Did you pay septic tank conversion fees? The City of Vancouver may owe you money!
From 1972 to at least 1999, many residents (citywide) paid fees into a septic tank conversion fund if their homes operated on private septic tanks instead of city sanitary sewer service. These funds were paid under monthly septic penalty fees. Some individuals may have equity in these fees in excess of $7,000 (including interest).
ELEVATED LEVELS OF PCBs IN RESIDENT FISH FROM PORTLAND HARBOR
Press Release from Oregon Health Services
June 16, 2004
Contact: Bonnie Widerburg (503) 731-4180
Technical contact: Dave Stone or Ken Kauffman, DHS (503) 731-4012
Elevated levels of PCBs in resident fish from Portland Harbor
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The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), in cooperation with Multnomah County Health Department, is advising the public today of high levels of PCBs in fish caught from Portland Harbor, in the lower Willamette River.
VANCOUVER LAKE TASK FORCE MEETINGS
To: Iloba Odum, Director, SW Regional Office, Deprtment of Ecology
From: Dvija Michael Bertish, Chairman, Rosemere Neighborhood Association
June 15, 2004
Iloba,
Attached below is an email that I sent to Betty Sue Morris last December asking to be part of the Vancouver Lake Task Force. I did not receive a response to this request, and suffice it to say that I was disappointed at what I read in the Columbian today as well as the Task Force’s media release. Everyone knows that RNA has been extremely active in this situation and that we want to participate in this process.
SENATORS ASK THE PORTLAND AIRPORT TO DIVERT AIR TRAFFIC FROM WEST VANCOUVER
This letter (PDF file, below) from Senators Cantwell and Murray asks the Port of Portland to reconsider and vote for option 9a, which would move departing westbound jets South of Hayden Island and away from West Vancouver. This option would greatly reduce airport noise for our community,
Correspondence Received from the State Attorney General’s Office Regarding Contaminants at Hanford Nuclear Reservation
I am an Assistant Attorney General assigned to work on Hanford cleanup issues, including the high-level waste issues referred to in your letter. Most of the high-level radioactive waste at the Hanford site is stored in 177 massive, aging underground storage tanks. The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) has stored waste in these tanks for decades, and the older single-shell tanks are many years beyond their design life.
This is how the city is supposed to work. Have they forgotten who the taxpayers are? Have they forgotten the flow in the stream of life? Source: City of Vancouver Biennial Budget, 2003-2004
The Rosemere Neighborhood Association was honored to host a table at the Second Annual Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration on Saturday, May 15, 2004.
There was great community attendance and participation as the cultural dance groups invited audience members to take part in their colorful performances. The Asian Pacific Islander Community is generously inclusive when it comes to embracing people of all cultures in this annual celebration.
May 3, 2004
Members of the RNA Board met with representatives of the Clark County Health Department, the City of Vancouver’s Public Works Department, and local Water Quality Experts to discuss failing septic systems and cesspools in the Rosemere Neighborhood and the Burnt Bridge Creek Watershed in general.
From Rosemere Neighborhood Association
Re: Article By Erik Robinson, Columbian Staff Writer
“Burnt by pollution”
April 29, 2004
In this article, Mr. Robinson states “Leaking septic systems are a major source of microbial pollution — at least 12.7% of the total, according to a 1999 study commissioned by the City of Vancouver — but the study also laid the blame on Mother Nature.” This figure has been widely misrepresented by the City of Vancouver in an attempt to downplay the severity of contaminants that come from human waste.
The RNA met with Clark County Health Department officials in March to discuss how failing septic systems are contributing to the pollution of Burnt Bridge Creek (which feeds into Vancouver Lake). There are several homes in Rosemere that do not have access to City Sewer Service. Neighbors approached the RNA in 2001 to ask how they could get sewer service where there are no sewer mains. There are cesspools and aging sewer systems in Rosemere (and throughout Vancouver) that are not being properly maintained or inspected. Water quality tests indicate that effluent from failed septic tanks is polluting the creek and is also creating a public health risk.
