Media/Press | Rosemere Neighborhood Association

Media Release: Groups praise cleanup action at Alcoa’s Vancouver site, but say more is needed – November 24, 2008

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For More Information, Call:

Dvija Michael Bertish
Rosemere Neighborhood Association

Lauren Goldberg
Conservation Director,
Columbia Riverkeeper
541-965-0985
lauren@columbiariverkeeper.org

November 24, 2008

Groups praise cleanup action at Alcoa’s Vancouver site, but say more is needed

VANCOUVER, WA — The Rosemere Neighborhood Association (RNA) and Columbia Riverkeeper (CRK) today called on the Washington Department of Ecology to require prompt cleanup of all toxic contamination caused by the Alcoa site in Vancouver. The Alcoa-Evergreen site is located on the banks of the Columbia River, inside Vancouver city limits, at the Port of Vancouver. The site is approximately 5000 feet from the mouth of the flushing channel to Vancouver Lake. As a former aluminum smelter site, the Alcoa property contributed significant quantities of toxic PCB contamination to the Columbia River. Toxic pollution from Alcoa continues to this day including TCE, PAHs and PCBs that are actively leaching into the Columbia just east of public recreation areas where local residents have direct contact with the river and also harvest shellfish. [Read More...]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR RE: Railroad Trestle – April 1, 2008

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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Posted 12:15 AM, April 13, 2008

Submitted to The Columbian, April 1, 2008

Last November 2007, the Columbian published an article “Tussle Over Trestle”. Local citizen, Ed Swindell, noted that a collapsed creosote laden railroad trestle was probably polluting Burnt Bridge Creek and it should be removed. This initiated finger pointing between Clark County and BNSF Railway over whose mess this was. Neither was inclined to claim property ownership. [Read More...]

PRESS RELEASE: ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CHALLENGE PROPOSED CLIMATE-POLLUTING, COAL-FUELED POWER PLANT IN KALAMA, WA – October 3, 2007

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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Posted 12:15 PM, October 3, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 2, 2007

Contacts:
Brett VandenHeuvel, Columbia Riverkeeper. 503 224-3240. bv@columbiariverkeeper.org
Dvija Michael Bertish, Rosemere Neighborhood Association.

Environmental Groups Challenge Proposed Climate Polluting, Coal Fueled, Power Plant in Kalama, WA.

Seeking to stop a power plant that would spew millions of tons of toxic greenhouse gasses and other contaminants into Washington State skies, Columbia Riverkeeper, Willapa Audubon Society, and Rosemere Neighborhood Association have been granted the legal status to intervene in the permitting process for Energy Northwest’s proposed 680-megawatt coal-fueled Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant in Kalama. A total of six environmental groups will intervene in objection to the proposed coal-fueled power plant, along with the State Attorney General’s Office and the Washington State Department of Ecology. [Read More...]

ROSEMERE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2007

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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2007 NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 2007 NEWSLETTER

PROPOSED COAL-BURNING POWER PLANT

On September 20, 2007, representatives of Columbia Riverkeeper, Willapa Audubon Society, and the Rosemere Neighborhood Association, along with a number of other concerned citizens, attended a public hearing held by Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council to voice their opinions about Energy Northwest’s proposed Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant in Kalama, WA. The council took comments from the public on Energy Northwest’s greenhouse gas “sequestration plan” (view the plan at http://http:www.esfec.wa.gov/pmec.shtml). [Read More...]

Letter to Elected Officials About Hanford – December 11, 2006)

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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Posted 6:30 PM PST, December 11, 2006

To: Various Elected Officials representing Southwest Washington

Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Brian Baird, Richard Curtis, Deb Wallace, Jim Moeller, Craig Pridemorem, Bill Fromhold

From: Rosemere Neighborhood Association

Hanford is considered to be one the nation’s worst contaminated nuclear sites with cleanup expected to cost $60 billion and cleanup work to continue through 2035. The site is an environmental nightmare that includes groundwater contaminated with radioactive waste, and the salmon that spawn in the area are known to be reversing sexes due to contaminants in the Columbia River (which could cause the extinction of salmon runs in that area). [Read More...]

VANCOUVER LAKE CLOSURE – July 14, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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[From a news release from Clark County Health Department]

Public Health closes Vancouver Lake due to E. coli test results

Contact: Alan Melnick, Clark County Health Officer
(360) 397-8000 ext. 7209; alan.melnick@clark.wa.gov

Marni Storey, Clark County Public Health Department
(360) 397-8000 ext. 8434; marni.storey@clark.wa.gov

Jilayne Jordan, Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation
(360) 619-1141; jilayne.jordan@clark.wa.gov

Vancouver, WA – Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation and Clark County Public Health have closed Vancouver Lake to swimming, wading, and wind-surfing for at least the next week, according to Health Officer Dr. Alan Melnick. Regular testing of the lake recently detected E. coli above acceptable levels. [Read More...]

SETTLEMENT REACHED IN LOCAL CLEAN WATER CASE – May 19, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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Approved Joint Public Statement

The City of Vancouver, Clark County Natural Resources Council and Rosemere Neighborhood Association have reached a mutually satisfactory agreement that ends the appeals of a 2005 judgement in a Clean Water Act lawsuit heard by the Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington. The joint agreement furthers the goals of all three parties by enhancing ongoing efforts to protect and improve the community’s water resources. Additional water monitoring, inventory work and public involvement opportunities, including creation of a Burnt Bridge Creek Watershed Council, are among the highlights of the agreement.

View Approved Clean Water Act Settlement Agreement, Signed May 2006

Richard Smith letter to the Columbian – December 19, 2004

April 2, 2009 Author: admin

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Unabridged letter printed:

This letter to the editor was written by the Rosemere Neighborhood Association’s attorney, Richard Smith. The letter was published in the Columbian on Sunday, December 19, 2004′ however, it was edited by the Columbian staff and pertinent commentary was removed. The letter is included here in its entirety as it was originally penned.

Dear Editor:

Scott Hewitt’s December 9, 2004 Reporter’s Notebook about the Rosemere neighborhood warrants a response. It is too bad that the Columbian chooses to slander the Rosemere Neighborhood Association, which is a group of well-intentioned people pointing out the naked-emperorness of city government for the common good. Also, how is it responsible journalism to repeat unsupported (and easily debunked) defamatory remarks in the context of an obvious neighborhood feud? [Read More...]

Media Correction: RE Columbian article “Rank water a worry” – July 19, 2004

April 2, 2009 Author: admin

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On July 19, 2004, the Rosemere Neighborhood Association sent the following request for a correction to Erik Robinson, environmental reporter with the Columbian. This email was not aknowledged, nor did Mr. Robinson issue the correction. [Read More...]

Media Correction: “Burnt by Pollution” – May 3, 2004

March 29, 2009 Author: admin

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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. [Read More...]