Monthly News Archive:
December 2007
Table of Contents:
- Away for the Holidays
- King County's new flood philosophy: Stop fighting nature
- Partnership leads new idea to clean Puget Sound
- Earth Saving Tips - A Toast to Green Beer and Wine
- A green light for rules on auto emissions
- Popular Holiday Toys Contaminated with High Levels of Toxic Chemicals
- Shellfish beds to get better protection
- Did development, logging set the stage for disaster?
- Deluge of sewage left in storm's wake
- Washington governor's team recommends 47 ways to cut greenhouse gases
- Climate change could mean more massive downpours
- VIDEO - EarthCorps restores Bellevue's Newport Creek
- Runoff called top pollutant in Puget Sound
Away for the Holidays
The Earth Share of Washington office is closed from December 21st. We will return January 2nd. News updates will resume upon our return.
It is our hope that Nature's richness will fill you with joy and wonder in the coming year. Happy Holidays from the staff at Earth Share.
...Read the full story
December 21, 2007
Add Comments...King County's new flood philosophy: Stop fighting nature
It's a sight only a biologist — or a fisherman — might love: a very big, and very ripe, spawned-out king salmon, tucked under a log in a side channel of the Green River.
This fish, this log and this meander wouldn't have been here even a year ago. A levee used to fence the river and the fish out. Then King County did what until recently was unthinkable: It ripped the levee out and gave this bit of land north of Highway 18 in Auburn back to the river.
The project, completed last year, reconnected the Green River with a side channel to provide refuge for salmon and water to re...Read the full story
Partnership leads new idea to clean Puget Sound
As a 25-gallon aquarium is lowered upside-down onto the bottom of an inlet in Puget Sound, Mindy Roberts watches as two other environmental scientists draw water samples up a long, clear tube.
On this particular day, the Department of Ecology is testing for dissolved oxygen in the water, data that will be used to figure out how human factors such as stormwater runoff negatively impact the levels of oxygen in the water.
Roberts, a project manager at the agency, said the information will help create the equivalent of a flight simulator, a program that would let scientists test o...Read the full story
Earth Saving Tips - A Toast to Green Beer and Wine
Green tips are provided by Earth Share of Washington organization, Union of Concerned Scientists
You may have already considered serving locally produced, organic foods to your holiday guests, but what about the beer and wine? Significant amounts of water and fossil fuels are used to grow conventional grapes, barley, and hops, and to transport the finished products to market, but a growing number of beer and wine makers have made a commitment to produce beverages with the same (or better) quality as conventional products and with less en...Read the full story
A green light for rules on auto emissions
Judge defies auto industry, allows states to regulate pollution
Washington and other states trying to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions celebrated a court victory Wednesday when a federal judge ruled that California can regulate carbon dioxide coming from cars, light trucks and sport utility vehicles.
Two years ago Washington adopted California's more stringent pollution rules -- but legal challenges and the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to act on the regulations threaten to delay their implementation.
They're scheduled to phase in ...Read the full story
Popular Holiday Toys Contaminated with High Levels of Toxic Chemicals
Groups release testing results at www.healthytoys.org
Holiday Favorites, Including Hannah Montana, Geoffrey, Elmo & Circo Brands Contaminated with High Levels of Toxic Chemicals
Seattle, WA--The Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC) today, along with the Michigan-based Ecology Center, the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition, and environmental health groups across the country, released the results of their testing of approximately 1,200 popular children’s toys for toxic chemicals at Read the full story
Shellfish beds to get better protection
Washington's shellfish beds will be better protected next year after the Port of Seattle, the Washington Department of Ecology and the NorthWest CruiseShip Association update their agreement governing the 208 cruise sailings expected through state waters next year.
"The cruise ships will not be able to discharge within one-half mile of shellfish beds due to concerns about the contamination that a wastewater-treatment system that is not working properly would allow," said Amy Jankowiak, a compliance specialist with the Ecology Department. "As long as the treatment systems are working...Read the full story
Did development, logging set the stage for disaster?
For more than a decade in the Chehalis River watershed, developers have been allowed to roll the dice.
In 1996, the worst flood Lewis County had ever known blew through, drowning communities in muddy water high enough to close Interstate 5. Since then, the county has granted more than 100 permits for new development in the floodplain. The cities of Centralia and Chehalis added to the rush.
Big-box stores, restaurants and strip malls galore. A railroad line extension, parking lots for a church. A coal-unloading facility, a new natural-gas pipeline, a mine expansion. And barns...Read the full story
Deluge of sewage left in storm's wake
Thousands of gallons of waste in area lakes, streams
The deluge that submerged Western Washington early this week also pushed hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into Seattle-area lakes, streams and homes.
Three days after the heaviest rains abated, King County public utilities managers were still trying to determine how much sewage was released.
But early reports to the Department of Ecology suggest that, at a minimum, 350,000 to 600,000 gallons of untreated sewage flowed into Lake Washington during the storm. Discharges at Green Lake and...Read the full story
Washington governor's team recommends 47 ways to cut greenhouse gases
Tolls for busy roadways, higher energy-efficiency standards for new buildings and increased recycling and composting are all top picks for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, as selected by the state's Climate Advisory Team.
Now someone just has to get them done.
The team met in Seattle for the last time Wednesday before lawmakers convene in Olympia next month. The group, which was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire and has been meeting since March, tried to come up with specific recommendations for the Legislature but was unable to whittle down its choices.
Instead, me...Read the full story
Climate change could mean more massive downpours
That sump pump you rented to suck out the standing water in your basement? You might want to ask Santa to leave you one under the tree this year.
Record-setting storms like the one Sunday and Monday that flooded the Northwest could become more of the norm as climate change skews our region's rainfall patterns and leads to more of these massive deluges as compared to the typical drizzle.
It's not guaranteed, but scientists said that multiple computer climate models predict an increased likelihood of more rain -- and more episodes of heavier rainfall -- in fall and winter, les...Read the full story
VIDEO - EarthCorps restores Bellevue's Newport Creek
Learn more about Earth Share of Washington organization Earthcorps' recent project to restore Bellevue's Newport Creek. From EarthCorps Executive Director Steve Dubiel:
I’m pleased to report that the numerous stream restoration projects EarthCorps installed this summer have held up well despite recent flooding. If you’re wondering what goes into one of these projects, I encourage you to watch the four minute video highlighting our work at Bellevue’s Newport Creek:
Runoff called top pollutant in Puget Sound
Findings prove what many suspected, and may change priorities in cleanup
Runoff from streets, roofs and even forests is the largest source of most of the worst pollutants plaguing Puget Sound, according to a study released Friday. Air pollution is the prime culprit for a few of the toxic chemicals. Oil spills and sewage treatment plants contribute smaller fractions of the waste.
Some of the findings were surprising -- and highlight the need to complete a more thorough analysis, possibly resulting in a refocusing of cleanup priorities.
"We're trying t...Read the full story