April 26, 2005

Environmental Watch: Mason, Bruce adds services, staff

Holt	Greene
Voth	Reese

PORTLAND — The natural resources consulting firm Mason, Bruce & Girard has added staff in its Portland headquarters, opened a new line of business in forest certification and expanded forest planning services.

Brad Holt will do forest certification. He has 27 years of forest and ecosystem management experience with Boise Cascade, including five years as forest certification manager. Roger Greene's 30 years of forest management experience includes work on projects as large as 1.2 million acres. Greene has been a lecturer at the University of Maine and at the Maine Maritime Academy.

Ellen Voth will be a project manager in MB&G's forestry inventory and biometrics group. She worked for Boise Cascade and has eight years of experience as a forest analyst.

GIS technician Sarah Robinson is the fifth person in the company's GIS Service Group. Robinson has six years of experience in GIS data integration and production. Gayla Reese is the new marketing manager, with 19 years of experience in the A/E/C industry.

Mason, Bruce & Girard has staff in Washington, Idaho, California, Maine and Virginia. The company says last year its most financially successful in 85 years.

Geotech engineer rejoins Hart Crowser

Chen

SEATTLE — Engineer Barry S. Chen has rejoined the Seattle office of Hart Crowser as a principal in the geotechnical engineering division.

Chen's 20 years of experience includes work on building and campus development, transportation and infrastructure projects. He worked on the new Amgen Helix Campus, Pier 59 Seattle Aquarium Retrofit and Seattle Central Library.

Hart Crower provides geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering and natural resource services, with offices are in Seattle, Edmonds, Portland and Anchorage.

ASES seeks nominees for solar awards

BOULDER, Colo. — The American Solar Energy Society is taking nominations for its annual awards.

The society will recognize people who are contributing to the field of solar and renewable energy at an awards ceremony during the National Solar Energy Conference. One award will go to a person whose work has helped women advance in the solar energy field. Another will go to a graduate student working on solar energy applications.

To submit a nomination, see http://www.ases.org. The deadline is May 1. Send completed forms to: ASES, 2400 Central Ave., A, Boulder, CO 80301, or fax to (303) 443-3212, or e-mail to: ases@ases.org.

EPA to regulate air on reservations

SEATTLE — New federal rules that take effect June 7 will put some restrictions on air emissions on Indian reservations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Acting Administrator Steve Johnson signed what are being called the Federal Air Rules for Reservations.

The rules will regulate air emissions on 39 Indian reservations in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

"No Pacific Northwest tribes have EPA-approved rules," said Ron Kreizenbeck, acting administrator of EPA's regional office in Seattle. Few federal Clean Air Act rules exist now for Indian reservation land because states don't have jurisdiction there.

The new rules will apply to tribal and non-tribal individuals and businesses within the federally recognized boundaries of Indian reservations. Sources would have to report emissions and there would be procedures for air pollution emergencies and rules for open burning. Industrial sources would be regulated for particulates, sulfur dioxide and fugitive emissions.

For more information contact EPA at (800) 424-4372 or see http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/FARR.htm.

Seattle’s sustainability series continues

SEATTLE — The city of Seattle is running a series of lectures on urban sustainability. Here’s what’s planned for the coming months.

Building Healthy Places today with Richard Jackson, state public health officer of the California Department of Health Services.

Inspiring Urban Revitalization on May 2 with Tom Bloxham, co-founder of Manchester, U.K.-based Urban Splash.

Civic Innovation & Sustainable Communities on May 9 with William Shutkin, chief executive officer of the Orton Family Foundation.

Public Spaces, Public Life on June 6 with Jan Gehl, founding partner of Gehl Architects and a professor of urban design at the school of architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

A talk on rainwater harvesting and green roof technology is tentatively scheduled for June 16 with German experts Klaus Konig, an architect, and Marco Schmidt, a research associate at Berlin Technical University.

Seattle’s Ecological Footprint: Present and Future on June 20, with Dahlia Chazan, who co-directs the sustainability indicators program for an Oakland, Calif.-based group called Redefining Progress.

Green Development = Economic Development on July 11 with Bert Gregory, president of Mithun.

LEED for Neighborhood Development on Aug. 8 with Doug Farr, principal of Farr Associates and a co-chair of the LEED for Neighborhoods.

An Oct. 28 talk (tentative) on green development for profitability will be led by Joe Van Belleghem, a developer in Victoria, B.C., who will share his experience on ways developers can increase profitability by doing green development. For more information, contact Lynne Barker, DPD Sustainable Development Planner, at (206) 684-0806 or lynne.barker@seattle.gov.