Environmental justice assessment notices

The Recycling Reform Act (RRA) establishes an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for packaging and paper products sold in Washington State. Under the program, producers of covered materials—including packaging such as boxes, bottles, and cans made from paper, plastic, metal, and glass, as well as printed paper products—must join and finance a nonprofit Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) to manage the end-of-life collection and recycling of these materials.

By shifting financial and operational responsibility from residents and local governments to producers, the RRA is intended to create a more transparent, accountable, and cost-effective recycling system statewide. The law applies across Washington, including urban, rural, island, and geographically isolated communities, and is expected to improve recycling infrastructure, reduce service disparities, and increase recycling rates. Intended environmental benefits include reduced landfill disposal, lower greenhouse gas emissions, decreased litter and marine debris, and improved material recovery. Intended health benefits include reduced exposure to pollution associated with waste disposal and incineration.

The RRA also establishes statewide convenience standards to ensure equitable and accessible recycling collection for single-family and multifamily households, expanding services in areas that have historically lacked reliable recycling options. Collection events and expanded drop-off infrastructure will help serve rural and underserved communities.

Additionally, the law creates an Equity Subcommittee to advise on environmental justice, accessibility, and community engagement throughout implementation. Populations expected to benefit include residents of overburdened communities, low-income households, rural residents, multifamily housing tenants, and communities with limited access to recycling services, as the program aims to reduce disparities and promote equitable access to waste management services across the state.

Ecology will provide multiple opportunities for public comment throughout this assessment and the associated rulemaking process.

Public engagement methods will include listening sessions specifically intended for residents of overburdened communities and vulnerable populations. These sessions will provide opportunities for community members to share input, ask questions, or raise concerns about the proposed action. Ecology will also accept public comments during rulemaking comment periods submitted through the comment portal, by email, and during public hearings.

In addition, the Equity Subcommittee will regularly engage with community members to gather feedback on Advisory Council updates, outreach materials, and program implementation considerations. The Subcommittee will relay community questions, comments, and concerns directly to the Advisory Council to help ensure meaningful consideration of public input.

Agency request legislation to update the definition of timberland under the real estate excise statutes to ensure that when private timberland owners sell land to a governmental entity such as a state agency, a local government, or a tribal government, that they are assessed the same 1.28% rate as they would if selling to another private landowner. This will remove tax uncertainty for the seller and governmental agencies that are acquiring working forestland with the intention of keeping it in forestry.

Meetings with forest landowners, the Department of Revenue, rural resoucre dependent counties, consultation with Tribal nations, and public hearings in the House and Senate in 2025 and 2026. Notices posted on the department’s external website and weekly legislative calls.

DNR seeks to clarify the authority of the agency to participate in contracts for payment for ecosystem services in all public lands it manages to generate income.

Meetings with stakeholders and community-based organizations, consultation with Tribal nations, public hearing in the House.

Adds a tribal representative to the Board of Natural Resources appointed by the Governor.

-Smart Comment -Tribal Consultations

The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) is initiating a rulemaking process to amend Chapter 173-424 WAC, Clean Fuels Program Rule and Section 150 of Chapter 173-455 WAC, clean fuels program fees. The clean fuels program reduces life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, known as carbon intensity, of transportation fuels in Washington.

Smart comment, informal public meetings, 1:1 meetings, public hearings

The Washington State Department of Ecology is beginning a new rulemaking to update the Clean Fuel Standard by implementing Second Substitute House Bill 1409 (SSHB 1409), which was signed into law on May 17, 2025. The rulemaking will amend Chapter 173-424 WAC, Clean Fuels Program Rule and Section 150 of Chapter 173-455 WAC, clean fuels program fees. This rulemaking has statewide implications and will affect all populations in Washington.

We plan to conduct outreach with the public, community-based organizations and environmental organizations that focus on climate, energy policy, and air quality, especially those that work with overburdened communities. Types of outreach we anticipate using are listening sessions, virtual 1:1 meetings, public hearings, online public comments.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR is proposing amendments to RCW 79.11.130, RCW 79.11.430, RCW 79.15.070, RCW 79.15.080, and RCW 79.15.150 to modernize our advertising processes and better serve both the agency and our purchasers. These updates are designed to give DNR greater flexibility and authority to use contemporary advertising methods, such as digital platforms and online listings, in addition to traditional newspaper notices and pamphlets. By embracing modern technology, we can reach a wider audience, provide more timely and accessible information about sales, and streamline the purchasing process. This modernization will benefit the department by increasing operational efficiency, reducing costs, and potentially boosting participation in sales. For our purchasers, it means easier access to sale information, improved transparency, and a more user-friendly experience, ensuring that our processes keep pace with current expectations and technological advancements.

DNR is using a combination of direct outreach and written requests for public comment. Direct outreach consists of e-mails to specific stakeholders as well as attendance at organizational meetings to present the proposal. The Timber Sale Efficiencies Amendments Bill proposal is posted on DNRs Timber Sale web page.

The 2025 law change requires Ecology to jointly approve landfill permits with jurisdictional health departments, enhancing oversight of solid waste facilities in Washington. By clarifying permit approval processes and strengthening inspection and enforcement authority, Ecology aims to reduce environmental impacts such as groundwater contamination, air emissions, and improper waste management, which can directly affect nearby residents. The geographic areas most likely to be affected include locations with existing municipal solid waste landfills across the state. The intended environmental benefits are achieved by requiring joint permit approval by Ecology and jurisdictional health departments, ensuring landfills follow both state and local environmental standards. Strengthened inspection and enforcement authority allows for quicker correction of noncompliance, reducing risks of soil, water, and air contamination. Mandatory facility access for inspections and sampling ensures ongoing monitoring and consistent compliance. These measures help protect all Washington residents, especially those from overburdened communities and vulnerable populations, by reducing pollution and promoting safer waste management practices. Ecology will provide opportunities for all communities, including those that have historically been excluded from decision-making, to participate and provide input on the rulemaking process through virtual meetings, consultation, and public comments. This rulemaking works to support equitable protection of all Washington residents.

Ecology will implement a formal communication plan designed to engage all communities, including overburdened and vulnerable populations across Washington. The plan will prioritize meaningful engagement by leveraging existing relationships with community-based organizations and tailoring outreach efforts to meet community needs. Ecology will provide opportunities for people from overburdened communities or vulnerable populations to provide their input during listening sessions and will be actively engaged during those meetings to learn how changes might affect people within these communities. There will be multiple ways to get involved in this rulemaking. People may participate in listening sessions, subscribe to the Solid Waste Handling Standards email list to receive updates, submit written comments online during comment periods, participate in public meetings, and visit the rulemaking webpage for more information.

WSDA proposes establishing a quarantine of untreated out-of-state firewood to prevent the introduction of plants pests, including but not limited to tree pests and bee pests. Learn more reason about this action at:

• https://agr.wa.gov/services/inspections-and-investigations/inspections/weights-and-measures/firewood
• https://www.dontmovefirewood.org/

WSDA posts information and contact information:

• https://agr.wa.gov/about-wsda/news-and-media-relations/blog-posts?article=42478
• https://agr.wa.gov/services/rulemaking

Emailed current Tribal contacts, to Tribes along the state boarder, with a description of the action and contact information. More details found here: https://agr.wa.gov/about-wsda/environmental-justice/environmental-justice-assessments

As a result of a petition for rule making, WSDA is proposing expanding the apple maggot quarantine area in Okanogan County, Washington. The apple maggot is an invasive insect pest, which hosts include apples, crabapple, and native and ornamental hawthorn. During the larval stage, apple maggot can cause extensive damage to fruit. It is also economically significant to Washington’s apple industry because fruit from the pest-free areas has greater access to international markets. Recent apple maggot surveys provide evidence that the state’s apple maggot population has expanded its range into pest free areas of the county. Changes to the existing rule may better protect the apple industry by slowing possible movements of apple maggot from infested areas into the pest free area, and by securing access to international and interstate markets.

WSDA sent post cards with information and contact information to all records parcel records found on Okanogan County’s Assessor site, to the parcel address found within the proposed Quarantine area. Please see environmental justice assessment for postcard information. Rule making and public hearing information: https://agr.wa.gov/services/rulemaking/wac-16-470-apple-maggot-q-042324

The Whatcom Waterway site is a sediment cleanup site located in Bellingham Bay, near downtown Bellingham. Industrial activities, including the former Georgia-Pacific chlor-alkali plant, wood waste and degradation products from historical log rafting activities, and pulp mill wastewater discharges contaminated sediments along this waterfront. Portions of the site were cleaned up from 2015 to 2016 during Phase 1 of the cleanup. The remaining areas are in the process of designing the cleanup action. This remedial action grant will fund the remaining design, permitting, and construction work to complete Phase 2 of the cleanup action. This EJA covers Phase 2 of the Whatcom Waterway cleanup, however, we anticipate that the Port will complete Phase 2 over three construction seasons and that additional EJAs for individual awards over $12 million will be necessary. The number of EJAs will depend on if funding requests need to be broken up between biennia, which could result in more than one.

Completion of the cleanup will remove, cap, and/or monitor sediments contaminated with mercury, phenols, and dioxin/furan compounds.

The project area includes dredging contaminated sediments in the federal navigation channel, as well as adjacent to public beach access and recreational water use areas. Part of this project includes construction of a nearshore confined disposal facility within the inner portion of the existing Georgia-Pacific Aerated Stabilization Basin (ASB), which will provide sufficient capacity for disposal of the contaminated sediments to be generated during the cleanup of the Whatcom Waterway site and from other related Port sediment cleanups. Additionally, the ASB has been designated in the Port’s Comprehensive Scheme of Harbor Improvements for development of 12 to 14 acres of usable upland property fronting a similar acreage of navigable marine waters. Integral to that land use is the Port’s plan to reconnect the ASB aquatic use areas to Bellingham Bay following its cleanup. The Port also plans to incorporate public access along portions of the ASB berm and to incorporate habitat enhancements in portions of the ASB interior.

The Whatcom Waterway site is being cleanup under the State’s Model Toxic Control Act, which requires a public outreach process that may not be consistent with the objectives of this EJA. Vulnerable and overburdened communities and organizations serving those communities will be notified of this EJA through a postcard mailer. The public will be provided with the opportunity to provide feedback about how the cleanup of Whatcom Waterway may impact or benefit them through an online survey. In addition, we intend to post outdoor signs along Whatcom Waterway to target individuals directly interacting with the waterway, including those who may recreate in the waterway and use the beach area. To learn more contact: John Rapp, Site Manager John.Rapp@ecy.wa.gov (206) 247-3242 Kristen Forkeutis, Outreach Specialist Kristen.Forkeutis@ecy.wa.gov (425) 240-4353