CLICK ON ABOVE PHOTO FOR MORE

People in the Duwamish Valley will know more about the risks and how to prevent exposure to toxic pollution thanks to an infusion of $100,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency awarded the grant on Tuesday to the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group (DRCC/TAG).

The grant is part of EPA’s nationwide Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program which is in its seventh year and recently awarded its 100th grant. Through this program, the Agency helps communities across the country to better understand, address, and deal with their environmental problems through local partnerships. This on-the-ground support and funding helps to reduce environmental pollution from all sources, revitalize underserved areas, and improve the health of communities across the nation in sustainable ways.

DRCC/TAG has been working with communities along the Duwamish to create a holistic and comprehensive approach to community health. EPA will provide the grant dollars and technical assistance to the Coalition and its partners as they work with community members to identify and prioritize health impacts from toxic pollution and environmental concerns from all sources.

GUESTS:
Dennis McLerran, EPA Regional Administrator
James Rasmussen, Coordinator of Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group
Cecile Hansen, Chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe
Dow Constantine, King County Executive
Richard Conlin, Seattle City Council President

"The Superfund tax was not reauthorized by congress back in the early '90's, so now funding for Superfund sites comes either from the polluters, or tax payers through general revenue," Renée Dagsth told the West Seattle Herald. She is with EPA's Region 10 Ecosystems, Tribal & Public Affairs.

"They (Lower Duwamish Waterway Group which includes the Port of Seattle, the city, county and Boeing) have paid for the studies up until now, (including) the feasibility study," she said. "We expect others to also pay for the cleanup. Those parties have not been identified yet. We are doing a 'potential responsible parties search' to current and historic property owners to ask about their practices on the site, what chemicals they've used, and whether they might have contributed to contamination.

"For the Lower Duwamish Waterway Site we are entering a really exciting time where EPA is about to publish its proposed plan for the cleanup of the Duwamish River and we are hoping that will come in early 2012," she added. "We're really interested in getting public feedback on that to influence the decision we make on how to clean up the river. There is dredging, capping, and engineered natural recovery. There is no 'one size fits all'. Some of the tradeoffs are things like, 'Do you want more certainty?' That takes up more time.

"The main threat to public health from the Duwamish contamination is from eating the fish that live in the river all year long. Salmon are safer," she pointed out. "They don't live there year round. We're trying to get the word out to people not to eat the fish that live there year round. We see recreational fishing out there in summer time, and also suspect people fishing because they need to put some food on the plate. So we're really concerned about children, and pregnant women eating the fish."

BJ Cummings

"I think it went very well," said BJ Cummings, DRCC policy advisor, of the presentation. "It was the very beginning of this project. Next week we (the DRCC & its partners) will do a public kickoff so that the community can understand what the project is and how to get involved. What I am looking forward to down the road is in a year or so we will have a package of health action plans. We will actually go back to EPA for what they call Phase II Funding to implement them and then we will really start to see some improvements over the next few years."

The public kickoff is: Duwamish Valley Healthy Communities Project, Thursday, Nov. 10, 6:00 - 9:00 pm, South Seattle Community College, Georgetown Campus, 6737 Corson Ave. S

A community-based initiative to identify, prioritize and develop action plans to improve the health of our neighborhoods and families.

Guest Speakers, Food • Music, Information, Children’s Activities, Spanish & Vietnamese Interpretation.