April 12, 2005

Environmental Watch: Tacoma port names Lin enviro manager

Lin

TACOMA — Environmental engineer Cindy Lin moved to Tacoma from Nashville, Tenn., for two reasons: work and family. The Port of Tacoma appointed her environmental compliance manager, and her mother and siblings live near Kirkland.

Lin will focus on stormwater management as part of the Port's pollution prevention efforts. She'll also work with managers at other Puget Sound-area ports to gather data on maritime diesel emissions for a study that starts this summer.

Lin has 19 years of experience in environmental engineering, most recently with HCA., Inc., a Nashville-based company that builds and runs health care facilities. She started her career on the regulatory side, working for the state of Kansas, after studying civil engineering at a university in Taiwan and at Oklahoma State University, where she got a PhD.

The Port of Tacoma handles more than $29 billion in annual trade and is a major center for bulk cargoes and automobiles.

Farallon Consulting geologist gets license

Mulhern

BELLINGHAM — Farallon Consulting staff geologist Tracey Mulhern has passed a national exam to get licensed as a geologist in the state of Washington. Exams are administered by the National Association of State Boards of Geology.

Mulhern does site assessments for contaminated properties around the state with Farallon, an environmental consulting firm that focuses on site characterization and remediation services. It has 32 staff in offices in Issaquah and Bellingham.

Redmond's R-Trip wins EPA award

REDMOND — The city of Redmond won an award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week for its program to cut commuter trips.

Redmond's R-Trip, or Trip Reduction Incentive Program, was one of 13 the EPA recognized for air quality improvement. Local and state governments, industries and citizen groups competed for the award.

Redmond city officials say R-Trip is part of the city's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Last year 80,000 vehicle trips were eliminated, corresponding to a cut of 200,000 pounds of pollutants.

R-Trip is a public/private partnership between the city of Redmond, King County Metro Transit, the Greater Redmond Transportation Management Association and Redmond employers. For more information, see http://www.gortrip.com or call (425) 702-8001 ext. 202.

Chambers Creek workshops start April 14

TACOMA — Pierce County holds the first of a series of public workshops on the update of the Chambers Creek Properties Master Site Plan this week.

The Chambers Creek Properties Master Site Plan guides the development of the 930-acre property, located along Puget Sound in the city of University Place.

The plan will be updated to include completed projects, priorities for the next 10 years and potential new uses.

Sessions will be held Thursday through Saturday at the Pierce County Environmental Services Building, 9850 64th St. W., University Place. Other workshops will be held May 5-7 and May 26-28.

For more information, see http://www.piercecountywa.org/ccp or call Anne-Marie Marshall-Dody at (253) 798-4140.

Creation Station joins LinkUp

SEATTLE — Creation Station, a crafts store and art studio, is the newest partner in King County's LinkUp program, which was started to expand markets for recycled materials.

Creation Station sells surplus and recycled materials, including plastics (film canisters, pipette trays and bottles), paper (food labels, scrap paper and file folders) and wood (utility spools and colored sticks). About 60 percent of its retail sales are recycled items.

King County officials say paper, wood, metals, yard waste, food waste and electronics make up 60 percent of waste in the county's landfill.

Creation Station has been in business for about 16 years and is located at 19511 64th Ave. W. in Lynnwood. LinkUp will help update its Web site (http://www.creationstationinc.com), and may also assist with marketing.

EcoBuilding Guild's Earth Day event

SPOKANE — The Northwest EcoBuilding Guild's Inland chapter offers an Earth Day event on April 23 in Spokane.

Its theme is "Sustaining the Earth," which is based on indicators of sustainability developed by the Northwest Environment Watch: energy, economy, health, pollution, transportation, forests and population.

The event will be held at Riverfront Park Gondola Meadows from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. To get involved or for more information, contact Tom Angell at (509) 747-7647 or tomangell@earthlink.net.

PSU looks at behavior, climate change

PORTLAND — Researchers at Portland State University are looking at how human behavior impacts urban climates, such as how public policy may influence heat waves or air quality, focusing on Houston and Portland.

The study, called "Complex Interactions Among Urban Climate, Air Quality and Adaptive-Reactive Human Response," is funded by a $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Biocomplexity in the Environment initiative. The project runs through February 2009.