My Edmonds News
Posted: November 26, 2024
Month: November 2024
Letter – Unocal Edmonds Bulk Fuel Terminal 0178 cleanup
The attached letter was sent to Director Laura Watson, Washington State Department of Ecology, containing EEC’s comments requesting that the Feasibility Study be revised to include additional Alternatives and then re-submitted for public review and comment.
Continue reading “Letter – Unocal Edmonds Bulk Fuel Terminal 0178 cleanup”Letter – Environmentally Sensitive Zoning and ‘Staggered’ approach to housing density zoning over 20-year Comp Plan
Letter sent to Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen, Edmonds City Council, and Edmonds Planning Director
From: Edmonds Environmental Council
November 25, 2025
Please see the linked OpEd piece in My Edmonds News yesterday and the comments to it.
Reader View: A better idea for Edmonds Comprehensive Plan update – ‘Environmentally Sensitive’ zoning
By Joe Scordino
Posted: November 23, 2024
Much of Edmonds shouldn’t be further developed because of inadequate or antiquated infrastructure, or the area is already overbuilt for the existing landscape or it has unique landscapes and critical areas requiring additional restrictions. But our state Legislature didn’t take this into account when it mandated every city to update their Comprehensive (Comp) Plan to allow for increased housing density.
Continue reading “Reader View: A better idea for Edmonds Comprehensive Plan update – ‘Environmentally Sensitive’ zoning”Letter to Shell Creek residents
By Joe Scordino
November 23, 2024
Shell Creek Residents:
As many of you have noticed in your creek, we are having a banner year in the numbers of adult chum salmon returning to Shell Creek.
I want to THANK YOU for allowing the Edmonds Stream Team to continually access your property in the fall to collect data on the salmon run. We’ll be continuing our salmon surveys into mid-December when most of our observations will probably shift to just examining dead salmon to collect data on their spawning success (we’re currently still seeing ‘new’ arrivals as well as dead spawned-out salmon).
Continue reading “Letter to Shell Creek residents”Letter to Edmonds Stream Team
From Joe Scordino
November 23, 2024
Students – Linked below is a news article on the Edmonds Stream Team “coming to the rescue” to resolve a fish passage problem for spawning salmon in Shell Creek.
The stream habitat and salmon abundance data collected by students was used to justify an emergency permit from the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to make changes to a blockage DURING the salmon run. Normally, such instream work would not be allowed during salmon migration – – but I had the data (collected by students) to justify the emergency action.
So… THANK YOU for participating in the Stream Team. You have made a big difference for our local salmon population!
Guest View – Perrinville pipe under tracks could spell disaster
Posted Saturday, November 23, 2024
By Bill Lider
Lider Engineering
One of the most important duties of City government is to protect the health and safety of its residents. Besides the obvious police and fire protection, it is the Public Works department’s duty to assure the safety of its residents, too.
While potholes in public roads can be ignored or put off for a long time, or roads can be closed pending repairs, the rail traffic on the Edmonds waterfront cannot. Every day, tens of thousands of gallons of hazardous, toxic, and explosive materials move up and down the Edmonds waterfront.
Continue reading “Guest View – Perrinville pipe under tracks could spell disaster”Public Comment – Unocal Edmonds Bulk Fuel Terminal 0178
By Joe Scordino – EEC President
November 23, 2024
The following Public Comment was submitted and received by WA Dept. of Ecology regarding the site cleanup of the Chevron/Unocal site below the Point Edwards condominiums.
Continue reading “Public Comment – Unocal Edmonds Bulk Fuel Terminal 0178”Video of salmon getting over the Shell Creek blockage
Video showing Chum salmon successfully managing to pass an obstruction in Shell Creek.
Video courtesy of Karen Barnes
November 22, 2024
City publishes revised draft Comprehensive Plan; public hearing Dec. 10
My Edmonds News
November 22, 2024
The revised draft 2024 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Edmonds has been published and is available for review online here.
The revised plan updates the initial draft that was published Oct. 3. This new draft reflects public input during the comment period, as well as input from the Edmonds Planning Board and City Council. It also includes state agency guidance and other information.
Continue reading “City publishes revised draft Comprehensive Plan; public hearing Dec. 10”Why are so many Coho salmon dying? The answer might be in your tires
By Camila Domonoske, Jessica Yung, Rebecca Ramirez
November 20, 2024
For decades, Coho salmon were turning up dead in urban streams the Pacific Northwest. The salmon would stop swimming straight, and then die before they had a chance to spawn. Researchers worried that unless they figured out the cause, the species would eventually go extinct.
Continue reading “Why are so many Coho salmon dying? The answer might be in your tires”Scene in Edmonds: Finding passage for salmon
My Edmonds News
Posted: November 20, 2024
It is salmon migration season and significant numbers of chum salmon are actively making their way up Shell Creek. As is always the case, they need to pass many obstacles along the way. This year they were presented with a new and unexpected challenge.
Continue reading “Scene in Edmonds: Finding passage for salmon”EEC Introduction Newsletter
Fall 2024
On July 9, 2024, the Edmonds Environmental Council was incorporated as a Washington State non-profit organization. The EEC was formed to educate and inform the public on environmental issues, to constructively engage with local and regional governments, working through the unintended consequences of some of their policy decisions. With your help, the EEC will be a strong voice to protect natural areas, to ensure clean water, and to promote a healthy environment critical for both humans and wildlife.
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, making your generous donations tax deductible.
Current projects include:
- We are involved in an appeal with the City of Edmonds to the State Growth Management Board . A new ordinance is allowing stormwater contaminated with PFAS “forever chemicals” to be injected into the Deer Creek Springs Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA). This aquifer supplies water for Edmonds south of 220th St SW and all of Woodway. We are currently in mediation with the city to avoid the costs associated with the appeal, with the goal of prohibiting PFAS from being allowed into our drinking water.
For more details, please visit: https://edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/deer-creek/ - Faced with an anticipated population growth of 30% over the next 20 years, the City of Edmonds is struggling through a major Comprehensive Plan update. The EEC is actively advocating for responsible development standards that protect people and wildlife, and mitigate impacts to water and the environment.
For more details, please visit: https://edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/edmonds-comp-plan/ - Restoring salmon runs to the Edmonds Marsh system has been an active, multifaceted effort by Board President Joe Scordino and VP Diane Buckshnis for over a decade.
This includes:- Removing and controlling invasive plant species (including Bittersweet Nightshade and Purple Loosestrife) to restore Shellabarger Creek water flow under and along WA 104 into the marsh.
- Fully completing the environmental cleanup of Chevron’s Unocal site
- Acquisition of the Unocal property by the City of Edmonds
- Connecting the Marsh to Puget Sound with a clean open channel
For more details, please visit: https://edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/marsh/
- Edmonds used to enjoy several salmon spawning creeks including Shell, Shellabarger, Perrinville, and Lund’s Gulch. Years of development without appropriate environmental safeguards has all but destroyed this rich heritage. Allies of EEC, Sound Salmon Solutions and the Edmonds Stream Team volunteer organizations, are working to return salmon runs to this watershed.
For more details, please visit: https://edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/salmon-restoration/
Please visit us on the Web at
Thank you and welcome aboard!
EEC Board: Joe Scordino, Diane Buckshnis, John Brock, Ken Reidy, Dianna Maish, Clint Wright
Reader view: Edmonds’ growth plan should reflect realistic household data, not inflated targets
By Janelle Cass
Posted: November 12, 2024
The 2044 Comprehensive Plan update for Edmonds calls for 9,069 new housing units, based on an assumed future household size of just 1.4 people per new unit of housing, which would bring the citywide average household occupancy down to 2.11. This assumption risks causing the city to overshoot its true housing needs and invites the kind of overdevelopment that could significantly strain city resources and negatively impact the environment.
Continue reading “Reader view: Edmonds’ growth plan should reflect realistic household data, not inflated targets”Letter to the editor: Chevron must be required to complete Unocal cleanup
By Laura D. Walls
Posted: November 11, 2024
Editor:
The Edmonds Marsh needs your help! Will Chevron be required to complete the Unocal cleanup of the Marsh, or allowed to walk away with the job unfinished?
Continue reading “Letter to the editor: Chevron must be required to complete Unocal cleanup”