Watching Our Water Ways

Washington state has done it again, being the first state in the country to take a legal stand against a toxic chemical.

The Legislature this week voted to phase out cooper in brake pads, provided there are reasonable alternatives and that research continues to suggest that brake pads are contributing significant amounts of toxic copper. The bill is Senate Bill 6557.

This last point about research — about the need to know more about the alternate states of copper in the environment — was raised by Silverdale resident Bob Benze. I covered his questions and success in adding an amendment to the bill in the March 1 edition of the Kitsap Sun.

Even at low levels, an ionic form of copper has been shown to affect the sense of smell in salmon, which can lead to confusion and reproductive failure. It has become a major concern, especially in urban areas. Here’s a fact sheet from the Washington Department of Ecology.

Ivy Sager-Rosenthal of the Washington Toxics Coalition supports the Puget Sound Partnership’s call for a full assessment of toxic chemicals flowing into Puget Sound and an increased focus on eliminating sources of such pollution.

Last week, Ted Sturdevant, director of Ecology, testified before Congress about actions taken by state governments, generally because the federal government has been slow to act. He and 12 other state environmental officials are calling for reform of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act.

Washington was the first state to draft a formal policy phasing out persistent bioaccumulative toxics, or PBTs. This led to state laws phasing out mercury and toxic flame retardants. The latest legislation, finalized this week, will ban bisphenol-A in baby bottles and sports bottles.

Sturdevant spelled out three guiding principles for addressing persistent toxic chemicals:
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The 712-foot container vessel Horizon Tacoma is towed between Bainbridge Island and Seattle Tuesday afternoon. This photo was taken from the Seattle's Sunset Hill Park about 3:30 p.m. The ship, with the Crowley tug Hunter on the bow and the Garth Foss at the stern, was headed to the Port of Tacoma. / Photo courtesy of © Fred Felleman

Never be embarrassed to ask for help. That’s the take-home message from an incident Tuesday night when a 712-foot container ship had engine trouble. Sure, the ship might have made it to Tacoma, but what damage would that have caused to the engine, and how safe would that be moving through our relatively narrow waterway?

The following is the story I prepared for the Kitsap Sun’s Web site and tomorrow’s newspaper. Thanks to Fred Felleman for shooting the photo.

Washington Department of Ecology officials are praising the captain of a container ship for seeking assistance from a rescue tug east of Neah Bay and taking no chances Tuesday night.

The 712-foot Horizon Tacoma experienced engine problems at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Curt Hart, spokesman for Ecology. Although the ship was not entirely disabled, the captain chose to shut down the main engine to prevent further damage and called for tug assistance. The ship still had use of its thrusters and directional navigation, he noted.

“This is how we like things to happen,” Hart said. “That had to be a tough call for the company, but we think it was a good call. The ship could have limped in … but this ensures safety to prevent a maritime hazard.”

The state’s emergency-response tug at Neah Bay, called the Hunter, was about a half-hour away and quickly responded. The Coast Guard, which was in charge of the operation, gave permission for the Hunter to tow the ship to its destination in Tacoma but directed the ship to engage a second tug.

The tug Garth Foss met the ship near Port Angeles on Wednesday and joined the Hunter in towing the ship down through Puget Sound. The vessels were expected to be off the east side of the Kitsap Peninsula on Wednesday and reach Tacoma sometime Wednesday evening.

Because the Hunter is occupied with the long tow, another Crowley tug, the Valor, is standing by at Neah Bay for other possible emergencies.

Since 1999, the publicly funded rescue tug has stood by or assisted 44 vessels. The maritime industry is scheduled to take over funding of the tug this summer.

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It seems like only yesterday that the Kitsap County Health District started a major Pollution Identification and Correction (PIC) project all around Dyes Inlet.

Now, after five years, the health district has released a report showing major improvements in water quality in all the major streams. See my story in today’s Kitsap Sun or check out the report (PDF 1.7 mb).

During the project, area residents were assisted in finding and repairing their aging septic systems in various parts of the watershed. Businesses were shown how to maintain nearby storm sewers and were encouraged to flush washwater down the sanitary sewers, not the storm drain. Even old sewer lines were inspected and repaired in some cases.

Here are some specific water-quality data on Dyes Inlet streams:
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Yesterday, I talked about living through a period of confusing budget-shifting. I mentioned how federal economic stimulus money is being used for public works projects — such as building a new sewer system in Gorst and a new water-treatment plant for Bremerton.

Today, I’d like to reflect on a couple of small hazardous waste cleanup projects and some juggling involving hundreds of millions of dollars in state cleanup funds.

In years past, the Washington Department of Ecology signed agreements with property owners dealing with hazardous chemicals that had leaked from underground tanks on their property. The owners were required to pay what they could, although some were not able to pay anything. Ecology might then lead the cleanup, using funds from the state’s Model Toxics Control Account. That account derives its funds from a tax on petroleum products, pesticides and other specific chemicals.

The federal economic stimulus program has provided $3.4 million for such leaking underground storage tanks in Washington state. As I reported in the Kitsap Sun this week, work is beginning on a renewed cleanup at Country Junction Store in South Kitsap while a proposed plan would clean up soil near Hansville Store in North Kitsap. These are both small, community stores whose owners signed consent agreements with Ecology years ago.

It just so happens that the Washington Legislature has been taking money out of the state’s toxics account to help balance the state’s general fund budget.
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We’re living through a confusing time of budget-shifting and political games — and sometimes I wonder if people can even agree that 2 plus 2 equals 4.

Last week, I wrote in the Kitsap Sun about two Bremerton public works projects — sewers in Gorst and a new Bremerton water-treatment plant. Together, they are using $13.5 million in federal stimulus funds.

It has been said that the $7.5 million in stimulus money for the Gorst sewer project is a lifesaver for that community, because local residents never could have afforded sewers without it. Public officials have been trying for years to finance that project. Every time someone added up the costs, it looked like low-income residents would be hit with sewer assessments in excess of $20,000 each. Now the hookups will cost them nothing.
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It was at the end of March last year that the Legislature shifted the burden of paying for a tugboat at Neah Bay to the shipping industry, and the governor signed the bill into law.

At the time, it seemed to me that it would be much easier said than done for various shippers to allocate the cost among themselves. Industry representatives agreed that negotiations would be difficult, as I reported in a Kitsap Sun story last March 31.

The Legislature had looked at a cost-allocation system but decided to allow the industry to work it out themselves. Progress reports were required by Oct. 31 and Dec. 1.

And this is where I may have misunderstood the Legislature’s intent. I thought the idea was that if the shippers failed to put a system in place by the end of last year, then the Legislature would come back and do something this year to ensure no disruption in tug service. By then, the industry would have little room to complain. But that’s not what is happening.

This week, I wrote about progress in those negotiations and learned that the two major groups are still some distance apart. (See Thursday’s Kitsap Sun.) But the Legislature has no intent of stepping in. The law requires that the tugboat be on station before ships can operate in Puget Sound, and everyone seems confident that the law will be followed.

Department of Ecology officials have indicated that penalties for shippers could run to $10,000 a day if the tugboat is not there. (You may review the correspondence on the subject.) Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D- Bainbridge Island, a key player in the bill, told me that the fines would be enough to cover the cost of the tug, so he would allow the process to play out.

Since the shipping industry is generally divided between oil shippers and cargo shippers, the only alternative I can see, if negotiations fail, is to have two tugs at Neah Bay. Of course, that would be ridiculous and a waste of money.

As in many negotiations, these are likely to go down to the wire. Everyone expects a new tug to be in place by July 1.

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For older state highways, the method of managing stormwater typically is to dump it directly into ditches and streams. This is the historical approach: get rid of the water as quickly as possible. But, as the result of a legal settlement announced this week, we are likely to see more retrofits in the future.

Washington Department of Transportation has been improving its stormwater systems for new highways and a few older systems, but the latest federal stormwater permit issued by the Washington Department of Ecology did not go far enough, according to the group Puget Soundkeeper Alliance.

Represented by Earthjustice, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance appealed the permit to the Pollution Control Hearings Board. The settlement was not everything the environmentalists wanted, but it is a solid step in dealing with aging highways.

Bob Beckman, executive director of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, explained the group’s position in a news release:

“Government agencies, businesses, and citizens are all working together to protect and restore Puget Sound, but the state’s department of transportation wasn’t carrying its share of the weight. There is a lot more work to be done, but we feel that this is a step in the right direction. The state highway system should not be held to a weaker standard than industries, local governments and the public.”

So what was included in the deal?
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UPDATE, Jan. 29, 2010
Big Beef Creek continues to threaten several houses built close to the stream. The house most at risk at the moment is one belonging to Jon and Kimberly DeYoung. Read about their story and see pictures in a piece I wrote for today’s Kitsap Sun.
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It is the best of streams. It is the worst of streams.

There’s been talk lately about Big Beef Creek in Central Kitsap, where a much-traveled bridge has been closed to heavy traffic because of a washed-out bridge abutment. It appears the bridge will be closed for a couple of weeks, beginning next week. See my story in today’s Kitsap Sun.

There’s reason to believe we’ll be hearing a lot more about this stream in the future.

In my mind, Big Beef Creek is a beautiful salmon stream that has been much abused through the years. Despite a large population of people in the watershed, the creek has managed to hold onto its populations of salmon. Somehow, pollution has been mostly avoided.
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A three-day workshop to explore possible cleanup technologies that could be used at the Wyckoff Superfund site on Bainbridge Island got under way this morning.

Officials at the Washington Department of Ecology are looking for ways to remove or lock up the massive amount of creosote contamination that seeped into the ground during the first half of the 20th century.

Seth Preston, communications manager for Ecology’s Toxics Cleanup Program, is live-blogging from the meeting today. Another staffer is tweeting #wyckoff from a special Twitter account.

Seth’s presence at this meeting is valuable for those of us interested in this site on Eagle Harbor — one of the most complex and ecologically important sites in the Puget Sound region.

The EPA was on the verge turning over management of the site — including an ongoing pump-and-treat system — to Ecology. The two agencies agreed to delay the transfer for 18 months while state officials search for a more stable solution.

Ecology had two concerns about taking over the site: First, the ongoing pumping would do little to remove the large quantity of contamination in an environmentally sensitive area. Second, the state would be picking up the bill for a project that would cost millions of dollars over time with no end in sight.

Because of Seth’s good work, I won’t repeat the information he has provided in multiple locations on Ecology Web sites. Instead, I’ll just point you to some of the information available:

Reporter Tristan Baurick’s story in today’s Kitsap Sun

Ecology’s Web site on the “generational remedy” for the Wyckoff site.

Expert presentations from the ongoing workshop in PDF format. Look for “NEW!” under “Expert Panel Workshop.”

Seth Preston’s ongoing blog and Twitter feed

EPA’s Wyckoff Eagle Harbor Web site

Watching Our Water Ways

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When I interviewed reporter Hedrick Smith back in April, I recall his being pleased with his soon-to-be-aired Frontline production called “Poisoned Waters,” about pollution in Puget Sound and Chesapeake Bay.

At the time, Hedrick told me that he regretted not having enough time in the two-hour program to include clips of Billy Frank, chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, and other folks whose personal histories are tied to Puget Sound. He said he would try to find a way to share these important clips with the public.

That’s exactly what he has done in a new program focused exclusively on Puget Sound, called “Puget Sound’s Poisoned Waters.” It will air Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on KCTS Channel 9.

The documentary repeats and expands on footage shown in the original program — including killer whales, contaminated salmon, underwater footage with scuba divers in Elliott Bay and discussions about the food web.

New segments focus on an ongoing animosity between tribal fishermen and farmers in the Skagit River area. Longtime farmer Curtis Johnson complains that Native Americans “exterminated” the salmon resource by over-fishing and are now blaming others for the result. Both sides acknowledged that trust between them was nonexistent.

In stark contrast, there’s the story of Billy Frank, whose personal charm and determination bridged a similar gap between tribal members and property owners in the Nisqually Valley — including Jim Wilcox of Wilcox Farms, a huge dairy operation. And now the potential enemies are friends.

At the end of the show, KCTS reporter Enrique Cerna discusses Puget Sound issues with Hedrick Smith and Bill Ruckelshaus, chairman of the Puget Sound Leadership Council.

Ruckelshaus makes the point that people need to learn about the problems facing Puget Sound and to “put their interests on the table, not their positions.” He means that everyone has personal needs and wants, and it is quite possible to find middle ground with the needs and wants of others.

“We have to change the culture of this place,” Bill says, “in order to ensure that the way we live allows other things to share this place with us.”

I was thinking, after watching a review copy of the program on DVD, that this hour-long documentary could serve as a catalyst for discussions throughout the Puget Sound region.

Perhaps the Puget Sound Partnership ought to go on tour, playing “Puget Sound’s Poisoned Waters” in various communities around the Sound. (Be sure to provide popcorn.) Then, after watching the show together, people could talk about how they feel about their community, discuss the local water-quality problems and pose possible solutions to nurse the ecosystem back to health.

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