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Posts Tagged ‘Water Quality’

Alexandra Cousteau — Expedition Blue Planet 2010

Jul 26th, 2010
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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.”

Agency Civil Rights Office Shuffle Replaces Director With Ex-Interim Head (reprinted with permission from Inside Washington Publishers)

Jun 23rd, 2010
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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.

Click here to view article (pdf format):

Agency Civil Rights Office Shuffle Replaces Director EPA 06-10

Columbia River Crossing Project Environmental Impact Analysis

May 31st, 2010
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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.

Video: Dvija Michael Bertish Interview with Jake Thomas on the Portland Observer Hour

May 13th, 2010
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Please click on the arrow to begin the video.

Dvija Michael Bertish recently sat down with Jake Thomas, Web Editor & News Reporter of the Portland Observer on Portland Observer Hour, and discussed the history of Rosemere Neighborhood Association’s landmark environmental justice case as well as our dedicated work for environmental protection and improving the status of environmental justice communities.

Coalition Urges US Energy Secretary Chu to Withdraw Decision to Use Hanford as a National Radioactive Waste Dump

May 6th, 2010
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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.

Oil Spill Disaster off Louisiana Coast

Apr 29th, 2010
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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.

New EPA Data On Civil Rights Backlog May Help Reshape Equity Agenda (reprinted with permission from Inside Washington Publishers)

Apr 13th, 2010
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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 [...]

Landmark Pact Could Speed EPA Review Of Stalled Civil Rights Complaints (reprinted with permission from Inside Washington Publishers)

Mar 26th, 2010
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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

Rosemere Settles Landmark Environmental Justice Case Against EPA

Mar 23rd, 2010
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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 [...]

EPA Moves Forward With Site Inspection of Camp Bonneville for Consideration to List as Superfund Site

Mar 6th, 2010
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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 [...]

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