March 22, 2005

Environmental Watch: Herrera adds staff in Seattle

Lancaster

Levin

SEATTLE — Herrera Environmental Consultants added Alice Lancaster as a project engineer. Lancaster is working on a combined sewer overflow reduction project for Seattle Public Utilities and doing an environmental assessment for a multimodal terminal in Mukilteo. Lancaster specializes in surface water and hydraulic engineering, and works on urban stream rehabilitation design.

Erika Levin joined as a project assistant in Herrera's planning and natural resources groups.

Blasland, Bouck & Lee adds staff

SEATTLE — Blasland, Bouck & Lee added to its Portland office Sam Fisher, an engineer-in-training who will work on upland source control for the Port of Portland. Mollie Hart is an administrative assistant with 14 years of experience in office management and will work on human resources at the company's Portland office.

Also in Portland is Jeremy Kobor, a scientist who did water-quality monitoring during a cap placement at the Pacific Sound Resources Superfund site in Elliott Bay. Jesse Starr is a scientist with experience in field sampling, surface mapping and computer modeling.

Billie-Jo Thibault is a scientist who will be based in the Beverly, Mass., office and do groundwater sampling and site assessments.

Gas Works cleanup comments sought

SEATTLE — The Washington Department of Ecology seeks comment on an agreed order for site cleanup of a sediment area off-shore from the Gas Works Park on the north shore of Lake Union.

A public meeting on the order between Ecology, the city of Seattle and Puget Sound Energy will be held March 31 at St. Benedict School, 4811 Wallingford Ave. N. in Seattle from 7 to 9 p.m. The comment period runs through April 16.

Gas companies operated a plant there that converted coal and oil into manufactured gas. Nearby the American Tar Co. refined coal tar that was a byproduct of those processes, and made coal tar-based products. Contaminants include petroleum compounds, PAHs and benzene. Cleanup took place between 2000 and 2001 and monitoring continues.

Ecological restoration group to meet here

SEATTLE — The Society for Ecological Restoration's Northwest chapter hosts a regional conference in Seattle April 4-8 at Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle.

Speakers include University of Washington geomorphology professor David R. Montgomery, ecological design author Stuart Cowan and environmental expert Terry Tempest Williams.

As part of the conference, the talk "Where in the World are We Going? How Nature, Cities and Culture can Flourish in the 21st Century" will be held April 6 at Seattle's Town Hall from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $15, call (800) 838-3006.

For more information, contact University of Washington, 10303 Meridian Ave. N. #301, Seattle WA 98133-9483 or call (206) 543-5539 or (866) 791-1275. Register online at https://www.engr.washington.edu/epp/ser/registration.html. Also see http://www.sernw.org.

GreenWorld forum on sustainable design

SEATTLE — Jean-Michel Cousteau will be the featured speaker at the April 7 GreenWorld forum on sustainable design, to be held at Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle from 5 to 10:30 p.m.

GreenWorld is an annual community forum on sustainable design for designers, architects, manufacturers, suppliers and people of the greater Northwest to learn about sustainable design.

Cousteau is an explorer, educator and film producer and the son of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

The expo is being offered by the International Interior Design Association's Northern Pacific chapter. More than 400 are expected to attend.

Seattle nonprofit Sustainable Style Foundation hosts a reception afterwards. Tickets are $35 for students, $55 for the general public. Contact Justine Kish at justinekish@comcast.net or (425) 260-0418. Also see http://www.sustainablestyle.org.

Mercury scrap bill debated in Olympia

SEATTLE — The state Senate recently voted 35-13 to require auto makers to pay to remove mercury components from scrap vehicles. The Environmental Protection Agency says such scraps are the country's biggest source of unregulated mercury emissions.

The bill is being debated in Olympia and would require vehicle manufacturers to fund a system to remove and manage mercury switches. At least 90 percent of mercury switches would have to be removed from scrap vehicles.

The legislation was developed by a coalition of auto recyclers, steel shredders, steel mills, local governments and environmental organizations.

For more information, contact Mo McBroom, staff attorney, Washington Public Interest Research Group at (206) 799-1589.

Ecology proposes hatchery permit update

OLYMPIA -— The Washington Department of Ecology has proposed updates to a permit that governs water discharged by the state's non-federal and non-tribal fish hatcheries.

Some of the revisions would require hatcheries to submit plans for preventing pollution, manage solid wastes, sample water quality and use a checklist to report chemicals they use.

Public comment is being sought on the proposal to amend and reissue the permit, which comes up for renewal every five years. A public workshop and hearing will be held today in Lacey at Ecology's main auditorium, 300 Desmond Dr. at 7 p.m.

About 80 public and private fish hatcheries operate under the permits, which direct steps they must take to limit pollution. It regulates fish fecal matter, fish food, dead fish and chemicals in water discharged from the hatcheries.

For more information or to comment on the proposal, contact Lori LeVander at (425) 649-7039, by e-mail at llev461@ecy.wa.gov, or by mail at Department of Ecology, 3190 160th Ave. S.E., Bellevue 98008-5452. The comment period runs through April 1. The draft is posted at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/permits.