|
Our Wild Olympics, Photo by Peter F. Guerrero
|
|
Recycling in Jefferson County: Part One
Many people who move to Jefferson County from areas that collect all kinds of recycling in one bin often think we are behind the times here. Actually, our county was on the cutting edge of this issue 30 years ago. Our Waste Management Plan said that our recycling would be handled in ‘an environmentally and socially responsible way”. Sending our plastic to China to be picked through (primarily by poor families and children) and burning the low-value plastic was neither of these. “Plastic China” is the documentary that caused that country to shut down their plastic “recycling” that was causing significant air and water pollution, plus severe health effects.
We are also fortunate to have Skookum Enterprises as our recycling broker for many years. They collect all our sorted recycling from around the county (both curbside pick-up and self-haul to drop boxes), and find local end markets. This gives our recycling a much higher value and takes less to the landfill, which can be up to 40% for all-in-one systems. Currently, our cardboard takes the short trip to the Port Townsend Paper Mill to become more cardboard boxes and kraft paper. Our mixed paper goes to Norpac in Longview, WA and becomes recycled paper products. Our glass goes to Strategic Materials in Seattle where it becomes more glass bottles – a rare end market for most recycled glass. Our plastic and cans go to a recycling facility in Tacoma where they are separated, baled, and sent to markets on the West Coast.
Next Month: The Problem With Plastics. Thanks to Laura Tucker for this article. For more information on recycling in Jefferson County, click here:
|
|
The Uncertain Future of Port Townsend’s Water Supply
The pipeline supplying Port Townsend’s water was constructed in 1927-28 in cooperation with the Port Townsend papermill. The City issued a bond and the majority of the payments were covered by the mill. The 30 mile pipeline delivers approximately 10-14 million gallons of water per day (MGD) from the Quilcene watershed, of which the mill uses 10-12 MGD and all other city businesses and residents, combined, only use 1-2 MGD.
The pipeline is reaching the end of its design life. With the Mill contract for operating the pipeline up for renewal, the City is considering a management and replacement strategy for the next 100 years.
Climate change has dramatically affected the Olympic snowpack, allowing it to melt earlier in the spring and summer, leaving less water during the dry summer months. The Olympic Peninsula has experienced abnormally dry to severe drought in 5 of the last 10 years. Finding ways to incentivize water conservation is key to ensuring adequate water for all in a water scarce future.
Currently, the paper mill pays nothing for its water but, under the existing agreement, must provide for the pipeline’s operating expense. The city has reported that the mill values this at just over $400,000/year. However, if the mill were to be charged what city residents currently pay, its true cost for the water it uses would be in the millions.
While, historically, the mill has been an important partner in providing for and maintaining the city’s water infrastructure, the existing arrangement represents a subsidy by all city residents and it seems the city can negotiate a better deal going forward. The current arrangement also provides little or no incentive for the mill to conserve this precious resource.
The city is seeking public comment as it negotiates a new contract with the mill. Contact the Port Townsend City Council members to let them know you want a sustainable, and fair agreement that encourages conservation.
|
Pleasant Harbor Resort Update
The Brinnon Group has recently been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Rose Foundation to begin a water quality monitoring program on the Duckabush estuary.
The Brinnon Group is a grassroots 501(c)(3) that, for 20 years, has worked to protect Hood Canal. It has opposed the massive Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort (MPR) on the Duckabush estuary.
The Washington State Guidance on MPRs, states, "After reviewing North American resort and recreational projects over a 30-year span, some resort industry leaders estimated that as few as 10 percent were profitable for the original developer." Failed development results in environmental damage. One of the goals of the water quality monitoring grant is to set baselines for future mitigation activities associated with this MPR.
The grant application was supported by the Sierra Club, which has also supported the group's opposition to the MPR.
You can contact the Brinnon Group here:
|
North Olympic Members Updated on Military Training in Our Parks
At our May membership meeting, Marianne Edain from Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN) updated members on the status of actions to reverse State Parks' decision allowing military training in our parks.
Marianne reported that 29 parks are involved, and 5 of these are on the Olympic Peninsula. She said that it is up to Parks' staff how many of the 29 parks will ultimately be permitted for military training.
Since this misguided decision was made on a close vote, with the deciding vote cast by a commissioner who's term had expired, Marianne encouraged people to write the Governor and ask him to support a replacement commissioner who can protect our parks from inappropriate uses.
WEAN has also taken legal action to challenge the decision and on July 9 the Thurston County Superior Court will develop a schedule for parties to submit and make arguments. Meanwhile, State Parks can continue to approve military training because the plaintiffs are not seeking injunction.
Click on the button to find out more and how you can support WEAN's legal action.
|
|
|
|
Controlling Sewage Waste Impacts: Washington State Ecology’s Approach versus Science
The Toxics Issue Committee is a new addition to the WA State Chapter of the Sierra Club's Conservation Committee. The first task for the Toxic Issue Committee is to respond to the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Draft Sewage Solids General Permit.
In January 2020, the Chapter responded to Ecology’s request for comments on whether to require municipalities be under general or individual permits, the latter being more transparent. Ecology staff has no individual-permit language and did not want to develop it; a general permit is easiest for them. Now the Draft General Permit is open for public comment until July 1.
A critical problem is that Ecology focuses on “best management practices” rather than the “best available science” on the toxic impacts of contaminants plus viruses in sewage. The USEPA identified nearly 400 listed contaminants and hazardous wastes in its own sampling and analysis taken from 75 municipal sludge samples from 35 U.S. states.
|
|
|
|
More recently, "forever chemicals" in PFAS/PFOS used in leak-proof containers, rainproof and spot resistant materials and fire-fighting foam have been of concern. The May 25, 2021 National Sierra Club-Ecology Center of Michigan report on these chemicals in commercial composts can be accessed below.
|
|
|
|
North Olympic Book Group
Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees
By Thor Hanson
"Bees helped shape the natural world where our own species evolved and their story often commingles with our own. The subtitle of this book guides its content: it's an exploration of how the very nature of bees makes them so utterly necessary. To understand them, and ultimately to help them, we should appreciate not only where bees came from and how they work, bot also why they've become one of the only insects to inspire more fondness than fear. The story of bees begins with biology, but it also tells us about ourselves."
July 11, 7PM Zoom
RSVP required.
|
Christopher Stone, Who Proposed Legal Rights for Trees, Dies at 83
In ancient Roman law, Professor Stone observed, children were less persons than objects under the absolute authority of fathers. Just as children acquired rights over time, so did women and minority groups. And not only humans: Corporations and nation-states gained legal protections, too.
“Until the rightless thing receives its rights, we cannot see it as anything but a thing for the use of ‘us’ — those who are holding rights at the time,” he wrote. “Throughout legal history, each successive extension of rights to some new entity has been, therefore, a bit unthinkable.”
Source: New York Times Obituary
|
The North Olympic Group's website is updated to reflect current environmental issues and club events. Members are encouraged to periodically check it out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
