Category Archives: Announcement

Ecology Director Maia Bellon responds to EPA’s announcement on Washington’s water quality standards

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Director Bellon’s statement:

 “We’re disappointed that Washington state’s approach wasn’t accepted in its entirety. We worked hard to craft new water quality standards that were balanced and made real progress – improving environmental protection and human health while helping businesses and local governments comply.

“We were always clear in our goal – to meet EPA’s requirements and tailor our proposal to work for Washington state. We believe we did that with the clean water standards we adopted in August.
 
“Reviewing the details of EPA’s decision is important to understand all the implications.
 
“It appears that EPA largely approved the implementation tools that we developed. These are pivotal to ensure that dischargers can stay in compliance while making real progress toward updated standards.
 
“Regardless of EPA’s decision today, we must stay focused on reducing toxic contaminants at their source rather than rely on expensive end-of-the-pipe treatment that has limited benefits.”
  
Helpful links
·       EPA news release (Nov. 15, 2016): EPA updates standards for toxic pollutants in Washington waters
·       Ecology news release (Aug. 1, 2016): State adopts new clean water rule

EPA Grant Opportunities!!

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Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities
Local Foods, Local Places 2016-2017 Application, EPA
Applications due by November 6, 2016.
Local Foods, Local Places helps communities create more livable neighborhoods by promoting local foods. The program is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Delta Regional Authority.
The Local Foods, Local Places program will provide selected communities planning assistance that centers around a two-day community workshop. At the workshop, a team of experts will help community members develop an implementable action plan that promotes local food and neighborhood revitalization. Eligible applicants include local governments, Indian tribes, and nonprofit institutions and organizations proposing to work in a neighborhood, town, or city of any size anywhere in the United States. We expect that many of the communities we select will be economically challenged and in the early phases of their efforts to promote local foods and community revitalization.
 
Healthy Places for Healthy People, EPA
Applications due by November 6, 2016.
Healthy Places for Healthy People helps communities create walkable, healthy, economically vibrant places by engaging with their health care facility partners such as community health centers (including Federally Qualified Health Centers), nonprofit hospitals, and other health care facilities. The pilot phase of this program is sponsored by EPA and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Healthy Places for Healthy People will provide selected communities with expert planning assistance that centers around a two-day community workshop. A team of experts will help community members develop an implementable action plan that will focus on health as an economic driver and catalyst for downtown and neighborhood revitalization. Eligible applicants include local government representatives, health care facilities, local health departments, neighborhood associations, main street districts, nonprofit organizations, tribes and others proposing to work in a neighborhood, town, or city located anywhere in the United States. Applications that include representatives from both the community (local government or non-governmental organization) and a health care facility will receive special consideration.
 
Cool & Connected Fall 2016 Application, EPA
Applications due by November 6, 2016.
Communities interested in using broadband service to revitalize main streets and promote economic development are encouraged to apply for Cool & Connected, a planning program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities. Through Cool & Connected, a team of experts will help community members develop strategies and an action plan for using broadband service to promote smart, sustainable community development. Eligibility:
·        Any community representative is welcome to submit an application to participate in Cool & Connected.
·        Special consideration will be given to small towns and rural communities that face economic challenges.
·        Special consideration will be given to communities in places where USDA has provided loans or grants in support of broadband services.
·        Your community should have existing or anticipated broadband service that can be leveraged for community development.
 
Preservation Technology and Training Grants, National Park Service
Applications due November 3, 2016.
Funding Opportunity Number: P16AS00579
2017 Preservation Technology and Training Grants are intended to create better tools, better materials, and better approaches to conserving buildings, landscapes, sites, and collections. The competitive grants program will provide funding to federal agencies, states, tribes, local governments, and non-profit organizations. Grants will support the following activities:
·        Innovative research that develops new technologies or adapts existing technologies to preserve cultural resources (typically $25,000 to $40,000)
·        Specialized workshops or symposia that identify and address national preservation needs (typically $15,000 to $25,000)
·        How-to videos, mobile applications, podcasts, best practices publications, or webinars that disseminate practical preservation methods or provide better tools for preservation practice (typically $5,000 to $15,000)
The maximum grant award is $40,000. The actual grant award amount is dependent on the scope of the proposed activity.
 
Environmental Education Grants, Captain Planet Foundation
Funding range: $500 to $2,500
Applications due by January 31, 2017
The mission of the Captain Planet Foundation is to give the next generation of environmental stewards an active understanding and love for the natural world in which they live. The Captain Planet Foundation primarily makes grants to U.S.-based schools and organizations with an annual operating budget of less than $3 million. Grants are made for activities that conform to the mission of the Captain Planet Foundation and MUST have all four of the following to be considered for funding:
·        Be project-based;
·        Projects must be performed by youth;
·        Projects must have real environmental outcomes;
·        Be based in the United States.
Grants from the Captain Planet Foundation are intended to:
·        Provide hands-on environmental stewardship opportunities for youth;
·        Serve as a catalyst to getting environment-based education in schools;
·        Inspire youth and communities to participate in community service through environmental stewardship activities.
Also of interest, EPA Long-Term Stormwater Planning Effort
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a new voluntary stormwater planning initiative to help communities plan long-term strategies for managing stormwater pollution. EPA has released a step-by-step guide to help communities develop long-term stormwater plans, a web-based toolkit for the planning process, and technical assistance for five communities to develop plans as national models. This effort promotes the use of flexible solutions that spur economic growth, stimulate infrastructure investments, and help compliance with environmental requirements.
 
 
 For more information contact:
Rachel Herbert
EPA/Office of Water/Stormwater Team
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, MC 4203M
Washington, DC 20460
herbert.rachel@epa.gov
202.564.2649

Ecology Funding Opportunity: Watershed Planning Implementation and Flow Achievement Grants

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Water Resources Program Funding Opportunity: Applications accepted from October 17th, 2016 – December 15th, 2016.

Funding under this program requires flow achievement, through:

  • Increased flows below the project site.
  • Improving instream and riparian zone conditions, such as enhancing fish passage or habitat.
  • Reorganizing or concentrating existing points of diversion.
  • Establishing water banks, water exchanges or pursing trust water opportunities.
  • Improving public water supply or irrigation district infrastructure that leads to water savings.
  • Purchasing and installing meters, stream gages or groundwater monitoring equipments when water savings and or efficiencies can be expected short or long term.

For more information go to http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/funding/fo-wspisfag.html 

or Contact:
Rose Bennett
Email: rose.bennett@ecy.wa.gov
Phone: (360) 407-6027

November 16, 2016 Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force Meeting

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

Date: November 16, 2016
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 pm (NOTE:  While not anticipated, if the Task Force needs more time to reach agreement on the Comprehensive Plan the meeting may go as long as 2:30pm. Please come prepared to take a break for lunch around 12:00 to get food from a nearby establishment.


Location: Spokane County Water Resource Center
1004 N. Freya Street
Spokane, WA 99202

Click here for a map

Call In Number: 509-335-2277
Participant Code: 1933683

Please review all meeting documents prior to the Task Force meeting.

Meeting Documents:
– SRRTTF 11.16.16 Meeting Summary DRAFT
–  srrttf-november-16_2016-agenda_updated-call-in
–  srrttf-ttwg-11-02-16_summary-notes_draft-1
–  srrttf-10-26-16-summary_draft (decision item)
–  grant-opportunities_-epa-and-ecology

Comprehensive Plan Documents:
– srrttf_compplan_nov_comments-compilation
–  comp_plan_prefinal_draft_11-09-16 (word doc) (decision item)
–  comp_plan_prefinal_draft_redline-version_-changes-since-october-26th-draft-highlighted
2015 Technical Activities Pre Final Draft Report (decision item)
–  srrttf_2015_technical activities report_pre final draft_11-9-2016-2
– all other 2015 Technical Activities documents (data, field report etc)

November 2, 2016 Technical Track Work Group Meeting

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The next meeting of the SRRTTF Technical Track Work group is:

Date: Wednesday November 2, 2016
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Location: Washington Department of Ecology
N. 4601 Monroe St.
Spokane, WA 99205
Click here for a map.

Call In Number: 515-739-1285 Participant Code: 691106

Meeting Documents:
SRRTTF TTWG 11.02.16_Summary Notes_DRAFT (1)

–  tech-track-wg-agn-11-02-16-corrected-date
–  comp_plan_schedule_draft_11-1-16 (UPDATED on 11/1/16)
–  comp-plan-additional-paragraph-_-outreach-draft_10-25-16

 

Artist, Writer, and Educator Donald Fels: Archival Research in the Spokane River Basin, requests dialogue with Task Force members

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Seattle area artist, writer and educator Donald Fels wrote a highly read and well regarded two-part article (http://crosscut.com/2015/10/dangerous-colors-and-the-poisoning-of-the-spokane-river/ and http://crosscut.com/2015/10/what-will-it-take-to-clean-up-a-poisoned-river/.) on blue pigment and the Spokane River for crosscut.com. He is now partnering with historylink.org to find a way to bring the story to the river itself.  Fels has previously created artworks on and about the Duwamish, Willamette, Mississippi in this country, and the Marne river in France. He finds rivers fascinating because they have always been nodes along which culture and cities have flourished. That they now face pollution from the very urban centers they long nourished is of course part of the story.

When the crosscut articles appeared, Fels was approached by historylink about partnering on a project around the effort to clean up the Spokane River. Both Fels and the non-profit believe in the importance of researching history and making it known- as an essential means of creating public awareness of complex issues.

As difficult as it is to rid the river of PCBs, and as crucial to the process is the broad collaboration of the task force, very little is known publically about how collaboration is attempting the cleanup. Fels has long collaborated broadly around the world, working with scientists, academics, community groups, activists, other artists, as well as public agencies and institutions.  He knows first-hand what collaboration can produce.

The PCB pollution of the Spokane River is invisible. The work of the task force is equally out of sight. Fels relishes the artist’s role of making the invisible visible. The complexity, the importance of the problem, and its potential meaning to the world far beyond Spokane, is terrifically compelling to both he and historylink.

Fels would like to come several times to Spokane to meet with stakeholders, do archival research, and understand the river itself. He would then create an articulated proposal for public involvement and artwork around the issue, and around the river. Having spent decades using art and research to build effective outreach, he would relish the opportunity to do it in Spokane.

If you would like to speak with Donald and help build the capacity for his work in the Spokane River Basin, please contact Mr. Fels at fels@u.washington.edu. To see examples of his work visit his website at www.artisthinker.com 

 

New Quality Assurance Project Plan: Long-Term Monitoring of Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Chemicals using Age-Dated Lake Sediment Cores

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Quality Assurance Project Plan:  Long-Term Monitoring of Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Chemicals using Age-Dated Lake Sediment Cores is now at https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/SummaryPages/1603118.html
 
In 2000, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) developed a strategy to reduce persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances (PBTs) in Washington State.  The PBT Reduction Strategy recommended development of a long-term monitoring program for PBTs in Washington’s freshwater systems.  In 2006, Ecology began long-term monitoring of sediment cores throughout the state for analysis of mercury.  Other PBTs were added to the monitoring program in 2008.  Between 2008 and 2015, sediment cores were analyzed for mercury as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, perfluoroalkyl substances, hexabromocyclododecane, chlorinated paraffins, and brominated flame retardants on a rotating schedule. 
 
Ecology’s PBT Monitoring Program will continue to collect one sediment core from three lakes per year to characterize the occurrence and temporal trends of PBTs in Washington State. Sediment core samples will be analyzed for a rotating PBT contaminant to reconstruct historical deposition profiles.  The rotating PBT analyte will be selected annually to fill data gaps in Washington State.  Sediment cores will be age-dated using 210Pb techniques.  Total lead, TOC, and grain size will also be analyzed to support interpretation of results. 
 
Sediment core samples will be analyzed for PCB congeners in 2016.  Ecology will collect cores from Deep Lake, Spanaway Lake, and lower Lake Spokane.  The sampling locations were selected to evaluate sediment PCB deposition at an urban waterbody (Spanaway Lake), a primarily undeveloped, forested waterbody (Deep Lake), and a waterbody with known PCB contamination issues (Lake Spokane).  No PCB data is available for Spanaway or Deep Lakes, while PCB contamination of Lake Spokane and the upstream Spokane River has been well-characterized.  Additional metals (copper, titanium, and zinc) will be analyzed in the Deep Lake core at the request of Ecology’s Eastern Regional Office. 
 
 If you have questions, please contact Callie Mathieu at 360-407-6965 or at came461@ecy.wa.gov.
  
Jean Maust
Environmental Assessment Program
Department of Ecology

October 26, 2016 Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force Meeting

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

Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 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 phone:
Call In Number: 800-704-9804
Participant Code: 34863442#

Please note, the conference call in number will remain open until 15 minutes until after the meeting begins. It will continue to remain open as long as there are callers on the line. If you wish to join the meeting by phone late, please notify Kara Whitman (kmwhitman@wsu.edu) ahead of time.

Meeting Documents
–  SRRTTF 10.26.16 Meeting Summary Final
–  srrttf-october-26_2016-agenda_draft
–  srrttf-9-28-16-draft-summary-notes
–  srrttf-ttwg_draft-summary-notes_10-12-16
–  letter-on-CSCA-10.14.16
–  comp-plan-additional-paragraph-_-outreach-draft_10-25-16 (NEW file added 10.25.16)
Comprehensive Plan:
– comp_plan_track-changes-version-including-all-comments_draft_10-24-16_b (updated 3:25 pm on 10.24.16)
–  srrttf_compplan_comments-compilation_b (updated 3:25 pm on 10.24.16)
– all other documents (drafts and comments)
Presentations: 
–  SRRTTF_Limnotech_10_26_2016
–  Highlights from the 12th annual CASQA Conference- Department of Ecology

SRRTTF Data Management Pilot Project: Request for Proposal

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The Administrative Contracting Entity for the Task Force (ACE) has sent out a Request for Proposal for Pilot Project developed by the SRRTTF Data Management Work Group and approved by the Task Force.
Technical questions on the package should be directed to Mike Hermanson at (509)477-7578 or by email at MHermanson@spokanecounty.org.
Proposals are to be submitted to Chris Page (c.page@wsu.edu) by C.O.B on November 11, 2016. (the date for submittals has been extended to 11/11/16, was originally 11/4/16).

srrttf-data-pilot-project_rfp-oct-2016

Task Force Data:
–  2014 Spokane River Study
–  2015 Spokane River Study
–  2016 Spokane River Monthly Sampling

DRBC Database Files:
–  data_management_in_support_of_tmdl_efforts_padep-final
–  drbc-data-checker-version-3-final
–  ecoc-boeing-dry-2015-pmp_12aug15
–  ecoc-boeing-wet-2015-pmp_20aug15
–  ecoc-boeing-wet-2015-pmp_20nov2015
–  h5g24422
–  h5h23408
–  h5k24409
–  location
–  updating-steps
–  updatingfigures

Ecology News: CSPA Reporting Rule Update

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Interested Stakeholders,

Comment Letters Available

Ecology posted stakeholder comment letters on the public involvement page of the CSPA Rule website.  We are currently evaluating requests from stakeholders to add or delist CHCC chemicals. Our evaluation process is explained in a document posted above the comment letters.

We have completed our initial evaluation of stakeholder requests to add or delist CHCCs in the CSPA Reporting rule. Our initial evaluation is based on whether the comment included evidence, such as full scientific references and web links, that a chemical does or does not meet the same basic criteria used to create the list in the 2011 rule. We will further evaluate chemicals if that evidence is forthcoming.  We will continue this evaluation and provide more detail at the October 25thworkshop.

Upcoming Stakeholder Workshop

You can find details for the October 25th stakeholder workshop on the public involvement page of the CSPA Rule website. The meeting agenda, webinar information, presentation materials, and handouts will be added as links to this page before the meeting (with a listserv notice). Two documents are provided at this time for interested stakeholder review:

As we continue to plan for the October 25th meeting, it would be helpful to have an idea of the number of people attending in person.  This will help us with room selection and visitor parking limitations. Please send me an RSVP for those planning to attend the meeting here in Lacey WA. We will send out webinar information (via this listserv) before October 25th.

30-day Public Comment Period ends November 5th

Ecology will accept comments on the preliminary draft rule language and potential CHCC list changes until November 5, 2016.

We plan to share a second draft of the rule language and CHCC list changes in December (with another opportunity to comment).  We plan to hold a webinar in early January to go over the second draft of the rule and CHCC list.

Please call or email if you have questions.

Kind regards,

Kara J. Steward

Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction Program

360-407-6250 direct | kara.steward@ecy.wa.gov.