Category Archives: Announcement

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

 

PMF Phase 1 Report comments due 5/17 – Ecology letter to EPA regarding WA water quality standards

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Hi Task Force members and interested parties,

As a reminder, the PMF phase 1 report comments are due to Mike Hermanson (mhermanson@spokanecounty.org) by next Friday, May 17.  Please also cc lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com.  Here is the report: PMF Blank Study draft final report_030419

Maia Bellon, the Director of Ecology recently sent a letter to EPA urging them not to reconsider Washington’s water quality standards for human health criteria.  The letter can be found here: 5-7-19 Director Bellon Letter to EPA Administrator Wheeler re HHC

Also, here is a research brief provided by Mike LaScoula from Spokane Regional Health District on the breakdown of PCBs to potentially harmful metabolites in humans: SRP_ResearchBrief_293_508

Thanks!

April 24, 2019 SRRTTF Meeting

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The next meeting of the Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force is:

Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location: Liberty Lake Sewer & Water District Office
22510 E. Mission Avenue Liberty Lake, WA 99019
Click here for a map

To attend by Webex and phone (all please register using the link below):

Register
After your request has been approved, you’ll receive instructions for joining.

Meeting Documents: 
SRRTTF agenda_20190424
0 – SRRTTF DRAFT Meeting Summary 2-27-19
1 – ACE commitment report
2 – ACE Financial statement
3 – PMF Blank Study draft final report_030419
3a – Rodenburg blank study 042419
4 – SRF_Bioflim_v4_srrttf2
5 – PCB Tabletop_flyer
6 – Early actions summary & approval recommendations
7 – MOA comments summary Aug 2018
8 – Future Meeting Topics – April 2019




New Technical Reports and Upcoming Events

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The new Ecology report, Atmospheric Deposition of PCBs in the Spokane River Watershed, is available at https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/SummaryPages/1903003.html. It is also posted on the SRRTTF website under Department of Ecology publications. In 2016 and 2017, Ecology’s Environmental Assessment Program investigated atmospheric deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Spokane area. If you have questions about this report, contact Brandee Era-Miller at 360-407-6771 or brandee.era-miller@ecy.wa.gov.

The final SRRTTF 2018 Technical Activities Report by LimnoTech (Dave Dilks) can be found on the SRRTTF website here:

Technical Consultant Activities – 2018 Spokane River Studies

SRRTTF_2018_TechnicalActivitiesReport_Final_03-27-2019
Appendix B _ Gravity 2018 Field Report
Appendix C _ QAPP_addendum5_072318
Appendix D – Lab results spreadsheets available upon request (lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com)

The Spokane River Forum is having a conference on April 16 and 17 at the Davenport hotel in Spokane. You can find more information on their website
Spokane River Forum Conference 2019 Some of the Task Force members are presenting during the conference.

The next SRRTTF meeting will be held Wednesday, April 24, 2019 from 8:30 am – 12:00 pm at Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District.

Upcoming SRRTTF work group meetings:
Education & Outreach – April 9 at 10 am at the Spokane Regional Health District, Room 402
TSCA – May 1 at 10 am (we have a new conf. call in number (605) 313-5141, 723394#)


April 5, 2019 SRRTTF Meeting: Conference Call Vote

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The next meeting of the Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force is a conference call to vote on the approval of Dave Dilks’ (LimnoTech) budget to do the preparation work/analyses for the data synthesis workshop scheduled for May 30 and 31.  Here is the recommendation and other materials regarding the workshop:

Data synthesis workshop final draft recommendation

Spokane Data Synthesis Workshop – Potential Activities_3.27.19[252]

Potential Activity_Summation of Existing Pathway Knowledge_rev_3.27.2019[254]

OptionsTable_3-27-19[253]

Time:  11:00 am
Call in number:  641-715-0857; 723394#

Here is an interesting research brief on PCBs by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services that Mike LaScoula shared:

Research brief on pcbs

March 27, 2019 SRRTTF Meeting: Conference Call

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The next meeting of the Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force is a conference call to receive an update on funding status and the legislative funding request in follow up to our February 27 Task Force meeting and March 8 conference call. Here is a link to the notes where we discussed these topics at the Feb. 27 Task Force Meeting:
Meeting Summary

Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Call in number: 641-715-0857; 723394#

Meeting agenda:  SRRTTF agenda_20190327
Funding Status Update


March 8, 2019 SRRTTF Meeting: Conference Call

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The next meeting of the Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force is a conference call to discuss and agree on key messages for the legislative funding request.

Date: Friday, March 8, 2019 Time: 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Please contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for the Conference Call-in number.

Materials for the meeting:

2018 SRRTTF Funding Support Letter-2019 Leg Session- Rev 1

Governor’s 2018 funding request letter

Supplemental Information

Joint Key Messages 2013

Joint Key Messages, SRHD comments 2015

SRRTTF Poster 2014

SRRTTF Handout 2014

February 27, 2019 SRRTTF Meeting

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The next meeting of the Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force is:
Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location: Spokane County Water Resource Center
1004 N. Freya Street
Spokane, WA 99202
Click here for a map

To attend by Webex and phone (all please register using the link below):
Register

Meeting documents:
0 – SRRTTF agenda_20190227
1 – Dec. 12, 2018 TF Meeting Summary
2a – SRRTTF_2018_TechnicalActivitiesReport&App A 02-20-2019
2b – Appendix B _ Gravity 2018 Field Report
Appendix C can be seen here: Appendix C _ QAPP_addendum5_072318
2c – ResponsetoComments_2018TechnicalActivitiesReport
2d – SRRTTF_2019_0227_TechnicalActivitiesReport
3 – PMF Phase 1 report now coming at April Task Force meeting
4a – SRRTTF PCB Database Pilot Report FINAL
4b – SRRTTF PCB Database Instructions Feb 2019
5a – Green Chemistry Ti02 White Paper Action Summary-Final
5b – SRRTTF TiO2 2019_02_18
6a – Comp-Plan-Impl.ReviewSum_2018 – 20190227
6b – Comp-Plan-Impl.ReviewSum_2018 – 20190227-trk chgs
7a – E&O spring media campaign recommendation
7b – MediaBuy Summary
8a – Potential Actions 2019 2-22-2019
8b – 2019_SRRTTF_Workshop_Overview
9 – Task Force Draft Legislative Proposal
10 – Future Meeting Topics – February 2019
11a – ACE Commitment report -Feb 2019
11b – PMF WG Update 2-27-19 SRRTTF meeting
11c – Data Management WG Update 2-27-19 SRRTTF meeting
12 – MOA comments summary Aug 2018

 








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.