Town and county bans on polystyrene to-go containers take effect April 23, Earth Day.
The bans demonstrate our commitment to protect human and environmental health on the islands, by banning the use of a toxic petroleum-based material for which safe, compostable options of equal or lesser cost are available.
It’s one large step to reducing our impact on the environment that sustains us. But on this Earth Day, we realize that we have miles to go before we sleep.
Two challenges we’d like to see resolved this year:
1. The animals in the Spring Street Aquarium have become our canaries in the coal mine. Detergents have been linked to the deaths of aquarium animals. Incorrectly plumbed pipes have been fixed and mop buckets are no longer dumped in gutters (we hope), but detergents are still detected in the harbor.
Why? Aquarium manager Mike Kaill has tested drippings left by cars on Spring Street and believes fuel detergents are contributing to the pollution in our harbor.
There is a solution: Expect a proposal soon for a rain garden at the end of Spring Street. A rain garden is a planted area that allows rainwater runoff from impervious surfaces, like streets, an opportunity to be absorbed. This reduces rain runoff by allowing stormwater to soak into the ground (as opposed to flowing into storm drains). Rain gardens can cut down on the amount of pollution reaching the harbor. Rain gardens don’t have to be large; we may lose a couple of parking spaces. But with the health of our harbor in mind, it may be a sacrifice we’ll have to make.
2. A local agency needs to take the lead on the Derelict Vessel Removal Program in San Juan County. Our county has the worst derelict vessel problem in the state. Loaded with fuel, oil and other toxins, derelict vessels pose a tremendous environmental threat.
The state Department of Natural Resources’ Derelict Vessel Removal Program should provide a no-interest loan to fund a local Derelict Vessel Removal Program coordinator. The loan would be repaid by in-kind services and costs recouped from owners of derelict vessels.
Funding the upfront costs of a local coordinator would make the program proactive, rather than reactive, because a local coordinator could move on boats that have been abandoned, identify boats that are derelict and risk of sinking, and get them out of the water before they become an environmental and public health problem.
Lacking a local authorized public coordinator, DNR has a contract with a salvage company that can, by law, move on a vessel only if it is in immediate or imminent danger of sinking, is breaking up or blocking navigation channels. By that time, it can be too late. And once a derelict vessel sinks, the cost of salvaging can quadruple.
