Air Time: adding five new counties to Stage 1 burn bans

By Brook Beeler, communication manager, Eastern Regional Office

Stage 1 bans start immediately in Columbia, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, and Pend Oreille counties. In addition, Stage 1 burn bans in Asotin, Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, Stevens, and Walla Walla counties will continue.

Bans are necessary since poor air quality and stagnant conditions are expected to continue for

The Plane! The Plane! Find out more in “Eyes Over Puget Sound” for November 21

By Sandy Howard, communication manager, Environmental Assessment Program

The Kenmore Air sea plane we use has quite a history. It was previously owned by the U.S. Army.Winter is here. After weeks of clouds and warmer air, blue skies and cold temperatures have set in. Strong tidal fronts and sediment-rich brackish plumes leave Whidbey Basin and move into Admiralty Reach.

A pod of Orcas follows

Air Time: Eastern Washington burn bans continue, three counties added

By Brook Beeler, Eastern Regional Office


The
Stage 1 burn bans in Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Stevens and Walla Walla
counties will continue. Stage 1 bans have also been issued in Asotin, Klickitat
and Okanogan counties starting immediately, by
the Washington Department of Ecology.





Current air quality data can be found on Ecology's website. This shows air
quality in Walla Walla is "

Oil seep now contained on Bellingham waterfront

---Dustin Terpening, communication manager, Bellingham Field Office---


For the past year there was a small portion of shoreline on the Bellingham waterfront where oil was seeping into Bellingham Bay.





That was until last week, anyway, when crews completed a project to contain the seep.



We worked with the city of Bellingham to develop a project that would temporarily contain the oil seep

How’s the air out there?

By Ginger Wireman, Environmental Education & Outreach Specialist, Nuclear Waste Program

Did you know that in Los Angeles an estimated 9,000 people each year die from lung and heart diseases aggravated by air pollution? "Bad air days" have decreased dramatically since the region implemented stringent clean air laws beginning in the 1970s. But air pollution still kills.

In Washington, we are

Network maintenance will affect Ecology online applications (Nov. 22-24)

Ecology Notification


Maintenance work is planned for Friday, November 22 at 5:00 PM through Sunday, November 24. During this time many of Ecology's online applications will be unavailable.


Applications that will not be available include:


Areawide Remediation Environmental Information System (AREIS)

Children's Safe Product Act (CSPA) Reports

Cleanup Site Search

Cleanup Levels and

Gross out: Potty bombs on the rise

Dustin Terpening, communication manager, Bellingham Field Office



Two thumbs down for nasty potty bombs and their stench.

I have to admit that on the rare occasion while driving I have seriously considered relieving myself in a plastic bottle. Like when I’ve been stuck in traffic or on a long road trip and a restroom just wasn’t readily available.



Yet, I’ve never been able to bring myself

Tacoma Smelter Plume: Public Meeting on Vashon-Maury Island this Thursday!

Adrianna Jarosz, Geosyntec, mapping and dividing a property into sampling units.



Sampling probe used to collect six inch sample.

By Jill Jacobson, Outreach Coordinator, Toxics Cleanup Program


This Thursday, we are holding an open house on the Residential Yard Sampling and Cleanup Program on Vashon-Maury Island.


The purpose of the open house is to provide an update on the program,