Category Archives: Work Groups

August 9, 2019 SRRTTF Meeting/Conference Call

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The next meeting of the Spokane Regional Toxics Task Force will be a conference call to discuss the recommendation for the tasks to be included in the initial 2019-2021 grant agreement with Ecology.  This recommendation is being provided by the Tech Track work group.

Date:  Friday, August 9, 2019
Time:  9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Call in number:  605-313-5141
Access Code: 723394#

Meeting Materials:
Recommendation Summary_Draft for 2019-2021 Grant Agreement with ECY

Upcoming work group meetings:
TSCA – August 7 at 10 am (Conference call in number 605-313-5141, 723394#)
Education and Outreach – August 13 at 10 am at the Spokane Regional Health District office
You can see meeting agendas on the work groups page a couple of days before each meeting.  Here is the link: Work Groups

PMF & Green Chemistry final reports/Ecology & EPA news/EAP sampling schedule/Upcoming mtgs.

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Task Force,

The PMF blank study final report with the changes discussed at the last Task Force meeting can be seen on the website at this link: http://srrttf.org/?page_id=10186

The final IPCBs and Pigments report from Northwest Green Chemistry can be seen at this link: http://srrttf.org/?page_id=10179

Ecology’s Water Quality Program is offering more than $183 million in financial assistance for 106 high-priority clean water projects across the state.  See the link below for more information:
From onsite septic repair to stormwater infrastructure, $183 million is going to more than 100 clean water projects

EPA’s May 2019 Fish and Shellfish Program Newsletter focuses on PCBs. Click the link for some interesting articles.

Brandee Era-Miller and Siana Wong from the Dept. of Ecology will be out on the Spokane River doing sampling work the first week in August and they could use one additional person to help on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday August 6-8. Please email Siana Wong, swon461@ECY.WA.GOV if interested.

Upcoming work group meetings (conf. calls: 605-313-5141, 723394#):
July 31 – Tech Track @ 10 am (Dept. of Ecology office, 4601 N. Monroe St., Spokane)
Aug. 7 – TSCA conf. call @ 10 am
Aug. 8 – Data Management conf. call @ 3pm
Aug. 13 – Education and Outreach @ 10 am (Spokane Regional Health District office)
For meeting materials please follow this link on the website: http://srrttf.org/?page_id=9623 and then select the work group you are interested in.


Riverkeeper withdrawal letter from SRRTTF/Upcoming Mtgs./Rulemaking announcement WAC 173-201A Variances

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Hi Task Force and other interested parties:

Here is a recent letter from Spokane Riverkeeper to the Department of Ecology regarding their withdrawal from the Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force: 20190604_Riverkeeper_SRRTTF_Letter

Upcoming SRRTTF and work group meetings:
(Conference call in number: 605-313-5141, 723394#)
June 18 – Tech Track conf. call at 10 am
June 18 – Green Chemistry conf. call at 1 pm
June 26 – SRRTTF Task Force meeting – 8:30 am to 12 pm, Spokane County Water Resource Center
July 3 – TSCA conf. call at 10 am
July 8 – MOA ad hoc committee mtg. at 10:30 am at Spokane City Hall, Conference room 2B
July 9 – Education and Outreach meeting at 10 am at Spokane Regional Health District, room 350

The Department of Ecology (Ecology) is beginning a rulemaking to consider amending the Water Quality Standards for Surface Waters of the State of Washington, Chapter 173-201A Washington Administrative Code (WAC). Ecology is considering adopting one or more variances to the water quality standards that meet the requirements of WAC 173-201A-420 (Variance section), for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for the Spokane River, in water resource inventory area (WRIA) 57.

Ecology will consider amending sections of Chapter 173-201A WAC that address variances to the standards, including amendments to 173-201A-420 (Variance) and 173-201A-602 (Table 602-use designations for fresh waters by water resource inventory area), as well as any other sections that need to be amended to support adopting the above-noted variances.

More information on the rulemaking and links:

Comment on the scope of the EIS: http://ws.ecology.commentinput.com/?id=KTMcA

Contact:
Susan Braley
WA State Dept. of Ecology
Email: swqs@ecy.wa.gov
Phone: 360.407.6414

 

Upcoming February Meetings & State Fiscal Year 2020 Draft Funding Offer List/Use Plan

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Upcoming Meetings:

Feb. 5 – Tech Track work group, 10 am – 12 pm, Dept. of Ecology, 3rd floor conf. room, 4601 N. Monroe St., Spokane (contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for call in info.)
Feb. 6 – TSCA work group conference call, 10 am, 641-715-0857, 723394#
Feb. 12 – Education & Outreach work group meeting, 10 am at the Spokane Reg. Health District (contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for call in info.)
Feb. 27 – SRRTTF meeting, 8:30 am – 12 pm, Spokane County Water Resource Center, 1004 N. Freya St

Ecology has announced the availability of the State Fiscal Year 2020 (SFY20) Draft Funding Offer List and Intended Use Plan (Draft List) for public review and comment. The Draft List describes how to use state and federal dollars to fund water quality improvement projects across the state. In addition, the Draft List and other SFY20 Funding Cycle information is available at the Water Quality Grants webpage.  Money is made available each year from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, Stormwater Financial Assistance Program, Centennial Clean Water Program, and Clean Water Act Section 319 program. This year approximately $183 million is proposed for funding from a request of $338.5 million (statewide).

The Spokane area projects include:

  • Approximately $10 million for wastewater facility funding
  • Almost $6.3 million for stormwater
  • $22.5 Non point


How to comment: A public review and comment period on the Draft List is open until 5:00 pm on Feb. 18, 2019. They will hold a public information meeting to present the Draft List and discuss the project evaluation and Funding Cycle process.

Informational Meeting
Feb. 6 at 1:00 pm
Pierce County Library
3005 112th Street East, Tacoma, WA.

Please email or mail comments on the Draft List to:
Daniel Thompson
Department of Ecology
Water Quality Program – Financial Management Section
P.O.  Box 47600
Olympia, WA 98504-7600
Email: daniel.thompson@ecy.wa.gov
Phone: 360-407-6510

Next Steps: They will respond to all comments received during the comment period when the Final List is published. They expect to publish the Final List by June 28 after approval of the state’s 2019-2021 Biennial Budget. All commenters will be notified by email when the Final List is published.

How does this apply to the Task Force? Governments and nonprofits (501(c)3 organizations) are eligible to apply for different types of funding. Background: Ecology rolls all of its water quality funding into a combined program in order to simplify the process for everyone.

The annual cycle starts in the summer (August) with informational meetings. Here is information to help prepare for the next cycle: https://ecology.wa.gov/About-us/How-we-operate/Grants-loans/Find-a-grant-or-loan/Water-Quality-Combined-Funding-Program

Many of the Task Force members organizations have applied for and received funding for clean water projects (point and nonpoint) in the past: City of Spokane, Spokane County, the Lands Council, Conservation Districts, etc.).  Individually, these projects have supported the work of the Task Force by putting in infrastructure or addressing nonpoint source pollution, education and outreach.

Upcoming meetings

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Hi Task Force,

Happy New Year! Here is a list of upcoming work group meetings:

TSCA conference call: January 9 at 10 am
PMF conference call: January 10 at 10 am
Data Management conference call: January 10 at 3 pm
Education & Outreach: January 15 at 10 am at the Spokane County Water Resource Center, 1004 N. Freya St.
Green Chemistry: Tentatively targeting January 24 at 1 pm
Tech Track: February 5 at 10 am at the Department of Ecology office, 4601 N. Monroe St., 3rd floor
*All conference calls will use 641-715-0857, 723394# – contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for call in information for in person meetings.

Our next SRRTTF meeting will be Wednesday, February 27 from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm at the Spokane County Water Resource Center, 1004 North Freya St, Spokane

Thanks!

Comments on MOA orientation guide & spokaneriverpcbfree.org website needed

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Hi Task Force members & interested parties,

This is a reminder that any additional Task Force comments on the MOA orientation guide are due this Friday, November 30 to lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com.  Here is the document for reference 7 – MOA orientation guide_draft- WBC edits  Below are the comments already provided at the last Task Force meeting:

• Under the background there should be some indication of invited entities and continue to extend invitation and acknowledge other groups
• There should be a small section of what the Task Force addresses and doesn’t address. The Task Force doesn’t address or make decisions regarding permittees and permit requirements.
• The Task Force decided the addendum with the bullets should be deleted.
• For new members we should mention it’s not representative of the whole MOA, it doesn’t have all detail.

Also, Toni Taylor has been working on the http://spokaneriverpcbfree.org/ website.  Please check out the site and give feedback to srrttfoutreach@gmail.com which is also listed on the site under contact us by December 5.  Some recent changes are listed below:

  • Embedded a video on the What Are PCBs? page.
  • Embedded a Spokane Waste Directory video on the What Can I Do? page and the Info. for Homeowners page.
  • Changed page name from Printable Education Materials to Educational Resources to allow for more types of resources.
  • Added BMPs created by the Building Demolition and Renovation work group to the Info. for Building Contractors page.
  • Added Work Group Updates page and filled it with the work group updates provided to the E&O work group by each work group.

Upcoming work group meetings: 
November 28 – Tech Track meeting at 10 am (Dept. of Ecology large conf. room) contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for Web ex info.
December 5 – TSCA Conference call at 10 am (641-715-0857, 723394#)
December 5 – Funding Conference call at 1 pm (641-715-0857, 723394#)
December 7 – Fish Sampling Conference call at 10 am (641-715-0857, 723394#)
December 11 – Education & Outreach meeting at 10 am (Spokane Regional Health District, Room 402) contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for skype info.
December 13 – Data Management Conference call at 3 pm (641-715-0857, 723394#)

 Our next SRRTTF meeting will be held, Wednesday Dec. 12 at Liberty Lake Sewer & Water District from 8:30 am to noon.

Thanks!

 

Upcoming meetings

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Hello Task Force members and interested parties,

Here are the schedules for upcoming work group meetings, our next Task Force meeting and also information on the upcoming Ecology-sponsored permitting tools workshop.

Upcoming work group meetings:

Education & Outreach meeting – Tuesday, November 6 at the Spokane Regional Health District, Room 402 from 10:00 am – 11:30 am
TSCA Conference Call – Wednesday, November 7, 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Data Management Conference Call – Thursday, November 8 at 3:00 pm

The Conference Call in number for each of these meetings is 641-715-0857 and the participant code is 723394#.

If you would like to know more about the work groups please see this link:   http://srrttf.org/?page_id=9623
Or if you would like to join a work group please email lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com and we will get you added.

Our next Task Force meeting will be held Wednesday, December 12  from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm at Liberty Lake Sewer and Water.  The meeting notes from our last meeting on October 24 will be posted to this page soon: Link to Meeting Notes

The Spokane River Permitting Tools Workshop #2 will be on November 5.  See this link for more information:  http://srrttf.org/?p=9660

Thanks!

Upcoming October Meetings

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Hello Task Force members and interested parties,

Here are the schedules for upcoming work group meetings and our next Task Force meeting.

Upcoming Work Group meetings:

TSCA Conference Call – Wednesday October 3, 2018, 10:00 am – 11:00 am
PMF Conference Call – Thursday, October 4, 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Data Management Conference Call – Monday, October 15, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

The Conference Call in number for each of these meetings is 641-715-0857 and the participant code is 723394#.

We had a great Education & Outreach meeting last Friday and the meeting summary will be posted to this page on the website soon:  http://srrttf.org/?page_id=9302

Our next Task Force meeting will be held Wednesday, October 24 from 8:30 am to noon at Liberty Lake Sewer and Water.  More information to come.  We have another full meeting agenda shaping up.

Thanks!