Dec 26, 1995

Laucks names laboratory director

Karen Kotz has been appointed laboratory director at Laucks Testing Laboratories in Seattle. Kotz, who holds a MS in environmental science, has more than 15 years of environmental chemistry, quality assurance and consulting experience, most recently serving as corporate quality assurance director for ATI. Prior to that, she was president of the ETC lab network.

Foundry to pay $39,000 for pollution

TACOMA (AP) -- The Atlas Foundry and Machine Co. will pay $39,000 of a $53,000 fine for storm water violations under an agreement with the state Department of Ecology. The metals manufacturer will pay $25,000 of the fine toward an environmental project that benefits the Puyallup River watershed or Tacoma's Commencement Bay under the settlement announced Thursday. The fine stemmed from pollution caused when rain water washed heavy metals from the plant into Tacoma's sewer system, which empties into the Thea Foss Waterway on Puget Sound. Ecology fined Atlas $53,000 in April, stating the storm water discharges contained unacceptable levels of pollution and that Atlas had failed to prepare monitoring and other plans. The department later conceded that discharge limits were unrealistically strict, and is asking businesses such as Atlas to reduce toxic runoff as much as possible, said Marc Pacifico, of the Ecology Department's southwest regional office. Atlas appealed the fine, but proposed a settlement before the case went before the state Pollution Control Hearings Board, he said. As part of the settlement, Atlas has agreed to hire a consultant to review its housekeeping and pollution-control measures and develop a plan to reduce discharge pollutants.

Native Plant Stewardship Program

WSU Cooperative Extension King County's Land/Water Stewardship Program is seeking King County residents interested in learning and teaching others about the environmental benefits of native plants. Selected individuals will receive approximately 100 hours of training on the identification and uses of native plants. In exchange, volunteers agree to provide a minimum of 100 hours of outreach to help King County residents make educated decisions about the use of native plants in landscaping and restoration projects. The training will emphasize practical stewardship and cover topics including plant taxonomy, ethnobotany, wetland plants, invasive plant species, landscaping with natives and restoration of native habitats. The course will be held for eight weeks on Fridays from Feb. 23 to April 12, 1996 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.), with some additional Saturday field trips. Most of the classes will be held at the Center for Urban Horticulture, part of the University of Washington, Seattle. To receive a Native Plant Stewardship Packet, call (206) 296-3900, and leave your name, address and phone number. Completed applications must be returned no later than 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 5.

Ecology & Environment Inc. gets EPA pacts

BUFFALO, N.Y. (Dow Jones News) -- Ecology & Environment Inc. has received U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contracts worth up to $58 million to provide technical support for the agency's oil and hazardous waste spill programs in the Seattle and San Francisco regions. The environmental services company said the five-year contracts will contribute to earnings and revenues in its fiscal year ending July 31, 1996. In fiscal 1995, the company had net income of $2.2 million, or 52 cents a share, on revenues of $77.7 million. If the EPA exercises all its options under the contracts, the company will provide 531,000 hours of technical assistance and earn revenues of $34 million in the San Francisco area and 450,000 hours for $24 million in the Seattle area. The company said options amount to about half of the total hours and revenue over the five-year performance period. The contracts continue assistance the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company has provided to the EPA since 1986.

Port Townsend paper hit with EPA complaint

SEATTLE (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency has filed a complaint against Port Townsend Paper Corp., alleging the company has failed to submit a plan on how it would respond to a toxic spill into Puget Sound. The EPA complaint announced last week proposes a $10,000 civil penalty against the paper manufacturer. It alleges the company did not file a Facility Response Plan despite several extensions on its Feb. 18, 1995, deadline. Mill officials said they have prepared three spill-contingency plans and won approval from the state Department of Ecology and the Coast Guard. Interagency complications are arising as the company tries to accommodate the EPA requirements without running afoul of the Coast Guard, said Port Townsend Paper's environmental manager, Marion Rideout. Federal law requires that certain oil handling and storage facilities prepare and implement Facility Response Plans. The deadline is mandated under the 1990 Oil Pollution Prevention Act, a law passed in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound. "Any facility this close to the Sound, with almost a million gallons of oil storage capacity, has both a civic and legal responsibility to make adequate contingency plans for protecting the environment from oil spills," said Bub Loiselle, manager of EPA's Emergency Response and Site Cleanup Unit in Seattle. According to the EPA, there are 40 oil handling or storage facilities located close to Puget Sound that require EPA approval of their Facility Response Plans. Of those, only Port Townsend Paper continues to operate without an approved plan, EPA said in a news release. Rideout said most of the 39 others are oil facilities. Part of the problem for her company is the range of standards for different types of facilities, she said.

Dec 22, 1995

Birmingham Steel

Birmingham Recycling Investment Company, a subsidiary of Birmingham Steel Corp., has acquired Vancouver, B.C.-based steel scrap collector and processor Richmond Steel Recycling Ltd. from a subsidiary of IPSCO Inc. The acquisition includes some assets of National Metals Corporation Ltd., also located in Vancouver, B.C., and recently acquired by Richmond. Richmond's currently produces approximately 130,000 tons of ferrous scrap annually. The company has been a significant supplier of steel scrap to Birmingham Steel's Seattle mini-mill and will continue to supply feedstock to that operation and other ferrous and nonferrous processors and consumers. Birmingham Steel intends to enter into a joint venture with Simsmetal Ltd., a ferrous and nonferrous metals recycler headquartered in Sydney, Australia, to own and operate the Richmond facilities and collect additional steel scrap in Western Canada and Alaska.

UW Board of Regents

OLYMPIA (AP) -- Gov. Mike Lowry has appointed labor leader Cindy Zehnder to the Board of Regents at the University of Washington. Lowry said the appointment, along with reappointment of regent Mari Clack of Spokane, signaled his continuing commitment to bring diversity to the state's largest university. The appointments also gave Lowry regents a majority on the nine-member board. Since his inauguration three years ago, Democrat Lowry has appointed four women and a minority member, as well as a former three-term Republican governor, Dan Evans. Zehnder, 47, worked with Lowry on the governor's Regulatory Reform Task Force in 1993 and 1994 and has served on the state Personnel Appeals Board and state advisory boards. She is secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 741 in King County and directed statewide political action and voter-registration programs for the 60,000-member state Joint Council of Teamsters. Zehnder succeeds business leader David Cohn, who served two terms and did not seek reappointment. Clack, 59, is a businesswoman and was Gov. Booth Gardner's Eastern Washington representative.

The Museum of Flight

Museum of Flight is launching a new marketing partnership with Cole & Weber of Seattle to increase foot traffic and enhance national awareness of new exhibits in the air and space museum, the largest on the West Coast. In 1996, the museum will unveil a permanent air traffic control tower exhibit and a theatre housed within a Boeing 737 fuselage where visitors can view the history of flight. The interactive tower exhibit will highlight the technological advances made in the nation's air safety systems, and will showcase the challenges associated with working in a control tower. The 737 theater will educate visitors about the key scientific and technological mileposts which have impacted commercial air travel.