A modified outdoor burning ban for the unincorporated areas of Skagit County will go into effect Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 8:00 AM. This restriction bans outdoor burning, except for recreational fires. Recreational fires are less than 3 feet in diameter and 2 feet high and are for cooking and pleasure only. Recreational fires must be contained within a fire pit that has been cleared of all combustible material within a 10 foot radius, must be monitored at all times and must have a water source readily available (at a minimum, a charged water hose or a 5 gallon bucket of water).

Other than recreation fires, all outdoor burning is banned as of July 1, 2009. As always burning garbage and the use of burn barrels is illegal state wide and subject to fines up to $1,000.00.

A permanent ban on open burning remains in effect in the Cities of Anacortes, Burlington, Concrete, Hamilton, La Conner, Lyman, Mount Vernon, and Sedro Woolley and their urban growth areas. For more information on the permanent burn ban in these cities you may contact the Northwest Clean Air Agency at (800) 622-4627 or check their website at www.nwcleanair.org.

If your property falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Natural Resources, please call (360) 856-3500 for burn permit information. Washington State Parks and National Parks are subject to their own rules and regulations relating to burn bans.

This modified burn ban will be in effect until further notice. You may obtain updated County burn restriction information by calling the Skagit County Fire Warden at (360) 428-3293.

In an effort to help citizens regain their driving licenses and reduce debt owed to courts and their collection agencies for unpaid fines and fees, the courts are offering a “debt reduction program” now extended through the month of June.

Skagit County District Court Presiding Judge David Svaren declared, “In difficult economic times, government must strive to improve service to its constituents. While this program provides a service to the public in enabling suspended drivers to reclaim their driving privileges, it will also serve to reduce the strain on law enforcement and the courts. This is the sort of win-win scenario Judge Gilbert and I are proud to support.”

Designed to help those with outstanding traffic tickets and fines, Skagit County District and Municipal Courts will be offering reductions for past-due accounts and working with their collection agency to waive interest and a significant portion of collection costs.

The court is offering the program from May 1 through May 31, 2009. Those with outstanding tickets or fines should contact the court directly. Clerks will also be able to provide names of other courts where fines may be outstanding.

One of the main goals of the program is to assist citizens with regaining driver’s licenses after being revoked due to unpaid fines and fees. Once tickets are paid in full and reported to the court, the court will notify the Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) to clear the driving record. The driver may be able to obtain a valid driver’s license 48 hours later if no other offense on the driving record prevents it.

More than 100 courts throughout the state are participating in similar Debt Reduction Programs throughout the month of May. For a full listing of courts participating, please visit the Washington Courts website at www.courts.wa.gov.

The next scheduled sessions of “Getting There Safely”, a senior driver refresher course, will occur on the following dates:

Thursday, June 11th and Friday 12th, 2009
Thursday, July 9th and Friday, July 10h, 2009
Monday, August 17th and Tuesday, August 18th(cancelled)
Monday, September 17th and Tuesday, September 18th
Thursday, October 8th and Friday, October 9
Thursday, November 19th and Friday, November 20th

The classes will be held at the Mount Vernon Senior Center, 1401 Cleveland Avenue, Mount Vernon, WA 98273.

This eight (8) hour class, divided into two - four hour sessions, is specifically designed for the senior driver. The sessions will run from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. both days.

There is a ten-dollar ($10.00) fee per person for this class. Persons wishing to enroll and/or needing additional information should contact Kathy Bowen, Skagit County Public Works Department, (360) 336-9400 ext. 3140. All participants must pre-register.

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Have you ever noticed all of that oil and gas from streets and parking lots heading for the storm drains every time it rains, which is often here in the Northwest? Storm water is one of the biggest sources of contaminants entering our marine waters and shellfish today, but a partial solution may be on the way.

The City of Anacortes and Skagit County Public Works are collaborating with the Skagit County Marine Resources Committee (Skagit MRC) to test the feasibility of using sponge inserts installed in storm drains to remove oil and bacteria to keep them out of marine waters and shellfish.Smart Sponge®, invented and manufactured by AbTech Industries (http://www.abtechindustries.com/), has a unique molecular structure that is based on innovative polymer technologies chemically selective to hydrocarbons. Smart Sponge® fully encapsulates recovered oil and prevents absorbed oil from leaching.

Once oil is absorbed, the Smart Sponge® transforms the pollutants into a stable solid for easy recycling, providing a closed-loop solution to water pollution. AbTech has also developed an antimicrobial technology synergistic with the Smart Sponge® technology. This effort produced Smart Sponge® Plus, which features an antimicrobial agent chemically and permanently bound in a proprietary process to the Smart Sponge® polymer surface which destroys bacteria. Due to this permanent bond, the antimicrobial agent is active but does not leach or leak, avoiding any downstream toxicity issues.

AbTech’s antimicrobial Smart Sponge® Plus targets bacteria such as enterococcus, Escherichia coli and fecal coliforms. Several studies conducted on the East Coast of the U.S. have shown that Smart Sponge® filter units have successfully removed about 70% of the oil and grease and from 50 to 99% of various classes of bacteria. In Norwalk, CT, 275 storm drains with Smart Sponge® filters removed 38,000 pounds of trash and 1,200 gallons of oil and grease, equivalent to about 4.4 gallons of oil per filter unit, over a two-year period.Several Smart Sponge Plus® units will be installed in Anacortes at the Depot at 2:00 PM on May 13th and at the end of May in Mount Vernon. For further information, please call Paul Dinnel (Anacortes: 360-293-2188 [AM], 299-8468 [PM]) or Tracy Patton (Mount Vernon: 360-336-9400).

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With approval of this plan, the following entities are now eligible to apply for a variety of federal hazard mitigation project grants including Flood Mitigation Assistance project grants through April 2, 2014:

• Skagit County
• City of Anacortes
• City of Burlington
• Town of Concrete
• Town of Hamilton
• Town of La Conner
• Town of Lyman
• City of Mount Vernon
• City of Sedro-Woolley
• Dike District 12

Five years ago, Skagit County governments authored the first plan to be accepted in Washington State, and now is the first multi-jurisdictional entity to get approval for an updated plan. “This has been a long but productive process. We can’t thank the cities, towns, county Tribes, and Dike District 12 enough for the cooperation and teamwork,” said Skagit County Department of Emergency Management Coordinator Mark Watkinson.

Additionally, FEMA has approved the Skagit County Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan as a Tribal Mitigation Plan for the following Indian tribal governments:

• Samish Indian Nation
• Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
• Upper Skagit Indian Tribe

The plan’s approval provides the above Tribes and jurisdictions eligibility to apply for hazard mitigation project grants through FEMA.

For further information contact:
Dan Berentson 360-419-3461