3/11 Elwha, oil trains, Vic sewage, drinking B'ham water, Point Wells condo, 'megathrust, Enbridge

Elwha Reborn. (PHOTO: Katie Campell/EarthFix)

An Undammed River’s Sediment Brings New Life Downstream
Anne Shaffer sits on the sandy shoreline of the Elwha River and looks around in amazement. Just two years ago, this area would have been under about 20 feet of water. So far about 3 million cubic yards of sediment — enough to fill about 300,000 dump trucks — has been released from the giant bathtubs of sediment that formed behind the two hydroelectric dams upstream. And that’s only 16 percent of what’s expected to be delivered downstream in the next five years. All of that sediment is already reshaping the mouth of the Elwha, which empties into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the northern shore of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Katie Campbell reports. (EarthFix)

Seattle City Council Urges Gov To Stop Issuing Permits For Oil Trains
Seattle has joined Spokane and Bellingham in passing a resolution to restrict oil shipments by rail until further review. The Seattle City Council unanimously passed the resolution co-sponsored by council member Mike O’Brien and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. The resolution urges Gov. Jay Inslee and other state regulators to refrain from issuing permits for projects that would increase oil transport in the state until concerns over safety as well as environmental and economic impacts are addressed. Martha Kang reports. (KPLU)

Oil-by-rail bill still alive but caught in partisan fight
Legislation that could provide more state study or disclosure of rail shipments of potentially explosive Bakken oil along Washington railways and waterways is caught up in a partisan dispute over how far to go, and rival measures are in danger of dying.  The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on Thursday, leaving little time for the Republicans calling shots in the Senate to work out an agreement with the Democrat-controlled House. Senate Democrats said Monday a shipping-disclosure measure originating in the House has died. But a proposal to add a 5 cent per barrel fee or tax on crude oil entering the state by rail may keep both chambers’ oil-by-rail measures alive for the waning days of the 60-day session. In the Senate, Democratic Sen. John McCoy of Tulalip and Republican Sen. Doug Ericksen of Ferndale have been negotiating in the Senate with counterparts in the House. Brad Shannon reports. (Olympian)  See also: Study a window into coal train air pollution

Seaterra sees ‘irreconcilable gulf’ in plan for sewage plant
After months of delays, officials are increasingly looking toward the legislature for help in getting Esquimalt’s McLoughlin Point rezoned for a sewage treatment plant. “Given there seems to be an irreconcilable gulf between the parties, and that timely conclusion is appearing more and more remote, we respectfully suggest the CRD consider moving this issue to a forum where a resolution can be reached,” Brenda Eaton, chairwoman of the Seaterra commission, said in a letter to Capital Regional District board chairman Alastair Bryson. “We completely understand that this is a decision for the CRD and not the Seaterra commission, so wish only to highlight that we will not be able to achieve the mandate the CRD board has given us with these ongoing delays,” the letter says. Bill Cleverley reports. (Times Colonist)

Bellingham takes step toward improved water treatment
The city is taking the first steps toward construction of a multimillion-dollar pre-treatment plant that will help prevent Lake Whatcom algae blooms from affecting the quality and quantity of the city's water supply. Partly because of phosphorus-laden runoff from developed areas, the lake has had elevated levels of algae in recent years. In 2009, during an unusually warm summer, the algae concentrations became so high that they clogged the city's drinking water filtration system and reduced the water supply. That caused the city to impose mandatory watering restrictions to cope with a potential water shortage. John Stark reports. (Bellingham Herald)

New organization joins fight of proposed Point Wells project
A newly formed organization will join others in fighting the proposed condominium project, which would be built on an abandoned industrial site at Point Wells on the shore of Puget Sound in unincorporated southwest Snohomish County. The only access to the project is on a two-lane road in the Richmond Beach area of Shoreline in King County.  The new organization is called "Richmond Beach Advocates," formed with seed money from the Richmond Beach Community Association, a century-old neighborhood organization in Shoreline whose charter doesn't allow political advocacy.  Richmond Beach Advocates will join the Town of Woodway and a residents' group called "Save Richmond Beach" in opposing the project. Evan Smith reports. (Everett Herald)

'Orphan Tsunami' Of 1,700 Showed What A 'Megathrust' Could Do To Northwest Coast
Three years ago today, a massive earthquake ripped through Japan, and the resulting tsunami sent thousands of tons of debris floating toward North America. But a tsunami could also happen right along the Northwest coast, on the Cascadia subduction zone, which stretches from northern Vancouver Island to California’s Cape Mendocino. Right now, two tectonic plates there are grinding together. The Juan de Fuca plate is getting shoved underneath the plate that we sit on [the North American plate], at the speed that human fingernails grow.  But instead of sliding past each other, the plates are jammed by friction. When they finally unstick, we will be the first to feel the resulting earthquake and the tsunami that could follow within hours. Rae Ellen Bichell reports. (KPLU)

Enbridge buys $20-million land parcel in northwest B.C.
Enbridge has purchased a $20-million parcel of land on the northwest B.C. coast, a signal it may intend to join the push to export liquefied natural gas to Asia. More than a dozen LNG plants have been proposed on the coast, including several major pipeline projects from TransCanada, Spectra Energy and Pacific Northern Gas. The 64 hectares of land purchased by Enbridge Western Access Inc. on Dec. 19, 2013 is at Grassy Point, adjacent to larger parcels of land where Australia’s Woodside and China-owned Nexen have inked purchase agreements with the B.C. government for the Crown land. Gordon Hoekstra reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE MAR 11 2014
TODAY
S WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
LIGHT WIND BECOMING SE 5 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

3/10 Log jam, tideflats, rail safety, fishing ban, L112

Varied thrush (Paul Bannick/BirdNote)

If you like to listen: Secretive Varied Thrush
Except in winter, when it gathers in loose flocks to move to lower elevations, this shy bird prefers solitude. The intricate pattern of color on its wings rese CenturyLink Field mbles dappled sunlight on the forest floor. Naturalist Louis Agassiz Fuertes called the song of the Varied Thrush, "... as perfectly the voice of the cool, dark, peaceful solitude which the bird chooses for its home as could be imagined." Help the Varied Thrush by choosing forest-friendly lumber for your next building project! (BirdNote)

Artificial log jam designed to protect roads and fish
A stretch of U.S. Highway 20 that runs right along the Skagit River east of the community of Rockport has been undermined and heavily damaged by rapidly flowing water three times in the last decade.  Each time the Washington State Department of Transportation has had to come out with boulders, more dirt, gravel and pavement to fix it.  But is there a better way? Now WSDOT thinks it has the solution, and construction of a 1,300-foot long artificial log jam is expected to be a permanent repair. Glenn Farley reports. (KING)

Tideflats could become site for LNG plant
The Tacoma Tideflats could become the site of the state's first natural gas liquefaction plant if a bill being considered by the Legislature passes. Rep. Jake Fey, one of the bill's sponsors, said the bill would pave the way for Puget Sound Energy to build a liquified natural gas plant on the Tideflat to supply Alaska trailership operator Totem Ocean Trailer Express with liquid natural gas to power its ships. TOTE is converting its two huge roll-on, roll-off trailerships to use LNG to power their engines. The natural gas fuel will both be less expensive and less polluting than the heavy oil that powers the ships now. John Gillie reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

NTSB to hold safety forum on crude oil, ethanol shipments by rail
The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day public forum next month on the safety of moving crude oil and ethanol by rail, the agency said Thursday. The NTSB has been warning for years that a common type of railroad tank car, known as the DOT-111, was not suitable for transporting flammable liquids and cited its tendency to puncture or rupture easily in derailments. Federal regulators had known for more than two decades about the car’s shortcomings when a train loaded with crude oil derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in July, killing 47 people and destroying the center of town. Curtis Tate reports. (McClatchy)

DFO ‘fudging the numbers,’ court finds; bars commercial fishery off
An unprecedented court injunction has barred the Department of Fisheries and Oceans from opening a commercial fishery off Vancouver Island after a judge concluded DFO was “fudging the numbers” and that the federal minister declared it open against her own bureaucrats’ advice. The Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, whose herring-roe fishery has been closed since 2006, went to court last month seeking the injunction. The ruling has prompted the Haida First Nation to threaten similar court action. And the central coast First Nations say they’ll do whatever it takes to protect their fisheries. The First Nations say the fisheries should not be opened because they have not recovered enough to allow harvesting safely. In the Nuu-chah-nulth case, court documents showed that DFO experts agreed that all three areas should remain closed, but federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea chose to open the fisheries anyway. Zoe Tennant reports. (Globe and Mail)

Whale-death investigation flawed, experts say
An investigation into the death of a baby killer whale that absolved Royal Canadian Navy exercises around Vancouver Island of involvement was seriously flawed, two experts claim. “My concern is our investigation team looked the other way at negligence and misleading evidence,” said Ken Balcomb from the Center for Whale Research, based in Friday Harbor, Wash.... Balcomb wants the National Marine Fisheries Service to reopen its investigation.... Scott Veirs, an environmental biologist with Beam Reach marine science school, said he supported Balcomb’s call to reopen the investigation. Sarah Petrescu reports. (Times Colonist)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT MON MAR 10 2014
TODAY
W WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 1 TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. W
 SWELL 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

3/7 Oil trains, Navy hands, tidal energy, L112 review, Lolita, bog fight, stormwater, eco-village, SJI Monument meet

Crow at work (Science Daily)

If you like to watch: Genius Crow Solves Eight Complex Puzzles in Amazing Video
Researchers at the University of Cambridge say they've proven crows aren't just the one of the smartest birds in the world, but even smarter than most preschoolers. A video shows a crow solving eight complex puzzles in a row in order to reach food. Jen Markham reports. (Science Daily)

Eleven oil trains a day “is a big deal”: Cantwell
Aging, 1964-vintage tanker cars must be quickly phased out as oil trains move through downtowns of Seattle, Spokane, Vancouver and other cities, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told a senior executive of the American Petroleum Institute on Thursday. “About 11 trains a day, to our population centers, is a big deal,” Cantwell said at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee. “We’ve gone from four years ago — having basically nothing on rail by crude — to now having something like 408,000 carloads of crude.  Knowing when those DOT-111 cars are going to be off those rails — those cars that the NTSB has said are unacceptable — that is the key issue.” Joel Connelly reports. (SeattlePI.Com)

Navy crew steps into muddy project to protect Everett wetland
They spent months at sea in the pressure packed world of air traffic control on an aircraft carrier. So how do they relax? By grabbing hand tools, boots and rain gear and heading into the bog. A crew from the Air Traffic Unit from the USS Nimitz is wading through deep mud into the deep urban woods of southeast Everett. They are being instructed on how to pull and replant native plants that are in the path of a new walkway that will be built at the Northwest Stream Center. The Adopt-A-Stream program is organizing the nature walkway that will take visitors into a classic northwest lowland wetland. Gary Chittim reports.

Tribes challenge PUD tidal turbine proposal
The Island County hearing examiner will listen for two days to arguments regarding permits for a proposed tidal turbine pilot project in waters off Whidbey Island. The Tulalip Tribes and the PC Landing Corp. are appealing permits issued by Island County for the temporary installation of two tidal energy generators in Admiralty Inlet and related onshore equipment structures. The project is proposed by Snohomish Public Utility District. The hearing starts Thursday, March 6. Jessie Stensland reports. (South Whidbey Record)

Ken Balcomb calls for further review of orca’s death
Ken Balcomb, the dean of killer whale research in Puget Sound, is asking federal authorities to reopen the investigation into the death of L-112, a young female orca who died two years ago of mysterious causes. Ken maintains that an underwater “blast” remains the mostly likely cause of death for the whale, who was known as Sooke — or Victoria, as Ken originally named her. A draft final report (PDF 2.3 mb) by the National Marine Fisheries Service, dated Feb. 24, states that “blunt trauma to the head and neck is the prime consideration for the cause of mortality. Despite extensive diagnostic evaluation, the cause of the head and neck injuries could not be determined.” Chris Dunagan blogs. (Kitsap Sun)

Decision gives whale advocates new hope
A 20-year quest to bring home Lolita, the last of seven orcas captured from Penn Cove decades ago, has resulted in a small but significant victory. In late January, National Marine Fisheries, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced that the whale is considered a member of the Southern Resident orca population, which is listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The decision is not yet official, nor is there any guarantee that Lolita will be released from captivity, but it would afford her all the same protections as her Puget Sound relatives. “This is the best shot Lolita’s ever had for returning home,” said Howard Garrett, a founder of Whidbey Island-based Orca Network, a group that has lobbied for the whale’s release for two decades. Justin Burnett reports. (Whidbey News Times)

Peat repeat: Appeals court to hear Lynnwood bog preservation fight
A rare sphagnum-moss bog in Snohomish County could be a bit closer to being preserved. The Court of Appeals Division 1 decided this week to take on the issue because it appears that the trial-court judge erred when developers were given the OK to get a grading permit for a road through sensitive wetlands. The road was the first step to building five luxury homes at the edge of Hooven Bog. Attorneys for developers Rodney Loveless and Robert Dillon, Snohomish County and a private citizen, Randy Whalen, will get a chance to argue their positions before the Court of Appeals, probably in the fall. A decision will likely come several months later. Nancy Bartley reports. (Seattle Times)

America’s Best Stormwater Monitoring?
Polluted runoff is bad. Green stormwater infrastructure is good. But as rain gardens proliferate like frogs after a rainstorm and development continues to creep across the landscape, it’s time to flesh out those generalities with solid data. And stormwater folks in Washington state are poised to do just that with a new stormwater monitoring program. “We have completely changed the paradigm for Clean Water Act permit monitoring,” said Karen Dinicola, the state Ecology Department staff lead for the project, called the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program Stormwater Work Group. Lisa Stiffler reports. (Sightline)

If you like to listen: It Takes An Eco-Village
In a world of dwindling natural resources and mounting environmental crisis, who is devising ways of living that will work for the long haul? And how can we, as individuals, make a difference? To answer these fundamental questions, Professor Karen Litfin embarked upon a journey to many of the world’s ecovillages – intentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living. Martha Baskin reports. (Public Radio Exchange)

Meet-n’-greet with National Monument manager
The manager of San Juan Islands National Monument will be in Friday Harbor for a “meet-and-greet” with islanders, March 12. A veteran administrator with the Bureau of Land Management, Marcia deChadenedes was recently named manager of the newly created national monument following an earlier four-month appointment as interim manager. She joins the BLM Spokane office March 9. The meet-and-greet, hosted by Islanders for the San Juan Islands National Monument, is 3-6 p.m. at the San Juan Preservation Trust office, 468 Argyle Ave. Daniel Picard, district manager of the BLM Spokane region, will also attend. (San Juan Journal)

Climate consultant refutes cost assumption
A consultant to Gov. Jay Inslee’s bipartisan work group on climate change is disputing Republican and oil-industry claims that a clean-fuels standard in Washington could tack $1 or more to the cost of a gallon of gasoline. In a memo dated Feb. 3 but made public this week by Inslee’s office, staffers with the Leidos consulting firm said actual effects on Washington fuel prices would be far lower. The firm estimated they would be in the range of 6 cents to 8 cents per gallon if Washington moved, as California has, to phase in a 10 percent mix of ethanol in fuel stocks. Leidos outlined an alternative scenario costing 4 to 6 cents. In that scenario, low-carbon ethanol would immediately start replacing high-carbon ethanol from corn rather than displacing gasoline or diesel. Brad Shannon reports. (The Olympian)


Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST FRI MAR 7 2014
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM PST THIS MORNING THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
 GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON
TODAY
S WIND 10 TO 20 KT RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT THIS AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. SW SWELL 8 FT AT 13 SECONDS. A
 CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
TONIGHT
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. SW SWELL 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS...THEN A CHANCE OF RAIN AFTER
 MIDNIGHT.
SAT
S WIND 25 TO 35 KT. COMBINED SEAS 8 TO 11 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF 11 SECONDS. RAIN.
SAT NIGHT
S WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. SW SWELL 11 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
SUN
SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING W TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 10 FT AT 14 SECONDS.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

3/6 Salmon futures, Seattle waterfront, coal cleanup, Quartermaster Harbor, BC geoducks, Exxon Valdez

PHOTO: Matt Casselman/Scientific American

Anticipated salmon run could overwhelm Fraser River this summer, experts say
If the early signals are correct, the Fraser River could have the biggest salmon run in B.C. history this summer, with up to 72 million sockeye returning. That would be more than double the record number that came back in 2010, when about 30 million sockeye flooded into the Fraser, overwhelming fish plants with such bounty they ran out of ice and storage boxes. Mark Hume reports. (Globe and Mail) See also: LEE HORTON’S OUTDOORS: Great salmon season projected  (Peninsula Daily News)

Dueling ideas debut for Seattle waterfront
This week has seen the unveiling of a pair of competing plans — an elevator and a gondola — to get people from downtown Seattle to the waterfront. What’s next: a luge run? The gondola would glide above Union Street for the half-mile between the Washington State Convention Center and the Seattle Aquarium. It’s being proposed by the same Griffith family that built the $20 million Seattle Great Wheel. The elevator — also on Union Street, near the Four Seasons Hotel— is being touted by the Central Waterfront Committee, which is planning the massive makeover of the 26-block-long shoreline for when the Alaskan Way Viaduct — eventually — comes down. This glass elevator wouldn’t travel as far as the gondola, but might be less disruptive to build and appears to have the support of city planners. Steven Goldsmith reports. (Puget Sound Business Journal)

CN launches cleanup of coal dumped by January derailment in Burnaby
CN Rail has started a major cleanup of metallurgical coal that spilled into fish-bearing Silver Creek, a tributary of Burnaby Lake, after a train derailment almost two months ago. CN, which has hired consultants Triton Environmental to help with the operation, has estimated 5.5 cubic metres of coal lies in Silver Creek and 76 cubic metres were carried downstream into Burnaby Lake. The B.C. Ministry of Environment has allowed CN — the company responsible for the spill — to proceed with the cleanup after several weeks of preliminary assessment and development of a recovery plan. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Study confirms concerns about poor health of harbor, sheds light on causes
... Scientists recently completed a four-year study on Quartermaster’s low oxygen levels, which threatens life in the harbor. The extensive study found that human influences on the harbor, such as septic system contamination and fertilizer run-off, likely don’t play as significant a role in the low oxygen levels as once thought. However, some familiar with the situation and the study say it’s as clear as ever that conservation efforts should continue, as any additional pollution to the harbor could be detrimental... Earlier this year, King County released a final report on the Quartermaster Harbor Nitrogen Management Study, a four-year effort to determine whether nitrogen-loading is leading to the bay’s depleted oxygen levels and what role human activity plays in the equation. The $893,000 study, funded by a $625,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as funds from King County, the University of Washington-Tacoma and the state Department of Ecology, started in 2009 but built on years’ worth of data collected by scientists and field researchers. (Vashon Beachcomber)

Geoduck draft framework to be unveiled this week
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will make its draft integrated geoduck (pronounced gooey-duck) management framework public this week. According to a DFO spokesperson, the draft management framework will be posted on the DFO website this week and DFO will accept written comments about it for 45 days after it's posted. BC Shellfish Growers' Association executive director Roberta Stevenson says this announcement is big news for B.C.'s aquaculture industry, as it should mean the lucrative shellfish can be farmed in the future. Renee Andor reports. (Comox Valley Record)

Exxon Valdez 25th Anniversary: Lessons Learned, Lessons Lost
In recognition of this month's 25-year anniversary of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska (March 24), this seems a good time to reflect on lessons learned, and lessons lost. Richard Steiner blogs. (Huffington Post)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST THU MAR 6 2014
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING
TODAY
SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. SW SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS. RAIN.
TONIGHT
W WIND 15 TO 25 KT EARLY...BECOMING SW 5 TO 15 KT BY LATE EVENING. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL
 9 FT AT 11 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 11 FT AT 14 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SHOWERS LIKELY.
--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

3/5 Coal dust, oil trains, Delta crash, Samish test, Vic sewer, Snookbrook poop, murrelet logging, Oly sea rise, gray whales, BC orcas, Seattle natives, Skagit flood $

The Twinnies (PHOTO: Laurie MacBride)

If you like to watch: With Weather Like This…
Laurie MacBride in Eye On Environment  writes: "Ironically, right after I published my post about the little yellow messengers of spring, we had a huge (by west coast standards) dump of snow, more than a foot in all. That was followed by – no surprise – a multi-day power outage. Snow is still covering most of our garden and patches of our lawn, though it’s been melting a bit more each day. While the crocuses haven’t yet emerged from under their white blanket, I’ve been happy to see our weather heading back to “normal”. But today, to my dismay, it’s been snowing again. I think “the Twinnies” are also rather dismayed by it all..."

Are Coal Trains Degrading the Air We Breathe? The Answer is Yes.
Cliff Mass blogs: "During the past week, a paper describing the air quality effects of coal trains lumbering through the Pacific Northwest was accepted for publication and finally I can tell you about it.  This work was completed by Professor Dan Jaffe of the University of Washington in Bothell and several UW students, and relates the results of an extended observational study above the tracks in north Seattle and in the Columbia Gorge...."

Seattle Mulls Resolution Calling For Closer Scrutiny Of Oil Trains  
Seattle is on its way to joining Spokane and Bellingham in demanding tougher scrutiny of oil trains traveling through the city. A resolution that would restrict oil shipments until further review has passed out of a city council committee, and is scheduled for a vote before the full council on Monday. Council member Mike O’Brien, who chairs Seattle's Planning, Land Use and Sustainability Committee, says he’s been shocked by recent headlines about fiery explosions of increasingly volatile petroleum products like Bakken crude. And he recently learned a new statistic about how quickly the number of such shipments has been increasing. “Just in the last four years, the volume of oil being transported by rail in this country has gone up 57-fold, which is a massive increase,” O'Brien said, referring to a study released last week by the Seattle think-tank Sightline. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KPLU)

State: Columbia River oil terminal violated permit
A Columbia River industrial plant converted from making ethanol to shipping volatile North Dakota crude oil has been operating improperly by moving six times the volume its permit allowed, Oregon regulators say. The company that runs the Clatskanie industrial plant disputes the allegation, saying its permit covers what it's been doing. It is, however, seeking the new permit the Department of Environmental Quality demands, The Oregonian reported. In June 2012, the agency quickly signed off on an air pollution permit change that allowed the plant to move crude from trains onto barges bound for West Coast oil refineries, saying the shift had an incidental effect on air emissions. (Associated Press)

Poor communication led to collision at Delta coal terminal: safety report
An investigation into an accident that saw a coal ship crash into a terminal near Vancouver, significantly damaging the facility, has concluded poor communication and inadequate safety planning contributed to the accident. The Transportation Safety Board released a report Tuesday examining what happened when the Japanese-owned bulk coal carrier Cape Apricot hit a conveyor belt at Westshore Terminals, south of Vancouver at Roberts Bank, in December 2012. The collision caused extensive damage to the terminal, rendering one of its berths inoperable, and sent 30 tonnes of coal into the water. No one was injured. (Vancouver Sun)

Strike one against Samish Bay in testing period
In the first four days of a four-month evaluation period for fecal coliform bacteria in Samish Bay, pollution was found to exceed state standards. “It’s obviously disappointing,” Taylor Shellfish spokesman Bill Dewey said Tuesday. “Four days into the evaluation period, and we’ve gotten our one closure. Chances of going another four months without another one are pretty slim.” If no more than one pollution closure occurs during the evaluation, the bay may be upgraded, which would mean it would no longer be subject to precautionary closures when the Samish River rises. Skagit County water quality specialist Rick Haley was also disappointed. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Esquimalt presents long list of sewage questions to CRD
Esquimalt, already accused of dragging its feet on the Capital Regional District’s sewage treatment proposal, is now asking for a raft of new documentation on everything from tsunami walls to super bugs in secondary treatment plants. Mayor Barb Desjardins says the municipality is simply looking for answers to questions raised at the municipality’s public hearings into the CRD’s proposed sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point. “We’re just looking for more information, and a lot of it is because members of the public have brought forward concerns that we don’t have the information about,” she said. But Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, chairman of the CRD core area liquid waste management committee, says it’s becoming apparent that the municipality may very well turn down the CRD’s application. Bill Cleverley reports. (Times Colonist)

Snookbrook Farms likely main source of fecal contamination in Terrell Creek
Snookbrook Farms is probably the main source of fecal coliform bacteria that contaminated part of Terrell Creek and caused the beach closure near where the creek empties into the south end of Birch Bay. The beach has been closed since Jan. 31, after routine sampling Jan. 30 showed very high counts of fecal coliform in the creek from the Kickerville Road bridge down to the creek's mouth. Fecal coliform bacteria come from human and animal feces. The dairy's manure storage is at capacity - leading to overflows that eventually reached Terrell Creek, according to Hector Castro, spokesman for the Washington Department of Agriculture. Kie Reylea reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Kitsap Public Health Releases 2013 Water Quality Report
The Kitsap Public Health District, in partnership with the Kitsap County Storm Water Management Program, today released its 2013 Water Quality Report for Kitsap County. This report summarizes bacteria levels in 57 Kitsap County streams, five marine embayments, 10 marine shoreline areas, and 12 lakes... Some highlights from the 2013 water quality report include... (Central Kitsap Reporter)

Controversial Olympic Peninsula Timber Sale Pits Environment Against Education
The Washington Board of Natural Resources voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the sale of 200 acres of the Olympic Peninsula that are home to the endangered marbled murrelet. The money from the timber sale will go to the University of Washington. 200 acres might not seem like that big of a deal, but not if you ask Peter Goldman, director of the Washington Forest Law Center. “These 200 acres are extremely important,” he said. “These lands around these timber sales are heavily used and officially mapped as occupied by the marbled murrelet.” Ashley Ahearn reports. (EarthFix)

Rising sea level a big concern for Olympia
Government leaders are sitting down Tuesday night for a first ever discussion of their common threat…rising seas. Olympia City, Thurston County and Port of Olympia planners acknowledge they are in a precarious position for even modest rising tides. Record tides just over a year ago backed up street sewer outfalls and caused minor flooding through street drains in low parts of Olympia. Storm surges send Puget Sound waters over bulkheads and swamp downtown city streets during even moderate events. Gary Chittim reports. (KING-TV)

Small group of gray whales return to Puget Sound
A male gray whale that feasts on shrimp in the Puget Sound every year was spotted this past weekend, marking the start of an annual stay in Washington state inland waters by a small but peculiar group of these big marine mammals, whale watchers reported Tuesday. The intrepid male - nicknamed "Little Patch" and identified with the number 53 by researchers - has been the first whale to be spotted and identified in north Puget Sound waters for two years in a row. He's part of a small group of about a dozen, primarily male, gray whales that feed on ghost shrimp in the Puget Sound for about three months during spring. Around May, the whales continue their migration to the Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska. Manuel Valdes reports. (Associated Press)

Regional Consultation on the Draft Action Plan for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales in Canada
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) would like your feedback on the draft Action Plan for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in Canada. The Species at Risk Act (SARA) requires that an action plan be developed for Threatened and Endangered species. The Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales were listed as Threatened and Endangered respectively under SARA in June 2003. This draft Action Plan was developed by DFO in cooperation with Parks Canada Agency. This document will form a key component in the recovery of the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales in Canada... The deadline for submitting comments on the draft Action Plan is April 16, 2014. If you are prepared to submit comments, please use the online comment form.

The Invisibles: Seattle’s Native Americans
They’re rarely seen or heard, but the statistics on the population’s health, education, and happiness speak loud and clear. Matt Driscoll reports. (The Stranger)

House OKs $400K for Skagit River flood study
The Skagit River General Investigation has secured $400,000 in additional federal funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, an increase of $100,000 over last year. President Barack Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2015 budget also includes an additional $250,000 for the project, if the budget is approved. The federal funding should be enough to finish out the project, along with the local match, said Dan Berentson, Skagit County interim director of public works.... The study, which has been ongoing for more than 16 years, aims to produce study results that Skagit communities can use to apply for federal funding for flood-control projects. Rachel Lerman reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST WED MAR 5 2014
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON
TODAY
SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT OR LESS IN THE
 AFTERNOON. W SWELL 5 FT AT 14 SECONDS. RAIN THIS MORNING...THEN A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
E WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S 20 TO 30 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FT AFTER
 MIDNIGHT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 12 SECONDS. RAIN.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

3/4 Whale watcher banned, BC oil, Columbia oil, beach driving, BC parks, Freeland logging, Oly park, wave energy

PHOTO: Barry Griffiths/BirdNote

If you like to listen: King Penguins - World's Largest Kazoo Band
While it’s still winter in many parts of North America, it’s summer in Antarctica. And the King Penguins are singing! Some form breeding colonies that number in the tens of thousands. When many pairs of these colorful birds tip their heads back and sing, it sounds like the world’s largest kazoo band. (BirdNote)

Campbell River whale watching captain gets fined, banned after getting too close again
A Campbell River whale watching captain has been fined $6,000 and banned from the industry for 10 years after once again getting too close to a pod of killer whales. Jason Allan Smith was found guilty in Campbell River Provincial Court on Jan. 30 for disturbing killer whales in violation of the Fisheries Act. The judgment relates to an Aug. 14, 2010 incident near Camp Point, north of Campbell River. Skipper Smith, who was working for Eagle Eye Adventures at the time, drove inside the mandated 100-metre buffer zone from a group of orcas and "kept the boat within a close distance of the whales for an extended period of time," according to a news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Smith was convicted of disturbing killer whales in 2011 for a similar incident from 2008. Mike Hagar reports. (Vancouver Sun)

In runup to pipeline review, critics accuse Kinder Morgan of bullying
Lawyers working for Kinder Morgan Inc. have sent a letter to the National Energy Board proposing the narrowest interpretation of who can participate in a review of the company’s proposed twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline. The 15-page legal letter, which was sent in late February, was copied to the thousands of people who have applied to be part of the review process, a move opponents of the pipeline liken to “bullying.” For most of the more than 2,300 applicants, the letter was the first response they had received since applying. Justin Giovannetti reports. (Globe and Mail)

A loud 'no' so far on oil terminal in Vancouver
Those who have commented on the proposal by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies to build the Northwest's largest oil-by-rail facility at the Port of Vancouver are overwhelmingly opposed to the project, according to a report released by the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council this week. It's perhaps the biggest, most complicated project the council has ever seen. The EFSEC received 31,074 comments on the oil terminal proposal between October and December, the so-called scoping phase of the environmental review process that identifies issues for further study. Form letters comprised 97 percent of public feedback, with 352 form letters in favor of the project and 30,494 opposed. Erin Middlewood reports. (The Columbian)

Steilacoom expects to ban low-tide beach driving
Steilacoom hopes to protect one of its northernmost natural areas by prohibiting vehicles from driving onto the mudflats of Chambers Bay at low tide. The ordinance, set for action at Tuesday’s council meeting, follows a year of study. The town determined it doesn’t have authority to stop people from driving down the embankment and onto the mudflats to pull in fishing nets or to put kayaks and other nonmotorized boats in the water. Brynn Grimley reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

B.C. Parks Act changes opposed by environmental groups
Environmental groups are asking the province to withdraw proposed changes to the B.C. Parks Act that could open them up to corporate interests. About half a dozen groups warn the amendments will drop a requirement that research conducted in a provincial park is done so for the park's benefit. The groups are also concerned the amendments will make it easier for industry to apply for changes to park boundaries....Parks Minister Mary Polak insists the proposed changes will permit "very minor" research activities that will ultimately lead to better decision-making around park management and wildlife areas. She also said any proposed changes to park boundaries will have to be passed by the B.C. legislature. (CBC News)

52 acres of Freeland forest felled in logging operation
South Whidbey saw what may be its biggest clear-cut in years at a property just north of Freeland recently. Totaling 52 acres, the unusually large harvest began this past October on forested property on the east side of Highway 525 between Chase Lake and Evergreen Lane, and wrapped up this month. State regulators say the logging was conducted legally and that the landowner, PBWA Properties — a limited liability company of which Peoples Bank is the only member — secured all the appropriate state permits before work began. Justin Burnett reports. (South Whidbey Record)

Wave Energy Developer Pulls Plug On Oregon Project
Developers have scrapped their plans to build the nation’s first large-scale wave energy project off the Oregon Coast, saying the costs were too high to make it work. The much-anticipated project would have placed a flotilla of 100 energy-producing buoys, each the size of a school bus, in the waves off the coast of Reedsport, Ore. The project’s developer, Ocean Power Technologies, surrendered its preliminary permit with the federal government, Oregon regulators disclosed Monday. Devan Schwartz reports. (EarthFix)

Study: Olympic National Park tourism brings in benefit to tune of $220 million
The National Park Service says more than 2.8 million visitors to Olympic National Park in 2012 spent $220 million in the park's surrounding communities. The numbers are part of a national study on the economic effects of National Park Service sites throughout the nation.  The study was conducted by three U.S. Geological Survey researchers based in Fort Collins, Colo. The national results were announced last week, and Olympic National Park officials released Peninsula figures Monday. The spending by a total of 2,824,908 visitors to Olympic in 2012 supported 2,708 jobs in the local area, the study by Geological Survey economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Christopher Huber and Lynne Koontz said.

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST TUE MAR 4 2014
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
TODAY
E WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 16 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY.
TONIGHT
E WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 14 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY...THEN RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

3/3 B'ham coal, oil trains, refinery property tax, Keystone XL, Hood Canal bridge, Skagit water, Terrell Cr., Shannon Pt., Index dam, BC ferries

Welcome, March: We closed out a short month of February with 5300 visits to our news and weather website, thank you. And thanks to you, subscribers, who get this blog every weekday morning free. Here’s something you can do for me: share it with friends, family members and colleagues and ask them to subscribe, no cost. Makes it worth doing every weekday morning. Mike Sato.

New blog: February 2014- Two Down, 10 to Go
February was a short month and I'm still waiting to see which of our elected officials in Olympia will choose to govern in the remaining weeks of the legislative session— and to see whether the 12th Man really created community or not...

Rail traffic and climate change part of Gateway Pacific enviro review
Gateway Pacific, the giant export terminal north of Bellingham, took a major step forward Thursday as developers agreed to a $7.2 million contract for an environmental study on what would become Washington’s first coal-export terminal. The new agreement, with the engineering firm CH2M Hill, follows on the heels of an earlier $1.9 million deal to conduct public meetings and prepare the scope of review. That brings the total environmental review cost for Gateway Pacific to $9,089,911, according to Whatcom County officials who will supervise the contract. SSA Marine and BNSF Railway — both signed Thursday — will deal with subcontractors who will assess the project's impacts on human and animal health, marine life, wetlands, railway and shipping traffic and Native American culture. Whatcom County posted the contracts here on Friday. In what could be a precedent-setting proceeding, Whatcom County and the Washington Department of Ecology have also called for a review of the impacts of increased railroad traffic across the state, as well as a study on the impact on climate change of burning the coal in Asia. Floyd McKay reports. (Crosscut)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway sees record profit
The investment firm run by the US billionaire Warren Buffett has reported a record profit for 2013. Berkshire Hathaway made $19.5bn (£11.6bn) last year, up from $14.8bn (£8.8bn) in 2012. "On the operating front, just about everything turned out well for us last year - in some cases very well," Mr Buffett wrote to shareholders.... Mr Buffett, ranked fourth on the Forbes rich list, pointed to a strong performance in the firm's insurance, rail and energy businesses for the increase in profit. These include the auto insurer Geico, General Reinsurance, Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad and the electric utility MidAmerican Energy. (BBC News)

Bakken crude oil deliveries raise safety questions
The issue of shipping oil by rail has gone from the background to the front burner almost overnight. There are no less than four related bills floating around the Legislature, as well as work on the federal and local level. The state House and the Senate are aimed at studying spill response, increasing disaster and spill preparedness and cashing in on the fastest growing transportation issue in the nation. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Transportation and officials from the rail industry agreed in late February to a series of voluntary improvements in safety and inspection standards, to be implemented by July 1. Any regulatory changes must be made at the federal level since states have no authority over the railroads. Until studies of oil volatility and rail car safety are complete, there are few options on the table beyond local planning for the worst. Daniel DeMay reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

A look at offloading sites for Bakken crude oil
Tesoro’s refinery in Anacortes was the first to complete a rail offloading facility for Bakken crude in the Pacific Northwest. The facility, located on the west side of the refinery on March Point, has accepted more than 24 million barrels of crude since it became operational in 2012. Shell is in the process of permit review for its own rail offloading facility. If all the permits are approved, the facility will be located on Shell property just east of its refinery on March Point. Mark Stayton reports.  (Skagit Valley Herald)

With little information, county officials can only prepare for the worst  Traffic is blocked at three major intersections in Mount Vernon, and a fire is burning downtown. Mount Vernon and Burlington fire trucks and ambulances dispatched to the scene determine alternate routes because a 100-car oil train is blocking crossings at Riverside Drive, College Way and Hoag Road. The roundabout trip may add about two minutes to their typical response time of seven minutes or less. Kimberley Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Millions in tax dollars at stake as Whatcom oil refineries dispute property taxes
Millions of dollars in local tax revenue are at stake as Whatcom County's two oil refineries challenge their property tax assessments through a lengthy state appeals process. By far the biggest potential impact is from BP Cherry Point. The giant oil company contends that the most recent property tax assessment of its local refinery - about $975 million - is at least $275 million too high. The disputed $275 million is an amount of tax base roughly equivalent to nine Bellis Fair malls, and the property tax that would be collected on that $275 million totals about $2.9 million distributed to a variety of state and local government uses. John Stark reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Hundreds of pipeline protesters arrested outside White House
U.S. Park Police on Sunday arrested hundreds of demonstrators participating in an act of civil disobedience to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline at the White House. Organizers estimated that about 450 people — mostly college students — would ultimately be arrested as they tried to dissuade the Obama administration from approving the 1,700-mile crude-oil pipeline from Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast. Sarah Wheaton reports. (NY Times)

Is the Hood Canal Floating Bridge Causing The Problems in Hood Canal?
Al Bergstein at Olympic Peninsula Environmental News blogs: “.... At a meeting of restoration recovery organizations held in Port Townsend, Scott Brewer, the head of the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, stood up and validated what the old timer had said. Brewer said that preliminary research  has shown, especially with steelhead, that the bridge might be stopping the fish from moving out to sea. Radio tagged fry have been seen swimming up to the bridge and are unable to figure out how to get around it. They appear to pool against the bridge, which is 30 feet deep, and get picked off by seals or sea lions.  The fry tend to stay on the surface layer of the water, so are stymied by the blockage. Additionally, the bridge may be affecting tidal water exchange...”

Water health of county varies widely
The health of Skagit County waters varies from the headwaters of the Skagit River to the mouth of the Samish River, where it dumps into the bay.... From October 2012 to September 2013 Skagit County staff and the volunteer Skagit Stream Team and Skagit Storm Team collected hundreds of water samples at more than 50 sites. Representatives from the county, Skagit Conservation District and Padilla Bay Research Reserve presented their findings Thursday during a public meeting.... In general, streams outside high population areas are healthier. Creeks between Hamilton and Sedro-Woolley, for example, have better oxygen levels than sloughs in the Samish Flats. See also: Samish Bay pollution evaluation begins Kimberley Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Terrell Creek contamination traced to dairy; other sources possible
Manure runoff from a dairy farm has been identified as one source of fecal coliform bacteria that contaminated part of Terrell Creek and caused the beach closure near where the creek empties into the south end of Birch Bay. The beach has been closed since Jan. 31, after routine sampling Jan. 30 showed very high counts of fecal coliform in the creek from the Kickerville Road bridge down to the creek's mouth. Fecal coliform bacteria come from human and animal feces.... Routine sampling on Jan. 30, on the upper part of the creek, showed counts that were about 30,000 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters, according to Erika Douglas, senior planner for Whatcom County Public Works. That was above one allowable threshold, which is an average of 50 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters. Kie Relyea reports. (Bellingham Herald)

The 'Tween Season: Late February in the Pacific Northwest
Jill at Pacific Northwest Seasons blogs about the challenges and joys of living through a Northwest winter: "If you live in the Pacific Northwest (or almost anywhere in North America), aren't you ready for winter to loosen its grip? Living in a temperate climate here west of the Cascades,  we Mossbacks are spared extreme cold like the frigid polar vortex, but the wet, gray, dark days seem to stretch on too long.  Many of us jet away to warmer, tropical or desert getaways. By mid-February, however, the days are getting noticeably longer. Hallelujah!..."

Heading Back North
Meanwhile-- Orca Watcher Monika Wieland returns from her trip south to Baja. Nice blogs on the journey.

New director of WWU's marine sciences center seeks more outreach
Erika McPhee-Shaw, who grew up in the home of an ice scientist, explored a variety of interests before she emerged with what the affable scientist calls her mission to "watch the water" for important environmental developments. McPhee-Shaw was recently named director of Western Washington University's nationally recognized Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes. She will assume her duties in June. Michelle Nolan reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Federal agency approves PUD’s plans for study of proposed dam
A plan for studying issues related to a possible mini-dam on the South Fork Skykomish River near Index has been approved by a federal agency, despite Tulalip Tribes concern that the study won’t accurately assess the possible effects on fish. The Snohomish County Public Utility District study plan will not gather enough information to determine the planned weir’s potential effects on juvenile salmon that migrate downstream, said tribal environmental liaison Daryl Williams in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Bill Sheets reports. (Everett Herald)

Stephen Hume: BC Ferries austerity program is based on false assumptions
The tourism-dependent Gulf Islands lost a cumulative total of 2.7 million visitor trips over the decade after a newly privatized BC Ferries corporation began steadily reducing service and raising passenger fares. Another 559,000 visitor trips vanished from the Central and North Coast routes after 2004, for a total of more than 3.2 million. The controversial austerity program that Gulf Islanders say is hurting regional businesses — the percentage of self-employed entrepreneurs there is about three time the provincial average — is defended by both ferry authorities and the provincial government as an essential measure to offset rising operating costs. But annual financial reports to the ferry commissioner show smaller service routes cited as money drains often operate in the black. The Swartz Bay-Gulf Islands service, for example, generated net surpluses of $2 million in both 2013 and 2012. The red ink rises when servicing costs for ferry company debt that has zoomed from zero to $1.4 billion in just 10 years are applied. Stephen Hume reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST MON MAR 3 2014
TODAY
NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS. RAIN.
TONIGHT
NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 2 FT AFTER
 MIDNIGHT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 17 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN.
--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told