National Coalition Building Institute

Fabienne Brooks, a former Maple Valley Precinct Commander and now with the National Coalition-Building Institute (NCBI), discussed a new community outreach program. NCBI, established in 1984, works to eliminate racism and all other forms of prejudice and discrimination throughout the world. NCBI uses communication tools such as conflict resolution to improve police-community relations.

NCBI and the King County Sheriff’s office have been awarded a grant to provide training in community leadership and communication. Ms. Brooks described how they will be conducting focus groups in our community and would like members of the public and the Area Council to participate. Five Area Council members have volunteered to participate.

A one-day workshop is planned for sometime in August in which 15 local police officers and 15 local citizens will receive training in proven communication skills to use in our community. Ms. Brooks stated the training will provide a unique opportunity to develop new relationships and seek collaborative solutions to interactions between law enforcement and the greater Maple Valley community. One result of such broad cooperation is to build bridges to help increase safety for members of the community and law enforcement and to reduce conflict and tension.

Ms. Brooks can be contacted by email or at (425) 766-8452. Also, please visit the NCBI website for more information.

Proposed Burn Ban

Lauren Smith of the King County Department of Natural Resources & Parks, along with Jim Nolan, Director of Compliance for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA), discussed burn ban policies. They specifically were seeking information from Rural Area residents on issues related to removing excess natural debris on their properties without burning. They also were worried about the interaction between property owners along the Urban Growth Boundary in Rural Areas that “look urban” due to higher densities.

Mr. Nolan noted that it only is legal to burn natural debris--not garbage. He also noted that in the Rural Areas PSCAA burn-pile issues are almost all complaint driven. Many members of the public were in attendance and voiced a variety of issues and offered several solutions that were documented by Ms Smith. These include providing economically feasible and practical ways for residents to physically remove natural debris from their properties, providing incentives, and making available responsible burning procedures.

Mr. Nolan and Ms. Smith were invited to return and speak at the Area Council’s August Regular Monthly meeting. At that time they will provide results of their information-gathering sessions and listen to public comment on any steps the PSCAA plan to take in the Rural Areas. The public is encouraged to contact Mr. Nolan by email or at (206) 689-4053 to provide ideas to help Rural Area property owners remove excess natural debris without burning. You can also visit the PSCAA Burn Ban page to find out more detailed information on burn bans.

Cedar Hills Regional Landfill Energy Gas Project

Dr. Victor Okereke of the King County Solid Waste Division provided details on a proposed project to generate energy from methane gas produced by the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill. The plan calls for Bio Energy (Washington) LLC to build a landfill-gas-processing facility on land within the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill to produce natural gas for distribution through existing pipes.

Currently, gases generated by the Cedar Hills Landfill, primarily Methane and CO2, are flared off at ~ 11,000 cubic feet per minute at the north end of the site. The proposed project will use a purification and compression process to covert Methane gas to natural gas. There are three potential environmental impacts: emissions (to be reduced compared to current practices), noise (on site), and liquid waste (oily water to be treated on site). Bio Energy will be required to obtain separate permits to mitigate all three potential impacts.

Dr. Okereke mentioned the proposed project has several benefits: King County will generate revenue from the sale of the natural gas;converting the methane gas to natural gas will reduce annual CO2 emissions in an amount equivalent to approximately 22,000 cars; and greenhouse gas emissions from the landfill will be reduced by ~2/3. In addition, Methane gases will no longer be released at the site. This is important in terms of climate change since Methane gas lasts longer than CO2, but is less abundant in the earth’s atmosphere.

The Solid Waste Division seeks comments on the Environmental Checklist and the Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance (MDNS) for this project. The Public Comment period has been extended to Thursday, May 22.

Comments on the MDNS(in written form only) can be submitted to: Kevin Kiernan, Division Director, King County Solid Waste Division, 201 S. Jackson St, Suite 701, Seattle, WA 98104-3855. More information can be found at http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/facilities/landfill-gas.asp.