Apr 15, 1997

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders

The M/V Guard, the second of the Voith Schneider propelled Protector-Class tugs built by Freeland, Wash.-based Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Inc., for Crowley Marine Services, Inc., has been delivered to Crowley at Nichols' Langley outfitting dock. The tug will be transferred to Crowley's Long Beach station in early April. The Protector Class tugs are being outfitted for tanker escort services, ship handling and docking assistance. Guido Perla & Associates, Inc., (GPA) provided final design and production engineering assistance to Nichols Brothers in construction of the vessels.

ST Labs

Bellevue-based ST Labs, Inc., an outsourced software testing service provider, announced the opening of its newest computer game and entertainment title testing lab in Los Angeles. The facility will employ 20 testers to provide outsourced testing services for area companies such as Dreamworks, Activision, MGM Interactive and many others. The new Southern California computer game and entertainment title testing lab is a scaled-down version of ST Labs' 40,000 square-foot Bellevue facility where game testers work with the latest gaming input/output devices such as "force feedback" joysticks and 3-D hardware components. ST Labs, Inc. provides software testing-related services at its labs in Bellevue, Redmond, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Reports focus on Clean Water Act violations

OLYMPIA -- Thanks to the persistence of Puget Soundkeeper BJ Cummings, a new Department of Ecology publication is available that outlines violators of water quality permits in Washington state from July 1, 1995 to June 30, 1996. Cummings of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, a Seattle-based environmental watchdog group, made a Freedom of Information Act request for such a document after she noticed Ecology's regional offices did not keep track of discharge-limit violations in a consistent way. "Each of their offices had to get on the same data system," Cummings said. "Otherwise, it was impossible to draw any statewide conclusions." Cummings recently used the data in the new Ecology publication along with the Environmental Protection Agency's criteria for "significant noncompliance" to compile a report called "Clean Water Act Permit Violations in Puget Sound." Among other things, the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance report reveals that from July 1995 to June 1996:

• 70 percent of Puget Sound facilities violated their discharge permits;
• 25 percent were in serious, chronic violation of the Clean Water Act;
• 84 Puget Sound facilities were found to be in significant noncompliance according to EPA standards;
• 27 percent of chronic polluters in Puget Sound violated their effluent limits for toxic pollutants at least twice in six months;
• 60 percent of chronic polluters in Puget Sound violated their permits at least four times in six months;
• and less than 10 percent of facilities with serious, chronic violations were fined by Ecology.

"I didn't expect that it would look as bad as it looks," Cummings said of the findings in the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance report. "We have a lot of very serious concerns about Ecology's enforcement of our public interest laws." Ecology spokeswoman Mary Getchell cautioned that both the new Ecology publication and the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance report leave out a great deal of important information, such as fines Ecology may have issued outside of the July 1995 to June 1996 time frame. Getchell pointed out that Ecology uses several kinds of enforcement actions other than fines, such as administrative orders, consent decrees, notices of correction, notices of violation and cease-and-desist orders. Those other enforcement tools are not considered in the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance report, she said. "In some instances, a penalty is not the appropriate enforcement tool to use," she said. Getchell also noted that the new Ecology publication includes data from discharge-monitoring reports only. "Discharge monitoring is not the sole piece of information used in making an enforcement decision," Getchell said. The new Ecology publication, "Discharge Limit Violations and Compliance Report for the Period July 1, 1995 through June 30, 1996," is available from Ecology's Publications Office. To receive a copy, call (360) 407-7472 and ask for Publication No. 96-21. Ecology eventually plans to start posting such information on the Internet on a quarterly basis. To receive a copy of the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance report, call (206) 286-1309.

Apr 14, 1997

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders

The M/V Guard, the second of the Voith Schneider propelled Protector-Class tugs built by Freeland-based Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Inc., for Crowley Marine Services, Inc., has been delivered to Crowley at Nichol's Langley outfitting dock. The tug will be transferred to Crowley's Long Beach station in early April. The Protector Class tugs are being outfitted for tanker escort services, ship handling and docking assistance. Guido Perla & Associates, Inc., provided final design and production engineering assistance to Nichols Brothers in construction of the vessels.

ST Labs

Bellevue-based ST Labs, Inc., a software testing service provider, has opened a new computer game and entertainment title testing lab in Los Angeles. The facility will employ 20 testers to provide outsourced testing services for area companies such as Dreamworks, Activision and MGM Interactive. The new lab is a scaled-down version of ST Labs' 40,000-square-foot Bellevue facility. ST Labs also has labs in Redmond, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Apr 11, 1997

Intermec

EVERETT -- Intermec Corporation, a leader in bar code and automated data collection technologies named Mike E. Callahan, Edward J. Borey and John A. DiBartolomeo, as senior vice presidents. Callahan is responsible for overseeing the North American sales and service operations of Intermec. Borey has re-engineered media operations, improved financial performance for the division, and expanded operation capabilities internationally. DiBartolome is responsible for worldwide finance and accounting.

Apr 10, 1997

MathSoft

Seattle-based MathSoft, Inc., a provider of knowledge discovery software for students and technical professionals, has introduced new statistical mining products and announced a new strategic partnership with Informix, a Menlo Park, Calif. provider of database technology. MathSoft products include Mathcad, StudyWorks, S-PLUS and Axum software.

Apr 09, 1997

D'Amato Conversano

Richard L. Hemmen has joined D'Amato Conversano, Inc. as a structural engineer and project manager with a specialty in seismic evaluation and design. Among the projects he is currently managing are Microsoft's Overlake Archives, a Yakima Safeway addition, Trinity Life Center in Sacramento and an addition to the Prudential Center in Bellevue.

Esterline Technologies

Esterline Technologies, a Bellevue-based manufacturer of engineered products for commercial aircraft, aerospace and defense industries, has appointed Jim Cich as group executive.