July 12, 2005

Environmental Watch: County report: cleaner air, fewer fish

SEATTLE — People in King County have been recycling more in the last 10 years and small lakes here are in good condition, according to an environmental benchmarking report the county released last week. But more development and people here means some areas have declined beyond repair.

Here are some of the report’s findings.

• Air quality. Up slightly in the last five years, with 257 high quality air days last year, 16 more days than in 2000.

• Stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions. These climbed 7 percent from 1999-2003. The bulk of these emissions came from stationary combustion, such as generating energy.

• Lake quality. Small lakes have improved in the last 10 years. Other lakes in King County are in moderately good shape.

• Residential recycling is up.

• The number of vehicle miles traveled in King County has continued to rise. Each person drives about the same amount as 10 years ago, but drives nearly 44 percent more miles than 20 years ago.

• Diesel use keeps going up, in part because of high levels of commercial traffic.

• Urban stream and habitat. Conditions are generally poor.

• Mobile sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from cars and trucks dropped 5 percent from 1999-2003.

• Energy use. Per capita consumption of residential and commercial energy, electricity and natural gas, has declined by nearly 7 percent since 1996.
• Gasoline use. Per capita gasoline consumption peaked in 2002, and has declined in the past two years.

• Water use. Citizens in King County continue to use less water.

Rainwater harvesting event July 14-16

SEATTLE — Exhibits and tours will be part of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association's rainwater harvesting conference July 14-16 at Seattle Center.

Organizers say more people are getting interested because of limited water supplies in urban areas. They say 500,000 people in the United States and its territories harvest rainwater for indoor and outdoor domestic supplies.

The association is based in Austin, Texas. For more information, see www.arcsa-usa.org.

Tacoma's Clover Creek to be restored

TACOMA — Pierce County will hold a public meeting July 19 on Clover Creek restoration efforts in the Parkland area. The meeting will be at the Parkland/Spanaway Library, 13718 Pacific Ave. S., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Volunteers are needed to take out invasive plants along the creek this fall.

That work will be followed by restoring the creek channel and associated flood plains, and replanting native vegetation.

Restoration will occur along the creek between A Street East and the Brookdale Golf Course, flood-prone land the county bought, as well as land owned by the Cascade Land Conservancy and interested property owners.

Pierce County is creating a Habitat Restoration Plan for Clover Creek. For more information, see www.piercecountywa.org/cloverrest or call Dick Ferguson at (253) 798-3979.

New rules on critical areas in Snohomish

EVERETT — Snohomish County will hold three public meetings this month on proposed changes to critical areas regulations:

Mill Creek on July 19 at Heatherwood Middle School, 1419 Trillium Blvd.

Monroe on July 27 at Monroe Junior High School, 1408 W. Main St.

Arlington on July 28 at Post Middle School Commons, 1220 E. Fifth St.

Meetings will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

For more information, call public involvement specialist Mary Hurner at (425) 388-6430. Find out about the critical areas update by contacting criticalareasupdate@co.snohomish.wa.us.

Newsletter out on developing brownfields

OLYMPIA — A government-funded monthly newsletter on redeveloping contaminated land is posted at www.buildingonbrownfields.com.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Region 10 created "Building on Brownfields" with Washington state's Department of Ecology. Ecology and the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development are funding the project.

Sharon Kophs, brownfields program manager for Washington, said property owners, developers and lenders still fear they might be liable for leftover contamination.

So the newsletter is intended to describe in everyday terms the environmental and economic benefits of redeveloping contaminated land. Its focus is on brownfields in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.

Grant to help cut construction pollution

SEATTLE — The Oregon Environmental Council recently won a $26,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce diesel emissions from construction equipment in the Portland metro area.

Ron Kreizenbeck, acting regional administrator for EPA's regional office, said in Multnomah County diesel emissions are reported to be the leading cause of air pollution-related cancers and are a major trigger of asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

Oregon Environmental Council officials say they will work with businesses, local and state agencies, community leaders to reduce diesel emissions.

Renewable energy fair July 29-31

JOHN DAY, Ore. — Fifty workshops on renewable energy will be offered at the SolWest renewable energy fair, July 29-31 at Grant County Fairgrounds in John Day, Ore.

Organizers say about 2,000 people visit SolWest each year to see and buy solar power systems, home-scale wind generators, hydro systems for small streams, and biodiesel processors and fuels.

There will be an "Electrathon" to race mini-electric cars, and workshops on green energy, solar water pumping and small-scale hydropower.

One workshop instructor will be Kent Osterberg, who has 14 years of experience putting in photovoltaic power systems. He works with Sunlight Solar in Bend, Ore. A home will be fitted with a 2-kilowatt solar electric system.

For more information, see www.solwest.org or call (541) 575-3633. Also, e-mail info SolWest/EORenew, PO Box 485, Canyon City OR 97820.