This article originally appeared in Inside EPA Weekly Report on June 18, 2010. It is reprinted here with permission of the publisher, Inside Washington Publishers. Copyright 2010. No further distribution is permitted.
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Agency Civil Rights Office Shuffle Replaces Director EPA 06-10
I-5 Interstate Bridge Over Columbia River
In Summer 2008, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was released on the Columbia River Crossing Project, and various environmental organizations, including Rosemere Neighborhood Association, submitted public comment to show that the draft document was incomplete and full of data gaps. Concerns were also raised regarding the draft’s compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
Since the release of the DEIS, Rosemere has met several times with Columbia River Crossing (CRC) staff and has raised concerns regarding the project’s impact on the environment, including the aquifer system that provides Clark County residents with drinking water and local streams within the construction footprint.
In 2005, Rosemere submitted a petition to EPA requesting that agency to designate the Troutdale and Unconsolidated Alluvium Aquifer System in Clark County, Washington, as a Sole Source Aquifer. The EPA defines the Sole Source Aquifer Program as a tool used to protect drinking water supplies in areas with few or no alternative sources to groundwater resources, and where such an aquifer is vulnerable to contamination. Sole Source designation requires at least a 50% dependence on an aquifer for its potable water supply. Factual analysis provided by Rosemere and its partners shows that 99.4% of the potable water used in Clark County is obtained from groundwater. In August, 2006, EPA officially granted Rosemere’s petition and designated Clark County’s Troutdale Aquifer System as a federally protected Sole Source Aquifer. One of Rosemere’s goals was to ensure adequate environmental review of the CRC project under the federal Sole Source Aquifer program.
On April 29, 2010, a coalition of Northwest environmental and public health groups, including the Rosemere Neighborhood Association, sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, urging him to withdraw the Department of Energy’s decisions to use Hanford, WA, as a national radioactive waste dump.
The letter requests:
“that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) withdraw its 2000 and 2004 Records of Decision selecting Hanford as a disposal site for large volumes of radioactive low-level waste (LLW) and mixed low-level waste (MLLW) from across the Nation. The Department’s own draft Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement (TC&WM EIS) clearly demonstrates that importing and burying off-site waste at Hanford poses serious human health and environmental impacts.
British Petroleum Oil Spill off Louisiana Coast
Damage assessments of the oil spill off the Louisiana coast continue to mount as the spill now threatens 4 states and is said to be growing at 5 times the rate it was originally measured. More than 200,000 gallons a day is pouring out from the sunken oil rig and threatens coastal nature preserves, parks, fisheries, and the health and livelihood of residents.
From USA Today:
NEW ORLEANS — Time appeared to be running out
Thursday to prevent a disaster that could harm the
ecosystem along the Gulf Coast as 210,000 gallons
of oil has leaked into the water every day since an
oil rig exploded and sank last week.
This article originally appeared in Inside EPA Weekly Report on April 9, 2010. It is reprinted here with permission of the publisher, Inside Washington Publishers. Copyright 2010. No further distribution is permitted. Click here to view article (pdf format): Rosemere New EPA Data IEPA 04-10 Click here to view the EPA Spreadsheet (pdf format): Updated [...]
This article originally appeared in Inside EPA Weekly Report on March 26, 2010. It is reprinted here with permission of the publisher, Inside Washington Publishers. Copyright 2010. No further distribution is permitted. Click here to view article (pdf format): Rosemere Landmark Pact IEPA 03-10
PRESS RELEASE****PRESS RELEASE****PRESS RELEASE ROSEMERE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION SETTLES LANDMARK ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CASE AGAINST EPA’S OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS Contact: Ralph Bloemers, Crag Law Center Tel. (503) 525-2727 Contact: Dvija Michael Bertish, Rosemere Neighborhood Association, Tel. (360) 281-4747 www.crag.org , www.rosemerena.org (March 22, 2010) Judge Benjamin H. Settle, US District Court of Washington, entered a Stipulated [...]
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10 Office has announced the results of its Preliminary Assessment of Camp Bonneville, the former US Military installation in Clark County, Washington. In a letter dated March 1, 2010, EPA informed Camp Bonneville cleanup contractors and the Washington State Department of Ecology that based on the information gathered [...]
This article originally appeared in Inside EPA Weekly Report on February 19, 2010. It is reprinted here with permission of the publisher, Inside Washington Publishers. Copyright 2010. No further distribution is permitted. Click here to view article (pdf format): Personnel Disputes Roil EPA’s Rights Office Undermining Equity Agenda
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 18, 2010 Contact: Jan Hasselman, Earthjustice, (206) 343-7340 ext. 25 Clark County Challenged for Weak Stormwater Controls Clean water advocates put county on notice illegal loopholes must be closed Vancouver, WA–Clean water advocates, represented by Earthjustice, today formally put Clark County on notice it could be sued under the federal [...]
