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Environment
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November 29, 2005
Environmental Watch: SEATTLE — Herrera recently hired Dylan Ahearn and Adam Mouton.
Ahearn joined the water quality group and is working on the state Department of Transportation's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and Green River water quality projects. Mouton joins Herrera's GIS department.
Prescott takes job with PNGC Power
PORTLAND — PNGC Power, a Portland-based power services cooperative, named John Prescott to be senior vice president of power supply. He will be responsible for overseeing activity related to meeting electricity loads for PNGC Power's members, 15 Northwest electric utilities in seven western states.
He will manage the overall price and supply risk, and operational aspects of the co-op's contract with the Bonneville Power Administration. Prescott was power supply and environmental affairs officer at Seattle City Light.
PNGC Power buys and manages electricity to meet the power needs of about 325,000 people.
Forum to feature eco-entrepreneurs
SEATTLE — The Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability will hold the second in its Business Leaders Forum monthly breakfast series, "Eco-Entrepreneurs and Green Venture Capitalists," on Thursday with Martin Tobias, CEO of Seattle Biodiesel, John Plaza, founder and president of Seattle Biodiesel, and David Dreessen, principal in the venture capital firm Nth Power.
They will talk about opportunities for economic development and community benefit through partnerships between new technology companies and venture capitalists.
The forum will be held at Seattle University in the Casey Building from 7:30-9 a.m. It is co-sponsored by NBIS and the Albers School of Business and Economics of Seattle University.
For tickets call the information line at (425) 828-0982 or check the Web site http://www.nbis.org
Otak to do Clark County creek work
VANCOUVER — Officials from Clark County selected Otak Inc., a planning, architecture, design and engineering firm, to produce the Whipple Creek Watershed Projects Plan.
The project will be led by Otak's Oregon/Southwest Washington Water & Natural Resources Group.
County officials will work with Otak to identify capital improvement projects for the Whipple Creek area. Otak also will develop a prototype watershed plan that will help other watersheds restore their natural functions, and mitigate development.
Otak's Joe Simmler will be project manager, with Tim Kraft as deputy project manager and Alissa Maxwell as project engineer. Russ Gaston will be the principal-in-charge. Subconsultants include Inter-Fluve and Dr. Rich Horner of the University of Washington.
Hilton Vancouver is going for LEED
VANCOUVER — Architects from Fletcher Farr Ayote said the 226-room Hilton Vancouver is going for a LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The new hotel is 12 miles from Portland International Airport, in downtown Vancouver.
To reduce energy use, the hotel has alternative fueling stations for electric cars, minimal parking, and will run on 30 percent less energy than local codes require, the architects said. C02 sensors will recognize when people leave rooms and hallways, and turn off heating and cooling system.
Landscaping will use local native plants and stormwater will be funneled to underground wells to filter pollutants. A white reflective roof helps dissipate heat and reflect it back into space, rather than adding to the heat-island effect.
Guest rooms have operable windows. Many of the building materials were purchased from vendors within 500 miles of the hotel. Seventy-five percent of the construction waste was recycled.
Energy grants for farms, rural businesses
OLYMPIA — USDA Rural Development will hold free Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Loan & Grant Program seminars to help farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses.
Funds may be used to purchase renewable energy systems and make improvements to save energy.
Seminars will be held at the following locations:
For information contact Don Wagoner at (360) 704-7724 or Dan McNeley (Yakima only) at (509) 454-5740, ext. 4.
Meeting on downtown Kent site delisting
KENT — The state Department of Ecology will hold a public meeting Dec. 5 on the proposal to delist the former Borden Chemical site at 421 First Ave. in downtown Kent, future home of the Kent Tarragon Station Phase One, from the hazardous sites list.
The comment period has been extend until Dec. 12.
The meeting will be held from 7-9 p.m. at the Kent Council Chambers, 220 Fourth Ave., Kent.
Documents are available from Ecology by calling the office in Bellevue at (425) 649-7190 or checking the department's Web site at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0509083.html. For more information call Maura O'Brien at (425) 649-7249.
Farmland group buys Mount Vernon site
MOUNT VERNON — Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland has acquired a three-acre property across Memorial Highway from the Washington State University Northwest Washington Research and Extension Center for $115,000.
The purchase borders the zoning "green line" that separates the agricultural zone from the rural intermediate zone, and is critical to the area's agriculture and WSU's research activities, according to Alan Mesman, president of the board of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland. The money was raised through contributions to the group.
The group's long term goal is to transfer this and other nearby properties to the center. Proceeds will go toward future transactions.
"SPF's goal is to prevent development of this land and to make sure future zoning changes will not compromise farmland," said Bob Rose, executive director of SPF. Purchasing the property will create a 20-acre block of farmland essential for future research and protect the entrance to the new campus, he said.