The Newport Chapter will hold a regular chapter meeting this Thursday 08/21 at 7:30 at Beverly Beach State Park Meeting Hall. The chapter welcomes Lincoln City Green Drinks as guest speakers. There will be a few speakers about different facets of Green Drinks and the "Beach Shark", their biodiesel beach cleanup vehicle aimed at making Lincoln City beaches the cleanest in the world! Green Drinks (http://www.greendrinks.org/) is an international, inclusive, self organizing group that meets monthly to mingle and discuss environmentally related topics. Lincoln City Green Drinks began meeting April of 2006; members have decided to take action through the Beach Shark Clean-Up effort. All ages, families welcome. Please bring a plate or beverage to share for the open potluck!

The 3rd hearing for the City of Newport's license agreement for rights of way of the effluent line for the Georgia Pacific Toledo Pulp Mill was packed again and the testimony from both sides of the issue continued on. The city council announced that Department of Environmental Quality will be coming to the August 4th meeting to answer questions from the council in light of all the technical and environmental concerns raised by citizens. Many, restless from the long-awaited reconsideration of the NPDES permit, spoke in favor of forming a technical and scientific task force to investigate monitoring and wastestream treatment options.

Please come out and help support the Newport Chapter's comments for the Georgia Pacific License Agreement for Right-of-Way for their effluent pipeline. This is the 3rd hearing regarding this agreement and details of the agreement and the background of this issue can be found in below blog posts (scroll down). The Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation's comments on the license agreement are fair and constructive for moving forward with solutions to common concerns both environmental and legal with the current agreement. To view the chapter's comments, click on the below link:
NCSF_commentsGPlicesne_finaldraft.doc

WHEN: Friday, June 20, 2008, 11:00 am – 8:00pm

WHAT: Beach Cleanup and Challenges, Surfboard demos, BBQ, Horseshoe Tournament, Games, Prizes and More!

WHERE: Otter Rock State Park on the beach! THIS IS A FREE EVENT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

International Surfing Day is the one day a year where surfers from around the globe come together to celebrate the sport of surfing and pitch in to give back to our world's oceans, waves and beaches. As is tradition, the Surfrider Foundation will commemorate the day by hosting various coastal clean-up and restoration events around the world. However there will be a new twist this year in the form of special ISD "challenges" whereby the public will be able to compete for prizes by participating in a wide range of activities ranging from beach clean-ups, to filmmaking, to art contests. For more information, go to http://www.intlsurfingday.com/.

Contact Information: Ken Wilson @ ken@awesomesurfvideos.com

This coming Monday, May 19th at 6:00 pm at Newport City Hall the City Council will have a regular scheduled meeting and on agenda for action is a consideration of an agreement with Georgia Pacific for use of rights-of-way for thier treated effluent pipeline. The effluent pipeline runs through the city of Newport approximately 3 miles and the primary outfall of the mill is located 3,800 feet off Nye Beach. The facility releases an average of 11 million gallons a day of treated wastewater in the vicinity of important recreational areas and fishing grounds (see photo). To view the city's draft license agreement, click on the link at the bottom of this post. The Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation submitted a report last month to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) with formal recommendations for strengthening the wastewater permit of the Georgia Pacific Pulp and Paper Mill in Toledo. The report is intended to support DEQs ongoing reconsideration of the Georgia Pacific permit, and bring the agency closer to compliance with state and federal laws that protect water quality. Some of the reports recommendations focus on the need for enhanced monitoring of marine species and the nearshore environment near the mills ocean outfall. Other recommendations provide guidance and data resources for improving scientific analyses used to evaluate potential ecological and public health impacts. Back in September 2006, Surfrider and four other organizations formally petitioned DEQ to reconsider the terms of the NPDES wastewater permit of the Georgia Pacific mill. DEQ accepted the Petition on October 18th, 2006 and has been working to complete the reconsideration since then. Sufriders Environmental Issues Team has recently met with DEQ staff on this issue and is committed to providing constructive input to support the reconsideration process.
License Agreement: 0501308Agreementclean.DOC
Surfrider Report to DEQ:
Surfrider_ScienceBasedRecommendations_GP_Mill_NPDES_Final.pdf

Great job by youth volunteers for their awesome presentation to city council. I've already recieved emails from the city attorney working to draft the water quality ordinance recommendations that the kids presented. Way to go Nye A.R.M.S! We're all so impressed and proud of you!

Rosemont Ridge 7th graders from West Linn lined up to spell "PLASTIC" at South Beach Jetty after picking up over 21,00 tiny pieces of plastic in an area roughly the size of a footbal field in about an hour. Armed with bags from SOLV for a beach cleanup, the 130 students and volunteers met up with the Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation, who directed the focus of the cleanup on small pieces of plastics in a small sandy area near the jetty. The cleanup helped kick off Oregon Chapters' rise above plastics educational initiative to raise awareness of the dangers plastics impose on our marine wildlife and beaches in Oregon. In addition to cleaning up the beach, the students were able to help raise money for their Sparrow Club Organization which benefits a fellow student through their participation in community service hours.

Thanks to all for coming out to last week's Newport Chapter meeting. Major thanks to guest speaker Matt Love for his inspiring talk on the history of the Beach Bill! From the recent press you've probably noted that there's a few "smoking guns" from sewage misconnects to storm drain lines that flow into Nye creek and beach. For this round of testing 7 building were identified as having their sewage lines connected. The city plans to follow up with enforcement and repair within' 30 days. Great work BWTF, we knew this day would come and we've got more to go, but that's 7 less sewer lines dumping onto our beaches. The minutes from the chapter executive and regular chapter meeting are attached below. Thanks again!
Exec. Meeting Minutes -
NP_exec_min_041008.doc
Chapter Meeting Minutes -