Bringing it all together is what matters – technical, regulatory, policy issues, along with community values. EnviroIssues has gained a reputation for integrating all of the elements. We research land use opportunities, compile salmon recovery plans, communicate risk tradeoffs, and integrate watershed planning. Our ability to understand regulatory requirements and technical information in combination with our communication expertise allow us to translate complex information into concepts, conversation, and communication materials that are accessible to the public and get the job done technically.
A Collaborative Process for Protecting and Restoring Puget Sound

The Puget Sound Partnership is the Washington state agency responsible for protecting and restoring Puget Sound. EnviroIssues provided strategic support and coordinated the Partnership’s community-based efforts that informed development of the 2020 Action Agenda - the road map for achieving a healthy Sound by 2020. We provided outreach and communications planning and implementation, meeting coordination and facilitation, and document and information management support as the Partnership worked to gain understanding of and develop solutions for the myriad problems facing Puget Sound.

 
County Completes NPDES Permitting

EnviroIssues’ staff facilitated an external stakeholder group that reviewed and commented on Pierce County’s stormwater management manual update. Community organizers, Master Builder members, environmental interests, and local engineers and landscape architects were all at the table. The stakeholder group worked closely with county technical staff to provide input on each volume of the revised manual to meet NPDES permit requirements.

 
Agency Helps Protect Children from Contaminated Soil

Washington’s Department of Ecology is leading an effort to raise public awareness of lead and arsenic contamination in Washington soil. Some of these contaminated areas are now residential areas, schools, childcare facilities, camps and parks. EnviroIssues developed brochures to inform people that the soil where their children play may be contaminated, and to provide them with protective steps they can implement. We used a technical report explaining the extent of the potentially contaminated area and the human health and ecological effects to develop a series of “Soil Safety Guidance” brochures that could be quickly and easily understood by the public.

 
Creating an Efficient Permitting Process

Under a legislative mandate to identify and implement opportunities for environmental permit streamlining, the Washington State Department of Transportation hired EnviroIssues to research and provide recommendations on public and agency review processes. We worked with the WSDOT’s Transportation Permit Efficiency and Accountability Committee’s one stop and pilot project subcommittee to prepare a questionnaire for agency permit reviewers to complete. Based on the results and further research, we analyzed and highlighted agency and public review processes and identified opportunities for maximizing concurrent review and avoiding delay. Our final product was a white paper identifying issues associated with agency and public review.