August 9, 2005

Environmental Watch: Landau Associates adds staff

Mikhail

Kenton

EDMONDS — Landau Associates added Joan E. Kenton as a federal program manager and Reda A. Mikhail as an associate geotechnical engineer. Kenton has 20 years of federal environmental program experience and will lead business development. Mikhail has 12 years of geotechnical engineering experience, including work on Northwest waterfronts and ports.

Additional new hires include: Jonathan J. Brown, staff geotechnical engineer, Kenneth L. Stephens, III, CAD operator, Rebekah J. Stephenson, environmental staff engineer, and Plinio F. Crow, project coordinator.

Landau is a geotechnical engineering and environmental sciences consulting firm headquartered in Edmonds.

Dahl Playfield may get a skate park

SEATTLE — The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Thursday on a proposal to create a small skate park at Dahl Playfield, 7700 25th Ave. N.E.

The meeting will be at the Park Board Room at 100 Dexter Ave. N at 6 p.m. A group of Wedgwood skateboard supporters called Boarders for Parks is proposing the project.

Also on Thursday's meeting agenda is a discussion on managing vegetation. For more information, see http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/parkspaces/Viewpoints/VMP.htm.

The seven-member citizen board advises the Parks and Recreation Superintendent, the mayor and the city council on parks and recreation matters. For more information, contact Sandy Brooks at (206) 684-5066 or sandy.brooks@seattle.gov.

Wetland bank proposed near Lebanon, Ore.

PORTLAND — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Oregon Department of State Lands are considering a proposal to create a wetland mitigation bank north of Lebanon, Ore.

Al Sullivan and R.P. Novitzki have proposed a 123-acre bank, which would be used to meet wetland mitigation requirements for wetland losses on future projects.

The site includes the North and South Santiam watershed, part of the Calapooia watershed, the Mary's River and Luckiamute watersheds on the west side of the Willamette River. Efforts would involve converting the site to wet prairie, shrub and forested wetlands.

Written comments must be received by Aug. 26, 2005, and should be addressed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: CENWP-OP-G (Corrie Veenstra), P.O. Box 2946, Portland OR, 97208-2946.

A copy of the proposed mitigation bank is posted at: https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/g/docs/notices/One_Horse_Slough.pdf_.

Nooksack River cleanup gets $242K

SEATTLE — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded a $252,000 grant to the Nooksack Tribe to help clean the northern bank of the Nooksack River in Whatcom County.

EPA, the Nooksack Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be partners in the initial stage of the cleanup. Work will involve relocating solid waste to an onsite storage area. The Nooksack Tribal Public Works Office will complete the work, and the tribe's natural resources department director will oversee it.

One goal is to meet the statutory authority of the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program Act of 1992, by building tribal capacity to address solid waste cleanup activities and start creating a plan to stabilize a major river bank.

Another objective is to build a security fence between the road and the property to prevent people from using the area as an illegal dump site.

Free car wash kits for nonprofits

SEATTLE — King County has free car wash kits available for school, club or nonprofit groups holding charity car wash fundraisers.

Soapy, polluted water that washes off cars and pavement gets routed to a water treatment facility instead of drains where it would otherwise get into streams, lakes, rivers and Puget Sound.

Businesses are not eligible. Kits are available for schools, special districts such as utility districts, tribes, local governments, private nonprofits and individuals.

For more information, see http://www.dnr.metrokc.gov/carwash or contact Ken Pritchard at (206) 296-8265 or ken.pritchard@metrokc.gov.

Ecology issues $835K in penalties

BELLEVUE — Washington state Department of Ecology recently issued penalties of $835,080, bringing the total penalties issued since the beginning of this year to $1.3 million. The following were fined $10,000 or more in April, May and June, according to the state:

• GK Construction was penalized $10,000 for mishandling hundreds of gallons of toxic and flammable wastes.

• Foss Maritime Co. was fined $577,000 for spilling 4,700 gallons of heavy oil from a tank barge in Indianola and Woodway.

• I.P. Callison failed to monitor wastewater discharges to a Chehalis sewer plant, and was penalized $31,330.

• Burlington Environmental/Philip Services did not correctly analyze waste, causing an explosion in a hazardous-waste tank. This resulted in a $43,000 fine.

• Harris Transportation Co. spilled 2,244 gallons of gasoline to Scriber Creek wetlands from a tanker truck. The penalty was $24,500.

• Jansen got a $82,000 fine for repeatedly discharging muddy water into a salmon-spawning tributary, violating a stormwater and construction permit.

• McEvoy Oil Co. spilled 2,995 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel into a wetland when a tanker truck overturned on state Route 9. The penalty was $12,000.