Want to know what's in your couch cushions?

We're not talking about spare change, though.

Today from noon to 1:00 p.m. the Washington Toxics Coalition will be conducting free testing for flame retardant chemicals in foam products like couch cushions, strollers or car seats. Just bring them to Senate Hearing Room 1 during that time and let the toxics analyzer check them out.

Beginning at 1:30 p.m., the Senate Environment committee will hold a hearing on House Bill 1294 in Senate Hearing Room 4.  This bill, which passed the House two weeks ago, would ban the toxic flame retardant chlorinated Tris in home furniture and children's products.  The chemical is a known carcinogen and was removed from children's pajamas way back in the 1970's over health concerns. But it is still being used today in many children's products and upholstered furniture.

A couple of legislators decided to have their own couches tested recently, and the results were alarming.

House Bill 1294 has been nicknamed the Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act, because the goal is not only to remove these harmful chemicals from products and protect people's health, but to make sure that equally toxic chemicals are not being substituted in their place.

Read this story in Spanish.

Two Green-Collar Jobs Bills Pass the House

Legislation sponsored by two House Democrats aimed at encouraging growth in renewable energy jobs and manufacturing has been approved by the House of Representatives

House Bill 1301, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Morris, improves an existing program that provides incentives for energy consumers who use renewable sources to meet their electricity needs. It also includes new performance measurement tools to increase accountability and ensure that the tax credits administered under this program are accomplishing what they are meant to – helping to create new jobs in our state.

The state will use metrics, such as how many consumers are receiving credits and where they are buying their renewable energy systems, to measure the success of the program and assess how credits are given out. This will help reward companies that manufacture their products in Washington, expanding our clean energy economy and creating good-paying jobs for Washington families.

The second piece of legislation is House Bill 1663, sponsored by Rep. Steve Tharinger. It extends an existing sales and use tax exemption for a kind of biomass called “hog fuel” which, incidentally, has nothing to do with hogs. Hog fuel is a wood waste product, created from the limbs and branches left behind when timber is harvested. Turning this wood waste into renewable energy eliminates the need for open pile burning at the timber harvesting site, which means fewer emissions into our atmosphere.

In addition to being environmentally friendly, the resulting biomass product is a commodity itself that helps support timber industry jobs.These family-wage jobs tend to be located in areas of our state that suffer from stubborn unemployment, so it’s important to preserve these jobs and help the industry find ways to stay competitive in the global market.

Both pieces of legislation will create or maintain jobs here in Washington while reducing our dependence on outdated fossil fuels – further proof that it doesn’t have to be a choice between growing our economy and protecting our environment.

Read this story in Spanish.

House OK for Hansen bills brightens job outlook

Rep. Drew Hansen

The state’s job market would gain strength for the future under four bills by Rep. Drew Hansen that cleared the state House this past week.

“There are signs we’re rebounding from the depths of the Great Recession, but we’ve got a long way to go,” Hansen said. “I want to protect the jobs we have and prepare our young people for opportunities in the 21^st –century economy. It’s very encouraging to me to get the strong, bipartisan support of my fellow legislators in that work.”

The bills are:

House Bill 1247, which makes it easier for small businesses to get money from a key state job-training program designed to help employees upgrade their skills. The bill also ensures that money from this program supports training that leads to degrees and credentials rather than dead-end jobs. The House voted unanimously for it Saturday, 98-0.

House Bill 1472, which helps students train for high-paying jobs in the computer industry by enhancing computer-science education in high schools and creating a statewide task force to address the computer programmer shortage. It was approved Friday 95-3.

House Bill 1245, which protects jobs in the shellfish and recreation industries by getting abandoned vessels out of our waters before they sink and cause pollution. It passed the House Thursday on a 96-1 vote.

House Bill 1660, which will lessen the paperwork burden on hospitals and colleges as they train new doctors and nurses. It won unanimous approval Tuesday, 96-0.

House approval of Hansen’s bills sends them to the Senate for action there.

To read a more extensive account of House action on these bills, click here.

Read this story in Spanish.

Sequester on your street corner

Last week, Senator Patty Murray visited with House Democrats and discussed some of the effects of sequester - the looming automatic cuts to the federal budget that will be triggered if Congress fails to strike a budget deal by March 1st.

This week, the White House released more detailed information on what these automatic cuts would mean for Washington state.

Among the low-lights:

• Washington will lose approximately $11,606,000 in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 160 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 11,000 fewer students would be served ad approximately 50 fewer schools would recieve funding.
• Washington will lose about $3,301,000 in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality...
• About 440 fewer low income students in Washington would recieve aid to help them finance the costs of college.
• In Washington, approximately 29,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $173.4 million in total.
• Washington will lose approximately $1,053,000 in funds that provides meals for seniors.

For the complete list of potential cuts, follow this link.

Read this story in Spanish.

Legislators put their couches to the test

Would you like some toxic chemicals with your couch?
Photo by L. Barnfather

Rep. Kevin Van De Wege and Sen. Sharon Nelson are sponsoring legislation to ban certain toxic chemicals from children's products and upholstered furniture.

Nicknamed the "Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act," the companion measures were making their way through the House and Senate, at least until this morning.

But keep hope alive:  tomorrow, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government will have a hearing on Van De Wege's bill, and if eventually voted out of that committee it will be just a step away from going to a vote before the full House.

In the meantime, the two legislators wanted to show just how prevalent these toxic chemicals are in upholstered furniture like couches. They authorized testing to be conducted on the couches in both of their legislative offices, and the results were revealed to KING 5's Gary Chittim in a recent special report.

During the KING 5 interview, Sen. Nelson held up a glass jar containing half a pound of sugar (see photo), representing the amount of the toxic chemical chlorinated Tris that is present in most residential couches. The chemical, a known carcinogen, ends up in household dust, where it is inhaled or ingested most often by babies and young children. It also poses a risk to firefighters, who are exposed to toxic fumes produced by these chemcials when responding to house fires.

As if that wasn't bad enough, independent testing commissioned by the Washington Toxics Coalition reveals these same toxic chemicals are prevalent in children's nap mats, which are often used in preschools and day care centers.

It doesn't have to be this way. The Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act gets our state off the toxic treadmill by taking these harmful chemicals out of furniture and children's products, and prohibiting equally toxic chemicals from being substituted in their place. 

Read this story in Spanish. 

Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act introduced

Warning: This couch may contain chemicals harmful to your health

Why is a toxic chemical that was removed from children's pajamas back in the 1970's still used today in common children's and household products?

Legislators are moving forward this session with a proposal to get this chemical, called chlorinated Tris, banned once and for all here in Washington.

Bills have now been introduced in both the House and the Senate, called the "Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act." A similar measure passed the House last year, but didn't make it into law. This joint press release from Rep. Kevin Van De Wege and Sen. Sharon Nelson describes how this year's proposal is different, and why now is the right time to protect consumers - especially children - from these harmful chemicals.

But why is something we stopped putting in pajamas over 30 years ago still showing up in everything from couches to strollers?

Supposedly for fire safety reasons. Chlorinated Tris has long been touted as a flame retardant to help keep consumers safe. But a recent Chicago Tribune investigative series uncovered deception behind these claims. And with safer alternatives available, this might be the year the Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act gets all the way through the legislature.

Read this story in Spanish here.

Dock of the bay

Photo courtesy WA State Dept. of Ecology

​With apologies to Otis Redding, it seems unlikely anyone will be sittin’ on this dock of the bay anytime soon. It’s way out in a remote section of Olympic National Park, and the specific site is currently closed to public entry. This particular dock actually comes from Japan: It’s a big hunk of debris from the March 2011 tsunami in Japan, and it floated across the Pacific and washed ashore late last year.

State and federal officials are on the case. They agreed in a conference call Jan. 7 that the derelict dock should be removed to protect both the park and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

The dock was spotted on the beach on Dec. 18 by a Coast Guard helicopter crew. After repeated attempts in the rugged terrain, a ground crew reached the dock Dec. 21, affixed a tracking beacon and collected samples of marine organisms attached to the structure. Later analysis determined that 30 to 50 of the plant and animal species sampled, including seaweed, mussels and barnacles, are native to Japan but not found in the wild in the United States.

Gov. Gregoire and legislators took steps last summer to prepare for tsunami debris washing ashore. In July, the governor released $500,000 in emergency funds to deal with the issue. The federal government announced it would grant up to $50,000 to each of the five Pacific coastal states to help out.

Schools – and taxpayers – save money with green building

In 2005, Washington made history: it became the first state in the nation to pass a green building law, after a big push by Rep. Hans Dunshee (D-Snohomish).

That means new schools, and other buildings, funded by state taxpayers are built smart, so taxpayers pay less for electricity every month.

In 2013, the Lake Stevens School District is taking that idea even further – and saving even more money.

The school has an energy specialist, Barb Ossowski, who trains teachers and staff how to cut energy costs.

Read the full KING 5 story here: Energy conservation spares Lake Stevens School District from cuts
 

Rep. Hans Dunshee

Here's the key passage from the story:

Since March 2010, the district has seen a 34 percent energy reduction, which amounts to about $1.5 million in savings. Instead of going towards utility bills, that money is used going back into classrooms. 

"Keeping money in our own pockets for our school and our children and that's what we're in the business for," said Ossowski. 

The effort has funded new textbooks, an AP class and spared teacher and staff positions from being cut. 

"We're also being good stewards of the environment," she said. 

The Lake Stevens School District was recently honored by the Environmental Protection Agency with an "Energy Star Award" for its energy efficiency, one of only four in the state with that distinction. 

For more about the state's efforts on green building, click here.

Read this story in Spanish here.

We recycle more than we throw away

The Department of Ecology announced yesterday that for the first time in the history of our state, last year we recycled 50.7 percent of our solid waste. 

In 1989, the legislature passed the "Waste Not Washington Act," which established waste reduction and source-separated recycling as the fundamental strategies for managing solid waste. It set a goal of recycling 50 percent of Washington state's waste by 1995.

Well, that didn't happen.

But 16 years later we finally made it! If you contributed to reaching this goal, you ought to be proud of yourself. 

So what does 50.7 percent mean on a per-person basis? According to Ecology's report, state residents recycled an average of 3.64 pounds of material each day, while throwing away 3.54 pounds of waste. 

That's not all the good news. It turns out that all this recycling helped the state avoid emitting 3.2 million tons of greenhouse gasses, the equivalent of keeping 1.9 million cars off the road. 

Thank you for doing your part to keep our Evergreen State... well, green! 

Read Ecology's release. Learn more about recycling in Washington state.

Read this story in Spanish here.

Cleaner air in Tacoma

Spokane and Tacoma – two of our state's biggest cities – have both struggled at times with air quality, partly because of geography and inversion zones.

The greater Tacoma area is one of 31 places in the nation that's not in compliance with federal limits on air pollution.

Only 30 percent of that problem is caused by auto exhaust. Half of it comes from wood burning.

There's a fancy name for soot -- fine-particulate pollution – but what isn't fancy is what soot does to a human body.

When wood burns and soot goes into the air, the problems start because soot particles are especially tiny. So small that they can skip past the body's defenses and really cause trouble in our lungs and bodies.

Places with too much soot in the air, like Tacoma, have more cases of asthma. It's rough on older people, and patients suffering from any kind of serious heart or lung problem.

Fixing this is important not just for the health of people living in the greater Tacoma area, but for our quality of life and businesses.

So how can we fix this problem?

The News Tribune recently ran a story on how people are working toward a solution.

The new effort got started through a law (House Bill 2326) by Rep. Laurie Jinkins, which passed in 2012.

The tough part about fixing this problem, especially in Tacoma, is the number of older homes where the main source of heat, or the only source, is an old wood stove or fireplace.

There are modern wood stoves that burn cleaner, and there are alternative ways to heat a home that are more efficient. But even then, it's hard to make the switch.

As the story in the News Tribune shows, a solution isn't as simple as passing a law saying people can't use wood stoves anymore. For a lot of people, wood stoves are the only source of heat in their home. Those people are exempt from the law.

Instead of passing a law that simply outlawed wood stoves, Jinkins worked with citizens, community leaders and businesses on finding a way to bring cleaner air to the Tacoma area.

If people have alternative ways to heat their house, they should use them, and this law helps make that transition in the smoothest way possible.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Battery Recycling Day at Seattle Center today

They can be found in almost every household - unwanted, rechargeable batteries from cellphones, laptops, or other gadgets, taking up space in a drawer or closet.  We know they don’t belong in a landfill, but we're not exactly sure how to get rid of them responsibly.

Luckily, in Washington state it's pretty easy to recycle rechargeable batteries, so you can start cleaning out those drawers and closets today!  There are 700 drop-off locations throughout the state that participate in the Call2Recycle® program, a free rechargeable battery collection and recycling system.

Rep. Steve Tharinger

In order to call attention to the ease of rechargeable battery recycling, the City of Seattle is sponsoring Battery Recycling Day today at the Seattle Center.  From 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., residents can bring their unwanted rechargeable batteries and cell phones to the International Fountain at the Seattle Center.  If you happen to be there around the noon hour, you’ll likely see state Representative Steve Tharinger or Senator Sharon Nelson, or even a member of the Seattle Mariners who will be signing autographs in support of environmentally-responsible battery disposal.

In the 2012 regular session, a bill was sponsored by Rep. Tharinger that would have formalized a program for rechargeable battery recycling in our state.  It received a hearing in two separate committees, but didn’t quite make it to a vote on the House floor.  This is an issue the Legislature may take up again, because even our current voluntary system is doing a stellar job – keeping 230,000 pounds of waste batteries out of our state’s landfills in 2011 alone.

You can read the press release about today's event here.

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Legislators laud Hood Canal “Puget Sound Champions”

Hood Canal

Yesterday, four honorees were singled out by the Puget Sound Partnership for their efforts in helping to restore our region’s major waterway to good health.  In a ceremony at the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal Center, PSP’s Executive Director Gerry O’Keefe and former King County Executive Ron Sims handed out awards to three coalitions and one individual.

The coalitions include local jurisdictions and tribes that have teamed up to protect habitat, identify pollution sources, and/or engage in clean-up efforts to improve water quality.  Additionally, Pat Pearson of the Jefferson County WSU Extension was honored for her 20-year career in education and outreach on water quality issues.

Legislators whose districts include the areas bordering Hood Canal had plenty of praise for the honorees and their ongoing efforts.  Representatives Steve Tharinger, Drew Hansen, Sherry Appleton, Fred Finn and Kathy Haigh all weighed in to offer their congratulations and underscore the importance of the work being done.  A clean and healthy Hood Canal – and Puget Sound – are vital to the economies and quality of life in their respective districts.  Of course, the health of Puget Sound impacts our entire state, which is why we should all tip our hats to the work these awardees are doing.

You can read the Puget Sound Partnership’s press release on yesterday’s ceremony here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

More Puget SoundCorps work crews forming this summer

Puget SoundCorps is helping to clean up the Sound.

We have previously told you about jobs offered by the Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) back in August and September of 2011. This year they are again looking for hard workers to help clean up Puget Sound.  Read on to see if one of those jobs is for you.

A little background:  in April 2011, Gov. Gregoire signed a bill sponsored by Rep. Steve Tharinger , which put all WCC activities under the Department of Ecology and created the Puget SoundCorps to clean up the Sound. You can read more about this legislation in Rep. Tharinger’s press release .

This year, the state capital budget included $13 million for WCC’s Puget SoundCorps projects, which will put 20 new crews throughout the Puget Sound region to work starting this summer. They will be cleaning up beaches, installing native plant species in urban areas, reclaiming land previously used for mining operations, restoring in-stream habitat, and controlling noxious weeds.

This is great news for young adults and veterans ages 18 to 25 who have been disproportionately affected by the recession in our state and are willing to work hard. No experience is required. All SoundCorps members receive first aid and career skills training. They also get specialized training to help assess wetlands, use electronic equipment, fight fires and support other types of emergency incidents.

With the new funding, the expansion of Puget SoundCorps projects will increase the WCC roster to 325 members—the largest it has been in almost three decades!

If this is a good fit for you or someone you know, you can learn more about the Puget SoundCorps program and prepare to fill out the online application to become a crew member.  The recruitment opens on July 15, 2012.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

SEPA: Streamlining government AND protecting the environment

Ensuring a clean and healthy environment is important for Washington families and public health. Also vital to maintaining a vibrant Washington is having a permitting process that isn’t unnecessarily complex and expensive. This year, the Legislature took a major step towards streamlining the permitting process while continuing to protect environment.

Enacted in the early 1970’s the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) requires state and local government agencies to consider environmental impacts during the project approval process. SEPA helps ensure our state continues to be a great place to live, work, and visit. However, the act hasn’t kept up with the times.

In the 40 years since it was passed, several other federal, state, and local environmental protection laws have been adopted including the state's Growth Management Act and the federal Clean Air Act. Some of those laws overlap or conflict with SEPA. Overlapping and conflicting laws make the permitting process more complicated, expensive, and drawn out for government agencies and builders.

In his first term as a state legislator, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-Burien) took on the challenge of bringing SEPA into the 21st Century. He worked with various stakeholders in proposing changes to SEPA in an effort to streamline the review process while still protecting our environmental treasures.

Although it was a bumpy road at times, the language in his SEPA bill – HB 2253 – was eventually incorporated into SB 6406 and approved by the Legislature. Governor Gregoire signed SB 6406 into law on May 2, 2012.

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Upthegrove bill good for business, the environment, and the state’s bottom line

If you drink filtered water at home or at work, you know the drill.  The filter keeps impurities out of your drinking water, which is a good thing.

In a similar fashion, boatyards in Washington state are required to install pollution control filter systems that help keep toxic runoff out of Puget Sound.

But the filters for boatyards are significantly more expensive than your average home drinking water filter.  They can cost upwards of $100,000, which is no small chunk of change.  Since most boatyards in the state are small businesses, this is a pretty significant investment for them.


Luckily, a bill that was signed into law last week will streamline the permitting process boatyards have to go through in order to install these filter systems.  It’s currently a rather lengthy process, and as they say – time is money.  An expedited process helps these small businesses as they work to comply with state law, and protects the jobs these businesses create and sustain.  Rep. Dave Upthegrove sponsored the bill, which won’t cost the state any money but helps keep Puget Sound free from toxic runoff and other pollutants.

You can read more about the bill here.

And here’s a video of Rep. Upthegrove talking about the bill when he introduced it earlier this year.

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

Plan in place to cut down on unwanted phone books

Photo credit: Jamiesrabbits

 The telephone is one of the most important inventions in history. When telephones emerged in the late 1880’s, they connected people, business, and communities in ways never seen before. But telephones alone would not have changed the world like they did without an important companion – the phone directory. Having a phone was only half of the equation. People needed directories to connect with the right people on the other end.

For over a century, new white and yellow pages directories would show up on every doorstep about once a year. They were so vital to connecting communities that many states, including Washington, adopted laws and rules requiring phone companies to publish and distribute the white pages on a regular basis.

However two relatively recent inventions – the smartphone and the internet – have rendered traditional phone directories nearly obsolete. Between 2005 and 2008, the number of households depending on the white pages for information decreased from 25% to 11%. 

Reps. Reuven Carlyle, Marko Liias, and Joe Fitzgibbon are leading efforts to cut down the on the number of unwanted phone books in Washington state. They recently met with yellow pages industry representatives to find a solution that benefits publishers, consumers, and the environment.

As a result of those conversations, the four largest yellow pages providers will now include opt-out information on the cover of every phone directory they publish in Washington. Consumers can go to  www.yellowpagesoptout.com to opt out of receiving the directory. You can read more about this agreement here.

With an easy-to-use solution in place for the Yellow Pages, the lawmakers are now turning their attention to the White Pages. With the support of businesses, local governments, and environmental interests, the group is urging the state Utilities and Transportation Commission to modernize the rule that requires phone companies to distribute physical directories to Washington residents.

Over five million trees are cut down each year to print white pages directories. If Carlyle, Fitzgibbon, and Liias are successful with their petition, unwanted phone directories will be a thing of the past in Washington state.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

   

Rep. Probst helps Clark County get greener

Thanks to Rep. Tim Probst of Vancouver, the Clark County Treasurer’s Office is going greener – and saving money at the same time.

Probst sponsored a bill approved by the Legislature in 2010 that allows property owners to view and pay their property tax bills online, at no charge. That saves paper and postage both for the county and the taxpayer.   

Clark is Probst’s home county, but any county may use the technology. To read more about the Clark County program, click here. 

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Paper or Plastic?

We’ve all been asked the question. But if Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon of Burien has his way, there will be a new question for shoppers in Washington state.

Paper or reusable plastic?

Or no plastic at all?

Rep. Fitzgibbon and representatives from Environment Washington and Fred Meyer held a press conference today introducing House Bill 2404 banning single-use plastic bags from grocery stores.

Four cities in Washington – Bellingham, Edmonds, Mukilteo, and Seattle - have all passed single-use plastic bag bans. If this legislation is approved, a similar ban would be imposed on stores state-wide.

“We know that we have a plastic problem in Puget Sound, and we know that it threatens our wildlife every day,” said Rep. Fitzgibbon. “It is time for Washington to phase out single-use plastic bags.”

A similar bill in the Senate, SB 5779, was heard in the Senate Environment Committee yesterday. Representing the Washington Northwest Grocery Association, Holly Chisa expressed her support for the bag ban.

“We are not opposed to moving away from plastic bags. My grocery stores, which are the larger grocery stores, believe that a bag is a bag and it is time to make the move,” said Chisa.

You can watch that hearing here on TVW.org and read other stories about the ban here, here, and here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Lawmakers take aim at more toxic toys

Doctors, moms, lawmakers and the Washington Toxics Coalition joined forces at a press conference this morning to announce good news and bad news on infant and children’s products.

The bad news is that a new study of Hidden Hazards in the Nursery found high levels of toxic flame retardants in a jaw-dropping 85 percent of 20 popular children’s products that were tested recently—including nursing pillows, car seats, and changing pads.

The worst culprit was “chlorinated tris,” a carcinogen that has also been linked to DNA mutation, hormone disruption and other health problems. Even though this toxic threat was removed from children’s pajamas in the 1970’s, it was found in high concentrations in 80 percent of the products tested in the new study!

As a mom of a 4-year-old in Olympia put it, “It’s frustrating to find out the products my kids use contain harmful chemicals and that the government allows it.

But there is also good news:  Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson and Sen. Sharon Nelson announced at the press conference that they are proposing the Toxic-Free Kids Act (HB 2266 and SB 6120) to ban toxic tris flame retardants from children’s products sold in Washington. After all, safe alternatives are readily available. Their bills would also prevent manufacturers from substituting untested and potentially dangerous alternatives to tris in their products.

As Dickerson said at the press conference, “Parents shouldn’t have to be chemists to know their children are safe from dangerous chemicals in children’s products.” That’s the philosophy that made Washington a national leader in protecting kids from toxic toys, and it is the reason why Washington’s leadership is needed to protect children again.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Cow power: Clean energy and money for farmers

How can you turn a nasty, expensive problem into a huge winner?

Local dairy farmers spend tons of time, energy and money cleaning up the manure generated by their cows. It’s a hazard to human health and the environment if you do it wrong, and it’s just plain costly when you do it right.

But as this KIRO 7 story shows, you can turn cow pies into cow power.

Photo: KIRO TV

Dairy farmer Brian DeGroot told KIRO 7 he spent up to $3,000 a month disposing of all the manure produced by his dairy cows. Even a single dairy cow can produce a heck of a lot of that stuff.

What a feat of human ingenuity. A giant, stinky problem will now be transformed into clean energy and cash.

This is an amazing story of creativity. It’s a win for farmers, a win for jobs and a win for the environment.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.