I’ve just finished watching the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and it was simply spectacular. I loved the visuals, the welcome by the First Nations, the Parade of Nations, the music (especially k.d.lang singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah–incredible), the poetry slam, the fiddles and tap dancing and tartans of the NE part of Canada, the imagery of the mountains, plains, oceans and ice, and the city of Vancouver. I love a city.

This Olympic Games began with crushing news–that Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died on the first day on the luge track. Remembrances to him in the Opening Ceremonies were solemn and for those of us who are fans of the winter sports, an athlete’s death on the first day of competition sombers the celebration of Olympic sport.

I’ve always loved the Winter Olympics best. Of course, it’s easy to love–and I do–the stud events like giant slalom, moguls, and hockey, but last Winter Games I became completely enamored of curling.

Brooms and rocks, baby. Brooms and rocks.

BOZEMAN Rep. Jennifer Pomnichowski of Bozeman today announced her filing for a third consecutive term in the Montana Legislature serving House District 63 as a Democrat.

I like being in public service for Montanans, said Pomnichowski, 43. Making sure that adequate public services are provided at reasonable cost is very rewarding work and the citizens of my district are great at giving me their ideas and opinions. Thats why I attend so many civic meetings and club gatherings. Id far rather have input upfront instead of reactions after the fact to top-down government. No one has all the answers, so all the facts and opinions Im provided by the people in District 63 every week are invaluable in developing progressive legislation.

Pomnichowski strongly supported the $28 million measure to renovate Gaines Hall at Montana State University, $1.6 million for removing hazardous material at the site of the Bozeman Public Library and a $40 million firefighting fund to protect all state residents. She also supported state disaster help in the wake of last years explosion and fire downtown.

I have supported lowering business, income and property taxes during my years in the legislature, and voters can expect more of the same if they re-elect me, Pomnichowski said.

They also can expect me to keep supporting adequate funding for public schools, because I firmly believe that free public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. I was among those who voted to freeze college tuition for the first time in 20 years. Veterans and senior citizens have my thanks and support, and Ill keep voting for their interests. I voted to guarantee solvency of the retirement fund for teachers and other public employees, and I always have supported job-creation measures.

I will continue working to keep Montana a great place to live and work. Our clean air and water, vibrant cities and western lifestyle must continue on.

The state legislature passes a balanced budget every session. Its required in the state constitution. People on both sides of the aisle have different ideas on how to reach that equilibrium, but it gets done. I always have supported a substantial reserve fund, too, because its difficult to forecast income 24 months into the future, and thats why Montana is one of only two states at the moment that arent in the red because of the national economic recession.

Pomnichowski is a fifth-generation Montana native who has lived in Bozeman for 25 years. She is a longtime member of the Bozeman Planning Board and Zoning Commission, chair of the Bozeman Board of Adjustment, past president of the Southeast Neighborhood Association and a former EMT-firefighter on the Bridger Canyon Volunteer Fire Department.

An MSU graduate, she is a self-employed computer programmer and award-winning technical writer. A committed Bobcat sports fan, she has been a member of the football pressbox gameday statistics crew for more than 20 years.

Pomnichowski and her husband make their home in District 63 in southwest Bozeman.

–Here’s an editorial from the Great Falls Tribune today that praises new policy set by House Bill 678, a bill on public notice, fees, and state agency review of gravel pits. I was the sponsor of the bill, which was composite legislation from several different bills proposed last session, most by me. The bill was vetted and amended by industry, neighbors of gravel pits, county representatives, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, and others; it’s nice to see some recognition that the bill succeeds in bringing public notice and transparency to proposed opencut mining operations.

Gravel pits: Problem presented; problem (almost) solved
Great Falls Tribune, Tuesday, January 26, 2010

It is reassuring to witness a government initiative that actually seems to be working.

Today’s case in point stems from a dispute over the proposed reopening of a gravel pit and operation of an asphalt-mixing plant southwest of Great Falls, northeast of the Hardy Creek exit. Both would be temporary, serving an upcoming reconstruction project on the nearby Interstate 15.

Under a new law passed by the 2009 Legislature, gravel pits such as the one proposed south of Cascade now come under closer environmental scrutiny, and the approval process for them is much more transparent.

As a result in this case, landowners in the vicinity of the existing but not-recently-used 29-acre open-cut gravel source, as well as the county commissioners, have been notified by mail of the Montana Department of Transportation’s plans. Signs notifying passers-by of the plans also have been posted near the property, and a hearing on a special use permit is set this Friday in Great Falls.

The gravel and asphalt are needed by contractor Schellinger Construction for a $16.7 million I-15 reconstruction project scheduled to begin when weather permits this spring and last into November.

We have no stake in the specifics of this case, but we would observe that roads have to be maintained, that materials for that maintenance have to come from somewhere, and that obtaining materials close to the site of the work makes economic sense. Should this gravel and asphalt operation be set up where proposed? That’s for others to decide.

But we join Chris Cronin, supervisor of the Department of Environmental Quality’s open-cut mining program, in applauding the operation of the new law.

Having been notified of the contractor’s plans, a couple who live in the vicinity have challenged the permit, objecting to the location of the gravel mine.

“One of the intentions of the law was to make sure the public had knowledge of this early on, and that is definitely occurring,” Cronin said.

Had this project come up a year ago, chances are few people would have known about it until the trucks started rolling.

Just as important, the law imposes a small tax on the product of such gravel operations, and money from that is helping Cronin’s agency clear a backlog that was clogging up the works.

A legislative audit in 2008 found that only four people were responsible for overseeing about 2,000 gravel operations, and that there was a permitting backlog of about 300.

Thanks to revenue from the new tax, additional scientists have been added and the backlog is shrinking.

There’s still some distance to go, but the Cascade-area gravel pit dispute shows that the solutions crafted by the Legislature can work for an informed citizenry and more efficient regulatory processes no matter how the Hardy Creek couple’s protest turns out.

This Hallmark card says it all for birthdays:

And in the spirit, here I am with my sister on an Easter Sunday in the 1970s. Both in pigtails, Easter dresses, and black patent Mary Janes! Oh, and I was rockin’ the cat-eye glasses; they were pale pink with silver sparkles in the frames. Fancy.

Have you been stockpiling your used compact fluorescent light bulbs, long fluorescent bulbs, mercury thermometers, or old mercury thermostats? Well, stockpile no more! Bozeman has a household hazardous waste collection every month!

Ive stockpiled bulbs for quite a while now, refusing to just throw them out because of their mercury content. CFLs, like all fluorescent lamps, contain mercury as vapor inside the glass tubing. Because mercury is poisonous, even these small amounts are a concern for landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps may be released and contribute to air and water pollution.

CFLs are good because they can use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer (average lifespan of a CFL is five years). CFLs generate 70 percent less heat, making them safer to operate. And they can save the user $30 or more in energy costs over each bulb’s lifetime. But their disposal requires more care because of the mercury inside each bulb.

Bozemans solid waste superintendent, Steve Johnson, says that products containing mercury can be collected together (mercury thermometers, thermostats, CFLs, etc.) and taken to the Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection site located at the former City Landfill (on Story Mill Road).The second Saturday of each month, 9 am to 12 pm, hazardous materials can be dropped off at the site. Saturday, January 9th, 2010 is the next available Saturday for disposing of HHW.The phone number to the scale house is 587-7890.

Tell everyone you know, and recycle your CFLs safely!

My new year starts with continued work on water: water records updates for the Montana Water Court, planning the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council annual meeting (January 21), continued work on the legislative Water Policy Interim Committee (which meets this month in Helena), and info-gathering on a controlled groundwater area in Bozeman: the Bozeman Solvent Site, polluted with tetrachloroethene (PCE) by a dry cleaner 20 years ago.

Before Christmas, I attended a presentation by the Department of Environmental Quality about the Bozeman Solvent Site. The DEQ will begin an indoor air investigation in January for homes in the plume, closest to the site of the pollution, to determine if PCE vapor has infiltrated homes and affects people’s health.

The Bozeman Solvent Site is located north of West Main Street and east of North 19th Avenue and extends north of the East Gallatin River. It includes the shopping center (now the Hastings/CVS stores). Soil and groundwater at the site have been contaminated by PCE and PCE has been detected in indoor air at the shopping center.

By way of history, a dry cleaner in the Buttrey Shopping Center in central Bozeman released PCE, a solvent and degreaser, into the city sewer line and into a septic field in the 1980s. The toxin contaminated the soil and groundwater, and the plume of contamination now extends 2 1/2 to 3 miles, to the north of the East Gallatin River. In 1990, an assessment was done to determine if the site could be declared a Superfund site; in 1994, it was declared one. Since 1998, the plume and surrounding area has been a controlled groundwater area (CGA), with restrictions on use of groundwater: no drinking wells, and all previous well-users must be connected to the municipal water supply. The sewer line and septic tank were removed, but not before the contamination spread. Contaminated soil and water are still on-site, and the plume grows.

Tetrachloroethene (PCE) is a carcinogen. Long-term exposure can cause leukemia and cancer of the skin, colon, lung, larynx, bladder, and urogenital tract. Long-term exposure may also damage the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys; can cause respiratory failure, memory loss, confusion, and dry and cracked skin. Short-term exposure to high levels of perchloroethylene can cause buildup of fluid in the lungs, eye and respiratory irritation, severe shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, sleepiness, confusion, difficulty speaking and walking, and lightheadedness. (From the National Library of Medicine, http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=22)

PCE can break down in an anaerobic environment, but groundwater and homes with indoor air are aerobic environments. PCE sinks in water because of its poor water solubility and its high density. Thus, it may accumulate in and be carried by groundwater and surface water. PCE is classed as very hazardous to water. It is toxic to aquatic organisms and decomposes slowly to form trichloroacetic acid and hydrochloric acid.

PCE can degrade when its chlorine atoms are lost; from four chlorine atoms to three, it becomes trichloroethene (TCE); from three to two chlorine atoms, dichloroethene (DCE). Most unfortunately, degradation will not occur in the Solvent Site situation because the environment is not anaerobic. Our PCE stays PCE and volatizes to vapor.

PCE volatizes from liquid to a vapor form, and indoor air vapor collects from contaminated soil and groundwater. The depth to groundwater is shallow in the area, 5-25 feet, which contributes to the problem; it keeps moving the contaminant, and keeps it too close to the surface.

Major human exposure is from inhalation of contaminated urban air, especially near point sources such as dry cleaners, drinking contaminated water from contaminated aquifers and drinking water distributed in pipelines with vinyl liners, and inhalation of contaminated indoor air in metal degreasing and dry cleaning industries.

PCE tests in our north central neighborhood yielded shocking results. Soil vapor probes 9-12 feet below the surface and above groundwater showed staggering numbers. The EPA standard for levels of PCE acceptable for human health exposure are 4.1 micrograms per cubic meter. Montana DEQ determined that a level ten times higher, 41 mg/m3, would be acceptable. But the tests showed levels as high as 1700 mg/m3. One of the DEQ staff said that they thought the lab equipment had malfunctioned when they first saw that number. But no, it really is that high. An “acceptable” limit of 4.1, and a test result of 1700.

Municipal water is now provided to the homes in the neighborhood, the sewer line and septic tank have been removed, but the site is still contaminated, and there are restrictions on any groundwater use. Now the focus is concentrations of PCE in indoor air.

I asked about continued contamination removal. Soil removal, which is unmanageable just for the scale of such a project, is not an option because the PCE, which sinks lower than the groundwater table, would still be in place and would still migrate up, through new, clean soil.

I asked if anything neutralizes PCE. Is it possible to inject compounds into the contaminated soil and water and counter the PCE? No.

I asked how much material remains on the original site. Can we remove the soil from the septic site, if that would help to relieve the amount of PCE that will contaminate the plume for years to come? How large will the plume become? What are the concentrations down-grade?

The mitigation for vapor intrusion is venting the vapors out. That means pressurizing a home or business so that PCE vapors don’t come in, or if the PCE is detected inside, continuously blowing the indoor air out.

I asked about the effects of PCE on human health and that aspect of the indoor air testing. The response from DEQ: “That’s not within DEQ’s scope to do.” I was referred to the Department of Public Health and Human Services, to ask if they could provide some help for the human health effects. Hmmph.

Since the meeting, I’ve been in contact with DEQ staff about establishing a dry cleaner clean-up mitigation fund, much like state’s Petroleum Storage Tank Cleanup Fund.

If I’m re-elected, I’ll pursue a solution to PCE contamination. There’s a site in Livingston, too, with PCE vapor intrusion, and my DEQ contact says that there are many, many potential sites in the state rife for PCE contamination.

Know that I’ll keep on this issue for the health of my friends and neighbors, wherever they are in the state, and for health of our water.

On a separate note, here’s a hawk on my porch fence this morning, scoping the backyard for tasty songbirds and squirrels, both abundant here.

On this last day of the year, many of us reflect on what’s passed, and on what’s to come. 2009 has been a tough year, but everyone I know–through adversity and worry–has kept working hard to stay afloat, to keep their families and friends upright, and to persevere. That’s the Montana way.

2009 was action-packed. On January 5th, I took my oath of office in Montana’s House of Representatives, serving my second term, and got right to work. I carried legislation to protect people’s privacy with House Bill 155, which requires state government to develop processes to secure personal information and to notify people if ever that information is compromised or stolen. Just think of how much personal information is maintained in state computers: social security numbers, birth dates, property codes, maiden names, addresses and phone numbers, and its easy to realize that its imperative to protect that information. I presented HB155 on Day 4 of the 61st Legislative Session and I’m proud to have sponsored a good government bill, a pro-privacy, anti-identity theft bill.

Recently, I’ve worked to help Bozemanites get their unemployment claims processed and paid, and looking back on 2009, I was working on other unemployment and workers compensation details. In February, I presented a bill to the House Business and Labor committee to revise state statutes that discriminate between claims of injury and occupational disease for workers compensation. There are people whose workers compensation claims are being denied even though the Montana Supreme Court has clearly stated a problem with the statute. Unfortunately, the bill didn’t pass, but the issue is being reviewed by an interim legislative committee.

I brought bills about gravel pits: for public notice and public hearing of proposed gravel pit operations with adjacent neighbors, and for county authority to establish conditional use permits for livability issues (dust control, weed management plans, truck routes, traffic control, hours of operation, lights at the site, noise) that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which issues gravel mining permits, does not manage. I presented bills for annual fees on gravel pit operators to fund the Opencut Mining Division of the DEQ, another to require reclamation and to limit the expansion of acreage, and to require monitoring wells and water samples and surface water runoff control for gravel pits that dig into the groundwater aquifer. These and other gravel legislation were either defeated or combined into a ‘gravel omnibus’ bill, which passed near the end of the session.

On March 5, Bozeman suffered a great loss: the downtown explosion took the life of one of our citizens and destroyed three buildings and six businesses. It damaged many more. I came to Bozeman an hour after I heard about the explosion, as did Governor Schweitzer, to offer all the resources of the state in helping Bozeman combat a raging natural gas fire that wouldn’t be contained for another 22 hours and to help Bozeman recover from the blast. Our own local Montana National Guard troops helped at the site for 72 hours in inclement weather and with our city, county, and state emergency services. The morning after the explosion, I brought legislation to allow financial districts, like downtown Bozeman, to re-value the district after a disaster, a provision that didn’t exist in state law. It was one way I could help my city. I worked hard with the governor’s office to secure small business loans, on trying to get answers from NorthWestern Energy about the gas leak, explosion, and uncontrollable fire, and to help business owners recover. I’ll do all I can until the block and businesses are back and better than ever, and to remember and honor Tara Bowman, our citizen killed in the blast.

One of my proudest moments in the legislature was the passage of the cancer drug donation program. House Bill 409 established the donation program to help cancer patients get drugs they cannot afford by distributing thousands of dollars of unused medication to patients instead of destroying the drugs. Now, unused, unopened cancer drugs can be donated to participating pharmacies and care facilities and re-dispensed to qualifying patients, who otherwise could not attain them because of their astronomical cost. The Montana Board of Pharmacy will soon adopt rules for the program, and I’ve helped friends and fellow Montanans with coverage trouble for cancer treatment; soon, one more aspect will be easier with donated cancer meds.

I serve on the Board of Directors of three organizations, all of whom have done great work this year. The Greater Gallatin Watershed Council released the results of E. coli bacteria sampling on Sourdough/Bozeman Creek. I designed a pamphlet with recommendations for people to minimize the contamination in the creek, to ask for volunteers to continue taking water samples for testing, and which warned of the health risks of some types of E. coli bacteria exposure. The pamphlet was distributed at the Watershed Festival and at points along the creek, and the Council board continues its monitoring.

I serve on the board of the Montana Business and Professional Women Foundation, and this year, we launched the Shooting Star financial assistance program for Montana women trying to gain education and professional development.

The Bozeman Cultural Council finished the Bozeman Cultural Plan, which inventories and promotes the arts, lifestyle, and culture of Bozeman. Other board members and I presented the plan to groups and hope to have it adopted by those groups, so that Bozeman culture in all its forms is appreciated, protected, grown, and promoted.

I traveled to Washington, D.C. with Montana business owners to lobby for health care reform. I serve also on the National Conference of State Legislatures committees for Energy and Natural Resources.

My home became more energy-efficient with the installation of solar hot water heat, a solotube for natural light, and a new roof. My energy footprint became smaller with a smart car!

I defended my alma mater and its sports teams (Go, Bobcats!). The NCAA issued a decision that would have prohibited states that allow sports games in lotteries and sports betting from hosting NCAA playoff games. After I spoke with the Attorney General’s office and officials in the university system familiar with the policy, I felt sure that the NCAA would determine that the fears of influencing games could not happen in Montana; we don’t have live sports betting, but lottery games with sports themes. It took two months and a meeting of chancellors and presidents in June in Indianapolis, but the NCAA found that all’s well with NCAA sports and post-season game-hosting in Montana.

I serve on two legislative interim committees: the Water Policy Interim Committee (I’m a water wonk), and the Information Technology Board (I’m a computer geek, too.) I attended conferences and meetings about energy policy, renewable energy, coal, coalbed methane gas and the pumping of water to release that gas, and any number of other energy policies.

Recently, I’ve been working with the Montana Water Court to get updated water rights ownership information from the Department of Revenue and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in the state database of water users. There are eleven decrees that the Water Court is waiting to issue until ownership records are updated.

I’ve helped Montanans get their unemployment claims processed and paid, and I’ve asked the Unemployment Insurance Division for information on the increased numbers of claims, the federal stimulus dollars that extend some benefits, and how to help the agency better and more quickly process claims.

As a report card, I hope this serves well to document some of the events and efforts of 2009.

I’m blessed with work on behalf of Montanans, and so proud to serve.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Every Christmas Eve, our neighborhood lights luminaria. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle featured the practice in their Christmas Day edition, with this photo, of our neighbor lighting the luminaria Christmas Eve.

And some other festive images to celebrate the holiday. Merry Christmas!

Today, I received in the mail a Christmas card from President and Mrs. Obama.

Wow.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

In this holiday season, there’s much to be done, and my days are filled.

I’ve been working with the Montana Water Court to get updated water rights ownership information from the Department of Revenue and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, who are working to update the state database of water users. There are eleven decrees that the Water Court is waiting to issue until ownership records are updated.

I’ve helped Montanans get their unemployment claims processed and paid, and I’ve asked the Unemployment Insurance Division for information on the increased numbers of claims, the federal stimulus dollars that extend some benefits, and how to help the agency better and more quickly process claims.

My work with the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council includes preparation for our annual meeting in January, work on TMDL (total maximum daily load) measurement of contaminants in Gallatin County streams and rivers, and notice to the public of water quality.

On Thursday, I’ll attend a meeting by the Department of Environmental Quality on one of Bozeman’s controlled groundwater areas, the Buttrey Shopping Center Superfund Site. The area was contaminated with compounds from a dry cleaning establishment, since relocated, ruining groundwater, soils, and now, indoor air. Testing will begin for risks from concentrations of PCE (tetrachloroethene) in the shops still in the area, and in homes to the north, where the plume extends.

The board of the Montana Business and Professional Women Foundation, on which I serve, announced a new financial assistance program for women to help with personal advancement, education, business efforts, and professional endeavors, and we’ll start reviewing applications in January to make awards to Montana women. I’m quite proud of this program, and that we on the board have launched it.

There is always much to do, and I’m on the job. Whatever the problem, my responsibility is to work the problem. I’m proud to do just that.

On a happy holiday side note, during a conference call today, I visited a favorite website and share with you these lovely Christmas ornaments.

Santa, I’d particularly like the Roberto Cavalli grey suede jeweled pumps.

Hey, a girl can dream.