Meet the Staff – Emery Bayley

March 4, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Emery Bayley – Brownfields Manager

Where are you from?: I am a Seattle native.

What were you doing before you came to ECOSS?: I joined ECOSS in 1999 after a dozen years as a project manager in the environmental contracting industry and 20 years as a geologist working in North America and the western Pacific for an international mining company. I’m a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) and a graduate of Colorado College and holds a Master’s Degree in Geology from the University of Washington.

What do you do day-to-day at work?: I assist with the successful redevelopment and reuse of a number of contaminated sites around Puget Sound.

What has been your favorite/most rewarding project to work on at ECOSS?: Some of my favorites over the years include:

  • The Rainier Court Residential Development—a 2005 Phoenix Brownfields Award Winner for EPA Region 10
  • Despi’s Delite Bakery a former dry cleaner on Beacon Hill in Seattle
  • Northwest Chemical—a former chemial plant in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood that is now a manufacturer of concrete retaining wall systems.
  • Advance Electroplating—a former plating facility in south Seattle that now is home to a variety of small businesses
  • Chubby & Tubby—an historic gas station in Seattle’s Rainer Valley slated to be redeveloped as affordable housing and commercial
  • Perovich property—a former gas station in Georgetown being redeveloped as a community center

If you could change one thing about Seattle, what would it be?: The politics.

What do you like to do outside the office?: Collecting and tumbling agates and backpacking in the Cascade

New project at ECOSS: Carbon reduction for small businesses

February 5, 2010 / / No Comments

Funding from the Boeing Company will support a new outreach project to help small, local businesses assess and reduce their carbon footprint. The project will incorporate ECOSS’ usual suite of services, including solid and hazardous waste management, resource conservation and stormwater pollution prevention. But the project will also identify opportunities for businesses to reduce carbon and save money.

To implement this project, ECOSS will be partnering with the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and the Cascade Bicycle Club. The City will provide access to its carbon footprinting tool, which evaluates and estimates a business’ carbon impact by measuring areas such as energy use, materials, operations and shipping. The Cascade Bicycle Club will provide training and information to help address one of the greatest contributors to small businesses’ carbon footprint: employee commuting. Through a series of workshops designed specifically for small businesses, experts from Cascade will discuss how to incorporate employee bike commuting into business practice. Ideally, doing so will lead to a healthier workforce, a reduced carbon footprint and potential financial savings for the business and its staff.

ECOSS is excited to partner with the City and Cascade on this project, and we look forward to helping our small and medium sized business clients navigate the challenges of measuring and mitigating their carbon impact. If you have questions about the project or would like to be contacted about an onsite assessment or one of the bike commute workshops, please email Aldan Shank or call the ECOSS office at (206) 767-0432.

-Aldan

Brownfields Redevelopment Conference – October 14th

September 14, 2009 / / No Comments

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October 14, Tacoma, WA (with a pre-conference Project Funding Workshop on Oct. 13)
Brownfields Redevelopment Conference. Presented by Northwest Environmental Business Council, U.S. EPA Region 10 Brownfields Team, and Washington Department of Ecology, this conference brings together the diverse parties that need to work in concert to transform contaminated properties into economic success stories – with an agenda that emphasizes the manner in which multiple disciplines need to be integrated into a project from start to finish. The theme of “Building Sustainable Communities” responds to the growing interest by communities to rethink development models in ways that reflect sustainability principles and reduce their carbon footprints. This creates a new context for developers and increases the importance of public/private partnerships. At the same time, the conference explores how these goals must align with the economic realities of the property development marketplace. For more information visit www.nebc.org. Sponsor and Exhibit opportunities are also available.

Turning brownfields into works of art in Georgetown

August 4, 2009 / / No Comments

ECOSS’ Brownfield’s expert Emery Bayley, and the King County Brownfields Program managed by Lucy Auster, helped artists John Sutton, Ben Beres and Zac Culler in their quest to find a clean canvas to build a new Georgetown landmark. SuttonBeresCuller spent months looking for an abandoned gas station that they could reclaim and turn into a Mini-Mart Park.

minimart

With Emery’s assistance, they found the old Perovich Gas Station on Ellis Street, a site with soil and groundwater contamination from leaking underground storage tanks. According to Brendan Kiley in ARCADE Journal, “the project, Mini Mart City Park, will be a building that is a park and a park that is a building, as well as a restoration project, a community center and a contained, three-dimensional object…” The King County Brownfields Program, which is funded by grants from EPA, conducted Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments on the site and is supporting further assessment from the EPA’s Targeted Brownfield Assessment program so the project can keep moving forward. Learn more about the project on their website.

-Elise

Did you know?

February 25, 2009 / / No Comments

It was recently announced that 2008 was the coolest year on Earth since 2000. Does that mean global warming is a problem of the past? I don’t think so!

85% of folks who listened to President Obama’s State of the Nation address last night feel more optimistic about our country’s direction. Amid a flurry of promises to “emerge stronger” from the banking and mortgage crises and to improve systems of heath care and education, President Obama also pledged to invest $15 billion a year to develop technology for green energy.

And perhaps most importantly, your ECOSS newsletter is in the mail! Among other things, we will tell you about stormwater, brownfields, and how to make a rain garden. Let us know what you think when you get it! Email Elise if you want to sign up to receive our quarterly print updates.

Small Business Administration changes lay the groundwork for Green Growth

February 12, 2009 / / No Comments

Last week the Small Business Administration announced special financing to small business entrepreneurs who go green using the SBA 504 loan program. For many borrowers the maximum amount changed from $1.5 million to $4 million (for an overall project of up to $9 million) if the project helps construct, purchase, or retrofit facilities to include energy saving technologies (a 10% reduction in consumption is required for retrofits). Generating alternative sources of power or working towards LEED certification are also new criteria for funding beyond the $1.5 million maximum for meeting the job creation criteria or a community development goal. While it may sound crazy to think about starting a business during a recession, that is exactly what some laid-off and unemployed workers have opted to do. Leaving a cushy corporate job to follow your dreams was a lot more difficult back when it seemed like getting fired or laid off was a remote possibility, but the recession has changed the climate—it may be just as risky to stay in a big firm as it is to try to strike out on your own. There are some benefits to starting a business during a recession, and some very recognizable giants of industry were formed during recessions. With the additional funds now available for small, green businesses, this may be the perfect opportunity to turn layoff lemons into green lemonade (or would that be limeade?) by starting a green business. The benefits don’t stop there; for example, Seattle City Light offers a host of services for businesses looking to conserve energy and resources, including incentives for up to 70% of installation costs of energy efficiency investments. While the sinking values of real estate are trouble for homeowners, it also means good news for those looking to invest in new property. Considering Brownfields for redevelopment might also expand opportunities for incentives and credits from starting a new green business. The best part—ECOSS is your free first stop for green business information. Connecting business owners to existing resources in their communities and providing technical assistance is the central focus of our For Business team, so contact us today.

-Audrey Chestnutt