April 20, 2004

Environmental Watch: EPA toxic chemicals workshops

SEATTLE -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a series of free workshops on Toxic Chemical Release Inventory reporting on May 3, 4, 5, 7, 11 and 13.

The workshops will provide information to private sector and federal facilities staff responsible for records and TRI reporting, and consulting firms and lawyers who may be assisting them. For more information, call (206) 553-2571 or see www.epa.gov/tri.

Water law conference May 6 and 7

SEATTLE -- On May 6 and 7 Law Seminars International will present a Washington water law conference at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel.

Experts from western states will share experiences, challenges and success stories. For registration information, call (206) 621-1938 or (800) 854-8009, fax (206) 567-5058 or registrar@lawseminars.com.

Cormorant eggs moved to Portland

BREMERTON -- Washington State Department of Transportation and the Audubon Society of Portland moved four pelagic cormorant eggs from the Warren Avenue Bridge in Bremerton to Portland.

When WSDOT workers discovered 260 pairs of pelagic cormorants nesting under the bridge's center span last year, engineers and biologists had to hatch a plan to move forward on a project to paint the bridge.

Noisemakers and lights deterred most birds, but one peregrine falcon pair nested. WSDOT got permits from state and federal agencies and collected the eggs. WSDOT biologist Marion Carey said moving the eggs was a last resort. "Our goal now is to release the birds back into the wild in Washington state."

The Audubon Society in Portland will incubate and rear the eggs, and work with the Oregon Zoo to hatch them and prepare the falcons for reintroduction.

Bio oil fuel project starts in Canada

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- A Vancouver, B.C.-company, DynaMotive, has broken ground on a demonstration project for an oil-fueled power facility in West Lorain, Ontario.

The plant aims to show the commercial potential to convert waste products into energy. It will use a rapid heating process to turn bark, sawdust, shavings and agricultural waste into a unique oil.

Working with consulting groups, DynaMotive will build, install and operate a system to process Erie Flooring and Wood Products' wood residue. The plant is expected to process 100 tons per day of bio mass and to produce 70 tons of "oil."

Port buys Japanese Memorial Garden

SEA TAC -- The Port of Seattle recently purchased the site of the Japanese Memorial Garden on Des Moines Memorial Drive as part of its proposed third runway airport project.

The garden will receive $10,000 in maintenance labor and supplies from the Sea Tac Parks Department and $5,000 from the city of Burien.

The groups will give funds each year through 2007 or until the garden is relocated to Highline Botanical Garden in North SeaTac Park.

The Seike family constructed the garden to honor a son who died while serving the U.S. in World War II.

Wastewater treatment plant tours

SEATTLE -- King County's Wastewater Treatment Division will hold two open houses at its regional plants. The first is on Friday at the South Treatment Plant, 1520 S.W. Grady Way, in Renton from 4 to 6 p.m. The second is Saturday at the West Point Treatment Plant, 1400 W. Utah St., from 10 a.m to noon.

Visitors can see how more than 200 million gallons of wastewater are processed daily, and learn about plans for enhancing plants. King County treats wastewater for 1.4 million residents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.

$150K for Snohomish County disaster plan

EVERETT -- Snohomish County received a $150,000 federal grant to develop a plan with 10 of its cities. The grant will be used to take measures to reduce risks posed by floods, earthquakes, landslides, wildfires and severe weather.

The county applied for the pre-disaster mitigation grant, which is part of a Presidential initiative and administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A coalition of Snohomish County cities and agencies began work earlier this year on a natural hazards mitigation plan to identify natural hazards and areas of vulnerability. The plan is scheduled to be complete by November.

Anchorage geese population plummets

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- Anchorage's urban goose boom has fizzled and local scientists are not sure why.

The local population of lesser Canada geese has plummeted about 70 percent over the past eight years, from almost 5,000 in 1996 to an estimated 1,450 last July.

The city's overabundance of geese led to control measures but scientists with the Anchorage Waterfowl Working Group say they cannot fully explain what happened.

Human-tolerant lesser Canada geese colonized nest sites in Anchorage about 40 years ago and found a haven. The expansion of grassy yards, school fields, parks and golf courses, plus plenty of ponds and creeks, made the city into a goose heaven.

The population grew at 12 percent to 15 percent per year through the 1980s and early 1990s.

Government biologists began an aggressive plan to cut goose numbers to 2,000 by hazing and killing birds at airports, collecting eggs in the spring and transplanting goslings. It was supposed to take a decade or more of slow decline to bring urban geese under control.

But by 2002, their numbers had fallen to 1,500, and they were lower last year.

Last summer, Washington state and city of Seattle officials announced that the number of Canada geese in local parks had dropped by about three-quarters since 2000, when federal wildlife agents began killing thousands of the birds. More than 5,600 geese in Seattle were destroyed from 2000 to 2003.

Ex-weapons site access plan opposed

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- At least three local governments are opposing federal plans to open the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site to widespread recreational use.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service favors public access once the 6,200-acre site is cleaned of most radioactive contaminants and transformed into a wildlife refuge.

Boulder's City Council called for a cautious approach, an option that would make ecological restoration the top priority at Rocky Flats for 15 years while allowing limited public access.

Officials from Arvada, Westminster, and Broomfield and Jefferson counties all back a plan allowing recreational access on foot, horseback or bicycle to at least 16 miles of trails. That alternative is also what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service favors.

The Energy Department is expected to hand over control of all but about 1,000 acres to the wildlife service when cleanup is finished in 2006. That core area of the site, where plutonium triggers for bombs were produced for more than three decades, would remain off limits.