Rosemere Neighborhood Association

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...]

Speak Out Against the Proposed Coal Power Plant – September 18, 2007

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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Please join Columbia Riverkeeper, Willapa Hills Audubon Society, and the Rosemere Neighborhood Association to:

Say no to more water and air pollution and increased global warming!

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council is holding a public hearing:
September 20, 2007, 6:30 P.M.
Kalama Community Building, 126 North Second Street, Kalama, Washington

Please attend. The Council will take comments on Energy Northwest’s greenhouse gas “sequestration plan” for the proposed Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant in Kalama, which would be a major new industrial polluter on the Columbia River. [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...]

SOLE SOURCE AQUIFER ACHIEVED! – August 14, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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Posted 9 pm, August 14, 2006

As of 3:00pm on Monday, August 14, 2006, the Troutdale Aquifer System in Clark County, WA, has been officially designated as a Sole Source Aquifer by the Environmental Protection Agency. Click here to view the EPA SOLE SOURCE FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE.

On December 4, 2005, a petition was formally submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10, Seattle, 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 if contamination occurred, using an alternative source for the potable water supply would be extremely expensive.

To qualify for Sole Source Aquifer designation, the proposed aquifer service area must prove to be at least 50% dependent on groundwater for the potable water supply. Factual analysis shows that 99.4% of the potable water currently used in the proposed Sole Source Aquifer service area in Clark County is obtained from groundwater, confirming that the Troutdale Aquifer System qualifies as a Sole Source Aquifer. READ MORE HERE

VANCOUVER LAKE REOPENED FOR WATER ACTIVITIES – July 20, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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[From a news release from Clark County Health Department]

Vancouver, WA – Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation and Clark County Public Health have reopened Vancouver Lake for swimming, wading, and wind-surfing. The lake was closed last Friday when regular water testing detected E. coli above acceptable levels.

“We’ve tested the water twice this week and results from both tests indicate that E.coli levels are now within the range that’s considered safe for swimming and other water activities. [Read More...]