August 17, 2004

Environmental Watch: Susan Hanf new NEBC director

PORTLAND — The Northwest Environmental Business Council appointed Susan Hanf as its new executive director. Hanf succeeds David Welsh, who has a new job collaborating with the University of Arizona after 11 years with the council.

Hanf has worked on economic development, international trade and legislative advocacy, and has more than 12 years of association management experience.

The council is a Northwest regional trade association for the environmental technology and service industry, with 150 member companies in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. It provides members with networking opportunities, referrals and information on the environmental industry. For more information, visit http://www.nebc.org or call (888) 609-NEBC (6322).

Anchor adds East Coast staff

SEATTLE — David Haury, Chris Leuteritz and Paul LaRosa join Anchor Environmental in new East Coast offices.

Haury, who specializes in contaminated sites and oil spills, will lead the Philadelphia office. Leuteritz will head the Boston office. He has 15 years of experience in environmental engineering, construction management and remedial design, and has worked on due diligence and environmental claims support projects. LaRosa, an ocean and geotechnical engineer, will also be based in Boston.

Anchor is an environmental science and engineering firm that focuses on shoreline projects. Other offices are in Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Oakland and Irvine, Calif., and Ocean Springs, Miss.

State contracts for hybrid SUV

OLYMPIA -- The Department of General Administration recently awarded a contract to Columbia Ford of Longview for a hybrid SUV. Ford set aside 50 vehicles for the state, and the General Administration's motor pool program placed the first order.

Those eligible to buy the 2005 Ford Escape include: state agencies, universities, community colleges, local governments and some nonprofits. The manufacturer has suggested a retail price of about $27,000, but the state contract price is $24,271.

Hybrid vehicles can be powered by a gasoline engine, electric motor or both. Ford says the hybrid produces 97 percent less hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen emissions than comparably sized gasoline-powered vehicles, and that it gets more mileage per gallon. For more information, visit http://www.ga.wa.gov/Vehreq/VehAcq.html.

Estuary conference in Seattle Sept. 12-15

SEATTLE — Restore America's Estuaries, a national nonprofit based in Arlington, Va., hosts its second national conference on coastal and estuarine habitat restoration at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle from Sept. 12-15.

Denis Hayes of the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation will speak on lessons learned from 30 years of restoration attempts. Restore America's goal is to ensure that policies, laws and funding are in place for restoration projects.

Estuaries are coastal waters formed when fresh water from rivers mixes with salt water from the ocean. When fresh river water is blocked by mainland, peninsulas, barrier islands or fringing salt marshes, it mixes with ocean water. This results in an ecosystem with nutrients from the land and from the ocean. Restore America says estuaries provide habitat for more than three quarters of the nation's commercial fish catch. Commercial and recreational fishing, boating and tourism also provide more than 28 million jobs. For more information, visit www.estuaries.org.

‘Ecycling' Saturday at Sand Point

SEATTLE — Computers, monitors and TVs that are no longer useful can be unloaded at an "ecycling" event on Saturday. Three groups are hosting the event: Sand Point Magnuson Park, nonprofit InterConnection, and Seattle youth leadership organization EarthCorps.

They will accept used electronics from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sand Point Magnuson Park, 6310 N.E. 74th St.

InterConnection works to provide computer and Internet training to underserved communities worldwide, so working computers and monitors will be allocated locally and abroad. The event will also help youths training with EarthCorps gain experience. No VCRs, microwaves, stereos or household appliances will be accepted. Donations are tax deductible.

For more information, contact (206) 310-4547 or info@interconnection.org. Or visit http://www.computers.interconnection.org/ecyclesandpoint.

Snohomish PUD offers help with bills

EVERETT — The Snohomish County Public Utility District recently set aside $4.6 million to help senior and low-income customers with electric bills through next year. The utility's assistance programs are expected to help nearly 13,000 customers. Programs offer rate discounts of up to 60 percent and start in October.

Seniors, those 62 years of age and older, with a combined household income of $21,000 or less each year are eligible. Low-income participants can receive help if household incomes are less than 125 percent of the federal established poverty level. For more information, call (425) 783-1000.

New system tracks Columbia salmon

PORTLAND (AP) — A new tracking system at the mouth of the Columbia River is allowing scientists to study how dams are affecting threatened and endangered salmon.

Until now, no one has been able to track what happens to salmon during their final migration to the sea once they pass Bonneville Dam, almost 150 miles upriver.

The federal government spends more than $700 million a year in the Columbia River Basin to sustain and rebuild salmon runs. The spending, however, has not turned things around for many stocks, particularly those bound to the farthest upriver reaches of the Snake River, past eight large hydropower projects.

The Corps of Engineers, which runs the Columbia's extensive system of hydroelectric dams, spent close to $2 million to develop the new tracking system.

Biologists suspended two rows of automated electronic sensors, called hydrophones, to listen for baby salmon passing by. The sensors pick up recorded pinging signals sent from transmitters implanted in a thousand smolts.

Based on a preliminary analysis, juvenile chinook take about three days to make the trip. The trial run also shows its possible to pinpoint where in the river channel fish migrate, and how tides and daylight affect their entry into the ocean.

Assuming funding comes through, the researchers expect to place a larger set of hydrophones next year and complete a full survival study on juvenile chinook salmon from Bonneville Dam to the ocean.

Prospects dim for Calif. solar effort

SACRAMENTO (AP) — A legislative committee last week defeated a $1 billion proposal to run half of new California homes on solar energy by 2020, in part because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to sign on to the proposal advanced by his own Environmental Protection Agency.

The vote came hours before the governor met privately with senior aides to decide how to fulfill an ambitious campaign pledge, and a day after he renewed a promise to help put the state on a par with world leaders like Japan and Germany in offering solar incentives.

One senator said this is "a holding pattern" until Schwarzenegger arrives at his plan.

Supporters fear lawmakers are unlikely to adopt a new tax in an election year, though the EPA estimates homeowners would more than offset the increase by selling solar electricity back to utilities.

The EPA's draft proposal was built on raising $100 million for each of 10 years from a new monthly utility bill surcharge of about 25-to-30 cents per household.