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Rosemere, CCNRC suing Vancouver in federal to court over failure to get
pollution permit
The Rosemere Neighborhood Association,
whose charter to officially represent the neighborhood was withdrawn by the City
of Vancouver early this year, and the Clark County Natural Resources Council are
taking the city to court over what they call the city’s failure to obtain a
pollution elimination system permit required by the federal Clean Water Act.
The maximum civil fine for violations
of the Clean Water Act are $27,500 a day.
Vancouver attorney
John Karpinski, who is chair of CCNRC,
says that, although the city made application, it does not have a National
Pollutant Elimination System permit that is required for discharges from its
storm sewer system.
The city was notified by the
plaintiffs of their intention to take the matter to federal court under the
Clean Water Act on June. 14.
The suit was filed in the U.S.
District Court, Western District of Washington.
The suit alleges that the city’s
violations of the Clean Water Act have adversely impacted Burnt Bridge Creek,
Vancouver Lake and the Columbia River. Further, the suit claims that
contaminants from failing septic systems in the Rosemere neighborhood and other
areas of Vancouver infiltrate into the storm sewer system and are discharged
from its outfalls into Burnt Bridge Creek and Vancouver Lake.
The complaint states That defendant’s
discharges of contaminated storm water to Burnt Bridge Creek and Vancouver Lake
substantially contribute to serious water quality problems in these water bodies
is a matter of long-standing concern. As long ago as the 1970s, defendant
participated with EPA, Ecology and other government agencies in the development
of a plan to rehabilitate Vancouver Lake. Two extensive and costly projects to
improve lake water quality, dredging of the lane and construction of a flushing
channel to bring Columbia river water directly into the lake, were completed in
the 1980s with substantial state and federal funding, while defendant largely
failed to implement measures to control pollution entering the lake, including
pollution from the defendant’s storm sewer system to the lake and Burnt ridge
Creek, that all parties to those efforts to rehabilitate Vancouver expected
defendant to undertake.
The suit asks the court to force
Vancouver to comply with the Clean Water Act, impose fines, and to order the
city to control discharges from the storm sewer system.
Creek-side celebration of Burnt Bridge
Creek Restoration project is Thursday
The beginning of a $5.4 million
phase-one project for restoring Burnt Bridge Creek will be celebrated at 3:30
p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, along side of Burnt Bridge Creek at NE 65th Avenue, a
block south of NE 18th Street. The event includes the Fort Vancouver High School
band, displays and refreshments.
Financed through the City of
Vancouver’s Surface Water Management Program, the project involves planting
nearly 20,000 trees and shrubs, lowering the flood plain shelf, enhancing
wetlands, and re-establishing the creek’s natural water flow.
A 3.5-mile extension of a new trail
will also get underway, completing an 8-mile continuous section of the Discovery
Trail connecting Fruit Valley with NE Burton Road.
Candidates forum at Clark College
to be followed by reception
Nearly two dozen candidates for state
legislative offices and Washington’s 3rd Congressional District are expected to
participate in a candidates forum sponsored by Clark College’s Students for
Political Activism Now, and the college, beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 14,
in the Gaiser Hall on the campus.
The keynote speaker is
Ron Dotzhauer, a political analyst and
former Clark County commissioner.
The forum is expected to last until
1:30 p.m. A reception, sponsored by the Associated Students of Clark College
follows from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Michael Allen Harrison featured
in Thursday Backyard Concert
The
Columbian Backyard Concert series presents
Michael Allen Harrison, one of the
Northwest’s preeminent pianists, in an all-piano concert at 6 p.m. Thursday,
Oct. 14, in The Columbia Valley Elementary School, 17500 SE Sequoia Circle.
Harrison, a Portlander, is a concert
pianist, composer, arranger and producer, and is owner of MAH Records. His 24
albums have sold over three-quarter of a million copies. According to the
Columbian: “Michael’s unique brand of
music ranges from movie scores to passionate arrangements for piano, orchestra,
ballet, jazz, fusion, New Age, Adult Contemporary and Chill.”
Now in its 8th year, the series of
concerts is free.
Gardner School Art Show opens
Thursday in Three Creeks Library
The second annual Gardner School Art
Show opens at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, in Three Creeks Library. The show of
works by preschoolers through 8th graders continues through Friday, Oct. 22.
Approximately 100 students are
enrolled in Gardner School, an independent school in its ninth year in Clark
County, teaches fundamental academic skills and content, which students apply to
multifaceted topics integrating language, arts, math, natural and social
sciences and the arts.
News briefs
An open house discussion of C-TRAN’s
proposed .03 percent sales tax increase to restore the transit agency’s level of
tax-based income, which would also improve its current level of service, is at
5:30 p.m. today in the Hazel Dell Sewer District offices, 8000 NE 52nd Court.
For further information, call Scott Patterson,
696-4494. g
Port of Ridgefield commissioners meet in regular session at 6 p.m. this evening
in port offices at 111 W Division Street. g
The new Washington State University Vancouver chapter of the
national honor society, Kappa Omicron Nu will be installed at 7:15 p.m. this
evening in Classroom Building Room 225 on the Salmon creek Campus. A reception
follows.
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MIRIAM GREEN 
"Working to help you!"
