Ecology Director To Announce Change In Grass-Burning Phase-Out Schedule

Washington State Department of Ecology

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 4, 1997

97-172

MEDIA ADVISORY

CONTACT: Jani Gilbert, Public Information Officer, (509) 456-4464

Ecology Director To Announce Change In Grass-Burning Phase-Out Schedule

SPOKANE, WA - Tom Fitzsimmons, director of the state Department of Ecology, will brief the Spokane media this Wednesday, Nov. 5, about the department's new plans for phasing out the burning of grass-seed fields in Washington.

Fitzsimmons will meet with reporters from 1:15 to 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, at the Spokane International Airport in the 2nd-floor board room above the United Airlines ticket counter.

Fitzsimmons will be in Spokane to meet with the staff of Ecology's Eastern Regional Office on Wednesday afternoon and to participate in Gov. Gary Locke's Capital for a Day in Spokane on Thursday. Fitzsimmons' schedule on Nov. 6 includes:

9:45 - 11 a.m. - Visit Washington Water Power's downtown oil-spill cleanup site and steam plant renovation, 157 S. Lincoln St.
1:45 - 2:30 p.m. - Meet with four 9th-grade students to hear about their award-winning proposal for a paper plant which would use straw from grass-seed fields. Location: Lewis and Clark High School, Field Health Conference Room, 521 W. Fourth St..
2:45 - 3:45 p.m. - Visit Novation, Inc. to see this metal finisher's advanced pollution-prevention techniques, 2616 N. Locust Rd.

News reporters are welcome to accompany Fitzsimmons at any of these events.