Rosemere News Archives | Rosemere Neighborhood Association

EPA ADDRESSES THE COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING PROJECT – July 8, 2008

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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Letter Originally Dated July 1, 2008

(posted 12:15 AM, July 9, 2008)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter, dated July 1, 2008, to officials in the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration. “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reviewed the Interstate 5 Columbia River Crossing Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation. We are submitting comments in accordance with our responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 309 of the Clean Air Act.” [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...]

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...]

Fish and Sediment Toxicity Levels at Vancouver Lake – April 18, 2007

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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Randy Coots, a water quality environmental specialist with the Olympia office of the Washington State Department of Ecology presented data to the Vancouver Lake Watershed Partnership today, relating the levels of specific toxins in fish tissue and sediment samples in Vancouver Lake and Lake River. Ecology has published another study entitled Vancouver Lake PCB’s, Chlorinated Pesticides, and Dioxins in Fish Tissue and Sediment [March 2007]. Similar studies were conducted in 1992 and 2002, resulting in listing of Vancouver Lake for failed water quality standards in PCB’s. Analyses from previous years showed that fish tissue samples exceeded National Toxics Rule thresholds for human health in both PCB’s and DDT. [Read More...]

Coal Plant To Be Built in Kalama? – December 16, 2006

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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Energy Northwest — a group of 20 public utilities in Washington — is planning to build a coal or petroleum coke plant in Kalama, Washington. This $1 billion, 600-megawatt facility will increase our air and water pollution, threaten habitat for endangered salmon and add to our global warming problem — the plant will produce more than 4 million tons of carbon dioxide per year … that’s like adding 700,000 cars to our highways.

Columbia River may cause dead zones off Oregon and Washington coasts and contribute to problems with Vancouver Lake – December 11, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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Posted 11:30 AM PST, December 11, 2006

Over the past several months RNA has been studying and networking to find information about the growing dead zones off the Oregon and Washington coasts. There may be a direct connection to understanding the adverse impacts to Vancouver Lake. This research was conducted in partnership with Columbia Riverkeeper.

There may be a direct correlation between the causes of the dead zones off the coasts and the problems suffered by the lake. [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...]

STATE HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE OPENS IN VANCOUVER – September 8, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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On Friday, September 8, 2006, a ribbon cutting ceremony ushered in a much needed Human Rights office in our community, located within the State School for the Deaf. The celebration was very uplifting, and various members of the community were shown appreciation for their hard work over the years that paved the way for state legislators to budget a satellite office in Vancouver. Earl Ford, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, offered thanks to those who spearheaded the Human Rights campaign in 2001, and offered a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr, “A truth pressed to the earth will continue to rise.” Some attendees spoke of discrimination that occurs regularly in the community, including the public schools and the workplace. [Read More...]

COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING STAFF SPEAKS AT RNA MEETING – June 22, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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In December 2001, Rosemere residents on ‘K’ street learned that they could have lost their homes to make way for a potential I-5 widening project. The RNA received many phone calls from worried neighbors when this issue first arose in a Columbian article entitled “In the Way on ‘K’,” and RNA members became very active in public meetings with the Bi-State Transportation Commission that was established to help find solutions to traffic problems relative to the I-5 bridge crossing. The RNA canvassed the neighborhood and rallied residents to attend Commission meetings and provide written and verbal testimony in order stop unnecessary demolition of homes that abut I-5. The message was loud and clear, and Commission members acknowledged that design plans should be changed to ensure that homes were not lost in Rosemere and other neighborhoods. [Read More...]

RNA RECEIVES CORPORATE DONATIONS TO FURTHER WATER QUALITY WORK – June 21, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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Brent Foster, Executive Director, Columbia Riverkeeper, performing water quality monitoring on the Columbia River

In February 2006, RNA received a $5000 contribution from Allweather Wood, Inc. in Washougal. In June 2006, RNA received a second $5000 corporate donation from Metro Metals Inc, in Portland. Both donations will be used to pay for water quality monitoring on the Columbia River. These corporate donations were arranged through RNA’s continued working partnership with Columbia Riverkeeper. [Read More...]