Rosemere Neighborhood Association and Columbia Riverkeeper have for years raised serious concerns about Washington Department of Ecology’s cleanup and oversight at the former Alcoa/Evergreen Aluminum Smelter. One of the major concerns is Ecology’s delay of the cleanup process by separating the East Landfill groundwater contamination decision from other cleanup actions. As part of the public [...]
Posts under ‘Storm Water’
Stormy Weather for Clark County Stormwater Plan
New story from the Public News Service – Washington: September 28, 2010 Stormy Weather for Clark County Stormwater Plan TUMWATER, Wash. – How tough should counties be on developers in planning and controlling storm water runoff, a major source of water pollution? That’s the issue in a case to be argued this week at the [...]
Press Release: Pollution Control Board Hearing
Press Release******Press Release******Press Release September 17, 2010 Pollution panel to weigh closing illegal loopholes in Washington’s building rules and strong controls for polluted runoff WHAT: The Pollution Control Hearings Board will begin a trial to determine whether to throw out Clark County’s “special lopsided deal” under the state stormwater code. The County’s plan allows harmful [...]
Alexandra Cousteau — Expedition Blue Planet 2010
Alexandra Cousteau onstage at the Bagdad Theatre for Expedition Blue Planet 2010
July 21, 2010, Bagdad Theatre, Portland Oregon
Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau, continues her family legacy with another journey, a 138-day interactive tour of the US, Canada and Mexico, to explore critical water issues. Accompanied by a production crew who film, broadcast, blog, and edit on a biodiesel bus, Ms. Cousteau will travel more than 14,500 miles to film water problems and host community watershed programs. The tour includes coverage of the dwindling Colorado River, the Gulf Coast plagued by the BP Oil Spill, the Great Lakes that are experiencing hot temperatures and low levels, Chesapeake Bay suffering from stormwater pollution and sewage, and the Tennessee Valley where coal ash and mountaintop removal mining poison the water.
On Day 20 of the tour that started in Washington DC, the crew appeared at the Bagdad Theatre in Portland after traveling from Vancouver BC. The Portland stop was sponsored by Willamette Riverkeeper, where Ms. Cousteau discussed the project, showed film footage, and fielded questions from the audience. The Blue Legacy project was started in 2008 by Ms. Cousteau as a dedication to her grandfather’s famous call, “You have to go and see.”
Biodiesel bus used by the tour, parked outside the Bagdad theatre. The bus was formerly owned by Sir Paul McCartney
Last year, Blue Legacy traveled 100 days across five continents to study global water problems, discovering similar themes among various cultures: water is a source of spirituality, conflict, and the basis of agribusiness. From the Ganges in India, the plains of Botswana, the Jordan River in Israel and Palestine, and the Cajun lands of the lower Mississippi River, a universal statement recorded from people of all these cultures shows how humanity has common ties, regardless of age, status, or religion: “Water is life.”
National Marine Fisheries Service Says Clark County’s Stormwater Plan is Deficient and Will Harm Salmon
Under a lopsided deal reached in early January 2010, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) agreed to allow Clark County to retain inadequate stormwater standards for new development in exchange for a promise to implement county-funded stormwater mitigation projects. In February 2010, Rosemere Neighborhood Association, along with Columbia Riverkeeper, and Northwest Environmental Defense Center, appealed Ecology’s special deal with Clark County to the State Pollution Control Hearings Board in an attempt to repeal Clark County’s faulty stormwater management plan. The three conservation groups also filed a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue Clark County in federal court for violations of the Clean Water Act. Earthjustice, a public interest law firm, represents the three conservation groups in these legal challenges.
Local residents and clean water advocates argue Washington State authorized inadequate development standards in Clark County’s stormwater permit that will generate illegal stormwater pollution, and that the stormwater pollution will also harm endangered species of salmon and their habitats.
Clark County’s Phase I municipal stormwater permit is issued under the National Pollutant Discharge & Elimination System program (NPDES) and is administered by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In turn, EPA defers management and enforcement of the federal stormwater management permit to Ecology. In the appeal, Rosemere et al cite that Ecology is not properly enforcing the federal stormwater permit.
In June 2010, The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) issued public comments on Clark County’s alternative municipal Phase I stormwater permit. Clark County is home to 15 endangered species of salmon, steelhead, smelt and sturgeon. NMFS states that Clark County’s stormwater plan will not meet required goals to protect these fisheries and concludes that “adverse effects to listed (endangered) salmon will be significantly increased.” Stephen W. Landino, the Washington State Director for Habitat Conservation, states that NMFS “strongly encourage(s) the EPA to object to the issuance of this (Clark County) permit.”
To read the NMFS comment letter, please click here.
EPA Moves Forward With Site Inspection of Camp Bonneville for Consideration to List as Superfund Site
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 [...]
Press Release: Rosemere Neighborhood Association, Columbia Riverkeeper, Northwest Environmental Defense Center Challenge Clark County Over Weak Stormwater Controls
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 [...]
Press Release: Rosemere Neighborhood Association, Columbia Riverkeeper, Northwest Environmental Defense Center Fight For Stronger Stormwater Controls in Clark County
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 1, 2010 Contacts: Jan Hasselman, Earthjustice, 206-343-7340 ext. 25 Dvija Michael Bertish, Rosemere Neighborhood Association, 360-281-4747 Brett VandenHeuvel, Columbia Riverkeeper, 503-348-2436 Mark Riskedahl, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, 503-768-6673 Clean Water Advocates Fight For Stronger Stormwater Controls in Clark County Lawsuit filed to protect salmon and close illegal loopholes Lacey, WA.–Local residents [...]
Pipe Replacement in Vancouver: Water Main Break at 32nd & Q St.
Water Main Break – September 26, 2009
Rosemere residents were unwinding from a busy week on Saturday night, September 26, 2009.
As relaxing bubble baths were being drawn, water ceased flowing. Those with shampoo in their hair found this most inconvenient, but employees of the City of Vancouver who were wrestling with a broken water main on 32nd & Q St. had bigger problems.
In inky darkness, water was shooting out of the broken main, creating a sinkhole which overflowed, flooding the streets. A city employee was probing the massive hole to test for depth. Suddenly the edge he was standing on gave way, plunging him into the raging waters. After swirling around in the maelstrom for what seemed an eternity, he was able to extract himself to safer grounds.
Water flowed down 32nd towards R St., turning the alley into a churning creek, flooding a home on the corner. The area was a news clip disaster. By Sunday morning, hard working city employees repaired the broken main and filled the sink hole.
Heart of America NW Offers Free Screening of Hanford Documentary in Vancouver
Heart of America NW is holding a free screening of the documentary ARID LANDS at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Vancouver, WA. ARID LANDS is a internationally acclaimed documentary is about the land and people of the Columbia River Basin in Eastern WA – home to the Hanford nuclear site – the largest environmental clean-up [...]
