Jan 23, 1996

Hara Consulting

Former Seattle City Treasurer Lloyd F. Hara has announced the formation of Hara Consulting, a facility specializing in investment policies, cash management practices, program evaluation, organizational development and training services for the public and non-profit sectors which will operate in partnership with a Settle-based investment firm, Kunath Karren Rinne & Atkin. Hara has been regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Before that, he was elected to four terms as Seattle City Treasurer. He received the Government Finance Officers Association Award of Excellence for Cash Management in 1987 and 1991, and the 1991 Municipal Treasurers'Association highest recognition, the Jackson R.E. Philips Award. Hara leads the Northwest Municipal Treasurer's Institute at the University of Washington. He has previously taught at Seattle University and the Universities of Puget Sound, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

KeyCorp's Northwest Region

Starr Mcdonald has been named senior vice president and quality service team leader for Seattle-headquartered KeyCorp's Northwest Region, comprised of bank and non-bank affiliates in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. She will also manage First Choice 2000 branch configuration, consolidations, and new market openings. Macdonald previously held the position of vice president, retail administration for Key Bank of Washington.

Disneyland

Robert M. Witter who was special projects director at KIRO-TV from 1986 to 1992, has been promoted to director of promotions and partnership marketing for Anaheim, Calif.-based Disneyland Resort. Witter joined the Walt Disney Company in 1994 as regional manager for the Walt Disney Attractions marketing office in Seattle. Prior to that, he spent seven years in television and radio broadcast management in the Seattle and Spokane markets. He was a regional manager for EXPO'86 World's Fair in Vancouver, B.C.

University of Washington

Dr. Leroy Hood, professor and chair of molecular biotechnology at the University of Washington, has received an additional $600,000 in funding from CaP CURE, an Association for the Cure of Cancer and Prostate formed in 1992 by Michael Milken, a former Wall Street financier who has the disease. Hood and Dr. Paul Lange, University of Washington professor and chair of urology, jointly head the Cap CURE Prostate Cancer Consortium, a national effort to determine the genetic basis of the disease and differentiate its various forms. CaP CURE has donated some $3 million to the consortium, whose goal is battling the disease on a number of fronts and which includes scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Washington and the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Duncan & Ross Advisors Inc.

Bellevue-based Duncan & Ross Advisors Inc., a company assisting family business has moved from Redmond and Gig Harbor to larger offices on the N.E. 8th Street, in downtown Bellevue. The founding partners, Jon M. Duncan and Philip C. Ross, are veterans in the financial services profession, and they both were formerly consultants with the Rainier Group. Both are certified financial planners and registered advisor representatives.

SDL Corp.

Barry Cooper has been promoted to senior project manager at SDL McCarthy in Bellevue. He has been with the company for over 13 years and is currently managing the Kodiak Island Hospital and Care Center in Alaska.

Paint with low VOCs developed

PORTLAND -- Rodda Paint recently formulated a paint with low Volatile Organic Compounds for use in areas that must be occupied within 24 hours. VOC's in large amounts are considered to be a carcinogen and can be associated with indoor air quality problems. This paint emits no smell after drying, but still has the same durability of standard paints. The paint takes advantage of recent polymer technology. The internally plasticized latex emulsions do not require organic solvents for film formation. In fact, the paint is 99.6 percent solvent free. It is part of the company's Earth Friendly/People Friendly line of products. Rodda was founded in 1932, in Portland, and has more than 30 paint and decor centers in Oregon and Washington.

Erosion control conference set

The International Erosion Control Association will hold its 27th annual conference and trade exposition Feb. 27 through March 1 at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel and the Washington State Trade and Convention Center. The conference will cover the latest methods and products for controlling erosion, how to specify erosion control materials, how the Internet can help businesses, the latest erosion prediction tools, and how to improve business profitability. The trade show will include products used for cellular confinement and dust control and specific products such as blankets and mats, gabions and plants. For more information contact the International Control Association, Box 4904, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477-4904 or telephone, 800/455-4322.

Ecology offers no penalty inspection

OLYMPIA -- One time, no penalty on-site visits from Department of Ecology inspectors are being offered to assist people across the state who own or operate petroleum underground storage tanks. The visit can result in lower insurance premiums. By participating, tank owners and operators will receive information which can help improve operations, prevent leaks and future liability for cleanup and help them make better business decisions related to underground storage tanks. The program was offered on a trial basis last spring in Yakima and Benton counties. Ecology inspectors visited 38 sites in a three-month period. Ecology is now offering these visits statewide, starting with targeted counties, to petroleum underground storage tank owners and operators regulated by Ecology. In Western Washington the visits will be available in Snohomish County (call 649-7000) and Clallam and Thurston County (call 360/407-6300.)

Federal cutbacks threaten salmon

OLYMPIA -- Proposed federal budget cuts will mean massive reductions in the numbers of chinook and coho salmon, steelhead and searun cutthroat trout released in the Columbia basin, as well as the closure of three hatcheries operated by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Fish production at several other state hatcheries would be reduced, warned Bob Turner, director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Federal budget reductions also will force the closure or reduce fish production at Columbia basin hatcheries operated by Oregon and the federal government. The federal government has been allocating money to Columbia River hatcheries since 1949 to compensate the region for the loss of salmon and other fish species caused by the construction of hydroelectric dams that block the river.

Proposal to move fish around Elwha dams

PORT ANGELES (AP) -- A local group has proposed a crane and cable system to move fish around two dams on the Elwha River, but Indians and government officials doubt the plan would restore salmon runs. The proposal to restore coho and chinook runs and cutthroat trout to the lower river was designed by Robert Crittenden, an Olympia statistician hired by the group Rescue Elwha Area Lakes. Marv Chastain, a member of the group, said the plan would cost $25,000. He proposed that the money come from the state Legislature, despite a lack of support from the Department of Fish and Wildlife. "The difficulties are not physical, they're political," Chastain said. Critics include Olympic National Park and Lower Elwha S'Klallam tribal officials. Under the plan, fish moving upstream would be trapped in a net, placed into 100-gallon containers, carried around the dam by a crane and cable system and released upstream. Chastain said the REAL plan was developed after Sen. Slade Gorton warned in July that unless a plan was adopted to restore fish runs without dam removal, a solution would be imposed by Congress.

Underwriters to settle Exxon claim

IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Exxon Corp. said last week it will receive $300 million from Lloyds of London and about 250 other underwriters in a partial settlement of a lawsuit to recover expenses from the 1989 Alaska oil spill. Exxon had sought more than $2 billion from its insurance companies and underwriting syndicates for the Exxon Valdez tanker accident and oil spill. The insurers refused to pay, saying the accident was caused by the company's negligence. The Irving, Texas-based company still has another $250 million in unresolved claims pending with Lloyd's and other underwriters. An April 8 trial date has been set in State District Court of Harris County, Texas. Exxon spent $3 billion to clean up the 11-million-gallon spill after the tanker ran aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, and to settle lawsuits filed by the state and federal government.

Oregon lists polluted rivers

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- The state has compiled a list of 904 rivers that suffer varying degrees of pollution from factories, farming, street runoff, sewage, logging and other sources. Compiled by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the list of "water-quality limited" rivers and stretches of rivers is a step in developing plans to improve water quality. The list includes portions of many major waterways in Oregon, including the Columbia, Willamette, Snake, Deschutes and John Day. For each river, the agency will develop maximum daily loads of various pollutants, such as bacteria, dissolved oxygen, sediment and toxic substances, as well as standards for water temperature and fish and wildlife habitat, said DEQ spokesman Ed Sale. If the river is at its maximum load for a specific discharge, the amount would have to be lowered before any new discharges could be approved, he said. The list isn't likely to have much immediate impact on one-point sources of pollution -- factories, sewage treatment plants -- because they have been heavily regulated since 1967, said Jim Whitty, legislative counsel for Associated Oregon Industries. The DEQ plans to gather public comments through February. Then it will begin setting water-pollution standards for a handful of rivers and river segments identified as top priorities: the Columbia Slough and South Umpqua, Klamath, Grande Ronde and Umatilla rivers.