Stories

Construction work has picked up at the corner of 12th & Jefferson in the last week as crews work to remove tons of dirt that was contaminated by gasoline and other fuels back when a gas station occupied the now vacant property.

As we reported on earth day two years ago, the property is just one of many around the neighborhood where the state is tracking long-term pollution from automotive services and dry cleaners.

The clean-up in this case was organized by Capitol Hill Housing, which is seeking city approval to build a new six-story affordable apartment building on that corner. Capitol Hill Housing's Cecelia Gunn tells us that the clean-up is being funded from government environmental funds and the corporate owners of the former gas station.

The Seattle City Council should be taking up the rezone request for the property within the next couple of months. Stay tuned as we learn more about the outcome of that process.

On Earth Day last year we told you about the top five polluted sites in the neighborhood that are sitting without any plans in place for cleanup. We've followed up on that via public reports on the Ecology Department's website, and have found that all five are in exactly the same position as a year ago: still polluted, some into the groundwater, and no plans for action.

Each site is ranked on a scale of 1-5, where 1 is the most hazardous and highest priority for cleanup and 5 is the least serious.

Here's the details on each:

• L&E French Cleaners at 2800 E. Madison - Given a ranking of 2 out of 5 (smaller is worse), the soil and groundwater of this property are contaminated with dry cleaning solvents which can cause liver and respiratory problems, birth defects, and possibly cancer.  Problems were first reported here in 1999, but no action has been taken yet to clean up the contamination.
• Goodwill Property at 1400 S. Lane - Also given a ranking of 2, the large Goodwill property is contaminated...

Today Mayor McGinn was at the White House to accept a federal grant of $20 million to help fund the city's Weatherize Every Building initiative. And the Central District is in luck, as we make up a big chunk of the area that will participate in the program, as shown in the map at left.

The federal funds will be used to drive a series of programs that help people increase their home's energy efficiency, saving them money and helping the city reach its environmental goals.

Here's the key pieces:

• Help 8,000 residents install compact fluorescent lamps and low-flow showerheads
• Offer energy performance audits to 2,000 residents for a subsidized price of $95
• Arrange discounted financing for large retrofit projects on things like windows, doors, insulation, and heating systems. Financing will be backed by municipal bonds and could be billed through your normal utility payments. The city will also help connect residents with a list of qualified contractors to do the work.

With the project now approved by the... (more)

With tomorrow being Earth Day and all, how about a small thing you can do to help out the environment? Our friend Stephan at The Twilight Exit (a CDNews sponsor) sent us this note about what you can do with all of those pesky old rechargeable batteries that are not supposed to go in the trash:

Hey Guys,

For a while now i've found it hard to recycle my old rechargeable batteries.  Especially the ones for power tools.  After a bit of digging i found a company that sent me a kiosk to toss old rechargeable batteries and cell phones into.  when it's full I just pack it up in it's own cool little box and ship it for free via UPS.  Once it gets to them they simply send me a new empty box.  I've put one of those inside the Twilight Exit.  

If you feel that it's noteworthy please pass it on.  would love to see this box fill up rather than a land fill.

So now you can say "Honey, I'm going to go save the earth", drop your old batteries in the box, and also enjoy a drink or two... (more)

Are you bothered by noise from low-flying aircraft over the your neighborhood? How about that plane that rumbles by about 3am nearly every night?

An Airport Noise Compatibility Study, also called a Part 150 Study, seeks to reduce the impacts of airport operations on neighborhoods near an airport.
 
A public workshop for Sea-Tac Airport's Part 150 Noise Study is scheduled for Feb. 24 at Mount Rainier High School, 22450 19th Ave. S. in Des Moines.

The workshop will begin at 5 p.m

The Part 150 Study looks at ways to reduce aircraft noise impacts on communities. Throughout the study, the public is invited to participate in the solution and recommendation process through active engagement in a series of topical workshops.

A dedicated Part 150 Study Web site has been established as the single location for all documentation connected to the study.

http://www.airportsites.net/SEA-Part150/

Are you concerned about the humanitarian effects of climate change on people in poverty who now face erratic rainfall, increased flooding, crop failure, and more?

Would you like to help vulnerable communities in the US and overseas prepare for unpredictable climate events, like future hurricanes?

Are you willing to reach out to others in your community to call for climate legislation that limits greenhouse gases and gives help to those most affected?

Oxfam Action Corps volunteers work closely with Oxfam staff to engage their community and elected officials. We will provide training and support throughout a one-year time commitment. You'll meet amazing activists, build community and drive political solutions.

Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization, invites you to join the Oxfam Action Corps, an exciting effort to cultivate grassroots leaders and political change in more than a dozen US cities!

• Seattle, WA

• San Francisco, CA

• Philadelphia, PA

• New York City, NY

• Minneapolis/St. Paul,... (more)

The lot on the northeast corner of 12th & Jefferson has been vacant for almost 40 years. But a hundred years ago it contained a house. And in 1926 it was turned into a gas station that operated up until the 1950s.

Now that automotive history is threatening an affordable apartment project that has been planned for the corner by Capitol Hill Housing. An initial environmental evaluation verified the property's history back in January, and soil samples taken in September found "significant petroleum contamination" on the property:

• Gasoline: 400 times the state cleanup standards
• Benzene: 500 times the state cleanup standards
• Xylenes: 2.5 times the state cleanup standards

The worse news? The contamination went down to the bottom of the test holes at 18 feet, while ground water runs as high as 15 feet, indicating that the contamination may have already migrated off site.

Capitol Hill Housing has received one estimate that it may take more than a million dollars to clean the site up, which would include... (more)

This city never ceases to amaze.

At about 7 p.m. Sunday evening, our car was struck by a raptor (bird of prey), edit:  apparently a Cooper's hawk, at 23rd & E Columbia. I was able to track it into a driveway on 23rd and keep an eye on it while my husband looked for info on who to call for a rescue, but after a little while it got spooked and ran off towards E Marion. It turned up a driveway just before Marion and disappeared into greenery and we were unable to find it again.

The bird is injured; its left wing doesn't work properly (there's a good chance it's broken) and it can't fly. It's mottled brown and cream along the head, has a brown back, tail, and wings, with a mostly-cream breast. It has a very sharp yellow-brown beak and brownish legs. There are bands on both its legs, and the band on the left leg is blue. The bands indicate that someone is tracking it.

If anyone has any information on this bird or on who to contact in a situation like this, please let us know. And please keep an eye out.... (more)

On Earth Day we wrote about five polluted properties in the neighborhood that have no plans in place to be cleaned up. The obvious follow-up was to find out more about the process and what the next steps might be.

We spoke with Russ Olsen of the State Department of Ecology, who said that all of the rules around contaminated properties are driven by the Model Toxics Control Act, a citizen initiative which was passed in 1988. It requires property owners or occupants to report any toxic contamination within ninety days of its discovery.

In the majority of cases, the people responsible for the pollution enter into voluntary agreements with the Ecology department to get things cleaned up. This avoids legal action and is thus cheaper in the long run. Twenty six sites in the Central District have followed that path in the last ten years.

For the other polluters that don't take responsibility for the clean-up, the state does have the power to take them to court and force them to do so. However, those... (more)

For the most part, the Central District has only ever been two things:  an old growth forest and a residential neighborhood. Never having had a real industrial presence, you wouldn't expect to see too many issues with serious pollution or toxic cleanup. But a review of State Department of Ecology data shows that we've got our share of problems spread around the area.

The biggest culprits are from two sources: dry cleaners and gas stations or other fueling depots. State environmental rules require reporting and remediation whenever toxic or other volatile compounds end up in the ground, water, or air. That has resulted in 36 different reports filed in the last 10 years in various locations around the Central District and the northern part of Capitol Hill.

The good news is that most property owners appear to be very responsive when a problem is found. Of those 36 reported sites, 11 have already been cleaned up and another 15 are in the active stages of a remediation process. Another 5 are in various stages of analysis... (more)