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.
Working Together to Preserve Puget Sound

The Puget Sound Partnership is a newly created Washington state agency responsible for protecting and restoring Puget Sound through a community-based effort. EnviroIssues is supporting the Partnership’s first step as they create an action agenda, which will be the road map for achieving a healthy Sound by 2020. We are providing outreach and communications planning and implementation, meeting coordination and facilitation, and information management support as the Partnership seeks to gain an understanding of the myriad problems facing Puget Sound.

 
County Completes NPDES Permitting

EnviroIssues’ staff facilitate an external stakeholder group that is reviewing and commenting on Pierce County’s stormwater management manual update. At the table are community organizers, Master Builder members, environmental interests, and local engineers and landscape architects. The stakeholder group works 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.