The next monthly DCC Board of Directors Meeting is scheduled for 13 August 2008.
The DCC Board meets in the basement of the Dry Creek Grange beginning at 7 pm.
The general public and Coalition membership is invited to attend and to express opinions concerning Coalition issues.
Monthly meetings are normally scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month.
DCC received Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Tax Exempt Status on 13 September 2007
Department of The Treasury issued Tax Exempt Status (501 (c) (4) status on 13 September 2007. Contributions to DCC are not tax deductible under this tax exempt status.
List of Dry Creek Board of Directors (2007-2008)
The Current Dry Creek Coalition (DCC) Board of Directors for the business year September 2007 through September 2008 is as follows:
Bill Hamilton President
Bruce Ferguson Vice-President
Joan Ethier Treasurer
Harley Oien Secretary
Marge Hansen Director
Ken Hansen Director
Rudy Albrecht Director
OE Byerly Director
Dan Boldt Director
DCC Council filed a Motion for Reconsideration and Motion to Amend Schedule regarding Case # 07-2-0018c of Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board.
I have been tardy in posting this document and others following its issuance. Other documents will follow in order of date issued.
Clallam County Commissioners expended $22,845.89 tax dollars to Hillis, Clark, Martin & Peterson, P.S for legal services in connection with the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board legal proceedings in Dry Creek Coalition and Futurewise v. Clallam County, case # 07-2-0018C. This DOES NOT ACCOUNT for Clallam County funds expended by the Planning Department, Prosecuting Attiorney’s Office assistance and Commissioners staff.
WHY? Because Clallam County Commissioners and Clallam County Staff continue to ignore the requirements of State Legislature generated law, i.e., requirements of the Growth Management Act. Had Clallam County adapted Land Use ordinances and policy to the REQUIREMENTS of the Growth Management Act in 1990, they would not be faced with the complex and expensive efforts now required to make Clallam County land use and zoning meet State Law. Your Tax dollars are being wasted!!!
DCC Board Minutes for 11 June 2008 are attached.
Minutes of the DCC Board Meeting of 14 May 08 attached.
An Email sent by Jim Jewell to DOE regarding the toxic materials in the City of Port Angeles Dump was shunted to another section of DOE.
This Email readdresses the original Email and Harley Oien focuses action back to DOE requesting that the State of Washington address
the problem of toxic materials at the City of Port Angeles more directly or the matter will soon migrate to the Federal Court system under
a Clean Water Act lawsuit.
The following is an email to DOE and their response in passing that email off to another section of the bureauacracy.
Dry Creek Coalition collected drainage from Strait at very low tide 3 June 2008.
Chemical analysis by certified laboratory reveals extreme concentrations of Copper, Lead and Zinc: all toxic to marine life. Other metals: Antimony, Chromium, and Mercury are very elevated when compared to our control sample from Freshwater Bay, FB-3.
Sample team noted total lack of marine life in the retaing wall area and the area of the mouth of Dry Creek at the Port Angeles Dump.
Control sample from Freshwater Bay, FB-3, served as a control or standard for comparison with toxic metal concentrations leaching from the Port Angeles Dump.
At a very low tide on 3 June 2008, three members of the Dry Creek Coalition took a sample of running water approximately 150 yards offshore of the PA Dump retaining wall. This running water was coming from the retaining wall at the dump and running around huge masses of fused garbage materials lying offshore. That sample is DW-1, see attachment below. Analysis of DW-1 shows massive amounts of very toxic inorganic metals by DOE saltwater standards. Sample DC-2 was taken from water running from the mouth of Dry Creek at a location approximately 100 yards offshore and approximately 200 yards West of the retaining wall.
The following is a table of standards for toxic metals in salt water cited by Washington State DOE
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=173-201A-240
Dry Creek Coalition presented a package of Port Angeles Dump information generated over the past four (4) years and a five minute presentation to the seven councilpersons on 8 May 2008, in Council Chambers. We emphasized that marine life is all but missing offshore the dump and that we would conduct chemical tests at the next low tide for INORGANIC METALS. Our testimony is the next attachment.
The Dry Creek Coalition did NOT test for organic leachate coming from the dump. This is an open issue.
The Coalition has asserted for several years that the design of test wells for sampling any dump leachate would and could not show any materials being leached from the unlined garbage. The design of the new retaining wall sample wells preserves that inability to make true sampling for toxic leachates.
We feel that continued inaction by DOE and the City of Port Angeles in removing the garbage in the unlined dump (1,000,000 cu yds) perpetuates contamination and poisoning of the entire Strait and Puget Sound water system. We are exploring resolution in Federal District Court under the Federal Clean Water Act at this time.
Minutes of the DCC Board meeting of 9 April 2008.
Letters to Director of Community Development, Mr John Miller and Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty remain unanswered in regard to the status of the Dry Creek revised Comprehensive Plan submitted in August 2006.
DCC has now sent a letter to the Clallam County Planning Commission requesting their assistance in resolving this impasse.
That letter is contained below:
PlanComltrMay08.pdf
CompPlnDohertyltr.pdf
CompPlnMillerltr.pdf
DCC presented a “latest status” on the Port Angeles City Dump at the 20 May 2008 council meeting
Survey of offshore rock and cobble was conducted at low tide on 8 May 2008 by DCC members.
The results of that survey were dramatic in that the area is basically devoid of all marine animal life: mollusks, starfish, barnacles, bottom crabs, etc. The comparison to marine life at Freshwater Bay is dramitically different.
DCC Pollicy remains the same as that stated in our 12 October 2005 testimony to the Port Angeles City Planning Commission, i.e., the 1,000,000 cubic yards of garbage in the “old” section of unlined dump should be removed and sent to toxic materials dumps.
Testimony to the Port Angeles City Council is contained below.
The following page shows two Cross Sections of the Port Angeles City Dump. The first is in 2002 and was done by Parametrix in an engineering study.
The second is the same cross section filed with the SEPA for the retaining wall project in 2005. Important to note: Somehow about 2/3 of the garbage disappeared between 2002 and 2005.
Could it have been someone’s eraser??
With a perfection of this technique the whole world could be cleaned up with just a single eraser. Yellow area in lower figure added to show “lost” garbage.
The City of Port Angeles unlined dump on the bluff of the Strait of Juan de Fuca contains 1,000,000 cubic yards of garbage some of which has fallen and leached into the marine waters of the Strait.
Dry Creek Coalition has assembled data for several years through Request for Disclosure from the Clallam County Environmental Health Divisiion and the City of Port Angeles Public Works Department. Pictures contained in this package are of Dry Creek Coalition origination. Additional pictures are contained in the Galleries Section of our web site. DCC testified to the City of Port Angeles Planning Commission on 12 October 2005 that the garbage in the unlined dump should be removed and disposed of in a toxic landfill. City Engineer Gary Kenworthy, now retired, stated that the dump contained 1,000,000 cubic yards and that removal was cost prohibitive. The City of Port Angeles filed a SEPA finding a Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) environmental impact for building a retaining wall to prevent garbage from falling into the Strait as the bluffs erode.
Highlights of the pdf package below are contained on the first three pages of the attachment. The remainder of the package is documentation of dump issues and include:
An analysis of city generated assay of the garbage in the unlined garbage dump consisting of thousands of tons of lead, zinc, copper and substances toxic to marine life.
City engineering studies which show lack of concern for violating the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) jurisdictional Mean Highest High Waterline (MHHW) boundary for construction.
A letter from USACE citing the City of Port Angeles for violation of Federal Clean Water Act
Letter to Governor Gregoire regarding toxic leaching into the Strait
Letter to Department of Ecology regarding dumping stormwater from the dump into the mouth of Dry Creek
Letter to the Department of Fish and Wildlife with concerns for the Hydrologic Permit issued for construction that damaged Dry Creek flow
This package was delivered to the Puget Sound Partnership at the Workshop at the Jamestown Tribal Center in 7 March 2008
This is the first half of the package given to PSP and Port Angeles City Council
This is the second half of the Port Angeles Dump package presented to PSP and Port Angeles City Council
PADumpPkg2of2.pdf