August 16, 2005

Environmental Watch: Jones & Stokes opens Olympia office

Posner

OLYMPIA -- Sacramento-based environmental consulting firm Jones & Stokes is opening an Olympia office, its fourth in Washington.

Melinda Posner will run the new office. Posner is a senior community affairs specialist whose past work experience includes public outreach for the Sacramento County Regional Sanitation District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Nevada Irrigation District.

The Olympia office will offer public involvement and community relations services, as well as natural resources management and planning services.

Company officials say the new office is key to increasing its work in the region, especially for the growing communities along the Interstate 5 corridor. It first opened a Washington office in Bellevue in 1980.

ERM Partnership adds partner

Hausmann

BELLEVUE — Environmental Resources Management, or ERM, named Paul Hausmann partner.

He is an environmental consultant based in the Bellevue office, and will continue to direct mergers and acquisitions consulting services for ERM's western region.

Hausmann joined ERM in 1994. His expertise includes environmental due diligence audits, hazardous waste facility audits and environmental property assessments. He helps businesses manage and minimize environmental risk and liabilities while also complying with state and federal laws.

JD White Co. promotes ecologist

VANCOUVER — The JD White Co., a natural resources planning and public involvement firm, promoted Tabitha Reeder to associate ecologist. The company also announced its senior scientist Dan Cary was recently qualified to do biological assessments for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Reeder's experience includes overseeing tasks and communicating with clients. She also coordinated some of the company's biggest projects with federal, state and local agencies. One of these was the Washington State Department of Transportation's I-5/SR 502 Interchange.

She earned a master's degree from Washington State University and has been with JD White for two years.

32 get grants for stormwater plans

OLYMPIA — Some 32 municipalities around the state are each getting $75,000 grants to create stormwater management programs.

Dave Peeler, water quality program manager for Ecology, said developing plans for managing stormwater is a challenge for these communities because they vary in size, climate and funding abilities. Grants should help jumpstart the process.

Funds come a state tax on the market value of some hazardous substances, primarily petroleum products. The Local Toxics Account is managed by the Washington Department of Ecology.

In total, 115 communities must start creating plans to manage stormwater runoff and comply with federal clean-water standards under a "phase two" municipal stormwater management permit by spring 2006.

This year, the Washington legislature authorized $2.7 million in seed money to help cities and counties work on meeting requirements. Among the 32 communities prioritized for funding based on financial need are: Port Angeles, Kelso, Lakewood, Mount Vernon, Ellensburg and Spokane Valley.

EPA fines 5 firms for chemical plans

SEATTLE — Five Washington companies were among those the Environmental Protection Agency recently penalized for inadequate risk management programs for hazardous chemicals: Bakery Chef (Kent), Airgas-Nor-Pac, formerly BOC Gases (Seattle), JCI Jones Chemicals (Tacoma), Tacoma McMillin Reservoir (Puyallup), Solar Grade Silicon (Moses Lake).

The Clean Air Act requires risk management plans for all public and private facilities that manufacture, process, use, store, or handle between 500 and 20,000 tons of regulated substances. Such chemicals include ammonia, chlorine, propane, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde and flammables.

Risk management plans help the facility and local emergency responders to protect the public from accidental chemical releases. A plan would include an emergency response program, evaluation of a worst-case and probable-case chemical release, and details of training, operating procedures and equipment maintenance.

Among the 488 facilities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska that need to meet the plan requirement are wastewater treatment plants, cold storage facilities, refineries and chemical distributors.

Of those penalized in Washington, Oregon and Alaska for inadequate risk management programs for hazardous chemicals, the largest penalty was $7,500.

Pierce County groups get $42K

TACOMA — Environmental groups will get about $42,000 in funds left over from environmental projects that were completed under budget by the Port of Tacoma, Pierce County and the city of Tacoma.

Grants range from $3,000 to $7,000 for environmental groups working to improve Commencement Bay and the lower Puyallup River. Here’s what awardees are planning.

• Friends of Swan Creek Watershed will replace a frequently damaged bridge with a new concrete span to be donated by Concrete Technology.

• Cascade Land Conservancy will do mapping related to the purchase of a 17-acre shoreline property next to Marine View Drive.

• Pierce Conservation District will restore at least a quarter acre of eelgrass in Commencement Bay.

• Friends of the Hylebos Wetlands will control invasive species and put in vegetation at the Spring Valley Ranch, a 20-acre stream and wetland habitat restoration project.

• Citizens for a Healthy Bay will use its award to support on-the-water inspections of Commencement Bay shorelines and waterways.

• Puget Creek Restoration Society will correct a fish passage ladder on Puget Creek and support sampling at Puget Creek.

• The Zoo Society will provide education opportunities for Communities in Schools students.

• Brown’s Point Charters will give third- through sixth-grade students boat tours to learn about marine science, geology and environmental issues in Commencement Bay.