PSA head stands ground amid furor over boatyard threat

Mar 4 2010 in Environment by Deborah Bach

The Puget Soundkeeper Alliance’s threat to sue five boatyards has sparked an intense reaction among boaters and environmentalists. Three Sheets Northwest, which broke the story last month, takes a deeper look at the issue. Today, we sit down with the man behind PSA’s controversial move. Tomorrow, we look at how the threat of a lawsuit has taken a personal toll on one small boatyard.

The man at the center of a controversial threat to sue five Seattle-area boatyards acknowledges that the yards are being targeted partly over frustration with the state Department of Ecology.

But Bob Beckman, executive director of the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance (PSA), believe it’s his organization’s job to act if Ecology doesn’t.

In December, PSA sent letters of intent to sue to five boatyards for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act. At least one of the yards was cited by PSA for failing to file a Level 3 engineering report, required under the state’s Boatyard General Permit when a boatyard exceeds allowable levels for discharges of copper or other pollutants.

Ecology told boatyards to hold off on filing the costly Level 3 reports until a new boatyard permit with revised water standards comes out in April. But Beckman said the directive from Ecology doesn’t let boatyards off the hook.

“We don’t believe Ecology has the authority to waive a permit condition,” he said. “The analogy I use is, if you went and got tax advice from an IRS agent and followed that advice and it was wrong, do you think you’d get any slack cut with the IRS? If you followed bad advice from the IRS agent, you’re still out of compliance with the IRS.

“I agree—it isn’t fair,” Beckman said. “It puts everybody in a really crappy place.”

Nonetheless, PSA has proceeded with plans to file lawsuits against the five boatyards unless they reach out-of-court settlements. The five yards—Dunato’s Marine Service, Yachtfish Marine, Yarrow Bay Marina and CSR Marine’s locations on Lake Union and the Ballard ship canal—are in various stages of settlement.

Beckman said PSA expected Ecology to issue a modification to the boatyard permit in 2008 that would have set stricter benchmarks for copper, under an agreement reached between PSA, Ecology and the Northwest Marine Trade Association (NMTA). Ecology opted instead to wait and issue a new permit. Frustrated by the process, PSA took action against the boatyards.

“(Ecology) basically blew off our agreement,” Beckman said. “That left us in a position of, how long do we wait for Ecology to act?”

But instead of targeting Ecology, PSA has aimed its legal guns on the independently owned boatyards and in doing so, shattered the hard-won agreement that Beckman’s own organization negotiated.

The legal action has angered the yards, prompted a storm of protest among boaters and raised questions about why PSA would go after boatyards, a relatively small source of the pollution flowing into Puget Sound. A recent study found that the region’s boatyards are responsible for just 0.3 percent of the copper entering the Sound through stormwater runoff, while the vast majority comes from motor vehicles and other sources. The study also found that boatyards in the regions had reduced their average copper output by more than 50 percent since January 2006.

Beckman said PSA also goes after larger-scale polluters but became concerned after reviewing discharge reports filed by boatyards with Ecology and seeing large spikes in copper readings.

Even small amounts of copper, which are measured in parts per billion (ppb) are harmful to salmon. The five boatyards targeted are all located on freshwater and have much lower copper benchmarks than boatyards situated on saltwater—38 parts per billion (pbb), compared with 229 ppb for saltwater.

Though an Ecology study from last October found that overall copper concentrations on the ship canal and Lake Union were just 1.8 ppb and 2 ppb, respectively, Beckman said the fact that some of the five boatyards had single copper output readings as high as 7,000 ppb was reason to act.

“When salmon are impacted at 2 parts per billion and they get a shot of multi-thousand parts per billion in their near-shore environment, that’s what gets our attention,” he said. “Yes, (boatyards) are in the whole scheme of things a relatively small player, but they’re an intense player.”

Rick Hagaman of Seaview Boatyard shows the yard's water treatment system.

Bringing pollutants in line with allowable limits and benchmarks would require boatyards to install water treatment systems that could cost $100,000 or more. Close to a dozen boatyards around the region have installed the systems. Among them is Seaview Boatyard, which has spent more than $300,000 since 2008 for water treatment systems at three of its four yards. The company charges customers a $70 environmental fee to help recoup the cost of the systems.

Owner Phil Riise said the systems, combined with a heightened focus on practices such as tarping off work areas, have brought pollution levels well below—and in some cases, slightly above—the benchmarks.

Riise said while his company has struggled through the recession like other boatyards around the region, he believes installing the treatment systems was the right decision.

“It’s been a tough couple of years for me too,” Riise said. “It’s much rather have spent that money on making my business run more efficiently than on stormwater, but I had to make a decision: am I going to be a compliant boatyard or not? I decided this is what I needed to do to stay in business and operate as a compliant business. And I stand by that decision.”

As for suggestions the five boatyards were unfairly targeted, Riise said, “I can buy that argument just so much. I choose to be proactive versus choosing to be the victim.

“The point of the matter is, the regulation is the regulation,” he said. “(Boatyards) may be a small dot on the map, but we are point source polluters.”

Some boatyards say it makes no sense to install treatment systems before Ecology issues new water standards. There is no guarantee the systems would be able to meet the new requirements, they say, leaving them vulnerable to potential lawsuits.

The man at the helm

In person, Beckman comes across more like a friendly professor than a crusading eco-warrior. Dressed in a pink button-down shirt and slacks during a recent interview, Beckman was amiable and animated, smiling often as he answered questions.

Before starting his position at PSA in August, Beckman—who declined to give his age—worked with organizations including the National Audubon Society, EarthSave Seattle and Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. He has an undergraduate degree in economics and an MBA from the University of Washington, and spent a decade as a child living in southern Iran, where his father worked in the oil industry.

Beckman and his wife, Kathy, live in Seattle aboard their Westbay 45 powerboat. Some have questioned to what degree Beckman walks the talk, wondering whether his boat is painted with bottom paint containing the harmful copper he crusades against. Beckman says he had his boat bottom painted three years ago and doesn’t know what type of paint was used.

“I think I’m as conscientious as the next guy, but did I ask those questions when I had my boat painted? No. Should I have? Yes. I know better now.”

Beckman said he’s hoping to work with the NMTA to explore environmentally friendly alternatives to copper boat paint and phase out copper-based paint.

“Source control is the ultimate way to get rid of this stuff,” he said. “There are some alternatives out there. And if we could have a reasonable time frame to do this and get people to migrate away from copper bottom paints to some of the alternatives, that would be good for everybody. For all of us with older boats, we need an upgrade path.”

Enforcement is key

Enforcement is the main characteristic distinguishing Puget Soundkeeper Alliance from other groups working to clean up the troubled Sound. The federal Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972, enables citizens to bring lawsuits against individual polluters.

PSA has made abundant use of the provision, bringing suits against about 150 entities over the past five years, from local governments to recycling companies, making it among the most litigious environmental organizations in the country. All the PSA’s suits over the past few years have been settled out of court, with settlement fees paid to third-party organizations to help fund environmental efforts.

But some boatyards owners consider the PSA’s tactics tantamount to “extortion” and say they are being targeted because they lack the resources to mount a costly legal defense.

PSA ramped up its enforcement efforts under former executive director Sue Joerger, who led the organization for a decade. PSA patrols the Sound and the Duwamish River weekly by powerboat and kayak, looking for polluters. But PSA hadn’t gone after boatyards before Joerger’s departure, and some have suggested that Beckman is targeting boatyards in an effort to put his stamp on the organization.

Beckman refuted that suggestion, saying PSA’s priority is only to reduce the pollution flowing into the Sound through stormwater runoff. Enforcement is part of that strategy, Beckman said, but PSA also works to engage the public through efforts such as its annual clean-up of Lake Union, and partners with other organizations on water improvement initiatives such as the Clean Marina Washington.

He values a collaborative approach, he said, but that doesn’t always get results.

“If we could do everything collaboratively that would be awesome, but I think there’s a certain reluctance among (some) people to do what they need to do and only enforcement is going to motivate them to do that,” he said.

Beckman said the PSA has no plans to go after additional boatyards. The hope, he says, is that the action against the five yards will encourage others to take steps to reduce pollution levels. Even if boatyards don’t quite hit benchmarks or limits, Beckman said, PSA isn’t likely to target those that are making progress in bringing pollution levels down.

“If they’re taking this seriously, that’s persuasive to me,” he said. “We’re distinctly not anti-boating. We’re anti crap in the water. We want a clean, sustainable Sound, and we think we’re part of the solution.”

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