The state Department of Ecology, U.S. Coast Guard pollution investigators and the Seattle Police Department Harbor Patrol are responding to reports of an approximately 600-yard sheen in Salmon Bay just south of Ballard in Seattle. As an initial action, the state Department of Ecology has placed absorbent pads in the water.
More information about the spill will be provided by the Ecology Department as soon as it becomes available.
A meeting to discuss possible changes to rules governing US Ecology, a commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, will be discussed in Richland by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
US Ecology is on land leased by Washington in central Hanford.
Proposed changes for all four of the commercial low-level waste sites in the nation include allowing performance assessments to take into account differences in location and environment when determining each site's ability to contain waste.
The Hanford Tri-Party Agreement agencies are asking for input on how the public receives information on Hanford topics.
The Department of Energy, Washington State Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection Agency have posted online a survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/7TDX23S.
BLAINE - The Port of Bellingham and the Washington Department of Ecology have agreed on a legally binding plan to investigate pollution in Blaine Harbor and develop a cleanup plan.
The pollution is the remnant of decades of industrial activities. The current cleanup effort will focus on the Westman Marine site in the southeastern portion of the Blaine Harbor industrial area, near the end of Marine Drive off McMillan Avenue.
The port-owned area has been used as a boat and shipyard since the 1940s. Port officials plan to redevelop it eventually, but cleanup work must be done first, and Ecology must approve the cleanup plans.
ROYAL CITY -- B&G Farms and owner Mike Brown are being fined $20,000 by the state for what it calls extreme soil erosion on Brown's farmland in Grant County.
The land north of Royal City is on what's called Smyrna Bench, a flat area between two steep hills above and below it, on the north side of the Saddle Mountains.
A heavy storm July 20 sent a large amount of soil down the hill and into Lower Crab Creek, covering the road, smothering fish habitat and polluting the creek with mud, according to the Washington state Department of Ecology.
A Tacoma radiator shop has been fined $40,000 for ongoing “dangerous waste violations,” according to the state Department of Ecology.
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