Wednesday: Final public hearing on Duwamish cleanup plan

| Environment | West Seattle news

(2011 photo by Danny McMillin, via the WSB Flickr group)
Just two and a half weeks remain in what began as a three-month public-comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency‘s proposed Duwamish River cleanup plan. June 13th is the deadline to have a say on how Seattle’s only river should be cleaned up after decades of pollution, and one more public hearing (with two sessions) is coming up this week. As the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition has led the way in pointing out, there are distinct differences in the ways the cleanup can be approached, and your comment(s) can be something as simple as a description of your priorities. The official plan document is here – you can read it in its entirety, or just check the “executive summary” a few pages in, if that’s all you have time for. DRCC’s recommendations are here, along with other assistance they offer for commenting.

HOW TO COMMENT: This week’s two-session hearing is at 2 pm and 6 pm Wednesday (May 29th) at Town Hall downtown, 1119 Eighth Avenue (map). You can also comment online via this web form, or e-mail ldpc@resolv.org.

JoB May 27, 2013 (10:09 pm)

i have to comment on the picture..
Wow!

JoAnne May 28, 2013 (7:40 am)

Actually, restoration efforts by individuals and groups other the EPA have been going on along the Duwamish River for several years.

Several areas have been restored. What the EPA plans to do is very disruptive. They have done this in other areas of the country and made a horrific mess and damaged the environment horribly.

The EPA plans are not driven by good science. For example, how do they plan to measure any of their stated goals either before or after this horrifically disruptive and expensive project? Answer: they don’t.

John Watt May 28, 2013 (12:25 pm)

The Duwamish is one of two rivers in Seattle. While the Ship Canal may not look so much like one, it is the outlet stream from Lake Washington.

BJ Cummings May 28, 2013 (2:00 pm)

EPA’s cleanup plan gets us halfway there, but there are still many people whose health will not be protected unless a better cleanup is done. The good news is, recent hot spot cleanups on the river have shown how to do clean up without unmanageable disruptions to the river environment and surrounding community. See more info and cleanup recommendations at http://www.duwamishcleanup.org.

JoAnne May 28, 2013 (8:32 pm)

Someone should be collecting baseline data on the fish, plants and wildlife that are going to be destroyed during this massive excavation.
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Anything not documented will be bulldozed by EPA.
Even some of the documented habitat will end up destroyed.
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It is really important to get samples from different locations and depths, too. They should not just go in willy nilly and removed seds.
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Only the most seriously contaminated areas should be treated. Then the effects of “treatment” should be evaluated at several time intervals.
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Of course EPA is not planning to do anything so careful and sensible.
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There are at least 45 “superfund” sites in WA state alone. The EPA is sloppy as hell in terms of science. They basically don’t do any.

DiverLaura May 28, 2013 (10:18 pm)

There are 2 hearings tomorrow at Town Hall, 2pm and 6pm. at 5pm there will be a Rally, it would be really great if we could get a lot of folks out.

On so many levels this cleanup is profoundly important and beyond the nearer term benefits to human health and wildlife, it will have lasting repercussions on future site cleanups.

We MUST keep the bar high, or it becomes a slippery slope of “good enough”.

Important to note, the comment period ends June 13th, so even if you can’t make it to the hearings or Rally, PLEASE take a moment to have your voice heard: http://www.resolv.org/site-ldpc

Sorry, comment time is over.