• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

ConocoPhillips Settlement Funds Clean-Air Projects: $550,000 Will Cover Raft of Smaller Plans

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Katie N Johannes, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

Mar. 22--A hybrid car and a particulate monitoring station are among $550,000 in projects ConocoPhillips will contribute to in Whatcom, Island and Skagit counties as part of a federal Clean Air Act settlement.

The Northwest Clean Air Agency selected 35 projects earlier this month that will receive grant money from the Ferndale-area refinery, the local result of a national agreement reached in January 2005 between the Houston-based refining company, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice.

The settlement is part of the EPA's effort to reduce air emissions from refineries.

The Northwest Clean Air Agency joined the settlement, winning money for supplemental environmental projects.

Jamie Randles, director of the Northwest Clean Air Agency, said the $550,000 would cover smaller projects by government, nonprofit or educational organizations.

"We pretty much plucked the low-hanging fruit," Randles said. "We had to look for more creative things - things that we can afford but are not necessarily cleaning up the air."

For example, some of the public education programs the Clean Air Agency is funding don't directly reduce emissions, but Randles points out that they can only help in the long run.

"There are a lot of reasons why what we've done is defensible, but it's not a one-for-one offset (for refinery emissions)," he said.

The grants are being distributed into six categories: woodstoves and outdoor burning, biodiesel projects, indoor air and asbestos abatement projects, ambient air quality monitoring, transportation and miscellaneous.

The most money will be spent on projects to limit the effects of outdoor burning - $154,088 or 31 percent.

The most expensive single project, at $50,000, will promote widespread use of biodiesel in agriculture by establishing small biodiesel processing and demonstration sites.

The Clean Air Agency has $50,000 of unallocated money because an Island Transit project fell through.

Katie Fleming, education coordinator for the environmental group RE Sources, said she appreciates the grant money her programs will receive.

RE Sources will get $10,000 to make up the cost difference for a hybrid car, and $11,564 to help expand its global warming and air quality education program.

The nonprofit makes about 135 classroom presentations a year in Whatcom, Island and Skagit counties. Fleming said the hybrid car's fuel efficiency and low emissions will be an appropriate improvement over the 1989 Nissan pickup the staff drives now.

"It bugs me to no end," she said. "Students ask us, 'How did you get here today?' This is a big deal for me to walk the talk."

Reach Katie N. Johannes at katie.johannes@bellingham herald.com or call 756-2805.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:COP,

Source: The Bellingham Herald, Wash.

More News in this Category