September 13, 2005

Environmental Watch: Herrera adds environmental engineer

SEATTLE — Herrera Environmental Consultants has added environmental engineer Gus Kays to its Seattle office. Kays has experience in water resources engineering and construction, including work on Snohomish County's stream and river gauging, and flood warning system. Kays is working on a stormwater quality monitoring program for Washington State Department of Transportation and an upgrade of Seattle Public Utilities' sewer, stormwater and natural stream flow monitoring systems.

Herrera specializes in engineering and environmental projects for local, state, and federal clients throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.

Shaw Environmental hires engineer

BOTHELL — Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure added Jim Fleetwood as a senior environmental engineer in the company's site development group. He has more than 20 years of experience working on environmental projects.

Shaw Environmental is based in Bothell and offers environmental, regulatory compliance and construction services. This includes environmental remediation, geotechnical engineering, pollution prevention and industrial hygiene services. Shaw Environmental is a member of The Shaw Group, which provides piping systems as well as engineering and construction services to the global power generation industry.

Cargo carrier switches to greener fuel

TACOMA — The Evergreen Group announced all of its diesel-powered equipment at the Port of Tacoma's Pierce County Terminal will run on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. The switch is voluntary.

Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp. is an ocean container carrier that moves cargo between North America and all parts of the world.

The Port of Tacoma Commission had earlier announced that the port will use ultra-low sulfur diesel to run diesel equipment at Port-operated facilities. Officials say the special fuel is not readily available at all North American ports, but a major refiner and supplier, U.S. Oil, is located next to the Port of Tacoma.

R. Ted Bottiger, president of the Port of Tacoma Commission, said using this kind of fuel cuts sulfur dioxide emissions by 97 percent.

Evergreen Group Chairman Y. F. Chang said ocean carriers and their port/terminal partners should use new technology as soon as it becomes available to reduce impacts on marine life and port communities.

Workshop looks at new septic systems

SEATTLE — The University of Washington's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is sponsoring a workshop in Seattle Sept. 19-20 to cover on-site wastewater treatment systems.

Among the speakers at the upcoming event will be experts on new ways to improve small-scale systems such as septic tanks. Nitrogen loading in Hood Canal, which can be traced to some of those systems, depletes oxygen for fish. New technologies will be exhibited at the workshop.

Speakers include California-based sanitary engineer Stewart Oakley and David Stensel from the UW.

Nitrogen reduction was one of the goals of a project in the Buzzards Bay watershed in Massachusetts, and a health and environment official who worked on alternative septic systems there, George Heufelder, will cover this topic. The keynote speaker is George Tchobanoglous, an engineering professor and wastewater expert at the University California Davis.

About 300 environmental health specialists and people who install on-site wastewater treatment systems are expected to attend. Cost is $360 before Sept. 16, and $400 after.

For more information, see http://www.engr.washington.edu/epp/wwt/ or call (206) 543-5539.

Oregon district wins first EPA award

SEATTLE — The Gresham-Barlow School District is set to be the first organization in the nation to earn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Leader award. These awards are similar to the Energy Star label, which denote energy efficiency for household appliances.

The district started a conservation management program in 1999 to become more energy- and resource-efficient. Officials say they have cut overall energy use by 46 percent and saved a total of $4.3 million since then. Last year's savings alone equal the salaries of approximately 22 teaching positions.

Under the EPA's Energy Performance Rating System, 12 of the school district's 20 buildings outperform similar buildings in the country by at least 25 points, on a 100-point scale. The district improved average energy efficiency at all its buildings by 30 percent.

For more information, see http://www.energystar.gov or http://district.gresham.k12.or.us.

Landscape firm's trucks run on biodiesel

SEATTLE — Bothell organic landscape company In Harmony recently announced it will switch all of its truck fuel to biodiesel in the next two years.

Earlier this summer, In Harmony installed a biodiesel station to fuel part of its truck fleet. The company bought a 275-gallon tank from Dr. Dan's Alternative Fuel Werks that supplies half of the company's trucks with biodiesel. Within three years the remaining 11 will be converted so they can run on biodiesel, according to In Harmony co-owner Ladd Smith. "We are switching to biodiesel to help reduce global warming."

Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning diesel fuel made from natural, renewable sources such as vegetable oils. It is non-toxic, biodegradable, 100 percent renewable and domestic. For more information, see http://www.fuelwerks.com.