Latte Republic

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Check out this Week's Cascadia Weekly

Tim Johnson has written an excellent article about waterfront redevelopment. You can find the article on page 8. It's titled, "Eve of Destruction."

This week's Gristle is also good!

Thanks Tim!

http://www.cascadiaweekly.com/

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Proposed Grant and Loan Funding for Water Quality Improvement and Protection Projects, including Federal Stimulus Money

To assist in efforts to implement the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Washington Department of Ecology has reopened its application cycle for the Washington State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund.

The lists are for the Centennial Clean Water Program, the federal Clean Water Act, Section 319 (Non-Point Source Fund) and the Washington State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund, including recovery funds for FY 2010.

Ecology hosted a public meeting on April 24th at the Pierce County Library.

DOE is accepting public comments from April 17, 2009 through 5 pm, May 1, 2009.

Comments should be sent to Jeff Nejedly, DOE Water Quality Program jnej461@ecy.wa.gov or Fax: (360) 407-7151.

Congratulations to Whatcom County for proposing the following projects!

$184,524 Upper Silver Beach Creek Comprehensive Water Quality Improvement Project

$213,106 Whatcom County Water Quality Improvement Loan

$250,000 Whatcom Conservation District - Best Management Practices for Water Quality planning and cost sharing

Additional Information

Recommended Water Project List

Washington Recovery web site

Unfortunately, the City of Bellingham and Port of Bellingham are not on the list.

:(

Monday, April 27, 2009

Waterfront Funding?

This morning, the Washington State Legislature adjourned having completed its scheduled 105 day legislative session.

What happened with waterfront funding? It's not in this year's state budget.

However, the 2009-11 conference committee transportation document included a recommendation to modify the Burlington Northern railroad track on the Georgia Pacific site.

Initially, (2004) the project was proposed because trains must slow down at a sharp curve on the existing line at the Georgia Pacific plant.

The initial proposed project scope states the project will make minor modifications to the track in order to allow for a faster passenger train speed.

The preliminary engineering phase began on 7/1/2004. The end date was 6/30/2005.

The current project scope reads: the mainline of BNSF Railway track currently runs through a sharp curve at a Georgia Pacific plant. This project will relocate a 3/4 mile section of the track. This will allow the site to be redeveloped for recreational, residential and commercial uses.

It appears that this is a classic example of political spin.

To start, the project is proposed to increase the speed of trains through Bellingham. Then, the City and Port want to locate 3,000 people on the Waterfront and all of a sudden, the rail modification will enhance property values and allow recreational, residential and commercial development.

The end result is the same. We have trains moving faster through Bellingham population zones.

I'm not sure how this project increases our quality of life...but I bet Burlington Northern is supporting it!

Prior expenditures

Before 2007 ---$47 thousand

2007-2009 --- $448 thousand

2009 -2011--- $0

2011- 2013 ---$0

2013 -2015 ---$5 million

Total $5,495 million

http://fiscal.wa.gov/FRViewer.aspx?Rpt=Transportation+Projects+List

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Toxic Contamination --- A Ticking Time Bomb across this Nation

March 3, 2008: The Washington Post printed an article by Governor Christine Gregoire and Senator Maria Cantwell.

Apparently, some elected officials are conscientious enough to read toxicity reports and grasp the concept that toxic waste is a serious public health hazard.

Here's a link to the article.

A Toxic Time Bomb in the Northwest Buried in President Bush's proposed budget for next year is a story of broken promises. It's a story that puts our nation's honor -- and our environment, economy and families -- on the line.

____________________________________

If the City and Port partnership need money for the waterfront - clean it up.

Federal and state economic stimulus dollars will not be spent to develop paved over toxic waste dumps.

A broken thermometer on the floor of a classroom requires a Haz Mat Team to clean it up -- and the Port and City want to put hundreds of people on a property that has a minimum of 12 tons of mercury buried on it?

Across this nation, from New Jersey to the state of Washington, local governments and emergency response personnel are discovering that neglected toxic waste is a public health hazard.

Elizabeth New Jersey's story: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948856,00.html

The residents of this city should demand that the City and Port set up a trust fund to pay for future clean up projects.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) for GP and other Bellingham Industries

Friday, April 24, 2009

Georgia Pacific West Upland Cleanup

Breaking news: The Georgia Pacific West site and a notice of the Agreed Order negotiations for remediation and cleanup will be in the next issue of the Department of Ecology Site Register. The document will be available for public review in June.

Ecology acknowledged in an e-mail that the former G.P. site has not been fully investigated nor remediated.

On April 13 and again on April 20, 2009, the Mayor told council and members of the public that it was urgent for the council to adopt the Framework Plan in order to ensure that state and federal funding for the partnership between the Port and City remains intact.

But a call to the Governor's office reveals that funding to move the railroad tracks on the waterfront was not restored by Mayor Pike, as allegedly claimed earlier in the month, nor is the railroad project currently included in the state Budget.

Nor is there any confirmation that Washington's federal delegation has made any financial commitments to the City or Port.

Why the urgency?

What's going on?

Puget Sound Stormwater Map shows enormity of Stormwater Problem

UW GIS students produced a map of all the public storm drains carrying pollutants into Puget Sound.

"This map shows the enormity of the stormwater problem which impacts most of Puget Sound," said Bruce Wilshart, Policy Director for People for Puget Sound. "It demonstrates that we need significant funding to address the problem."

The new GIS map can be downloaded at the People for Puget Sound website: http://pugetsound.org/programs/policy/stormwater

Stormwater related pollutants and stressors havee been identified by scientists as the most important water quality problem in the Puget Sound Basin.

Thank you, People for Puget Sound!

:)