Rayonier Mill Soil Dioxin Study Report Available to the Public

By Connie Groven, Project ManagerThree years ago, Ecology began a study of dioxins and furans (we refer to them together as dioxins) in surface soils in areas of Port Angeles near the former Rayonier Mill. We looked at two things—the concentration of dioxins in soils, and whether the former Rayonier Mill’s air emissions could have contributed to what we measured. The report is now in and it

Boat grounding

Image of D’Boat on Long Island on June 24 Another boat is reported to have grounded in the San Juan Island area. This is the second in the last two weeks. Seven people were on board and two of them had to be airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.The weather has been unpredictable and the tides rather extreme. When boating, be safe not sorry.For more information:KOMO News video

Air Time: Summer brings welcome heat ... and air problems

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Air Quality ProgramWell, it looks like summertime temperatures are settling in after the long, cold, wet winter/spring.But with nice weather and heat come air quality challenges.FireworksWhat would summer and the Fourth of July holiday be without a barrage a fireworks in just about every community in the state?Well, for one thing, there would be a whole

Ecology, Coast Guard respond to grounded vessel

By Seth Preston, Communications ManagerThe state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard are responding to the scene of a grounded vessel near Shaw Island in the San Juan Islands.The Coast Guard has removed seven people from the commercial crabbing vessel, which ran aground west of San Juan Island.For more informationD'Boat Grounding incident pageEcology Spills Program

Abandoned water wells can be life-threatening

by Lynne Geller, Outreach and Communications, Water Resources ProgramThe sad loss of two dogs who died recently after falling into an abandoned well on Vashon Island again brings to light the importance of properly filling in wells no longer in use.Old abandoned water wells are fairly common in Washington State. For example, there are estimated to be thousands of abandoned wells in King County

Nuke waste program experiment may improve state soil sampling standards

By Erika Holmes, Community Outreach & Environmental Education Specialist, Nuclear Waste ProgramLast week, we completed an exciting service-learning project with statistics students at Columbia Basin College. They helped Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program do statistical analysis on soil contamination data from Hanford’s 200 Area. Our goal was to see if new multi-increment soil sampling produces

Forests not the problem for toxics in Puget Sound

By Mindy Roberts, Environmental Assessment ProgramWe want to clarify some of the broad findings of the recent study, “Toxics in Surface Runoff to Puget Sound.” Here are the facts:The surface runoff study monitored levels of toxic chemicals in streams representing four major land cover types: commercial/industrial; residential; agricultural; and forest/field/other undeveloped lands.The purpose was