines require cities and counties to inventory the ecological functions of shorelines and update shoreline programs over the next decade. To reduce erosion, cities and counties must slow the spread of bulkheads and other shoreline armoring, according to Ecology. They must also restrict piers and docks to minimum size.

Shoreline programs regulate new development and shorelines use along rivers, larger streams, lakes over 20 acres, and marine waterfronts.

The state issued draft guidelines for public comment in July and made 17 changes in response, according to Ecology. For details visit www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/SMA/guidelines/index.html.

SEPA/NEPA conference Jan. 28

SEATTLE -- Representatives of David Evans & Associates, Stoel Rives, Sound Transit, the Port of Seattle, Preston Gates & Ellis and other firms and government agencies will speak at a SEPA/NEPA conference at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel Jan. 28, 2004.

The conference is being organized by Law Seminars International, an educational organization that focuses on legal and business topics in the United States and Canada. For details call (206) 621-1938 or (800) 854-8009 or e-mail registrar@lawseminars.com.

Green project wins energy award

SPOKANE -- Riverwalk Point Phase One, a low-income multifamily housing development, won a U.S. Department of Energy "2003 Power Player Award" for energy efficiency.

Riverwalk Point Phase One is the first of a three-phase Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs initiative to design sustainable low-income communities. It has five buildings with a total of 52 units, and 100 more units planned for future phases.

Bernardo-Wills Architects PC planned and designed the project, which uses natural daylight, efficient HVAC equipment, geothermal heating/cooling and low-consumption water devices. KOP Construction was contractor.

EPA promotes 'green chemistry' awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting nominations for its annual Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, which recognize the research, development and use of technologies that help industry prevent pollution.

Nominations should focus on design of safer chemicals or alternative synthetic pathways or reaction conditions for green chemistry. The technologies must reduce health and environmental impacts. Academic, government and industry groups can compete. The deadline is Dec. 31.

Gorge air study must be scaled back

THE DALLES, Ore. (AP) -- A shortage of funds is forcing researchers to limit an air quality study in the Columbia River Gorge.

Every summer, parts of the Gorge are choked with haze and smog. The pollution is a mixture of sulfates from fuel, nitrates, carbons and dust.

In 2000, Columbia River Gorge Commission commissioners added an air-quality amendment to the gorge management plan, calling for state and federal agencies to identify pollution sources and develop a strategy to improve air quality.

Agencies created a strategy projected to cost at least $7 million, and Gorge commissioners approved it in 2001. But Congress funded only $670,000 of a initial $1.2 million request, forcing researchers to scale back the study, and the Washington Department of Ecology dropped out because of state budget cuts.

Researchers cut costs by taking advantage of studies by Washington universities and regional agencies. They also reduced pollution monitoring from two years to 12 weeks by concentrating on known periods of heavy haze.

Massive slide sparks logging debate

TILLAMOOK, Ore. (AP) -- A steep slope in the Tillamook State Forest that was logged six years ago collapsed in a massive mud slide, burying a prime salmon stream in debris.

The landslide renewed concerns about how much logging should be permitted on steep slopes and above watersheds in state forests.

Oregon forestry officials said the collapse was too big to have been caused by timber cutting. But conservation and activist groups called the slide evidence that logging rules provide poor protection.

The slide poured as much as 800 cubic yards of debris into the stream, burying the gravel nests of Chinook salmon.

The Tillamook Rainforest Coalition, which supports a ballot measure to limit logging in Tillamook and Clatsop state forests, blamed the Forestry Department's management plan. The Forestry Department said the hillside is naturally unstable, and heavy rains on top of snow most likely triggered the slide.

Learn about winter wildlife Dec. 26

NEAR NORTH BEND -- Seattle Public Utilities naturalists will discuss winter wildlife Dec. 26 at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center in the Cascade foothills near North Bend.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., families with elementary-aged children can learn about animal tracks and bird feeders and hear Woodland Park Zoo staff discuss native Washington wildlife. For details and directions, call (206) 733-9421 or (425) 831-6780.